MIT Hack Turns the Green Building Into a Giant Game of Tetris 65
An anonymous reader writes "MIT hackers have turned the Green Building, the tallest building in Cambridge, into a giant, playable, full color game of Tetris. According to the IHTFP Hack Gallery, "MIT hackers have long considered 'Tetris on the Green Building' to be the Holy Grail of hacks.""
Awesome (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Awesome (Score:5, Funny)
If my display had that many stuck pixels, I'd return it.
Amazing (Score:5, Insightful)
I just watched the video... I didn't know it was possible to be so bad at Tetris.
Re:Amazing (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah, they are far away from this [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:1)
Turning building windows into pixels have been done before. Even the first time it was entertaining, but far from awesome.
Re:Awesome (Score:4, Informative)
Either LED systems, or they used Pentron 3-color adjustable lighting.
Re:Awesome (Score:5, Informative)
Follow the links for more info. Strings of Christmas lights, relays, Linux, and Windows CE for the console. Due to the noisy relays, operation was restricted to after midnight when the building was vacant.
Re: (Score:2)
"Strings of Christmas lights"
Of which most made today are LED.
Re: (Score:1)
Incorrect. It uses a small strip of wirelessly-controlled LEDs at the bottom of each window. It was not restricted to after midnight. You may have read about one of the earlier attempts in which they did indeed run it late at night.
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
It's just another "crazy thing" that somebody did that really just takes time and planning.
Yeah, just like the first moon landing. Ho hum.
Re: (Score:2)
More like the sixth moon landing.
Re: (Score:1)
Pretty much, yes. The ratings for Apollo 13 sucked before the 'problem'.
Re:No longer impressed by things like this... (Score:4, Funny)
No, this is Cambridge. Boston sucks for entirely different reasons.
Re: (Score:1)
if it had been Boston the whole city wold have closed in fear - IT'S got flashy lights OMG its a bomb Terrorists!!!
Already done before (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:1)
So by "already done before" you mean "not really"?
No, not really. [youtube.com]
Re:Already done before (Score:4, Informative)
True... The german Chaos Computer Club has been doing this long time ago :)
Pong 2001:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Blinkenlights [wikipedia.org]
Re:Already done before (Score:5, Informative)
Anyway, whatever the prior art was, it is always a very thrilling development.
Re: (Score:2)
The earliest one I know of was in April 2000 on the 14-story science library at Brown University. Info & videos here:
http://bastilleweb.techhouse.org/
I remember the press coverage at the time. Steve Wozniak flew in from CA to play.
Re: And by Delft in 1995 (Score:5, Informative)
Students of Delft University of Technolgy did this in 1995, at the 22-story EWI building. The lamps could also be controlled over internet.
I found a photo here:
http://retro.nrc.nl/W2/Nieuws/1998/02/27/Med/06.html
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
OK, so where's your practical example of a major hard-hack? Oh wait, you haven't done one. STFU.
PIWO light show! (Score:1)
Check out the http://www.piwo.pwr.wroc.pl/?lang=en - it is the full-color universal display fired every year at Wroclaw University of Technology campus (Poland). Also on tour in 2012
Woz (Score:2)
Maybe Woz will show up to play this one too [macobserver.com].
Uhm, not even old news (Score:3)
Wasn't this already done like 4 years ago? Okay, this time they managed to link up tetris, not just controlled animation (IIRC), but still...
Re: (Score:2)
Yep, this is not the first time we've discussed this one... but it's nice to see a tradition like this still going on.
As I've posted somewhere elese (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
Great ad hominem about a school you clearly know little about. Hacks like these are just for fun - there is plenty of "real engineering" going on here at MIT. Oh, and MIT is *the* core east-coast school for Apple, I have multiple friends that are headed there this summer.
- Current MIT student
Re: (Score:2)
Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkIRWoo9qrU [youtube.com]
Video on youtube (Score:2)
They may be really good at programming things... (Score:5, Funny)
The Tetris Company LLC does not approve (Score:4)
TMRC did it first (Score:2)
As chance would have it, I was at MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club [mit.edu] open house last night (Saturday 21 April 2012). TMRC, for those who don't know, is a well-spring of hacker subculture. Their model railroad layout is fully automated using homebrew control and interface hardware, and their own Linux-based software. Formerly it ran on adapted telephone switch relays.
Anyhow, their layout includes a scale model of the Green building, and yes, you can play Tetris on it. Granted, it's not as impressive as doing
Where the hack? (Score:1)
I see installed lighting with permission probably , not hacking ?
Tetris? (Score:1)
People still play that boring game?
Re: (Score:2)
I think the fun is in programming it rather than playing it now. It's a great way to familiarise yourself with a new language or to test out a novel display. It's a small enough project that a decent programmer can knock out their own version over a few days - maybe quicker - and you've got something that just about everyone recognises and can appreciate. The specs for the basic game are online and easy enough to understand.
Once you've got past "Hello, world" and figured out the basics of a new language's
Re: (Score:2)
People still play that boring game?
I thank a freeware/shareware version of it (on an 8086 cpu) for my first introduction to RSI. I learned my lesson and swapped computer games out for *nix instead.
Fritterware: lets you fritter your life away.
Bravo! (Score:1)
The fellow should have practiced the game before going online in front of the whole city though!
Vangelis already did it. (Score:2)
"Eureka", Rotterdam, 1991.
Awesome video.
That slideshow sucks (Score:2)
Was there just a few weeks ago (Score:2)
We toured the MIT campus a few weeks ago during a trip to Boston to visit several schools that my daughters might attend. (My daughter that applied there didn't get admitted though.) Anyway we saw the Green building and the tour guides (some junior and senior students) told us the history of the hacks. (My favorite hack is still the smoot marks on the bridge). They mentioned that the lights in that building are ALWAYS on and if there was a time at night that the building was completely dark it would be
In Poland we have P.I.W.O. Project (B.E.E.R.) (Score:1)
I was working on this as an art project in 1993... (Score:1)
Though my other, much tamer art project was removed by a distraught faculty member even though I had all the permits. Putting it up a second time (with the help of a facility person and friends) before class was over was a challenge!
All hail the (now defunct) Fish Bowl!
8-PP