America 1978: Starting with Hand-Crushed Chips

Tanaka was surprised to actually get the money today. He zipped up his canvas bag, turned around, and was about to leave when he said, "Goodbye, my friends. Next time I land, I'll call you if I need anything. Sayonara."

"Wait," Tang Mu called out to him again.

"I saw you have a repair manual in your bag, could you give it to me?"

Tang Mu, with his sharp eyes, just spotted the corner of a book peeking out of the bag.

It looked like a maintenance manual for Space Invaders published by Taito Corporation. It contained their circuit diagrams. Although it was in Japanese, with his background from his previous life, he could understand it with the help of Chinese characters.

This thing doesn't usually appear on the market. In Tang Mu's eyes, it's even more valuable than those boards. He doesn't know where Tanaka stole it from.

When Tanaka heard that even the trash he had smuggled was wanted, his eyes lit up again, as if he was plotting how to swindle some more money.

Before he could speak, Tang Mu said, "I won't let you suffer. Next time I'll bring you a new issue of Playboy. I heard the cover girl for the next issue is a Swedish model, blonde and blue-eyed."

Tang Mu had already realized that he was a lecherous man. For 1978, when there was no internet, these things were the hard currency for sailors on the vast ocean.

"Deal! But you can't go back on your word!" Tanaka's eyes lit up, and he readily agreed, afraid that Tang Mu would change his mind.

"I'm in business, and integrity comes first. Besides, I'd like you to get me more boards, $100 each, I'll take them all as long as they're good quality."

Upon hearing about the possibility of a long-term collaboration with Tang, Tanaka pulled out a cigarette case from his pocket, on which was written crooked English characters.

"This is Mitsui O.S.K. Lines' shipping schedule. My ship is called the Osaka. I'll be here every other Wednesday afternoon. Remember, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., right at the entrance of this alley."

He handed the cigarette box along with the repair manual to Tang Mu, then slipped into the side door of the Red Lips Club like an eel.

Lei spat dismissively, "What the hell, Tang? You traded a Playboy magazine for this incomprehensible book? I'd just snatch it all if you wanted!"

The 1978 edition of Playboy was a mid-to-high-end magazine, and it would cost several dollars.

Tang Mu flipped through the manual and saw that it was filled with densely written pin definitions, I/O interface logic, and so on for the 8080 CPU, which put his mind at ease.

"Lei, I'm not saying you can't steal it, it's just that without him, we can't get a steady stream of counterfeit goods from him."

"If we rob him, we can only have enough to eat for one meal, but if he keeps supplying us, we have a chance to buy 10,000 copies of Playboy."

Tang Mu paused for a moment, then continued to explain:

"Time is the most important thing for us. You heard him say that authorized distributors have already entered the market, and I estimate that full-scale distribution will begin next year. So we need to seize that opportunity and make a good profit before then!"

Lei was stunned, but he felt that what he said made a lot of sense: "Ha, I'll listen to you, our genius! Come on, after I buy those things, we'll go back and make a big splash."

Prices in the dock area were indeed much cheaper than in the neighborhood near Tang Mu's house. Lei spent about $60 to get all the parts, and the two of them drove back with a full load of goods.

As soon as the Ford stopped in front of the Lei family's house, Tang Mu began to give instructions to Lei.

"Ray, move everything to my garage. I need to focus on studying this manual. Also, could you please go to the Fire Bar and turn on the machine for me? I need to collect the money by tomorrow morning; I don't trust anyone else to do it."

Lei was surprised that Tang Mu had entrusted him with handling the money. Being a straightforward person, he asked directly, "Tang, that machine holds a lot of money. Aren't you afraid I'll steal it? Or... run off with the money?"

In this neighborhood, murders over a few dozen dollars are commonplace.

Tang Mu turned around, looked at the one-eyed man, patted him on the back, and laughed:

"Ha, you'll rob Tanaka, but will you rob me too? We're comrades."

After saying that, he tossed the arcade machine key to Lei and went back into the house.

Lei took the key and stood there, holding it in his hand: "A comrade-in-arms...?"

He muttered something under his breath and clenched his fist tightly.

……

Late at night, Tang Mu was studying the repair manual in the garage.

He heard Ray's Ford engine shut off; he must have already passed the Fire Bar.

"So it turns out that Tai-East used a 74LS138 decoder for chip selection here. No wonder those lousy pirates always failed to crack it. They even connected the address lines backwards. It would be a miracle if it ran."

He closed the manual, and in front of him were three boards he had bought from Tanaka.

From the perspective of later generations' technology, the board is full of clumsiness due to the limitations of the era, but its concept is full of ingenuity.

With the manual as a guide and combined with his knowledge from his previous life, Tang Mu got the hang of it very quickly.

The first piece is fine, but the other two pieces are damaged to varying degrees.

After careful inspection, he found that the core logic of one board was intact, but the PCB was broken and the CPU and some 74 series logic chips were missing.

The other chip was mostly good, but the circuit board was severely corroded.

"Two-in-one, should be able to fix it!" Tang Mu took out his goggles, sat down at the worktable, and calmed down.

He took the desoldering pump, heated the soldering iron until it was very hot, and rosin smoke rose up.

Tang Mu skillfully removed the Intel 8080A CPU and shift register from the scrap board, his movements fluid and effortless, without damaging the solder pads in the slightest.

After carefully placing the components, he began cleaning the pads on another board, applying flux, and soldering the transplanted chip onto it.

Despite the dim lighting and harsh environment, Tang Mu felt a long-lost peace since arriving in this world.

In the midst of my recent chaotic life, only the logic of the circuit board remains unchanged: 0 is 0, and 1 is 1.

Faced with the broken corner on the board, Tang Mu referred to the circuit diagram and used enameled wire to connect the vias on both sides of the break.

Red wires crisscross the green circuit board, like new life forcibly stitched together with blood vessels, exuding a rugged industrial aesthetic.

"First test," Tang Mu whispered, tapping the test points with his logic pen.

The green light is on, no problem.

Looking at the board that had come back to life, Tang Mu was very satisfied and full of anticipation for tomorrow's assembly work.

But soon, he encountered a new problem.

After finishing all that, a strong sense of exhaustion washed over him. He wanted to rest, but he really didn't want to go to that damp basement, where the lingering smell of alcohol made him feel very uncomfortable.

He didn't have any obsession with cleanliness in his previous life, and it's unknown whether it was a physiological aversion left over from the original owner's body.

"After paying off my debts, I must find a room where I can see the sunlight." Tang Mu made up his mind, but then he couldn't hold on any longer and fell asleep on the worktable.