Jack Recider

So Gary is in his 50s now. But to properly tell this story, we need to go back in time to the 80s. At this point, Windows wasn't even a thing yet. Apple was just tinkering around in their garage. So who was the big player in the personal computing scene? Texas Instruments. They built this little machine that you could play a few games on and type on and do some basic tasks.

Gary loved it and thought it was really cool.

Gary loved it and thought it was really cool.

Gary would program software using the basic programming language, assembly, and Texas Instruments' own proprietary language called GPL. He'd make little programs on it to make the computer do more stuff. But then on top of that, he was also creating replacement parts for this computer. Because if something were to go bad, Texas Instruments wasn't making replacement parts.

Gary would program software using the basic programming language, assembly, and Texas Instruments' own proprietary language called GPL. He'd make little programs on it to make the computer do more stuff. But then on top of that, he was also creating replacement parts for this computer. Because if something were to go bad, Texas Instruments wasn't making replacement parts.

And Gary loved this little machine and he knew how. So he would just get the parts and solder them together and make new parts like graphic processors and other hardware.

And Gary loved this little machine and he knew how. So he would just get the parts and solder them together and make new parts like graphic processors and other hardware.

He was manufacturing computer parts. And I find that fairly impressive. I mean, he was certainly ahead of his time to be a startup computer part maker in the 1980s, right?

He was manufacturing computer parts. And I find that fairly impressive. I mean, he was certainly ahead of his time to be a startup computer part maker in the 1980s, right?

This is an interesting note that I want you to keep in your head. Gary was making programs for this computer and then working on ways to even improve the whole system, like making it work even better than intended and have more features and abilities. He was altering the computer so much that he asked Texas Instruments for permission to do this just to play it safe.

This is an interesting note that I want you to keep in your head. Gary was making programs for this computer and then working on ways to even improve the whole system, like making it work even better than intended and have more features and abilities. He was altering the computer so much that he asked Texas Instruments for permission to do this just to play it safe.

And they were done with that system and didn't really care. In fact, they did a whole tax write-off to dissolve that whole arm of the company that was working on this. So they didn't mind him cracking it open and modifying it to his heart's content. They were fine if he even made money on his mods or software. And I think that's the way things should be. It's how we progress with technology.

And they were done with that system and didn't really care. In fact, they did a whole tax write-off to dissolve that whole arm of the company that was working on this. So they didn't mind him cracking it open and modifying it to his heart's content. They were fine if he even made money on his mods or software. And I think that's the way things should be. It's how we progress with technology.

It's to improve upon someone else's code and someone else's hardware. And the improved versions take us to new places, and it becomes a new standard for how things work. So to me, this sounds great, that he was modifying this little computer to do bigger and better things with it.

It's to improve upon someone else's code and someone else's hardware. And the improved versions take us to new places, and it becomes a new standard for how things work. So to me, this sounds great, that he was modifying this little computer to do bigger and better things with it.

Fixing broken video game systems. This seems like an easy pivot for him. After all, a gaming system is simply a computer. It has a graphics processor, microchips, logic boards. Same as a computer, but there was a big difference.

Fixing broken video game systems. This seems like an easy pivot for him. After all, a gaming system is simply a computer. It has a graphics processor, microchips, logic boards. Same as a computer, but there was a big difference.

I mean, is it really Gary who's going to the dark side to try to code these things or modify them? Or is it Nintendo going to the dark side by locking out developers and purposely making it hard for them to modify it in any way? Nintendo did not want people tinkering with their system. Adding things to it or writing any custom software for their system was just a big no-no for them.

I mean, is it really Gary who's going to the dark side to try to code these things or modify them? Or is it Nintendo going to the dark side by locking out developers and purposely making it hard for them to modify it in any way? Nintendo did not want people tinkering with their system. Adding things to it or writing any custom software for their system was just a big no-no for them.

And I want to remind you that the NES system was just a little computer. It had a bootstrap, BIOS, firmware that all needs to load before it can execute a game. I mean, just look at the first version of the NES. It was called Famicom, which is short for Family Computer. It's clearly a computer. Now, when something failed on the Nintendo NES, it was very tricky to fix it.