Search found 152 matches

by PM 2Ring
July 15th, 2010, 12:40 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: specialized compression
Replies: 2
Views: 2511

Re: specialized compression

xlife did this with its #I format, see Life man page But as Dave says, it's not fun to write a parser to read or write such files. The other approach is to use a Python or perl script to build the pattern, and compress the script, an approach I've used with some of my Ticker patterns. Here's an exam...
by PM 2Ring
July 10th, 2010, 2:36 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: General Musings: My Life Story
Replies: 12
Views: 7356

Re: General Musings: My Life Story

calcyman wrote:In response to your last comment, my O(sqrt(log(t))) pattern displays every possible bitmap image, given sufficient time.
Ah, ok. That's pretty amazing. But I guess I've come to expect amazingness from you, calcyman. :)
by PM 2Ring
July 10th, 2010, 12:33 pm
Forum: Scripts
Topic: Golly scripts
Replies: 312
Views: 296885

Re: Golly scripts

Thanks for fixing that, Awesomeness. I'm still using Golly 1.2 on this ancient machine. I need to do major "renovations" before I can run later versions. So there are a few differences in the way scripts behave on my system. I don't know if this has been changed in later versions, but if you do a Py...
by PM 2Ring
July 10th, 2010, 12:23 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: General Musings: My Life Story
Replies: 12
Views: 7356

Re: General Musings: My Life Story

I'm totally blown away by the new Gemini pattern, of course. :) You gotta simulate it by hand! :D :D :D Um, maybe not. That one'd take a small army! But on a related note, I think it'd be very cool to get a huge crowd to do a living Life display. I guess it'd be hard to get the numbers to display a...
by PM 2Ring
July 8th, 2010, 12:42 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Golly Logo / about us ticker tape?
Replies: 5
Views: 3941

Re: Golly Logo / about us ticker tape?

I've uploaded a few Python scripts (in the Scripts forum) to produce patterns like this. And in the Patterns forum, I've posted pattern files that produce images of Marilyn Monroe and John Conway. They shouldn't be too hard to find. The Golly ticker (and my earlier scripts) use p46 technology, but t...
by PM 2Ring
July 8th, 2010, 12:36 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: General Musings: My Life Story
Replies: 12
Views: 7356

Re: General Musings: My Life Story

I, too, started playing with Life in the early 70s. In those days, I used modeling clay on the bathroom floor tiles. When I got access to computers, I wrote a few simple programs using very naive algorithms, but it was faster than doing it by hand. :) But I still like doing it by hand from time to t...
by PM 2Ring
July 7th, 2010, 6:07 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Pseudorandom number generator
Replies: 3
Views: 3233

Re: Pseudorandom number generator

RANDGUN.LIF Pseudorandom number generator with p46 logic A glider stream is emitted representing a pseudorandom binary sequence satisfying the recursion a[n] = a[n-1] XOR a[n-12]. (By spreading out the pattern, the 12 can be changed.) The sequence has period 3255, so the gun has period 46*3255 = 149...
by PM 2Ring
April 7th, 2010, 3:41 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Spaceship speed limits
Replies: 33
Views: 111741

Re: Spaceship speed limits

I spent some time last night playing with patterns like the ones Calcyman posted above, but with enough separation to allow the reactions to work properly. I now agree that the stargate's fast forward reaction (FFR) is an optical illusion. At step 6, the FFR produces a LWSS displaced 11 cells to the...
by PM 2Ring
April 6th, 2010, 8:21 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Spaceship speed limits
Replies: 33
Views: 111741

Re: Spaceship speed limits

..... The stargate is a p60 device, and it accelerates any p60 LWSS stream you feed it, assuming the stream is in synch with the stargate. ..... Yes, this much can be found via Internet, and concretely, in the LifeWiki. However, I wonder if this description is truly worthy of the reference source w...
by PM 2Ring
April 5th, 2010, 8:23 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Spaceship speed limits
Replies: 33
Views: 111741

Re: Spaceship speed limits

A recent example was the reasonable explanation in the LifeWiki that the stargate was an optical illusion, but that leads to the interesting question of whether the stargate needs a steady stream of space ships to generate the boost, or if it can be done on demand? The stargate is a p60 device, and...
by PM 2Ring
April 3rd, 2010, 2:48 am
Forum: Patterns
Topic: Glider circuits: components and contraptions
Replies: 69
Views: 110103

Re: Glider circuits: components and contraptions

Collatz sequence generator I am absolutely stunned ! You've probably found more uses for that adder circuit than anyone else. Thanks, calcyman! It's fun building these things, and actually I'm a little surprised that there aren't more patterns floating around that use that adder circuit. From what ...
by PM 2Ring
April 2nd, 2010, 2:33 am
Forum: Patterns
Topic: Glider circuits: components and contraptions
Replies: 69
Views: 110103

Re: Glider circuits: components and contraptions

Collatz sequence generator Here's my most ambitious arithmetic-oriented pattern to date. This pattern calculates the Collatz sequence in binary, using p60 / p30 technology. Input and output is done using LWSS bits. The next number in the Collatz sequence is generated after 7680 (= 128 * 60) steps. ...
by PM 2Ring
April 2nd, 2010, 2:20 am
Forum: Patterns
Topic: Glider circuits: components and contraptions
Replies: 69
Views: 110103

Re: Glider circuits: components and contraptions

After a break of several months, I've been building things again. :)

Here's a cute 6 glider wipeout reaction I stumbled across recently.
Image
by PM 2Ring
April 2nd, 2010, 2:11 am
Forum: Patterns
Topic: Buckaroo!
Replies: 1
Views: 3379

Re: Buckaroo!

Here's a tight double spiral which can easily be expanded. The Buckaroo sequence on each "arm" repeats every 270 pixels. BuckarooSpiralA0.rle x = 681, y = 691, rule = B3/S23 338bo$339bo$337b3o6$346bo$344bobo$345b2o5$353bo$354bo$352b3o3$339b2o$ 339bo$326bo10bobo$325bobo9b2o22bo$318b2o4bob2o31bobo$318...
by PM 2Ring
April 2nd, 2010, 1:55 am
Forum: Patterns
Topic: Buckaroo!
Replies: 1
Views: 3379

Buckaroo!

Here are some patterns using the humble Buckaroo that I've built over the last couple of weeks. Firstly, here is a grid displaying all phases of the Buckaroo. It was created in Golly using this script . BuckarooGridA.rle x = 240, y = 198, rule = B3/S23 2b2obo25b2o29b2obo24b2obo26b2o3b2o25b2obo26b2ob...
by PM 2Ring
April 2nd, 2010, 1:16 am
Forum: Scripts
Topic: Golly scripts
Replies: 312
Views: 296885

Re: Golly scripts

This script creates a numbered grid of multiple generations of the currently selected pattern. Each grid entry is numbered using the Snakial font. It was written to display all phases of an oscillator (or guns) in a single pattern. PatGrid0.py # Golly Python script # Display a numbered grid of gener...
by PM 2Ring
November 18th, 2009, 10:35 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Game of Life Hardware
Replies: 1
Views: 2710

Game of Life Hardware

A recent xkcd thread mentioned that there are modular circuit kits available for implementing the Game of Life which display the Life board on a grid of LEDs. These modules can be connected together to make a larger board. The supplied software initializes the board with a random pattern, but the so...
by PM 2Ring
November 3rd, 2009, 8:35 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Naming Conventions?
Replies: 19
Views: 11584

Re: Naming Conventions?

Are you suggesting that a toad (p2 oscillator) is a type of plant?! :lol: It could be... We already have a pulsar, quasar, star and Kok's galaxy. And they are all dwarfed by the Caterpillar. Indeed. But I'm talking about the possibility of a new naming system. As I said earlier, it may not be a goo...
by PM 2Ring
November 3rd, 2009, 7:42 am
Forum: Patterns
Topic: Simple growing spaceship
Replies: 8
Views: 7845

Re: Simple growing spaceship

Various interesting collisions between the c/6 ship and gliders, beehives, snakes, eaters & blocks. x = 845, y = 501, rule = B3/S23 684bo$682bobo$683b2o$29bo159bo159bo159bo159bo159bo$28b3o157b3o157b3o 157b3o157b3o157b3o$28b2obo2b2o8bo143b2obo2b2o8bo143b2obo2b2o8bo143b2ob o2b2o8bo143b2obo2b2o8bo143b2...
by PM 2Ring
November 3rd, 2009, 7:38 am
Forum: Scripts
Topic: Golly scripts
Replies: 312
Views: 296885

Re: Golly scripts

Fill current selection with a random glider field. Density must be a random floating point number between 0 & 1. Separation & seed are integers >= 0 # Golly python script. # Written by PM 2Ring, November 2009 ''' Fill current selection with a random glider field ''' import golly from glife import * ...
by PM 2Ring
November 2nd, 2009, 4:54 am
Forum: Patterns
Topic: Simple growing spaceship
Replies: 8
Views: 7845

Re: Simple growing spaceship

I'm going to try & bounce gliders off it. No luck. The front might look a bit like a pentadecathlon, but the corners don't and that's where gliders would bounce off. Oh well. But I did discover that it doesn't like snakes. See what happens when a snake suddenly jumps into its path: x = 35, y = 18, ...
by PM 2Ring
November 2nd, 2009, 4:38 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Naming Conventions?
Replies: 19
Views: 11584

Re: Naming Conventions?

Much naming is uninspired: x is adjectived by long, longer, ... trans, cis, para, and other greek and latin terms. There have been suggestions to follow in Linaeus' or Mendeleev's footsteps; after all botanists, chemists, and others have extremely well developed naming systems. Speaking of short an...
by PM 2Ring
November 1st, 2009, 8:50 am
Forum: Patterns
Topic: Glider circuits: components and contraptions
Replies: 69
Views: 110103

Re: Glider circuits: components and contraptions

A pair of p182 LWSS streams are periodically eaten by pairs of gliders that bounce between the streams. x = 602, y = 328, rule = B3/S23 332bob2o$332b2obo3$319bo42bo52b2obo$319b3o38b3o52bob2o$322bo20b2o14bo$ 305b2o14b2o11b2o6b2o15b2o7b2o$305b2o27b2o8bo23bo19bo42bo$353b3o10bobo 19b3o38b3o$366b2o23bo14...
by PM 2Ring
November 1st, 2009, 8:41 am
Forum: Patterns
Topic: Thread For Your Accidental Discoveries
Replies: 2046
Views: 1412715

Re: Thread For Your Accidental Discoveries

Tight salvo emerges from chaos: x = 33, y = 29, rule = B3/S23 9b2o$9bobo$10b2o9$2o$2o7$4b2o$4b2o6$30b3o$31bo$29b3o! I somehow missed that one yesterday, but now that I look at it, it seems vaguely familiar. I wonder if it can be tamed with a few still lifes to reduce the debris? Three glider salvo ...
by PM 2Ring
November 1st, 2009, 8:11 am
Forum: Patterns
Topic: Marilyn
Replies: 13
Views: 15737

Re: Marilyn

Responding to *****'s question... a) People do not normally have heart attacks at 13 years of age. b) What age did you think I was? 27? c) I was shocked at how well the portrait was rendered. Now back to the main topic... d) Maybe you could use different colored gliders? :D I thought you were in yo...