• ramenshaman@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      The very first pong game system did not use software, which blows my mind. OP’s does not appear to be the same version but it’s possible this it also does not use software.

        • ramenshaman@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I can’t really give a great answer to that, pretty sure it was all just electrical hardware. I’m curious now, I’ll look around and let you know if I find something.

          Edit: yep, no code, just circuits. Here is the original circuit diagram from Atari

        • thejbw@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Essentially the “program” was baked into the hardware design itself. It didn’t have a rom chip or something, it just had hardware circuits dedicated to each function, like drawing the paddle etc.

        • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Start with googling “pong chip”. There is a Wikipedia article about it, and then look for the chips “name” AY-3-8500, under which you will find lots of information about this chip.