Well, my new code didn't work. I discovered I had made a couple transcription errors in the truth table when I entered it into my software - not the least of which being that one of the inputs was inverted. I also had an error in the code (I sent a branch to the wrong label).

Correcting the table led to some ugly Boolean equations which would have adversely cluttered up my code, so this gave me an excuse to explore the false table idea. I tweaked my program to spit out Boolean equations for the conditions where the outputs were false.

This was the solution I was looking for - it spit out much cleaner equations. I was able to rewrite the code based on the new equations. Unfortunately, it came out to be two instructions longer than the original pass. But only two! So, the count is up to 27 instructions. But now it works, so it should never have to be changed.

At least now I also have some reference material to work with, too!

Anyway, on an unrelated topic, I worked on another film over the weekend. It is an independent film called "Just Friends" that is a short comedy about dating. Not exactly my cup of tea, but hey - I'm making movies now. It was a late-nite stint from about 9:00 p.m. Friday night until about 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning. I have been instated as the editor of the film, so I guess I better get some tools together. It turns out the PC solution (you know, the computer that I was building when this 'blog all began) doesn't quite cut it in the professional film industry. It seems the way to go is Final Cut Pro on a Mac. So now we are seriously looking into getting a Mac. Perhaps I can get a few bucks for the PC, although it is obsolete already. Hell, it was obsolete when I built it. But that's the nature of the beasts.

So, I want to wrap up this RC4 thing. I may need to take a break from it for a while so I can concentrate on film-making. I ordered the revision G boards for RC4 last week and they are due to arrive tomorrow. I might go down to Jameco and pick up the parts I need to populate it and give it a quick test, but beyond that I may put the project aside [yet again] for a few weeks. I want to also get the Rev. F specs to some degree of completion before I freeze it and step into Revision G land. But I guess that will happen later.

I guess that's it for now. I just finished watching the movie Butterfly Effect. Maybe some day I'll figure out how to start my life over so I can avoid computers all together.

Ha!