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I just took the latest KNOPPIX out for a spin. Actually, it turns out to
be pretty empty, actually. (Or perhaps "uncluttered" is the right term...)
Anyway, one thing I did discover is a screensaver simply named "6502".
Other emulators allow you to run programs written for various 8-bit home
computers. This thing emulates the signal distortions of a cheap
RF-modulator connected to a cheap 1980s CRT home TV. It's friggin' HARDCORE!
- You can see the scanlines.
- The whole screen sparkles with faint noise.
- Horizontal edges have strange fringes of colour, like dispersion.
- The image has slight horizontal ghosting, like you get from cheap
unshielded RF cables.
- Large areas of bright colour cause slight horizontal width
distortions. (I never understood why the hell CRTs do this, but they
undeniably do...)
Even the colours look about right. It's really very convincing!
Ah, how far we have come. I'm running a dual-core 2 GHz CPU connected by
an 800 MHz bus to 2 GB of RAM, and it's running Microsoft Windows XP,
which is running VMware Workstation, which is emulating a single-core 2
GHz CPU connected to 800 MB of RAM, which is running GNU/Linux 2.6.x,
which is running a screen saver, which is emulating a 6502 CPU running
at 1 MHz connected to 40 KB of RAM and 26 KB of ROM, and also emulating
the cheap-arse video system it runs on.
AND IT'S STILL FASTER THAN THE ORIGINAL!
I am God.
http://www.xkcd.com/676/
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