by John Gaudio
I'd been a little lazy the first semester of my sophomore year, and had a C in geometry. Even a perfect score in the second semester could yield no more than a B, unless I did something special, and I wanted that A. So I built Mr. Kriofske a small box that administered and scored a 50 question, multiple choice, geometry test, which I also created.
Built within a hand made wooden box, my creation was less complex than a pin ball machine, but for a self taught, 15 year old kid, it was really quite an accomplishment. My dad financed the project, which was built from surplus parts I had purchased at CW Electronics. There were transformers, relays, switches, light bulbs, twelve position rotary solenoids, and, oh yes, the ignition coil from an old car, (used to knock a student on his ass, whenever he got a wrong answer.) :-)
True to his word, and because I also worked my butt off to learn my geometry, Mr. Kriofske awarded my A at the end of the year. Far more important though, was the fact that others recognized in me, and I recognized in myself, an ability to do outrageous, glorious, and what some considered "impossible" things, when I put my mind to them.
A few years later, still in my 20s, I was awarded US patents in Computer Display and Control systems, for inventing and building an early, crude version of the giant video displays now common in stadiums around the world. It was a wall of 1,800 lights, independently updated a hundred and twenty times a second, by an Altair 8800B microcomputer, running, on a Z80 microprocessor at 2 Megahertz, programs and an operating system that I'd written in Z80 assembly language. With it, I could run messages across the 60 foot wall that ran behind the dance floor of Orville's Hangar, a discotheque in Greeley, Colorado, that opened in February of 1977. The messages, in letters over six feet high, were entered by the DJ on a Model 33 Teletype. Patterns, colors, speed, direction, graphics and backgrounds were automatically adjusted to follow the music. It was awesome!
Got a good challenge? I like solving "impossible" problems for my clients. It's fun, and rewarding, and I don't mind the hard work. Call me if there's something you want, and the other computer geeks/Electrical Engineers are telling you it's "impossible."
Given sufficient time and money, we can do just about anything! Let's have some fun. 303-870-1044
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