Please help a computer-illiterate(but otherwise literate) writer

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EctoJedi

New Member
Hi all.

Thanks for clicking. My conundrum is this: I'm writing a fictional story that, to some extent, requires computer knowledge that is a bit out of my league. It is not the main thrust of the story but it does involve a large subplot, and I'm looking for help in finding realistic ways of going about it.

So here you are, the details:

The year is 1983. I have a government supercomputer (to my mind, something similar to the WOPR from WarGames) being used, surreptitiously, to remote control other machines (in this case, arcade games).

How would that be done? Could it be done wirelessly? I'm brainstorming some hokum about radio waves, but I don't know if that's entirely realistic.

Also: we've got people determined to stop this machine. How would you do so, while limiting the chances of being discovered or caught? One character has a vast knowledge of computer technology.

What would you do to block the computer's signal, or derail its programming? A virus, it seems, would take long to design and upload, and time is short. Simply smashing the thing to pieces won't work, either.



I look forward to hearing your ideas!
 
This could possible be done through something like a VPN. I am thinking that this super computer would have to be at the same place as the arcade games unless you were accessing through a remote system through the internet which would be wireless access to s certain degree.
 
You could say the arcade business throughout the country are interlinked by telephone lines to promote contests and store high scores yet it's a covert operations. Your super computer then can access their network.

If you publish it you owe me a book. :)
 
Twiki said:
You could say the arcade business throughout the country are interlinked by telephone lines to promote contests and store high scores yet it's a covert operations. Your super computer then can access their network.

If you publish it you owe me a book. :)
Click to expand...

I like that idea
 
If a certain action or signal must be received from a certain arcade by a specific time, this could be stopped by placing a small explosive charge on the fuse or breaker box of the arcade, and firing it off electronically, like with a cell phone call or a timer, or a mouse in a cage that eats an amount of food necessary to change the weight of the food bin and cause the explosive circuit to engage . . .
 
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