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There's a scene in "That 70's Show" where Kelso and Red bond over Pong and decide to mod the game to make it harder. And a few hours later with a soldering iron

There's a scene in "That 70's Show" where Kelso and Red bond over Pong and decide to mod the game to make it harder. And a few hours later with a soldering iron, smaller paddles! The first time I saw that episode was at a friend's house. I felt so smart telling him that was impossible because you can't mod software with a soldering iron. Then his dad poked his head out from the kitchen and told me Pong didn't have software. Turns out the only impossible part of that episode is the idea of it taking a few hours. Changing the paddle size was a mod already supported by the hardware and the manual gave details on how to do it. Though it wasn't necessarily intended as a difficulty setting, it was intended to support different sizes of TVs. iirc, all you need to do is solder 1 jumper.

486sx33 2y ago
Kind of amazed Kelso disassembled something and it worked after (I think was the surprising part) lol
- al_borland 2y ago
  That’s probably what Red was there for. To lend a foot every time Kelso needed it.
- jimbob45 2y ago
  There was a downplayed running joke where Kelso was actually extremely skilled at engineering. In another episode, he repairs a car with Red and explains what he’s doing in high technical detail while Red just pretends to know what he’s talking about because he doesn’t want to admit that Kelso is smarter than him at something.
saywhanow 2y ago
Idk. A few hours for Kelso to solder a jumper sounds about right.
nihilist_t21 2y ago
I had no idea that scene was somewhat accurate! I just watched it and had the same feelings you did.
mepian 2y ago
>I felt so smart telling him that was impossible because you can't mod software with a soldering iron. Many old systems stored their software in a diode matrix, which could be modded with a soldering iron: https://www.cca.org/blog/20120222-Diode-Matrix.shtml https://www.cca.org/blog/20120222-Diode-Matrix.shtml
- squeaky-clean 2y ago
  Well damn that's neat. I'm going to pretend you were popping your head out from the kitchen as you wrote this.
  - MonkeyClub 2y ago
    Also note that Dave's https://CCA.org https://CCA.org deserves perusal. My favorite page remains the one about his computer: https://cca.org/dave/tech/machine.html https://cca.org/dave/tech/machine.html
    - jonah 2y ago
      Awesome! I wonder what his electric bill is like.
- Izkata 2y ago
  I imagine this is how some sci-fi technology works. Certainly looks like a more low-tech version of some of it: Star Trek has both isolinear chips [0] in Federation technology and isolinear rods [1] in Cardassian technology that can be rearranged to change ship systems and Stargate has control crystals of various designs used similarly [2][3][4]. [0] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Naked_Now_(episode)?file=Data_configures_isolinear_chips.jpg https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Naked_Now_(episode)... [1] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Isolinear_rod?file=Isolinear_rods.jpg https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Isolinear_rod?file=Isol... [2] https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Control_crystal?file=Control_crystals.jpg https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Control_crystal?file=Contro... [3] https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Control_crystal?file=Door_control_crystal.jpg https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Control_crystal?file=Door_c... [4] https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Control_crystal?file=Control_crystal_2.jpg https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Control_crystal?file=Contro...
MBCook 2y ago
I remember that! I think I had thought it was possible. But in my mind there was no way Red or Kelso could possibly know how to do it. The fact it was in the manual helps make that more possible. Don’t think the episode showed/implied that though.
- squeaky-clean 2y ago
  Yeah in the episode they are definitely doing things that are not indicated in the manual. Makes for a much funnier bit though.
10xalphadev 2y ago
Haha, I felt so smart telling... that's HN in a nutshell!
op00to 2y ago
Bold of you to assume it wouldn’t take me hours to solder one jumper!
SoftTalker 2y ago
> Changing the paddle size was a mod already supported by the hardware and the manual gave details on how to do it. Amazing, that a manual would discuss resoldering a jumper. Today's manuals warn you not to open the case and not to eat the batteries.
- neuralRiot 2y ago
  I’m old enough to remember when there were some devices with schematics included inside or when you could order a complete service manual from parts vendors. Nowadays I’m happy to find replacement parts and if there’s no code inside them.
andblac 2y ago
That's a great scene. I mostly remember it for the exchange the two had after they finished modding the game and it worked [0]: Red: "Congratulations, son! You have seen the future!" Kelso: "Yeah, yeah, you're so right, Red! Home computers! That is the future!" Red: "No, no, no. Not computers! Soldering! The future is soldering! [...]" How often do we try to extrapolate from current technological improvements to predict the future, yet fail to grasp which changes are truly important. [0] https://tvshowtranscripts.ourboard.org/viewtopic.php?f=936&t=48623 https://tvshowtranscripts.ourboard.org/viewtopic.php?f=936&t...
HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
About 25 years ago! I was helping a friend/client look for something in his basement store room. He pulled out a huge multi-page schematic and said "look at this." It turned out to be the controller for a medical device he had designed in the early 70's. All discrete logic, no CPU at all. Blew my mind.

486sx33 2y ago

Kind of amazed Kelso disassembled something and it worked after (I think was the surprising part) lol

al_borland 2y ago
That’s probably what Red was there for. To lend a foot every time Kelso needed it.
jimbob45 2y ago
There was a downplayed running joke where Kelso was actually extremely skilled at engineering. In another episode, he repairs a car with Red and explains what he’s doing in high technical detail while Red just pretends to know what he’s talking about because he doesn’t want to admit that Kelso is smarter than him at something.

saywhanow 2y ago

Idk. A few hours for Kelso to solder a jumper sounds about right.

nihilist_t21 2y ago

I had no idea that scene was somewhat accurate! I just watched it and had the same feelings you did.

mepian 2y ago

>I felt so smart telling him that was impossible because you can't mod software with a soldering iron. Many old systems stored their software in a diode matrix, which could be modded with a soldering iron: https://www.cca.org/blog/20120222-Diode-Matrix.shtml https://www.cca.org/blog/20120222-Diode-Matrix.shtml

squeaky-clean 2y ago
Well damn that's neat. I'm going to pretend you were popping your head out from the kitchen as you wrote this.
- MonkeyClub 2y ago
  Also note that Dave's https://CCA.org https://CCA.org deserves perusal. My favorite page remains the one about his computer: https://cca.org/dave/tech/machine.html https://cca.org/dave/tech/machine.html
  - jonah 2y ago
    Awesome! I wonder what his electric bill is like.
Izkata 2y ago
I imagine this is how some sci-fi technology works. Certainly looks like a more low-tech version of some of it: Star Trek has both isolinear chips [0] in Federation technology and isolinear rods [1] in Cardassian technology that can be rearranged to change ship systems and Stargate has control crystals of various designs used similarly [2][3][4]. [0] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Naked_Now_(episode)?file=Data_configures_isolinear_chips.jpg https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Naked_Now_(episode)... [1] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Isolinear_rod?file=Isolinear_rods.jpg https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Isolinear_rod?file=Isol... [2] https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Control_crystal?file=Control_crystals.jpg https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Control_crystal?file=Contro... [3] https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Control_crystal?file=Door_control_crystal.jpg https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Control_crystal?file=Door_c... [4] https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Control_crystal?file=Control_crystal_2.jpg https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Control_crystal?file=Contro...

MBCook 2y ago

I remember that! I think I had thought it was possible. But in my mind there was no way Red or Kelso could possibly know how to do it. The fact it was in the manual helps make that more possible. Don’t think the episode showed/implied that though.

squeaky-clean 2y ago
Yeah in the episode they are definitely doing things that are not indicated in the manual. Makes for a much funnier bit though.

10xalphadev 2y ago

Haha, I felt so smart telling... that's HN in a nutshell!

op00to 2y ago

Bold of you to assume it wouldn’t take me hours to solder one jumper!

SoftTalker 2y ago

> Changing the paddle size was a mod already supported by the hardware and the manual gave details on how to do it. Amazing, that a manual would discuss resoldering a jumper. Today's manuals warn you not to open the case and not to eat the batteries.

neuralRiot 2y ago
I’m old enough to remember when there were some devices with schematics included inside or when you could order a complete service manual from parts vendors. Nowadays I’m happy to find replacement parts and if there’s no code inside them.

andblac 2y ago

That's a great scene. I mostly remember it for the exchange the two had after they finished modding the game and it worked [0]: Red: "Congratulations, son! You have seen the future!" Kelso: "Yeah, yeah, you're so right, Red! Home computers! That is the future!" Red: "No, no, no. Not computers! Soldering! The future is soldering! [...]" How often do we try to extrapolate from current technological improvements to predict the future, yet fail to grasp which changes are truly important. [0] https://tvshowtranscripts.ourboard.org/viewtopic.php?f=936&t=48623 https://tvshowtranscripts.ourboard.org/viewtopic.php?f=936&t...

HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago

About 25 years ago! I was helping a friend/client look for something in his basement store room. He pulled out a huge multi-page schematic and said "look at this." It turned out to be the controller for a medical device he had designed in the early 70's. All discrete logic, no CPU at all. Blew my mind.