Hackers have gone wild. Now they're playing the iconic shooter even on an e-cigarette

You’re sitting in a pub, you pull out your e-cigarette, and instead of smoking, you launch DOOM. It sounds like a joke, but this is exactly what’s working now thanks to the project of one passionate developer. And it’s by no means the only bizarre hardware on which the legendary shooter has come to life this year.

Thirty-Year Tradition of Technological Masochism

DOOM from 1993 has become something like “Hello World” for hackers with too much free time. While normal programmers test new hardware with a blinking LED, these maniacs immediately port the entire game. It’s actually logical – DOOM has open-source code, minimal requirements, and everyone knows it.

Over the years, the game has appeared on pregnancy tests, IKEA smart bulbs, bank terminals, and even on a John Deere tractor display. Someone even got DOOM running within DOOM – on a computer inside the game itself. That’s a meta-level that an ordinary mortal won’t understand.

Aspire PIXO: The World’s Cheapest Gaming Platform?

The latest addition to the collection of oddities is the Aspire PIXO vaporizer for 30 euros. At first glance, it’s an ordinary e-cigarette, but under the hood, an ARM chip PY32F403XC is hidden. With only 64 KB of RAM, it wouldn’t be enough for actual gaming by any stretch, but for receiving a streamed image via USB? No problem.

The developer nicknamed atc1441 created custom firmware and the VapeCloudStreamer tool, which sends the image from a computer to the cigarette’s miniature LCD display. The 323 × 173 pixel resolution isn’t great, but you can tell it’s DOOM. And that’s the point.

Technically, it’s a cheat – the game runs on a computer, the cigarette only displays it. But the community is already speculating about a native port. With a bit of optimization and texture trimming, it might be possible. After all, the original DOOM ran on a 386 with 4 MB of RAM.

Why Calculators Are Popular Among Students

While the e-cigarette is a novelty, scientific calculators are an evergreen among hackers. Casio or Texas Instruments models have sufficient performance and, most importantly, teachers tolerate them in class. The student “calculates” derivatives, but in reality, they’re playing DOOM or Tetris.

On Reddit, tutorials regularly appear on how to get not only games but also Game Boy or NES emulators onto calculators. Some models can even play videos. For a few thousand crowns, you have a universal entertainment center disguised as a school aid.

What’s Next? We Guess a Smart Washing Machine

How far will this madness go? This year, DOOM appeared on a Flipper Zero (a keychain-sized hacker gadget), on the Tesla Model S infotainment system, and even on a half-million oscilloscope.

It’s not just about the technical challenge. It’s a way for the community to prove that proprietary hardware is not a fortress. If you can run a thirty-year-old game on a cigarette, what’s stopping you from doing anything else with that device?

What else have you seen DOOM running on?

Source: Reddit, notebookcheck