An old electronic pinball machine is fascinating because it embodies complexity just within the grasp of a jack-of-all-trades hacker. You can learn how one works by visiting the open-source repository known as the US Patent and Trademark Office. The Bally Manufacturing Corporation used a system built around its AS2518 Microprocessor Unit (MPU) described by US Patent 4,198,051 in more than 350,000 units from 1977 to 1985. Maybe you remember playing Evel Knievel, KISS, Mata Hari or Space Invaders? At the moment, you can buy most nonworking games for less than $250. Many come with original documentation that includes circuit schematics. Combined with what you can learn from the patents and other publications, plus your knowledge of PC hardware and free, open-source software, you can hack together something unique: a working, Web-enabled, classic pinball machine that plays by your rules, running your programs. You can do it legally, for less than the cost of a replacement MPU board, with an old PC and a stock Linux distribution like Fedora.
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