back to article Bitcoin on ATM? Pfft! We play Doom on ours

Back in January, a Register reader recalled a magazine cover of days of yore, depicting Doom as if it were running on an ATM: now an Aussie tinkerer has brought the vision to life. As shown in the YouTube video below, the hardware hackers obtained a presumably-retired NCR Personas ATM – one that runs Windows XP – and got id …

  1. Christian Berger

    Yawn

    It's old, and it's obviously rather easy if you can modify your ATM.

    This series of pictures shows chess being played on an older OS/2 based machine:

    http://www.ulm.ccc.de/old/projekte/bankomat/

    Essentially the bank left a console window open.

    1. Robert Helpmann??
      Childcatcher

      Re: Yawn

      Yes, but Chess was included in OS/2 (in contrast to Solitaire and Minesweeper being bundled with Windows), so 50% effort on both groups. For a complete win, you must show proof of an install on a machine in the wild.

      1. asdf

        Re: Yawn

        >you must show proof of an install on a machine in the wild.

        And here in the states that could very well wind you up in gangbanger pound in the rear prison. All 4 teh LULZ. The Schwartz case unfortunately show how little humor or sympathy corporate protecting DAs have in the US.

  2. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

    Fun times! Good fun for all. Made me smile.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's got an x86 processor and runs Windows XP. Is running Doom on it really that much of an achievement?

    1. Shades

      As much as I hate to admit it...

      ...that was my first thought too.

    2. Crisp

      Re: much of an achievement?

      I tell you what, you guys go back to work and I'll sit here playing Doom all afternoon.

      1. Matt_payne666

        Re: much of an achievement?

        true, not much of a hack if you take an x86 based atm (with full windows XP hardware compatibility), pull it apart to reveal usb ports, hard drives, etc, reformat it and install software, then attatch a separate keyboard, etc...

        now, break the preinstalled copy of windows, upload doom via magnetic stripe, while using the supplied keypad.... that would be worthy!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Is running Doom on it really that much of an achievement?

      Only if you get it to hand over banknotes when you win :)

      1. Chris King

        Or make a deposit

        That would give "pay-to-win" a whole new meaning !

  4. cracked

    Steam Punk Cool

    I don't know* how old the magazine cover was? ... but this is the sort of thing that would have been cool to dream about when connecting two Windows machines together, via direct modem connection, was the only way to "game online".

    Back then, late eighties / early nineties (or so), the idea of walking up to a cash machine, sticking in your card and PIN and having a game of Mortal Kombat with someone on the other side of the planet would have sounded like one of the coolest things on the planet.

    And just imagine if thousands of them were networked together and everyone could play in the same game ...

    Pretty cool idea, this linking disparate machines together ;-)

    *Accuracy Check: I can't be bothered to find out ...

    1. Christian Berger

      Re: Steam Punk Cool

      Actually ATMs were among the first things standing around in public that had access to data networks. At least some of them were connected to ISDN lines where they would use x.25 over the signaling channel to verify their transactions.

      1. cracked

        Re: Steam Punk Cool

        (-8

        I know, Christian. I remember watching the first one I ever saw (outside TV or a photograph) getting installed in the wall of the bank branch I used.

        I suppose for many people, ATMs would have been one of the first PCs they used

        And people really did think boffins (I don't remember hackers being a word?) would have us all playing PONG over that network ... stupid people, obviously ... ;-)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Steam Punk Cool

      >Back then, late eighties / early nineties (or so), the idea of ... would have sounded like one of the coolest things on the planet.

      Funny back then I was a lot more concerned with getting laid. Now I am middle aged with a family the geeky idea actually sounds cooler now than it would have to me then.

    3. Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

      Re: Steam Punk Cool

      This computer rag went titsup in 1995, so it had to be either 1994 or early 95. I'm almost tempted to trundle into the library to find it. Unfortunately there's nothing else to see besides the picture.

      Yes, cover shot was a real deal. ATMs of that era had 386SX boards and it was quite possible to get Doom up & crawling there. Just enough to get a static shot of it. It's kind of obvious that those rascals did not want to stop there - next steps would have been a TSR routine to map ATM keypad buttons into the PC keys, and a card billing routine - but the lack of horsepower made it pretty pointless.

  5. eJ2095

    God hope it wasn't a link machine you get charged 1.75 a go...

    On a side note the queues already long enough with the muppet who has to go through all the cards in there purse/wallet........

    1. Velv
      Headmaster

      Much as I commend you for your attempt at wit, Link is the agreement where cards from one bank can be used in an ATM provided by someone else, and Link make no charge to the card holder for this service. (Banks pay each other an interconnect fee of ~30p, but across the major providers that pretty much evens itself out since they all own some of their own ATMs that can be used by other banks).

      Charges are levied either by the owner of the ATM, or less common, by your bank if its one of the few who charges for not using their own ATMs.

  6. kjkillick

    Fraggin' Grannies!

    The old ladies aren't struggling to withdraw cash, they're having a quick cheeky game!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Why is it...

    That nowhere in the entire article credit is given to the actual maker of the video?

  8. DropBear
    Thumb Up

    Kinda neat...

    ...but something like West Bank would have been much neater!

    1. hplasm
      Coat

      Re: Kinda neat...

      Or NatWest Bank...

  9. swschrad

    GTA on your car's entertainment/control console

    but not using anything stupid like an Idrive handle, use the paddle transmission shifter controls on the steering wheel. this permits maximum carnage for the court charges!

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