The original hexadecimal counter

[gameoflifemaniac]

The hexadecimal counter from the Golly's pattern collection was a true hexadecimal counter, but now it's modified to skip some numbers. What about the original version of the counter? I can't find it anywhere. Even in the Golly 1.2's pattern collection!

[dvgrn]

The hexadecimal counter from the Golly's pattern collection was a true hexadecimal counter, but now it's modified to skip some numbers.

The original counter also skipped numbers, though it waited a little longer to do so, and the skips happened in two separate episodes. Rather oddly, the sequence started at "D9" in the original pattern.

Luckily, thanks to the magic of Gmail, I still have the ten-year-old emails detailing the pattern's various adjustments.

What about the original version of the counter? I can't find it anywhere. Even in the Golly 1.2's pattern collection!

Before I checked in the initial version, I reduced the number of bits in the movie from 152 down to 128. The current version is the only version that ever shipped with Golly.

Technically it is possible to recompile the counter to make a full two-digit hexadecimal counter. If old rumors can be believed, any movie up to 270+ frames can be made to fit (the exact point where the storage space would run out has never been located). It's fairly straightforward to build whatever 152-bit movie you want, as long as you can run Python scripts. Changing the number of bits requires adjusting the sizes of some loops in the base pattern -- see instructions below.

As far as I know, a recompilation to increase the bit depth has never been done. It wasn't done in 2007, on the theory that the resulting movie would be terribly boring to watch. Golly on average had a lot less memory to work with ten years ago, so at 152 bits the attached pattern was kind of pushing the limits.

[I tested that pattern on a desktop machine with only 320 megabytes of RAM. As usual, I was several years behind the times, hardware-wise, but that was just a lower-end normal five-year-old computer at that point...!

I've attached the original form of the pattern, plus the script that Brice sent that allowed me to recompile the pattern with different embedded movie frames.

I repackaged the same script and pattern files on the Script Request thread, a couple months ago, calling it moviemaker.zip -- but here are the unaltered originals:

HexaDecimal_original_April_2007.mc.gz

Original form of Brice Due's Hexadecimal counter, from April 2007

(33.67 KiB) Downloaded 302 times

Hexadecimal_counter_original_builder_script.zip

Script to recompile metapixel movie frames to produce any 16x10-pixel movie with 152 (pattern can be rebuilt to allow up to 270+)

(47.87 KiB) Downloaded 299 times

Here are the relevant instructions that go with that second attachment:

You can extend the period of the
tile up above 256 bits by moving the p184 guns nearest
the SW corner. The even bits and odd bits are
separated into the vert and horiz tractor memory
units.
...
The adjustments are simple. The bits are d8 so the end
guns skew by +/-p16 per bit per wing. The bit count
must be even due to the split design. (...although
pseudo-PRNG effects could be had with unmatched memory
wings. But because the memory encodes only the edge
signals, you get inverted frames... cool effects every
other pass.) I never figured out the maximum bit
count.

The current design starts with the screen blank and
pre-loads the first transition to bring up the first
frame. The pre-load consists of the lwss in the horiz
(I think??) lane near the SW corner duplicator. This
is possible because both the duplicator and the HWSS
controllers are p46 (or probably p92 -- there are a
few oddball rxns and I forget the final details). The
first frame is slightly shorter than the rest, but
when it loops around everything becomes normal since
the last-to-first-frame transition is encoded like all
the rest.
...
P.S. the master period is p35328 again, but the master
clocks are x2 to simplify the split design -- the two
wing clocks are simply 180 degrees out of phase. I
have always wanted to include that wonderful p138
oscillator in a design. The very corner-most p46
device is a natural XOR gate (p92 I think), but since
the two inputs are never active together, it functions
as a natural OR gate here. The HWSS streams are
thinned to p92 for aesthetic reasons and to reduce the
load on golly (and to include that cool looking
sparker). P46 HWSS waste resources without improving
the net appearance. The HWSS lanes are killed by that
weird honeybit eater reaction IIRC.

[gameoflifemaniac]

Remember that I can't run Python scripts. Could you make a Lua version of it? That would be amazing!

[dvgrn]

Remember that I can't run Python scripts. Could you make a Lua version of it? That would be amazing!

It's not high on my priority list at the moment. You are also quite capable of translating Python into Lua, with enough motivation, a little practice, and maybe a little help if you start a new thread with your best attempt.

Also, I still suspect that you can't run Python scripts only because you have the wrong version of Python installed. You didn't answer my previous question along these lines, so I can't help you fix the problem, but that doesn't mean it isn't fixable. If you have only 32-bit Python 3.x (instead of 2.7.13) installed, you might get the "Py_InitModule4" error.

(I could be wrong, though -- I don't remember this particular detail. Could use some help collecting symptoms and resolutions for this kind of problem.)

[gameoflifemaniac]

I have both versions installed!

[dvgrn]

I have both versions installed!

What is the version number of the 2.7.x version, and are you absolutely sure that it's a 32-bit version? Even if you are absolutely sure, it may still be worth uninstalling, re-downloading, and re-installing, just in case.

Can you go to the Python command line for that 2.7.x version, and type

Code: Select all

import sys; print (sys.version)

-- and report the line that is printed?

Do you need to have Python 3.x installed on the system? I've never seen Golly get confused by parallel installs, but it can certainly be confusing for Golly users...!