#Blue LCD Display

[satyakabireee]

https://dsmonline.in/product/lcd-16x2-blue-display-vmrtq

[technicallyoneofakind]

I still have TWO of these suckers, both different models of the Sony Trinitron. I sleep next to one and use it as a night stand and the other is used as a monitor for a media PC in my art room and it's uh... That monitor's casing is umm... Is held partly together with gorilla tape and the colors are separating in one corner.

Good to know I'm literally within arms reach of a tiny reactor. I love them.

[yoda-smart]

Revolutionize Retail Advertising with Square Displays

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[poolseason]

[NINJAGELION AU]

i've had this Ninjago x Evangelion/Mecha crossover au brewing in my head for years now, felt like revisiting it

Long post under the cut: Backstories, design notes and character lore

Mechs:

Unit-01 (WIP) : Lloyd's mech, supposed to resemble an Oni. It's primarily a dark purple with glowing green panels and orange accents, with 2 horn like antannae. It's 4 eyes are actually an LCD display. Unit-01's color scheme the same as from the source material, bc purple green and gold are plot relevant colors for Lloyd specifically. The weapons this unit uses are short-swords, plasma blasters, and it's bare fists(lol). This mech is prone to going berserk a lot, possibly due to it's pilot's mental instability.

(In NGE, the mech's are possessed by a spirit of their parents or loved ones, I'm indecisive on if Garmadon is the ghost in Lloyd's mech or Misako. Last time I was thinking about this au, Misako was possessing it, but i'm sort of leaning towards Garmadon again. idk idk.....)

Unit-02 (WIP): Built to resemble a samurai with dragon like elements that glow red. This mech is built for but land and undersea combat, making it the most versatile machine on the force. It's equipped with a retractable sword and an acid blaster. It's possessed by a former scientist named Nyad.

Pilots (and Cole):

Cole is a captain, (looking to be promoted to major) and is the head of the New Ninjago City base's combat division. He sort of a silly dude and while he takes his job really seriously, he's also prone to unprofessionalism. He personally oversees the pilots training and coaches them during fights. When Commander Garmadon and Assistant Head Wu refuse to take Lloyd in when he arrives at NNC, Cole decides to take the kid in himself and be the parental figure he doesn't have. Cole's got a complicated relationship with his own family, especially after his mother died saving him the Second Impact 20 years ago, now he vows to destroy all the darkness monsters that are invading.

Zane is sort of a mysterious guy. He's an artifical lifeform created specifically to pilot any mech but he usually fights in the prototype, Unit-00. Unit-01 doesn't seem to like him, and never responds to him. His suit is mostly grayscale, white armor, and light blue accents. His neural interface comes with a visor to help him see better. His primary relationships are Cole, Dr Pixal Borg, who is his personal doctor and (almost) confidant, Wu, who he has a father-son esque relationship with, and Lloyd his first true friend. He doesn't see much value in himself because he can always be replaced with a different copy, but his time with his friends starts to teach him otherwise

Nya and her supervising officer Kai are from Ignacia and joined the NINJA-go battle mech program through their connection with their parents, who were officers of the organization. But after a terrible accident following the Second Impact, they were left orphaned. Kai was too old to qualify as a pilot, but Nya was the perfect candidate. She began training at age 13, and became the strongest fighter on the force. Now at nineteen, the darkness monsters are now attacking and she (and her brother) are transferred to the New Ninjago City base, which seems to be the epicenter of the attacks, and now the the former solo-flyer has to learn to be a part of a team. She's a bit arrogant and prickly and a kindhearted friend to the other pilots, and she's got a bit of a crush on Junior Technician Jay Walker. Nya's suit design is definitely the most personalized primarily blue with grey, and darker blue and red accents with white armor, actually she ended looking a little like D.Va lol.

Lloyd, is the youngest pilot on the team now, but he's still a minor so he has to deal with the joys of school alongside his new life as a mech fighter. Having been unexpectedly summoned to Ninjago City by his estranged Uncle Wu and pressured into fighting the invading monster, Lloyd is apprehensive about his new double life, but this responsibility bestowed on him now means he now has friends and people who care about him, a far cry from the abusive boarding school he was abandoned at. Lloyd's a moody kid, with some anger issues and unresolved trauma at something terrible he witnessed when he was a young child, but he's also an empathetic kid who's willing to help everyone he meets. Lloyd has a sibling like rivalry with Nya, big brother(teetering on fatherly) relationship with Cole and Kai, a crush on the girl from school who punched him Akita, and really strained relationship with his parents and uncle. Beyond that he has a friendship with his mysterious colleague Zane that he doesn't really understand. Lloyd's suit is the most simple of the pilot suits, mostly green with white armor and gold accents. He didn't really think too much about it, other than asking Jay to make it green. His neural interface is also pretty simple, since he has an bizarrely high natural sync rate with his mech, which resemble little horns.

MISC Lore:

The second impact was an event where humanity fucked around and found out on the Dark Island and and entity called the Overlord awakened from hibernation, causing a near apocalypse that left Ninjago in an eternal heatwave. 20 years later these dragon-like monsters have started attacking trying to get to something being held deep below Ninjago City (source dragon? FSM as a dragon? firstbourne?? some kind of Dragon is under the base)

Zane promised Lloyd that he'll bring snowy winters back for him, and even though Lloyd thinks that was a rare moment of cheesiness from his friend, little did he know that Zane was going to cause an Ice Age during the climax.

Only people born after the second impact are viable candidates to pilot the NINJA mechs. When Kai learned of this he was furious that he couldn't be the one to avenge his family, and had to watch his sister fight and train instead. But in spite of his anger he made it a personal mission to get power in the organization and uncover the conspiracy behind the Second Impact and the attacking monsters.

Unit-00 is a prototype mech and isn't equipped for most combat scenarios, so Zane is primarily a long-range fighter and sniper. Zane might be replaceable to the force but Unit-00 isn't. Unit-00 was originally designed by Dr. Julien, but the man went mad and under mysterious circumstances, he was found dead inside it's entry plug alongside Zane's original iteration, Echo. After that incident, testing began on it, the original test pilot was a 24 year old, Morro, who was personally recruited by Wu, but the synchronization failed and disaster struck again, ending with Unit-00 going berserk, and another casualty. A similar incident happened with Zane, and later Lloyd, though they survive. Wu just needs to learn that Unit-00 really hates new pilots, and Zane is the only successful pilot for it.

Unit-01 is also a very testy machine, it only likes Lloyd, and goes berserk if it feels that Lloyd is in danger. Otherwise it doesn't respond to anyone else.

Cole and Kai might have hooked up in grad school, no one really knows for certain.

Pixal is the second Borg to join the organization, her father Cyrus Borg was one of the original researchers, and the person who designed the Geofront system that allowed the inhabited buildings in New Ninjago City to safely go underground and become a fortress on the surface. Pixal is more interested in the actual NINJA mechs and combat division research more than the civilian safety r&d, and she becomes the Head Scientist by the time the story begins.

Pixal the second in command to Cole, and her assistant is 23 year old genius Jay Walker, fresh out of an engineering degree and landed himself in the most insane secret government organization. Skylor and Dareth are the two other lead technicians. But Dareth's not too amazing at his job, admittedly.

The NINJA mechs aren't just machines,, they're enormous building sized cyborgs, and are actually alive creatures being held under armor. Unit-00 and 02 are cloned only from the dragon held under the Ninjago City base, but Unit-01 is cloned from the Overlord and the Dragon, making it a hybrid.

Throughout the story Cole and Kai begin to uncover a conspiracy orchestrated by the Commander and (reluctant accomplice Wu) and a mysterious council, with plans to destroy to world and rewrite reality, and for some reason Zane and Lloyd are at the center of it.

[foone]

Terrible idea: person who argues that video games by definition have to be shown on a video display.

But this doesn't just mean that Game & Watch/Tiger electronics aren't games, neither is any video game shown on an LCD/OLED.

You need a CRT for it to be a video game.

So Pokémon Red/Blue aren't video games, UNLESS you're playing it on a Super Game Boy.

Switch games aren't video games, unless your switch is docked, and you're using a 4:3 CRT TV

[ui-alcoholic]

NINTENDO GAMEBOY

Being a non-gamer, then Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi would give the game to his superstar programmer Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of their most popular franchises Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda, to see what he thought. Several days later, Miyamoto confirmed to Yamauchi that it was a great game and when Yamauchi asked why, Miyamoto responded “Because even your secretaries and accountants are playing it!"

video source: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHJ3HB-tu2P

Release Date: • Japan: April 21, 1989 • North America: July 1989 • Europe: 1990

Manufacturer: Nintendo Designer: Gunpei Yokoi & Nintendo R&D1 Display: 2.6" monochrome LCD (160×144 resolution) Audio: Mono speaker, stereo via headphones Power: 4 AA batteries (10–15 hours playtime) Multiplayer: Game Link cable (for games like Tetris and Pokémon)

Key Features: Portable: One of the first truly successful handheld consoles. Durable Build: Known for its toughness—could survive falls and rough handling. Cartridge-Based Games: Swappable game cartridges. Simple Controls: D-pad + A, B, Start, Select buttons.

Iconic Games: Tetris – bundled with the console, helped it become a global success. Super Mario Land – Mario’s first handheld adventure. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – a deep handheld Zelda RPG. Metroid II: Return of Samus – expanded the Metroid series on the go. Pokémon Red & Blue – launched the Pokémon phenomenon.

Legacy: Over 118 million units sold (Game Boy and Game Boy Color combined). Laid the foundation for Nintendo’s handheld dominance. Predecessor to all later Nintendo handhelds: Game Boy Color, GBA, DS, 3DS, Switch Lite.

[viewofagarden]

Dandy's World OC: Calvin the Calculator

Bio and details below!

“Numeracy is Calvin’s middle name! He may be a little awkward at times, but you can always count on him to help you need him! He teaches children the basics of math and how to apply it to everyday life.”

Full Name: Calvin Euler  Other Name: Calvin the Calculator Species: Calculator Gender: Male (He/Him) Voice Claim: Peter Oldring (Cody - Total Drama)

Dandy Store Quote

“You can always “count” on Calvin! Hehe!”

Requirements

3141 Ichor

50% Research on Twisted Calvin

Appearance

Calvin is a blue calculator with a light yellow LCD screen, which displays his eyes and mouth. He wears a blue argyle vest underneath a white dress shirt with long sleeves, a pair of dark blue pants, and brown shoes. He also wears a pair of blue-colored glasses.

His buttons are below his screen. All of them are dark blue except for the equals button, which is orange.

Personality

As expected, Calvin is an intelligent, nerdy, mathematical whiz! While he’s similar to Booklyn, Calvin is more humble about his intelligence and is considerably more “dorky”. He’s also friendlier, easier-going, and way less snarky. But he is no less eager to help others whenever they need him, and no less hardworking.

However…he is a bit socially awkward, he has a tendency to misinterpret social cues, and tends to apologize a lot. 

Stats

Rank: Uncommon Health: ♥️♥️♥️ Skill Check: ⭐⭐⭐ (Size 150 / Value 2) Movement Speed: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Walk 17.5 / Sprint 27.5) Stamina: ⭐⭐ (125) Stealth: ⭐⭐ (5) Extraction Speed: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (1.20)

Ability

Multiplier Passive At the start of a floor, this Toon boosts a random stat for every Toon in the round by either 1.5, 2, 2.5, or on very rare occasions; 3. Does not stack if there are other Calvins in the run but does increase the chances of getting a 3 by a small margin.

Dialogue 

Finishing extraction

“Easy as 1,2,3!” “Was that good…?” “That’s one down, just a couple more to go.”

Descending to the next floor

“Let me just crunch the numbers real fast…” “Just gimme a second…sorry this is taking a bit…” “Wait, I think I miscalculated…sorry.

Twisted Calvin

"If Twisted Calvin’s on the prowl, be very wary, he knows how to divide and conquer. He divides a random stat by either 1.5, 2, or, if you’re very unlucky…3. Trinkets, multipliers and items will be your best friends here.”

Rank: Uncommon Speed: Below Average (17) Attention Span: Slightly Above Average (2.75) Detection Range: Average

Twisted Calvin is a roaming Twisted that, similar to his Toon counterpart, will affect a random stat of every Toon by either 1.5, 2, or, very rarely, 3. But he divides the number of the stat instead of multiplying, weakening the Toons. The stat that’s diminished and by how much will be displayed on the screen the moment he spawns.

Twisted Research Trinket: Abacus Trinket Category: Skill Check Increases the completion when performing a successful skillcheck by 1.5

Trivia

Calvin’s last name comes from the Euler number, a mathematical constant equal to 2.71828.

Calvin is currently the most expensive non-main Toon, due to his ichor requirement being the same number as the first 4 digits of Pi.

Calvin doesn’t have any vision issues. He just wears glasses because he likes them.

[piratesexmachine420]

Here's another interesting fact:

That ↑ is a no-foolin' color LCD with zero subpixels.

Zoom in! (Apologies for the dust.) You won't find any. The pixels themselves are colored.

The limitations of this approach become a little more obvious when you play around a little in the contrast menu:

Pixels can be Off, Orange, Blue or Green. You can calibrate what specific shade corresponds to a given color along that OBG spectrum, but you can't display more than those three (four?) colors and their in-betweens. No mixing colors. Probably shouldn't hold your breath and wait for this to make a comeback, but it's very cool to look at.

Highly recommend this video for a little more, and footage of this tech actually displaying stuff:

[lightblueminecraftorchid]

Any fun computer facts for this Friday afternoon?

Yes!!!!!!!

ClearType, introduced for Windows XP, was made for LCD screens. I love it and think it’s very neat.

These screens have pixels, which each can display one color at a time, right? Little square. But each square, in order to display any color, has three subsections: red, blue, n green! So each pixel can be subdivided into three smaller pixels.

So, at small font points, some letters were not super legible, bc the constrains of pixels at that size made them look clunky or too similar to other letters. ClearType helped clarify the shape of these letters by only using portions of each pixel, instead of using the whole pixel. This made the font look limned in colors, instead of flat black type, but made smoother and clearer shapes!

[miloscat]

[Review] Sega Pocket Arcade: Ecco the Dolphin (1995)

A rare dolphin treat.

A while ago I bought the Sega Pocket Arcade: Ecco the Dolphin from 1994 (pictured on the left, below). Much to my dismay, problems with the unit design caused hardware issues that rendered the game unplayable. Still, it’s a great collector’s item in a unique form factor. However, a much rarer item is the second Ecco the Dolphin handheld from 1995-according to the back of the unit (pictured on the right)-or 1997 going by the packaging. Although Tiger is often credited for the initial “red label” games in this line, their branding is absent from the packaging so Sega of America may have internally developed the first model and manufactured it in the US, but the 1995 blue label model was certainly and proudly developed by the experienced LCD game company Tiger and made in China… and by the way, the hardware did not almost instantly fail on me.

Sega’s initial Pocket Arcade line had a few different case designs, some with slide-out screens. Their clamshell units included Ecco, Columns, and Football. When Tiger took over, all of their line, such as this second Ecco, Nights, and the enticing Panzer Dragoon, used the screen-protecting clamshell design. They also seem to universally use a much smaller inset screen compared to the first lineup, no doubt a cost-saving measure that unfortunately hampers playability somewhat.

Now, observe the two units side by side. Note the differences in screen layout and button distribution. These are in fact two completely separate games with differing design, graphics, and controls. Both have Ecco auto-swimming to the right, avoiding hostile sea life over a number of levels, but each has unique features. The first game has an active sonar mechanic, which can reveal tunnels to swim through (similar to the OG dolphin game, Activision’s Dolphin) and interact with glyphs. It has a speed control mechanic, hazardous seagulls above the waves, and dolphin family members to rescue, not to mention descriptive level write-ups in the manual.

By contrast, this second unit seems simpler, more of a straightforward survival game. But there’s enough depth for an LCD game, with three planes of action and the life/air bars to juggle. Surfacing for air is necessary but sometimes blocked by a jellyfish, and health can be refilled by tapping the Eat button on the lower lane when a fish comes along amongst the coral. There are many hazards on the bottom layer to be wary of, though.

The biggest foe is the octopus who emerges from the right to menace two lanes with tentacular ferocity! Combine this with a jelly up top and you’re in a right pickle. However, a back-dodge can grant temporary sanctuary especially when chained together. More types of sharks appear as the levels progress to threaten each lane, and other, more difficult to identify, creatures add to the dangers of the deep. This game features a passive sonar to help you avoid the larger threats, with a sort of status bar that displays the direction of imminent attacks.

There are six levels in total (compared to the first unit’s seven), with the action speeding up as you advance. Beat level six and you win the game, or so the cardboard insert claims. The pace of gameplay and the intense rate at which your air depletes at this stage meant that I couldn’t manage to clear it. Your number of lives resets to 3 on each stage, so there’s no way to stock up or lasting penalty for taking a few dings. The game also tracks your score, which as far as I could tell just increases naturally as you progress regardless of your actions. It seems a little pointless, especially because it maxes out at 9990 partway through level five!

The soundscape is a few mere beeps and dare I say boops governed by your actions, and the majority of the backdrop is just a blue gradient… of course, this means it doesn’t obscure sprites like some other LCD games’ busy backgrounds. Those sprites are lovely, distinctive and detailed. Well, most of them anyway; some of the enemy critters don’t show up well on this tiny screen.

From what I could tell of the first unit, it tries to make each level somewhat distinctive, with an adventure feel as you can start from any stage you’ve unlocked, while this second one is content to just up the speed and add a couple of new enemy types as you advance, making it more of a score-chasing action game. It does have some nice little touches though, like the land edges that border each stage, and the lightning storm in the skies above, while the printed sandy coral layer on the sea floor mitigates the lack of the stunning sky vista the first game had. The two complement each other well, and I feel a lucky collector indeed to now own both, even if the first one is busted and the second has an ever so small screen. I just love dolphin games that much!

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 33

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster? A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs. But would they die for it?

Jurassc Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: some swears, nothing explicit in this chapter, though heavily implied in the first half

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @ocappreciation @wordspin-shares @howlingmadlady @arrthurpendragon @themaradwrites @starryeyes2000 @kmc1989 (please lmk if you would like informed of my sporadic updates. Thanks for bearing with me on this one folks, the first half of this year has not been a good one mentally)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 32 | Chapter 34

Magic Man - Heart

Daylight streamed brazenly into the room the next morning, the clear blue sky holding no memory of the previous night’s storm.

Lizzy awoke abruptly. As the solar rays blasted her directly in the retinas, she dimly registered it was coming from a different angle than usual.

Odd.

She quickly sat up - ouch!

No, she didn’t.

With a soft groan, she sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes. Christ, her head was thumping.

The fuzzy outline of her glasses, folded on the bedside table next to what was presumably a glass of water, and two aspirin.

Very odd. Not something even sober Lizzy would do.

Her surroundings came into focus, including a digital clock that definitely wasn’t hers, and with it, a jumble of untidy memories. She squinted to read the first set of numbers on the LCD display.

One-zero.

Ten.

As in ten in the morning? That ten?!

Motherfu-

“Oh no, oh nonono-“ she quietly panicked, scrabbling around at her own body under the covers, checking. Still dressed, barely.

Well, that was something.

But she wasn’t alone in the bed. Lizzy already knew whose presence was beside her, she’d know him anywhere. In the depths of the jungle with not even a sliver of moonlight, she’d know him. She’d always known him.

Robert Muldoon.

I’m in Muldoon’s bed.

She couldn’t remember falling asleep. She couldn’t even remember how she got there. Nothing. Shitting nothing!

Lizzy quickly tried to work out how she felt about the situation, and how she was going to get out of it.

Was she embarrassed? Ashamed?

No, surprisingly neither of those.

Maybe a little disappointed that she still had her underwear on…?

Stop that, right now.

Lizzy certainly wasn’t pleased either. The blanks in her memory were worrying. She didn’t do that sort of thing anymore. And she certainly never slept past ten in the morning.

Enough stewing, she had to leave. She had to leave immediately.

She put her glasses on, downed the water and aspirin, and made to scramble off for a hasty exit.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” That very familiar deep voice with the East African twang confronted her.

She didn’t dare turn around to face him, who knew what kind of trouble she was in?

“Hello!” Lizzy hated how frantic she sounded. “What do you mean, going? I just got here! Haha, ha…haaaa-“

She could feel the intense stare on the back of her head.

A beat pause.

“Want to try that again?” Dry as ever.

Lizzy finally looked over her shoulder, offering a far less panicky “Morning.”

“That’ll do.” He grumbled. “Just got here…unbelievable.”

And then he appeared to fall right back to sleep.

Lizzy blinked in disbelief. That didn’t feel like a goodbye. Was she supposed to leave? Not leave? Had she done something? Were there expectations now?

Kathy would have a field day dissecting this one.

“Just a sec, er…what happened last night?” She ventured nervously. “What exactly did I do?”

“Hmm.” He languidly opened one eye to regard the worried set of her mouth. “What do you think you did?”

“No, don’t do that!” She moaned, rubbing her forehead. “I have concerns.”

“Concerns, eh? Oh, dear.” If she didn’t know any better, he was toying with her. And enjoying it far too much. “You really don’t remember?”

She shook her head, wincing, expecting the worst.

“You got extremely plastered and passed out on my bed.” He finally put her out of her misery. “The absolute state of you.”

“Is that all I did?” She asked warily with heavily implied meaning.

“That’s all.” He answered after drawing out the suspense a few moments longer. “ You have my word.”

“Oh, thank God.” Hand on her chest, her heart was pounding. Disaster averted. “Sorry.”

Not relieved that she hadn’t. But because that was something she’d definitely want to remember doing.

“S’fine. We both needed the rest.”

Something about his tone made Lizzy freeze. Now she recalled. She had intervened. Offered a distraction.

Oh, Christ…

She might not have done anything…indecent, but she couldn’t have been far off.

“Eh-heh…you sleep okay?” Lizzy enquired nervously, covering for her awkwardness. “I’m sorry if I snored.”

“…if?”

“My bad.” She scooted to the edge of the bed and started to scan the room for her clothes. “Simon needed earplugs. Sorry, again. That you saw me at my worst.”

”That wasn’t your worst.” Fire-breathing and sloshed wasn’t her worst by a long shot. He would take that any day, that he could handle. The mention of her ex-fiancé reminded Muldoon what her worst could be. How the New York lawyer had made her voice sound after their fraught phone calls. Meek, bargaining, unassertive. Thanks very much, but no.

Lizzy didn’t hear, too busy scouring the room for the rest of her clothes. She registered with dismay that her shorts were hanging off the door handle, where they’d landed when she kicked them off. She’d have to stand up to get them.

“Where are you going?” Distaste in his voice, no doubt at the mention of my almost-husband, Lizzy thought.

“Uh, where do you think?” She wasn’t in the mood anymore. Just let me leave. “Back to my room to unmake my bed so I can pretend I’ve been in it all night.”

“As if you ever make your bed.” When she started finger-combing her hair out instead of getting back under the covers, Muldoon figured he was being too subtle. “You…hm-…don’t have to go…just yet.”

“Come again?”

I don’t want you to leave.

“You could stay. For a bit longer. If you liked.” Too many words. He was nervous. That the answer would be a Hell no.

Lizzy was silent, mulling the idea over.

“If you’re not too angry at me.” He added.

”Nah.” She waved a hand. Not quite at peace with what he’d done, but close enough. Her primary emotion was still plain mortified at her own actions. “Think I made my point. It’s just-“

“There’s no rush.” He reassured her. “You’re- we’re already very late. I’m not even expecting anyone to turn up today. You’re off the hook.”

“So sleeping with the boss does pay off?” Lizzy wondered aloud. “Does last night count as overtime?”

“Careful.”

She gave him a lopsided smile.

“Actually…I do want to stay.” I never want to leave. “Rather a lot.”

“Then stay.”

Lizzy pointed at her shorts, festooning the doorhandle, like an extremely inappropriate Christmas garland. “Let me just-“

”You don’t need to do that, either. Fine as you are.”

Fine as you are.

“Outstanding-“ As she was swinging her legs up from the floor, Lizzy’s gaze fell on the near-empty bottle on the table and her smart comment died on her lips.

Everything came screaming back, the snub from Hammond, the strange man groping her, her screaming match with Ed Regis, the raptor attack on Rico-

Rico…

Oh my God, Rico.

Lizzy felt her breath catching in her throat, forcing air in, in, in, into her lungs in short gasps until she was certain her chest would burst.

Muldoon frowned, stopping mid-sentence. “Remember to breathe, Armstrong.”

She glanced at him, wide-eyed, hand outstretched, searching for something to lean on. She was losing control, failing to do as he instructed.

”You aren’t listening to me, woman. Breathe.”

“Trying-“ She managed to choke out. “Can’t.”

“Right-“ Muldoon wasted no more time. “Come on. You’ve been doing it since the day you were born, one should hope you’d be reasonably good at it by now.”

She didn’t know how or what he had done to move her, because she wasn’t in the room anymore, and her feet no longer felt stuck solidly to the floor as if she was ankle-deep in quicksand.

She was gone, somewhere else; out in the park, and back in time.

Lizzy had a brief flashback to the stinging burn of leather on the back of her knees as she was pulled across the front seats of a Jeep while the door crumpled inwards and the windscreen frosted, the heat and dust in her nostrils and throat, the faint bellow of a charging Triceratops, recalled and forgotten again in an instant.

It only added to her fear, the feeling the world was crashing down, imploding around them.

“Now-“ Muldoon clasped both her icy, clammy hands in his. “Breathe.”

I. Can’t.

“In through your nose when I squeeze, out through your mouth when I let go.” He directed. “You’ve got to slow down, Lizzy.”

Mercifully from Muldoon’s point of view, she wasn’t compos mentis enough to ask how, why, he had known exactly what to do to stop her hurting herself further. It wasn’t a happy tale, one he didn’t have the energy to recount there and then.

Eventually, each breath slower than the last, Lizzy returned, shaky and pale.

She realised she was once again horizontal in his bed, only this time propped up against him.

Safest place on the island! Her brain offered unprompted, wildly cheerful.

Jeez, I really am losing it.

It pained Muldoon terribly to see her gasping for air like that, clutching at her heart. His stoicism paused, he knew normally she found it reassuring, but right then she needed a lot more from him.

He rested his chin against the top of her still-damp hair and murmured “You’re not alright, are you, love?”

Her sharp inhale nearly triggered a second panic attack. The second word he’d said that had made her gasp, for completely different reasons.

Any other time, Lizzy would have melted. But she didn’t have the energy to feel, to do anything other than lean back, still holding hands, and try and match her too-quick breathing to his. Though her heart was thrumming twice as fast, as if she were a prey animal, caught.

Lizzy was trying her hardest to keep the tears in. Fearful that if she started, she wouldn’t stop. Just sob endlessly until she was too exhausted to continue. She’d held it together long enough for Rico’s sake, and now she was falling apart.

“No, I’m not.” She gulped. To admit it, to be vulnerable, to ask for help, was always difficult for her. Lizzy Armstrong was indestructible, indomitable, independent. Or perhaps she’d only managed to pretend she was for an awfully long time. “What gave it away?”

“Not so sure I am, either.” Muldoon confessed quietly. “But we have to carry on, for the rest of them. You and I are the ones they look for to lead.”

He was right. This was the life they’d willingly chosen. They were no strangers to animal attacks. They could both handle it.

In a lapse in judgement, Muldoon added. “Besides, we don’t know for sure that the worst has happened.”

Blast, why’d I have to go and say that?! I know, she knows, he couldn’t have survived the night. If he has it won’t be long…

He cursed himself. It was damn hard to concentrate properly with the object of his desire curled up in bed with him.

“Hang on-“ Lizzy had hissed in pain when he absent-mindedly shifted his hold further down her wrist. “What happened to your arm?”

“Oh-“ She hurriedly tried to hide under the covers, too late. She’d bruised vicious purple. Adrenaline pumping, she hadn’t realised at the time how intent the rich businessman had been on acquiring her. “It’s nothing.”

“That’s not nothing.” Finger marks. “Who do I need to have words with?” The rush of anger, blinding rage was quite something. Whoever has done this had better start running.

Lizzy didn’t mind the distraction, at least her thoughts had stopped racing and she was feeling something other than anguish. Neither did she mind the excuse for him to hold her hands a little longer.

She explained. “Tom dealt with it. Quite diplomatically.”

“Maybe I’m too hard on the lad. I wouldn’t have been so tactful.”

”Didn’t have you down as the jealous type…” she muttered.

Not jealous. Not like when Armstrong’s face had turned terribly pink as she insisted fiercely she wasn’t jealous of other woman he’d been seeing.

He didn’t feel threatened of losing Lizzy to someone else.

What Muldoon felt was envy. That someone who didn’t deserve her, who hadn’t appreciated how good he’d had it, how lucky that New York lawyer was that he had met her first-

But they weren’t talking about him. The Ex. Only a stranger. An entitled businessman who had gotten too handsy and who was already, if he knew what was good for him, far away on the mainland, for daring to touch her.

No, not jealousy.

Envy.

And that manifested as-

”I’m not. Just protective-“ He continued. “-of what’s mine.”

“Yours?” She became incredulous. “After falling off the wagon last night, you’re under some sort of impression I belong to you?”

She’d really better be going.

“I meant more in the sense of-“ Lizzy stood up and his jaw dropped. “Christ, Armstrong!”

“What?” She twisted back to face him, panicking, that there was a gruesome injury on her body from scrambling around in the undergrowth she must have missed the night before.

“You know fine bloody well!” Eye contact was a lost concept. “Turn back around…”

Oh, she knew that tone.

”No!” Not normally self-conscious Lizzy felt very exposed. “Stop that!”

”Stop what?” She saw a flicker of what he must have been like as a young man in Kenya. Before life had happened to him. The side that only she knew existed, and was incredibly elusive.

It only made her fall a little harder.

“Looking at me like that!” Lizzy wondered if she could make it out of the door in time, before she was pushed up against it. “That look’s going to get us in a lot of trouble.”

Why, how hadn’t he noticed last night? He couldn’t have been hammered enough not to notice that. Could he? Unacceptable.

”Hear me out- I’ve suddenly found the willpower to never drink again.” He looked up at her accusingly, as if it was her fault for not thinking of it sooner. “Maybe if you’d started with this angle-“

“I…now who’s unbelievable?!”

“That particular…angle…” With an effort, he met her gaze. “Yes, maybe you’d better leave now, or you won’t be leaving at all.”

Lizzy’s eyes widened.

That nearly did it for Muldoon. “Go, please.”

Lizzy had an epiphany as she carefully backed away, reaching out blindly for her sleep shorts.

Avoiding him because of her own demons when he needed her most wasn’t going to work long-term. She had to stop selfishly disappearing because it was easier. She had to choose to be brave. They were going to get through this together.

“If you’re…struggling, with…wanting a drink-“ Lizzy huffed as she hoiked her shorts up over her hips “-promise you’ll come and find me first. Please.”

“For what?”

“To be a distraction.” She smirked wickedly. “I seem to have an effect on you.”

“…already very distracting...” He managed drag his gaze up to meet her eyes. “What’s that smile for?”

Now dressed, with her hand on the door handle, Lizzy felt safer. He was fast, but not that fast.

“Because I’m not even trying-“ Still, she didn’t feel brave enough to test that theory. “-yet.”

A parting shot as she quickly slipped away.

“You’re going to be the death of me, Armstrong-“ Muldoon groaned and lay back, speaking to the now empty-room. ”But I think I’m alright with that.”

***

Lizzy emerged corridor-side as Tom rounded the corner in just his boxer shorts, almost flattening her. He clumsily halted before the collision, took in the sight of her bare legs with sleepy eyes, nodded appreciatively, then did a double-take as he noticed which room she was escaping from.

The door swung shut with a click as the realisation dawned on both their faces.

Dammit.

Caught.

“Haha ha, ha-“ Tom broke into an enormous foamy grin around the toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. “Hey, alright, alright, alright! Was it like a sneeze, but better?”

“Jesus, keep it down.” Lizzy complained. “Nothing happened.”

“Boring!” He smirked. ”I guess I believe you. Your hair doesn’t look any worse than usual.”

“Well, if you’re feeling brave-“ She jerked her head back at the door. “-ask the man himself.”

”I could...” His face fell. “But then again, I value my life.”

“Seriously.” Her headache had tripled its efforts, the aspirin wasn’t doing its job. “Please don’t tell anyone. I have enough to worry about.”

Tom basked in her imploring expression, making an Oscar-worthy show of weighing up his options, before nodding.

“Obviously I won’t tell.” He reassured. “My snitching days are over, since I actually kind of like you and that Baker chick. You can relax.”

“With you around?” Lizzy tutted. “Never fully relaxed. But thanks.”

“Pretty mega though.” He could still tease her as much as he liked. Not a thing she could do. “Awfully tempting.”

”You want my dinner money? Fine.” Lizzy groaned. “Just keep your trap shut.”

Tom pondered for a moment. Not her money. Perhaps something far more valuable. Maybe a favour involving the ethologist’s Minnesotan best friend.

“I might want something.” He mused aloud, waggling his toothbrush at her for emphasis. “But it can wait. All in good time.”

“I’m far too tired to even attempt to figure out what that means.” She sighed, holding up her hand to silence the inevitable because you weren’t doing much sleeping? comment. “Have you heard anything from the mainland?”

“About Rico?” Tom turned sombre in an instant. “Not yet. But the chopper came in to land hours ago.”

“Huh.” Lizzy ran a hand through her hair, deep in thought.

“I assume, one way or another, you didn’t hear it.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I did not. Heavy rain and all.”

”Doncha mean, ‘we did not’?” The infuriating grin returned. “What base you get to?”

Lizzy just stared.

“Jesus.” Tom was disappointed at her refusal to take the bait this time. “Loud and clear. No bases. Not even a game.”

”Speaking of which..” Lizzy tailed off as she spotted a familiar red-haired head bobbing past the window at the end of the corridor, a freckled face belonging to the island’s resident baseball fan.

”Oh, hey.” Tom pointed. “Ed’s back.”

”Wait right here.” Lizzy told him vacantly. “There’s something I need to do.”

***

2 weeks later

Ray Arnold was dying. Or, at least, he felt like he wasn’t far off. Kathy Baker had dragged him out of his inner sanctum to march across the island on a hike; which, in this humidity, was going to kill him a lot faster than his smoking habit.

“How ‘bout that game, huh?” He wheezed.

“It was fine.” Kathy answered tersely.

Sure enough, the Cowboys had won the Superbowl. And the die-hard Minnesota Vikings fan had lost herself a bet from siding with the Bills. Tom had been insufferable.

”Oh, shit, sorry.” Ray cursed himself. “Yeesh.”

“Just over this next rise…” Kathy promised as the path rose upwards out of the treeline. In the next few seconds they’d have a fantastic view of- ”Oh.”

Nothing.

Dense fog in every single direction.

”Now, how about that-“ Arnold mustered the last of his energy to swagger up behind her.

”Shut up.” Kathy grumbled.

“Look, I know you mean well, honey-“ He couldn’t have cared less about the vistas. He could see them in HD, from any angle, at any time, with a lot less effort. “-but you’re killing me over here!”

“Ray Arnold. You have got to get out of that room.” She insisted. “Get some damn Vitamin D. Enjoy the tropical paradise.”

”I enjoy it just fine from behind a monitor. Anyway, it looks like goddamn Alcatraz from above.” He wiped his brow. “This goddamn never-ending fog.”

“Mia’s gonna whoop both our butts if we don’t start getting into shape…” Kathy dangled a threat in front of him.

The engineer paled at the mention of his wife.

“That’s what I thought.” She nodded, satisfied, and inhaled deeply. “Smell that?”

“Smell what?”

”Fresh. Air.” Her enthusiasm wasn’t catching. “I’m not surprised your senses are dulled. And your lungs must be, like, ninety-per-cent ash at this point.”

“I prefer the term well-done. Lightly cremated. Cajun.” Arnold’s eyes darted anxiously around. “Wasn’t it around here that Rico kid got, er…”

“Might be, I dunno…” Kathy quickly brushed it off, but she knew exactly where they were, and what had happened in the bushes thirty feet downhill to the right of the path. She could still remember the smell of the blood, and the raptor saliva, mixed with sodden earth and moss-covered branches. The whir of the helicopter blades. Rico’s awful rattling and groaning as he fought for his life.

She tried to think of something else. Dwelling on that rainy winter night for too long felt like tempting the fates. Bad luck.

Improving Arnold’s life expectancy wasn’t the sole purpose of the hike, but it was a good enough distraction from other problems.

Earlier, Lizzy and Muldoon had vanished, yet again. The pair giving the same, vacant, I’m a bit busy, over replies to radio messages. Liz, girl, puh-lease. I can hear you in the background when he answers! They were clearly on another super-important, totally-work-related task, no doubt. Those seemed to be increasing in frequency of late.

Even when they were around the rest of the team, the silent communication thing was getting real old. How with a glance Muldoon could make Lizzy beam at some inside joke only they shared, seeing nothing but each other in a room full of people.

Ugh, sickening.

Kathy had given up asking what’s so funny. All Lizzy would do was grin even wider and shake her head. You wouldn’t get it. Kathy was lonely. At least Ray was consistent, his sarcasm predictable and comforting.

Smithsonian job offer aside, it filled her with dread to think she might actually be losing Lizzy ahead of time. Who promised her otherwise, that ‘us girls’ would still hang together whenever possible, but since New Years kept on ditching her for a certain park warden at every opportunity.

Maybe that was why she’d agreed to Tom’s high-risk low-reward Halftime Show bet.

“Hey man, can I ask you something?” Kathy piped up.

The engineer gave an affirmative wheeze.

“Tom said if the Bills lost I had to go on a date with him-“

“Oh, shit!” Arnold yelled, sounding horrified, shocked, scared?

Kathy bristled. ”Jeez, it’s not that big of a-“

”No, girl!” He was by her side in a flash, future emphysema be damned. “Dino just ran across the path behind us! It’s outside the fences!”

“Why were you-“ She turned, about to finish with looking behind us? only to see a sheepish Arnold, with a fresh cigarette poking from his mouth. “Darn it, Ray!”

“Sorry, honey.” Arnold paused, his lighter already on its way upwards from his pocket. “It’s on account of my nerves.”

”Yeah, well…” She gestured at him in exasperation. “What’d it look like? The dino?”

“I dunno.” The engineer spoke around his cigarette. “Kinda…pointy?”

Kathy raised an eyebrow. ”Pointy? That the best you can do?”

“Give me a break! Like…if a greyhound were a reptile, I guess?”

“O-kay…” She muttered. “Narrows it down, I guess…”

Not a herbivore.

“‘bout yea big?” Arnold held his hands apart, measuring.

”Probably just a compy.” Kathy deduced, her alarm ebbing. “They’re everywhere. Can’t keep ‘em in.”

“Dangerous?” Arnold looked edgy.

Kinda big for a compy though…

”Not when you’re with me.” Kathy patted his arm reassuringly. “Scavengers. You’ll be fine, just don’t keel over right here from sucking on those cancer sticks.”

“Can’t promise anything, sweetie.”

Kit was the expert after all. Probably just a compy or whatever, like she said. For watching them all day long, Arnold only knew them as names on a graph, numbered dots on the tracking system. He couldn’t actually pick species out of a line-up.

Now his girl was looking at him expectantly.

”What now?”

”Ya gonna put that out?” She suggested dryly. “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires!”

”Nuh-uh. Need my fix. If we’re doing this, we’re doing it my way.”

Kathy heaved an incredibly loud drawn-out sigh and about-turned to lead the way back to base.

Arnold cheerfully exhaled a cloud of smoke, visibly more relaxed as they moved off. “Now, spill. About this date-“

***

“Teething problems, dear boy!” Hammond spun his cane hypnotically as he sat in the living room of his bungalow. “Every zoo in the world has had teething problems at some point in its development.”

”Is Gennaro-?” Ed Regis pointed his thumb back towards the door.

He reflected that he felt not unlike the prehistoric insect frozen in time atop the old man’s walking stick. Encased in amber. Trapped. Doomed.

He’d never been in Hammond’s abode before. The only place on the island not covered by a single security camera or monitoring device.

”Donald couldn’t make it.” The creator of InGen sharply cut him off. “We don’t need him today. What was I saying...”

Thank you Regis muttered as María placed a laden tea tray in front of him.

”-Ah, yes! And besides, it isn’t a mere zoo!” Hammond continued pontificating. “Jurassic Park is an experience.”

“I understand that-“

”And they will experience it. The children will experience it.” Hammond seemed almost giddy that his creation had indeed proved to be lethal. “I’m not at all concerned.”

“Mr Muldoon wants to put it down.” Ed offered. “The raptor. Has for a while. He’s been quite vocal about it.”

“That man? Vocal? About anything?” Hammond raised both eyebrows, his already furrowed brow wrinkling deeper. “No. You’re mistaken.”

“And he seems to have quit drinking recently…”

“Has he now? Hm. We’ll see.” Now that actually seemed to concern the older man. “It’s a very stressful job he has.”

“He’s sweet on Mis-…uh, Dr Armstrong.” Regis added. “Who is vocally against euthanasia of the raptor.”

Ed wasn’t quite sure why. That animal was vicious. And the raptor too he internally chuckled to himself.

“Then maybe everything will work out by itself.” Hammond nodded. “But it wouldn’t do any harm to fan the flames of that particular domestic, if you can.”

“You don’t think maybe its the, er-…” Ed gulped before proceeding. “-right thing to do?”

To say the young sports fan was having a crisis of faith after the accident was putting it mildly.

”Euthanasia? Out of the question.” Hammond turned stony-faced and Regis immediately regretted speaking out of turn. “You do realise, that animal, once fully-grown, is of greater monetary value than a court settlement for wrongful death?”

”I, uh-“

”More valuable than a dozen court settlements?”

Regis nodded his head mutely.

“No. I simply won’t have it!” Hammond continued, tapping his cane sharply on the tiled floor to drive his words home. “The boy was just a construction worker.”

Just?

Regis scratched his head, terribly hot under the rim of his hat. ”Mr Hammond, sir, it was actually one of the animal handlers.”

He had left out the part where it had been his idea in the first place, to put the raptor out on display. How Liz Armstrong had goddamn barked at him from the doorway of the staff lodge, the first time she’d laid eyes on him the morning after the accident, standing there with her arms crossed, in her PJs.

Hell, that would probably come back to bite him, calling her a dog. She might eventually forgive him, but she sure as Hell wouldn’t forget it.

But that was a problem for another day. As far as Armstrong was concerned, Esteves was still in a critical condition, deep in the clutches of a coma, lying prone in a San José hospital bed.

She didn’t yet know the boy was dead. None of them did. The other animal handlers were starting to ask when they could visit Rico on the mainland, if he was well enough to come home yet, and Ed was fast running out of excuses.

”You’re misremembering, son. It was only a construction worker.” Hammond’s voice turned appeasing, child-like, terribly persuasive. It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it. “And it was a construction accident. These things happen. With a, er…backhoe, I believe? An awful tragedy.”

Regis’ shoulders drooped. “Yes, sir.”

“It’s quite alright, my boy. The local families never push for lawsuits, they can’t afford it.” He tittered. “And if they did, they certainly wouldn’t win.”

“He was-“ Ed Regis stopped and tried to remember. Esteves was-, had been Spanish, or was it Portuguese? He couldn’t recall. In any case, not local.

“Yes?”

Regis saw then that he couldn’t win either. Like the bereaved family with their compensation money, he’d have to take his helping of guilt and run, since he wasn’t getting any sympathy from his employer.

Don’t bite the hand that feeds.

He sighed in resignation. “Careless, sir. He was careless.”

Hammond looked at him reproachfully. “How many times, dear boy?”

Ed Regis adjusted his baseball cap again with a strained smile. “Sorry, John. You’re right, of course. The boy was careless. And look where it got him.”

***

“Not that this isn’t, y’know, stunningly beautiful-…“ Lizzy pointed oceanward, to the all-consuming fog wrapped around the shore. “But why are we here?”

Muldoon took his time answering her. ”So you didn’t want me to take you to the beach today?”

The ethologist cast her arm around at the waterfront. What beach? No sand, just boulders, as far as the eye could see. Which currently, was only a few metres. Cracking.

A boat horn sounded in the distance.

“We’re here, because as much as I care for you, Armstrong-“

Lizzy feigned an itchy nose to cover her smile.

“-we need to have a chat about your animal.”

“Which animal?” She stopped itching. Her heart sank.

“I’ve given you long enough. The way that raptor acts with you now-“ He shook his head.

The ethologist had been trying her hardest to regain the raptor’s trust after the cage break, but she now clearly associated Lizzy with danger, fear and pain. The dinosaur snarled every time she made eye contact. Lizzy was afraid there was no return, and each failed training session made her heart ache a little more. Their bond was ruined.

I’m trying to help you, clever girl. Why can’t you figure that one out?

”Mm-hmm.” She answered unhappily, staring out into the pale void. The worst part was, as much as she hated to admit it, now she was attached to the damn animal.

You have to let me help, or bad things are going to happen to you.

“We’re at an impasse.” Muldoon was ever-practical. “You know it.”

“Is that why we’re here? If I continue to disagree with you then you’ll…maroon me?” Lizzy was still searching for the reason why Muldoon had driven her to the East dock that afternoon, of all places. “Send me out to sea on a raft with a single bullet?”

“It’s occurred to me I’m not longer capable of looking at this objectively, since your safety, or lack of, is all I can think about.” Muldoon checked his watch. “And I would quite like to keep you alive and in one piece, mostly for my own selfish reasons.”

“It’s a wonder you get anything else done.” She couldn’t resist a dig of her own. You’re not the only one who survived Africa. “What with worrying about me taking up so much of your day.”

“It’s exhausting.” The park warden agreed, deadpan. “Look here, I made a call to Sorna. To someone who knows that animal nearly as well as you do. I thought you should meet her. Maybe then you’ll see sense.”

Now that pissed her off. Nobody knows that animal anywhere near like I do.

The rumble of a small boat engine rounding into the dock echoed through the fog.

Lizzy ignored it.

”Her? You’re speaking to other women on the phone without telling me now?” She was making a poor attempt at hiding her discomfort with humour. She felt blindsided.

“I really don’t want to fall out with you over this, Lizzy.” Muldoon reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. Her bad shoulder.

“Me neither.” She moved away from him and stared at the ground. “But I’m afraid that’s inevitable now.”

”I’ll do what I have to.” He answered firmly. “Even if this doesn’t go your way, we need to make the decision.”

“Then stop talking like you’ve already made it for me!” Lizzy hissed, beginning to lose her temper.

The boat engine suddenly cut out.

“Doctor Armstrong, I presume?” A female voice called from beyond view.

The wind picked up, clearing the shoreline, and Lizzy’s stomach turned over when she saw that the woman stepping gingerly onto the dock was missing exactly one-and-a-half fingers from her right hand as she raised it to the both of them in greeting.

Lori Ruso gave a tight-lipped smile and cast a critical eye over the skyline of Isla Nublar as she shielded her face from the weak glare of a sun determined to burn its way through the low clouds.

“So, tell me-“ She asked coolly. “What’s become of my raptor?”

***

Thanks for reading!

As mentioned, a tough time mentally recently where I have doubted myself and my writing ability A LOT. Lots of oh God I’m Shit moments. Normal service resuming.

[pokefan531]

Handheld LCD Shader Projects

Welcome to the introduction of a collection of the handheld LCD shaders that emulates the colorspace and LCD metrics from the offical handheld gaming consoles. Ranging from Gameboy Color to the PSP being the main focus for emulating the displays from their colorspace to specified gamma and color temperatures. Most users would be playing Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance in raw RGB on emulators as well as on the Gameboy Player, and that's totally cool. Playing these games on the backlit displays have been much easier to see the game you're playing than ones without any light on the LCDs. Heck, even having much better contrast that gives off darker blacks, or even perfect blacks from OLEDs. However, once you start playing some of those games, you can really see something off from those games from your childhood handheld consoles, most prominent, the Gameboy Color and the Gameboy Advance. Those screens are really different from modern displays we use on a daily basis, on every single specifications. GBC and GBA would look too saturated and odd color hues in a lot of games, under raw RGB picture. In GBA's case, a lot of games can have lighter gamma that looks overbrightened in raw RGB, since those were only calibrated for the old GBA screens that has darker gamma. Oversaturation from those games were also calibrated for these older displays that has less saturation. This project is meant to replicate the colors and gamma from the real console model, to any project, such as emulators, Gameboy Interface, scalers like the Retrotink 4K, LCD mods, and HDMI/FPGAs projects. It would allow users to pick any shaders or LUT textures to replicate the LCD color display to your preferred way to play games beyond pure original hardware. Of course, there is also Nintendo DS from the first model, the DS Lite, Gameboy SP AGS-101 (Backlit version), Gameboy Micro, and the PSP on its first model, as of current. The project is also meant to preserve the display data and metrics from those handhelds.

(GBC shader preset with default settings)

(GBA shader preset with default gamma, and LUT set to "2" for colder greyscale)

(NDS shader preset with default settings)

(PSP shader preset with LUT set to "2" for PSP's known colder greyscale)

Downloads:

Instructions: If you haven't already installed shaders, do so inside retroarch under slang shaders. After downloading my package, extract the zip file to "shaders_slang" inside Retroarch's shader folder. It can be implemented inside libretro's shader once the slang shader pack gets updated. I suggest loading the shaders by presets, under .slangp, in both Handheld and Reshade folder (latter being under the handheld-color-LUTs folder). Presets inside handheld folder has switchable settings, including presets containing LCD shaders. Presets inside reshade only loads in LUT textures rather than just shaders. Useful for emulators or projects that only loads in LUT textures as their only filter.

The shaders is based on HunterK's shader, Color-Mangler from the misc folder in slang shaders from Libretro, which was made from a help for my project. It defaults to sRGB on the shader's option for many average users. A shader preset from Handheld folder has LUT choices to change the greyscale color temperature replicated from the real handheld console. GBA one can adjust the gamma to make the image darker, while GBC and GBM has gamma option to brighten or darken. In Reshade, it only had adjustable greyscale temperature except for GBA_GBC variant. The shader supports DCI-P3 and Rec2020 colorspaces on its option to use on your display that may support either of those to reach better color saturation to present more accurate blue primary color from my shaders that common sRGB colorspace is limited from. The GBA and GBC have external gamma options to adjust the gamma on the greyscales if not using any LUT shader preloaded.

Developer notice: For developers of any GB/GBA (or any handheld) projects involving emulators, FPGAs, or screen mods, shall take some advices when it comes to implementing the shader or color filter to your projects. To implement as a shader, the gamma has to be lower first by 1/2.2 (Can be used to change the GBA gamma itself to darken the screen), then use my color values from the shader to change the color primaries, and then revert the gamma by 2.2 afterwards to have great color correction while respecting luminance and color tones. Also I prefer if you take color values from white balance correction that are outside of GBC/GBA shader. For only LUT texture, a more easy approach for devs, I prefer using the non-cold variants if preserving the greyscale color tone. GBA and GBC LUTs have their gamma and greyscale adjusted to emulate the screen's default gamma. If you only want just the color gamut correction as an LUT, use the GBA_GBC variant inside Reshade's LUT folder. -If you decide to implement a basic GBC or GBA colorspace to the emulator, use the sRGB data. The gamma change must happen before the color correction. -If the project is aimed for TV such as Gameboy Interface or GBA Consolizer, use the sRGB LUT shader, since SD and HDTV resolutions aim for sRGB colorspace. -If the FPGA such as Analogue Pocket, IPS screen mods, or emulation device uses a display gearing towards sRGB colorspace, use the shader, color filter, or LUT accordingly. -If the OLED screen mods or emulation devices have its native colorspace target around 100% DCI-P3 Volume, use any filter accordingly. -If implementing the shader to your emulation project, do port the shader to your shader or filter libraries. The shader and LUTs are in public domain after all, to spread about the color correction regarding GBC/GBA displays. -If using a professional scaler like Retrotink 4K with either GBA Consolizer or Gameboy Interface without any filters used, play with its gamut matrix settings for both GBC and GBA as "Red: 0.4925 0.3100" "Green: 0.3150 0.4825" "Blue 0.1625 0.1925" to emulate the color correction, and can be used on SDR or HDR mode to give out consistent image. Gamut info for other consoles below.

(Raw RGB, Gameboy Micro, and GBA shader with darken set to 0)

(Top: NDS; Raw RGB, DS-Lite, and NDS Phat)

(Bottom: GBA; Raw RGB, GBA-SP AGS-101, and GBA with darken set to 0)

Note: While DS-Lite and SP-101 are really close to sRGB that developers don't really need adjustments, it is shown to preserve on how far they reached from older models to newer ones in mid to late 2000s.

Story:

So when did I start the project and why I was invested in doing this? It was back in August 2014 when I first saw a forum on someone wanting to desaturate the GBA and mentioned the filters from emulators like VisualBoyAdvance, or VBA-M, as well as NO$GBA that has options to emulate the colorspace that is close to the real hardware. I was reminded how the latter emulator has those options when I used it long time ago. I mostly use unfiltered colors as that was how close it looks on my GBA-SP with "Better Screen" than the GBA. Yeah I actually have the backlit version of GBA-SP known as AGS-101. The display was a huge jump from old GBA to GBA-SP, as well as the Nintendo DS Phat under GBA. However, I had good amount of memories of playing my old GBA with the lights around me and I do remember the color saturation being very different overall. So I wanted to take a look on how to replicate the VBA-M's colorspace.

(Link to the forum I created of my histories of re-creating the GBA colors)

I first decide to use simple desaturation with a mix of shaders by playing with saturation and contrast levels. At first, it looks very similar to how VBA-M's attempt looked. That is, until I saw the blue color has a different hue, being more torqourise in VBA-M's recreation. Then a LUT shader appeared in libretro forums and I first used that for my photoshop to use crazy amount of filters to recreate the whole thing, even though it wasn't perfect, but close. Then I tried to replicate the original NDS model that I have for many years, and also played with the LUT textures from Photoshop. Yeah I just simply tried to copy the colors from the console, without any tools, on my uncalibrated old LCD TN panel screen, because I had such no experience on how colorspaces work, but it was worth a try. Then in 2015, I somehow found a shader that plays with RGB and I got help with Hunterk, a contributor on Libretro who has been involved with a lot of shaders for Retroarch. He made an amazing color mangler shader for me to put data of colors and gamma on the shader itself than just using a LUT texture. Then in May of 2015, I found another GBA on my house that was not used by a family for a long time. Yeah I lost my GBA somehow as a kid from another family, but a long story to tell. Thankfully I was allowed to use another GBA for full use just for this project. This was just the beginning of my progress on grabbing screen data starting with just a flashlight with my old LCD monitor. The only issue I always have is the common sRGB screens don't have deep blue colors that is needed for both GBA and NDS (and more), so I always had issues replicating the blue primary color. That's what got me to start learning about colorspace and what sRGB and color gamut means. And that's where my progress to get the right tools begins. I then later got a superior IPS 1080p monitor, the GBC, Colormunki Display, using DisplayCal and HCFR, Colormunki Photo, the PSP, GBA Micro, a 4K monitor, and a portable light to use on GBC and GBA. Now in 2024, I have really progressed with help of such tools I need, have become much better way of getting the LCD data from the handhelds to contain the color gamut, the greyscale, gamma, and color temperature.

So now the story is out of the way, here are the tools I used to gather infos from the handheld screens.

Samsung S80AU - A 4K IPS Monitor that supports DCI-P3 colorspace with great Delta Error scores especially for sRGB colorspace. It's also used to test out LCD shaders on a high DPI display. Colormunki Display - A Colorimeter that calibrates your display and gathers color data from your target screen. Colormunki Photo - A Spechrometer that behaves the same as Display, except gathers the white colors temperatures more accurately regardless on any type of LCD or OLED displays. It's used to make profiles for the Display to be calibrated for a specific monitors as the Display reads data much faster than Photo as well as reading darker blacks better. Displaycal has infos on colormeter matrix correction to add in why this combo is best used for serious color calibration. It's also used primarily for handheld console displays to sample color data. DisplayCal - Used to completely calibrate my monitor and other screens to give off pure sRGB colorspace with 6500K whitepoint. It's also used with its own ICC Profile creator to make .icc with given data from ColorHCFR for a specific Handheld Console display to emulate from. It's 3DLUT tool was also used to generate LUT textures to check the color and luminance on primary and secondary colors. ColorHCFR - A free alternative for Calman. It's used to gather data on the greyscale, the color gamut, and tons more info to check how your targeted display looks. It shows you graphical images of the screen's color gamut on the CIE diagram. MCH2 - A tool that used your generated DisplayCal monitor calibration data to create an .icc profile made for Windows 11 to convert the entire screen to your targeted colorspace such as sRGB and DCI-P3. G2 Pocket RGB Camera Light - A portable light that shoots out lights to use on handhelds that lacks any light, such as the Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance. It toggles between RGB and pure whitelights with color temperature adjustments. It's used to match the whitepoint on both GBC and GBA to match my monitor's whitepoint as the closest. It's much better tool than me previously using my collection of phones to use the flashlight for color sampling, as GBC and GBA suffers from rainbowing, no adjustments on white balance, and less saturation by a flashlight, unlike proper lights like the G2 Pocket that eliminates those issues. 240p Test Mini - The handheld version of the well known 240p Test Suite. Used to check RGB, greyscale, motion flickering, and color scrolling on real hardware. https://github.com/pinobatch/240p-test-mini EZ Flash Jr - A GB/GBC Flashcarts to load ROMs and Homebrew for GBC and GBA. EZ Flash 3-in-1 Expansion Pack NDS - A GBA Cartridge to load in a ROM and homebrew in to load inside GBA and NDS. Used NDS to insert a ROM on its NOR memory. GIMP - A Photoshop-like image editor that is used to check generated LUTs from 3DLUT to check on the color values to adjust the shader. Retroarch - Using mGBA and Sameboy emulator core to check out the games while using the shaders I created for color correction. It also loads in image files for my best way to check out my shaders during adjustments.

(Top to Bottom: gba-color & gbc-color, gbMicro-color, nds-color, psp-color, DSLite-color, SP101-color, and raw RGB, all in sRGB)

Note: Why the white color is darker is due to clipping on the yellow color because of how color correction works with the blue color being out of sRGB gamut. Also, sRGB can't display those handhelds blue saturation due to it. Will soon post DCI-P3 and Rec2020 variants for displays that can see more saturation without internal color adjustments.

List of handheld consoles I owned to create shaders out of: Gameboy Color Gameboy Advance Gameboy Advance SP (AGS-101) Gameboy Micro Nintendo DS Nintendo DS Lite PSP (1000)

Nintendo Switch Online emulates GBC and GBA with their own color filters. GBA only desaturates the screen in more simple manner for sRGB, which was easy to implement. GBC, was very hard to do in shaders currently, so to use full experience, the LUT version can only be used to fully emulate the effect for other emulators.

I also found someone's Switch OLED data from a youtube video. The colorspace is taken with bigger saturation than even DCI-P3 when using vivid mode. Here's a link to the video by GamingTech:

I also made Palm Treo 700p shader long time ago by taking DisplayMate's data long ago while trying to translate the gamut pin points to HCFR since I don't have those in possession. I only made it for experiment long ago and only archived.

Replicating existing filters from emulators or dev tools such as No&GBA and VBA-M for GBA image replication, and GBC tools like Gameboy HiColour Converter V1.2 for GBC image replications. Even No$GBA and No$GMB docs had mentioned the LCD color differences:

(HiColour Convertor)

My Handheld LCD review datasheet and showcase for each platform (Coming Soon):

Gameboy Color Gameboy Advance Gameboy Advance SP AGS-101 Gameboy Micro Nintendo DS (Phat) Nintendo DS Lite PSP-1000

Handheld consoles I plan on getting and make data out of: PSP-3000 or GO PS Vita Nintendo 3DS (Owned, but not yet examined)

Handhelds I don't plan on getting or reviewing: Gameboy or Gameboy Pocket (Many have made their own shaders and filters out of their monochromic display) Gameboy Advance SP AGS-001 (Uses the same exact display as the original GBA except with frontlight added) Knockoff GB Boy Colour (I only allow any official handheld consoles for my project) PSP-2000 (Same colorspace and data as PSP-1000, except brighter screen) PS-Vita 2000 (Uses LCD instead of OLED, with less color gamut than original PS Vita) Nintendo NEW 2DS XL/3DS (or XL) IPS displays (Hard to find and a lottery to obtain; not common) Nintendo Switch (Owned and targets sRGB and its gamma well; whitepoint can vary between units)

Notes: On GBA, A lot of games are calibrated for the GBA's gamma due to how dark its screen's gamma looks. For some games, often Nintendo and a couple of companies with closest relationship to Nintendo, are adjusted for its colorspace. Certain games, often SNES ports, may have its original palettes on its setting. On GBC, many games were made for the screen during its run. It's unknown which amount of games weren't calibrated for the screen. Although certain games like Link's Adventure DX were completely adjusted for the screen on colorspace, gamma, and color temperature, which made purple-grey colors looks more grey overall. On both NDS and PSP, pretty often the first few years of games can be adjusted for those screens. Those are until both NDS-Lite and PSP-3000 have colorspace that closely aims for sRGB where no adjustments can be made. Many multi-ports for PSP of the same game from home consoles are very likely not calibrated for the first two PSP models. I didn't make a Switch OLED preset (from Vivid mode) with LCD shader, since the Switch OLED is not LCD, its RGB pattern is very different, and either original LCD or OLED are too high resolution to notice its RGB patterns. It's best to use only the shader to use with Reshade on a Switch emulator to emulate the OLED's vivid mode, but preserved in Libretro to see its effect. While I explain what the shaders are meant to use for, it's also your preference on using the shaders or just using the Raw RGB colors that fits your needs. You can use other color shaders on a GBA or GBC emulator, such as using NDS, Micro, or PSP shaders to your preference. The PSP shaders have much more saturation than any Gameboy line or NDS Phat, while preserving its hue.

To end off on this page, I would also like to give respect to other projects that tried their attempt to create their own color correction. While I prefer the best accuracy of the color correction from my shaders, many of their color corrections are pretty impressive with varying degree levels of accuracy, and they all motivate me to continue with the project to give out the best quality of color correction. Their blogs have pretty interesting ideas on how displays work on GBC and GBA.

(BGB's "Reality" Color Correction filter)

(GBCC's page on GBC screen tech notes)

(Bsnes/Higan Color emulation page)

(Gameboy Interface having their own Color Matrix correction, and including our shaders and filters alongside)

(Nintendo showing their GBC and GBA color correction under Virtual Console from Nintendo Switch Online, the former having bigger difference)

[vmantras]

Samsung Galaxy F05 86

General Model SM-E055F Sim Type Dual Sim, GSM+GSM Dual Sim Yes Sim Size Nano SIM Device Type Smartphone Release Date September 17, 2024 Design Dimensions 78.2 x 168.8 x 8.8 mm Weight 195 g Colors Twilight Blue Display Type Color LCD Screen (16M Colors) Touch Yes Size 6.74 inches, 720 x 1600 pixels, 60 Hz Aspect Ratio 20:9 PPI ~ 262 PPI Screen to Body Ratio ~ 82.1% Notch Yes,…

[inochi-pms-things]

iMacne - Macloid UTAU

The iMacne Sisters in all of their new glory

iMac音ベタ Beta is the youngest at 9yo, and is not afraid to say her piece and walk away. Beta's design comes from a long lost image i once found on the internnet of a beta iMAC that was this round and blue shell basically like a cloche that lifted up and the monitor would be inside it. Her blues better contrast the grays and blacks she has in her outfit

iMac音ネサ Nesa is the 3rd Oldest at 25yo. She has a tendency to be ditzy and clumsy. Shes the only true "Blond" Macloid on the market as most blond macloids are yellow in overtone and undertone where Nesa's hair is actually ashy blond. Nesa's design is based on the Power Mac 9600, hence the coloring of her outfit base and her hair color is that to match the cream color of the shell of the mac.

iMac音ニユ Niyu (which is a portmanteau of Niju/二十 meaning 22) is 22yo. shes the mature/flirty type, and likes to drink cocktails while watching tv. Her design is based around the Apple 20th anniversary MAC and its where she gets her name from.

iMac音リサ Lisa is the oldest at 35yo, her mature and laidback mindset makes her the easiest to get along with out of the sisters. HEr design is based on the Macintosh XL also known as Apple Lisa. Her baige undertones and colors compliment her red hair. I went with a more military approach with her design i think. When i first made her she had a large skirt with sharp corners to represent the sharp and boxy nature of the Apple Lisa.

iMac音テサ Tesa is the 3rd youngest at 18yo. Shes soft and sweet but harbors a darker side. Her name from from the beta name for the iMac flatscreen LCD that looked like a lamp on a ball which was code named "Tessera She originally was going to have the bottom of the iMac as a skirt but we scrapped that idea infavor for her half skirt.

iMac音ヒメ Hime is the 4th oldest at 23yo, Shes the sharp and smart type. She has a quite sharp tongue and can be quite vulgar sometimes but deep down she loves all of her sisters. Shes based on the Power Mac G4 Cube, as the design is very skimpy the cube was see through and had its ports and parts on display through the thick plastic.

iMac音セナ Sena being one of the newest additions to the group she's 28yo making her the 2nd oldest. Her soft voice and face are a stark contrast of her design and outfit as its the most revealing of all of the sisters. I wanted her to be more like a "nun" with an over ourfit and a secret hidden underside outfit like the one she wears but it became to much of a hassle to get it done in the end so i just combined them. Being based around the Power Book her design was mostly black and grays.

iMac音ロミ Romi is the middle child as she is 25yo. She has an artistic approach to many things and loves to get in hands on with projects. Romi herself is based off of the eMac with her design being overhauled from her first original design.

You can see the girls older designs below, I did a much better job with the newere ones.

[quartz-components]

LCD Display modules are commonly used in most of the embedded projects to display various output data. It's cheap, handy, and programmer-friendly for various DIY projects. The Alphanumeric Graphical LCD (2004A) is a 20x4 Liquid Crystal Display that comes in blue or green colors. It can show four lines of text, with each line holding up to 20 characters making a total of 80 characters to be displayed on screen. This is larger than the 16x2 LCD, but the programming is similar. The display is used to show a wide range of things like text, characters, numbers, and symbols.

[uinferno]

Because there's only a close circle of 6, maybe 12 people who even know anything about my Cyberpunk Mistborn "AU" (alternate timeline following Bands of Mourning, not take the cast of TFE and put them in a cyberpunk dystopia) and I just wasted time researching display technology, I'm just going to shout this factoid to the void, not even going to tag it for the fandom ar large:

Marsh can see exactly one kind of digital display and it's pimarily Metallotropical LCD because the pixels involve physically twisting metal based crystals. Non-metallic LC's he can't see the crystals, CRT's are throwing electrons at shit, meanwhile there's nothing physically changing with LEDs despite being metal, all of the changes on a pixel by pixel basis are purely electrical. He's not even seeing the light emitted. The screens just look like high definition blue halftone.