Linux and Golden Tee arcade game

86Baseball · 03-21-2017, 07:11 PM

Ok guys so I recently bought a Golden Tee machine and I have some questions. I'm a newbie to Linux but the game appears to be running Linux 3.9.6-PRD.1.5. Here's my issue:

When I turn on the game, the screen shows a bunch of auto-load Linux junk. What I'm trying to do is install a USB credit card reader that isn't the one they sell directly (Incredible Technologies is pretty stingy on their hardware - you have to use certain video cards/keypads/card readers/motherboards/etc/etc). The card reader works - it shows all the info on the screen while the game is booting, but the game isn't recognizing it most likely because it's ONLY looking for their reader. Likewise with the Video Card requirements, my guess is the drivers for these devices are installed on the hard drive and the drivers for my Card Reader aren't.

So how do I do this? I'm a rookie to Linux, but I can follow directions very well. I did some of my own troubleshooting and the issue I'm having is I can't stop the game from loading to access the hard drive (or don't know how). Basically, I can't pull open a terminal, period. If I try to do the Ctrl+Alt+F3 and what not, it looks like I can, but then all I get is a blank command line cursor and the game eventually auto-resets on me after about 30 seconds.

I tried connecting to the machine via Putty using the local IP address and it produced a connection timeout error.

Basically I'm just trying to figure out how to associate my card reader with the game so I don't have to spend $160 on one of theirs.

Thanks!

ondoho · 03-22-2017, 04:03 PM

and all this without even a single helpful link?
what is this machine?
what sort of linux is it running (yes, there's gazillions of different varieties)?
does it have documentation?

michaelk · 03-22-2017, 06:49 PM

A golf arcade game.

From a quick search the computer appears to be a regular desktop machine. It may be possible to boot a live CD/USB to examine its hard disk however, it may or may not have enough RAM depending on the model year. I also suspect it is running an embedded version and not a normal desktop. It could be as stated configured just for the reader that IT sells.

https://forums.arcade-museum.com/sho...d.php?t=337793

http://amusement.itsgames.com/service/manuals

86Baseball · 03-23-2017, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

and all this without even a single helpful link?
what is this machine?
what sort of linux is it running (yes, there's gazillions of different varieties)?
does it have documentation?

Linux 3.9.6-PRD.1.5 is what i see on startup.

86Baseball · 03-23-2017, 04:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

A golf arcade game.

From a quick search the computer appears to be a regular desktop machine. It may be possible to boot a live CD/USB to examine its hard disk however, it may or may not have enough RAM depending on the model year. I also suspect it is running an embedded version and not a normal desktop. It could be as stated configured just for the reader that IT sells.

https://forums.arcade-museum.com/sho...d.php?t=337793

http://amusement.itsgames.com/service/manuals

4GB of RAM, Intel processor, I can find all of those details if you need them but I highly doubt they matter in this particular situation.

86Baseball · 03-23-2017, 04:05 AM

Basically what I'm looking for is someone who knows how to stop the autorun of the game and allow me to access the hard drive to install said drivers needed to associate my card reader with the game. In my opinion this isn't high-level stuff... the only difficult part of the equation here is me being a Linux novice. If you guys need it I can post a video of the machine's startup.

hydrurga · 03-23-2017, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 86Baseball

Basically what I'm looking for is someone who knows how to stop the autorun of the game and allow me to access the hard drive to install said drivers needed to associate my card reader with the game. In my opinion this isn't high-level stuff... the only difficult part of the equation here is me being a Linux novice. If you guys need it I can post a video of the machine's startup.

I'd be very surprised if the game's manufacturers haven't written their software to only work with the specific hardware signature presented by their own card reader in order to prevent exactly what you're trying to do. In addition, I'd also been surprised if they hadn't locked the system up tightly to prevent unauthorised meddling/hacking. I beg to differ on your opinion that you don't think cracking the system would be high-level stuff.

86Baseball · 03-23-2017, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

I'd be very surprised if the game's manufacturers haven't written their software to only work with the specific hardware signature presented by their own card reader in order to prevent exactly what you're trying to do. In addition, I'd also been surprised if they hadn't locked the system up tightly to prevent unauthorised meddling/hacking. I beg to differ on your opinion that you don't think cracking the system would be high-level stuff.

At first you'd think that... but the people associated with this game are by no means computer savvy... they are bar flies. There are people out there who are able to update this game outside proper authorization methods and I suspect doing this is no different. So far the responses here have been about as useful as origami during a chess match. If someone would like to bring some solid advice to the table to tackle this then by all means lets hear it... but I'd rather not get these fluff responses.

michaelk · 03-23-2017, 07:44 AM

Although the golf program is copyrighted the OS still falls under the GNU license and the source code is available from the it website. I did not find anything obvious in the software license that would make the thread objective against the LQ site rules yet although it is up to Jeremy and I typically overlook the little details.

I agree and would hope there are some security features in place that would prevent someone from skimming card numbers. It may or may not be high level but the game is not a standard desktop system so while you might be able to follow directions no one except the OS/game developer can actually say how it works.

I would expect there are people that can crack/update the system despite the fact that it has a special license dongle (CID). As stated the computer is a standard desktop motherboard so you should be able to boot a live USB to examine the hard drive.

I can say that common USB card readers are HID devices which emulates a keyboard but have no idea about the one that is supplied by it.

ondoho · 03-23-2017, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 86Baseball

There are people out there who are able to update this game outside proper authorization methods and I suspect doing this is no different. So far the responses here have been about as useful as origami during a chess match. If someone would like to bring some solid advice to the table to tackle this then by all means lets hear it... but I'd rather not get these fluff responses.

you got it all figured out, don't you?

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

As stated the computer is a standard desktop motherboard so you should be able to boot a live USB to examine the hard drive.

that sounds like a sensible first step.
once you get there, post some sytem specs and then let's continue.

schneidz · 03-23-2017, 02:43 PM

heres code i used to parse credit card info from a usb magnetic card swipe:

Code:

#include "stdio.h"
 
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
 int i, c;
 FILE * fstream;
 
 fstream = fopen(argv[1], "r");
 c = fgetc(fstream);
 
 for(i=0; i < 4059; i++)
   fgetc(fstream);

 for(i=0; i < 380; i++)
 {
//printf(" i = %d \n", i);
  if((i - 1) % 8 == 0)
printf("%c", c);
//  if((c >= 0 && c <= 31) || (c >= 127))
//   printf("");
//  if(c >= 32 && c <= 126)
//   printf("\n%d --- %c\n", (i - 1),c);
  c = fgetc(fstream);
 }
 fclose(fstream);
}

deadmantaker4587 · 03-24-2017, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 86Baseball

At first you'd think that... but the people associated with this game are by no means computer savvy... they are bar flies. There are people out there who are able to update this game outside proper authorization methods and I suspect doing this is no different. So far the responses here have been about as useful as origami during a chess match. If someone would like to bring some solid advice to the table to tackle this then by all means lets hear it... but I'd rather not get these fluff responses.

I'd be interested to find out how to update the game without proper authorization. I have a 2013 machine and need to figure out a fix for the card reader as well!

86Baseball · 03-24-2017, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

that sounds like a sensible first step.
once you get there, post some sytem specs and then let's continue.

I'll check it out this afternoon and post results

deadmantaker4587 · 07-19-2017, 04:22 PM

Any updates?

ksbman · 10-27-2017, 09:10 PM

I've been looking at some stuff on this myself. I think the CID check might be embedded in the kernel somehow, but I haven't dug too far yet. The autorun stuff would be in /etc/rc.d/ and the IT stuff is in it.d (default runlevel is 5). Go through those files and track where the game starts and modify the files to skip the start and drop out to a command line.

There is a file called install_nvidia that actually patches the OS with new graphics drivers, so it would be a good example to use to load drivers for new hardware, as for the system reading the data, not sure where that would be at this point.

That should give you a place to start. If anyone else makes any progress into this, let me know as well. I'd like to find how to skip the CID check myself.