if you happen to be in guimeraes, portugal, for the "european cultural capital 2012," Train is up and running! the opening was saturday night, and it ran flawlessly. i simplified the phone and switching systems, and replaced the stolen gameboys with android phones, bingo! using the android gained me huge new advantages, like actually making a full 3d game version of the train layout, kept in perfect sync with the movement of train by using the compass module on the phone, and magnets distributed around the layout. one functionality i assumed to posses but in fact is denied by all smartphone manufacturers (iPhone too), is the ability to actually author an "answering machine" for the phone itself. i was horrified when i discovered that all phones have cooked into the hardware a separation between the software and phone systems. this exists because it would take revenue from the service providers who charge you for voicemail. damn them! so in the end, "train" is running the original cellphone modules, and the "smart" phones don't even have a sim chip in them. ha! on the other hand, a nice thing about portugal is you can get free sim chips, and you don't pay for incoming calls, so my phone connection is totally free of charge! i guess they didn't think of that, hehehe. i'm super-pleased with how it all went, and it is SOOO nice to play with my favorite toy again.
photo by Aram Bartholl
