It was also my first computer - sort of. An Acorn Electron anyway, which was basically a Micro for people without bottomless pockets. Fond memories of playing Elite and trying to learn BASIC!
Sadly the Electron is long gone but I think I still have the novella that came with Elite knocking about somewhere.
Started up an emulator a few years ago. First thing that came to mind was 'CHAIN'! It's weird how some things stick in your mind.
Similar experience! My department still has one connected up to one of our small radio telescopes used for teaching undergrads - they never replaced it because it never stopped working.
I've still yet to find a space trading game that is as fun as I remember Elite being on an Acorn electron. It was well worth the ridiculous loading times off the tape.
The JET tokamak has had a couple of huge flywheels to provide the power to its field coils since the early 1980s, and those are around 400MW peak output. True the pulse only lasts around half a minute or so, but it's still very impressive. Each flywheel has a moment of intertia of something around 14 million kgm^2.
This may not even be that relevant to TFA but I thought it might be interesting.
I totally agree.
I occasionally still use Thinkpads from 7-12 years ago (great keyboards, nice for writing and coding), and they all work (except a 380 that needed a new HDD and CMOS battery 2 years ago). They really were solid pieces of kit. I don't know about more recent Thinkpads however, as I've not owned a Lenovo. Are they still as reliable?
Of course tools die. They have to go to silicon heaven.
Is it not written that the iron shall lie down with the lamp?
If they didn't, where would all the calculators go?
If you really want to be pedantic, it's not hieroglyphics but hieroglyphs.
Also, the signs can be made to represent objects/ideas instead of sounds. If you want the hieroglyphic character to represent what it looks like, one just needs to add a small determinative stroke underneath.
For example 'r' can be made to mean 'mouth' just be adding a small stroke underneath the mouth shaped sign.
... mathematical and econophysical models are simply not powerful enough to model the financial markets in any accurate way. The markets are simply to vast and too complex.
I don't think software and hardware should be sold in bundles as the norm.
If bundling an browser with an OS is considered 'bad' why isn't bundling an OS with a computer, which is, IMO, much worse. Forcing the user into a web browser is not as bad as forcing the user into an operating system. For a start, the browser is often free, whereas in the OS case, the user is paying for something they may not want. Maybe they need to ship systems with no OS, with a leaflet showing the various options available, and possibly a selection of free OS disks, such as various linux distros, bsd, freedos etc... I suppose retailers could do bundle offers if they like, for example, some custom PC builders will sell with no OS, or the OS of your choice from a selection. If your choice isn't there you can order the OS-less machine and purchase/download the OS elsewhere.
Elite on the BBC Micro/Acorn Electron/etc... from 1984 had full 3D wireframes, and beats Battlezone by removing lines that shouldn't have been visible through an object. IIRC David Braben had created a rotating wireframe of one of the ships a few years earlier than that too, before he started work on the game with Ian Bell.
Fantastic game!
... is an ASCII version! That old ATi Radeon 9500 ASC has been king of the market for too long. It's beginning to look dated.
Imagine playing NetHack on this ASUS! Never will an @ look more realistic...
I don't recall the Golden Figurine, but Elite almost caused its own fair share of Electron-Hurling at some points. I'm sure games were harder back then.
I remember my old Acorn Electron. Elite in black and white wireframe graphics - it was fantastic.
The first graphics card I actually bought on its own was a 3D Prophet 4000XT 64MB, which I still have in my parts box.
I think I still have a Rage from my old G3 Mac lying around too, and the G3 and G4 I still have still contain their Rage and GeForce 2MX respectively, and still work perfectly.
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It was also my first computer - sort of. An Acorn Electron anyway, which was basically a Micro for people without bottomless pockets. Fond memories of playing Elite and trying to learn BASIC! Sadly the Electron is long gone but I think I still have the novella that came with Elite knocking about somewhere. Started up an emulator a few years ago. First thing that came to mind was 'CHAIN'! It's weird how some things stick in your mind.
Similar experience! My department still has one connected up to one of our small radio telescopes used for teaching undergrads - they never replaced it because it never stopped working.
You could write a space trading adventure game complete with wireframe graphics in machine code. I'd consider that super-1337.
I've still yet to find a space trading game that is as fun as I remember Elite being on an Acorn electron. It was well worth the ridiculous loading times off the tape.
The JET tokamak has had a couple of huge flywheels to provide the power to its field coils since the early 1980s, and those are around 400MW peak output. True the pulse only lasts around half a minute or so, but it's still very impressive. Each flywheel has a moment of intertia of something around 14 million kgm^2. This may not even be that relevant to TFA but I thought it might be interesting.
...then, on my system, Mozilla has to go too.
14" 4:3 Thinkpad here. Amazing keyboard, and a proper 4:3 screen ratio. Sadly they're all widescreen now. The 15" 4:3 Flexviews were brilliant.
Incidentally what did take weeks or months on Novell or Unix that took hours on Windows 95/NT?
The period between system restarts?
Cheers! Yeah, a friend's T42 had one of those 1400x1050 14.1" screens - more modern laptop screens are pretty shocking in comparison.
I totally agree. I occasionally still use Thinkpads from 7-12 years ago (great keyboards, nice for writing and coding), and they all work (except a 380 that needed a new HDD and CMOS battery 2 years ago). They really were solid pieces of kit. I don't know about more recent Thinkpads however, as I've not owned a Lenovo. Are they still as reliable?
You do realize that despite the resemblance, this thing is not actually a Space Station.
Is it a moon?
Of course tools die. They have to go to silicon heaven. Is it not written that the iron shall lie down with the lamp? If they didn't, where would all the calculators go?
It's estimated to be around 30 times the radius of our sun, I think.
If you really want to be pedantic, it's not hieroglyphics but hieroglyphs. Also, the signs can be made to represent objects/ideas instead of sounds. If you want the hieroglyphic character to represent what it looks like, one just needs to add a small determinative stroke underneath. For example 'r' can be made to mean 'mouth' just be adding a small stroke underneath the mouth shaped sign.
'Hello computer.' -Scotty, Star Trek IV
Actually, afaik, even the Macbook Pros only have TN screens. Last laptop I saw with an IPS was.... a Thinkpad. Flexview ftw etc...
... mathematical and econophysical models are simply not powerful enough to model the financial markets in any accurate way. The markets are simply to vast and too complex.
I don't think software and hardware should be sold in bundles as the norm. If bundling an browser with an OS is considered 'bad' why isn't bundling an OS with a computer, which is, IMO, much worse. Forcing the user into a web browser is not as bad as forcing the user into an operating system. For a start, the browser is often free, whereas in the OS case, the user is paying for something they may not want. Maybe they need to ship systems with no OS, with a leaflet showing the various options available, and possibly a selection of free OS disks, such as various linux distros, bsd, freedos etc... I suppose retailers could do bundle offers if they like, for example, some custom PC builders will sell with no OS, or the OS of your choice from a selection. If your choice isn't there you can order the OS-less machine and purchase/download the OS elsewhere.
It's true. It is impossible... X-Tension, Freelancer and other such games have come close, but none have surpassed the greatness that was... ELITE!
Elite on the BBC Micro/Acorn Electron/etc... from 1984 had full 3D wireframes, and beats Battlezone by removing lines that shouldn't have been visible through an object. IIRC David Braben had created a rotating wireframe of one of the ships a few years earlier than that too, before he started work on the game with Ian Bell. Fantastic game!
We wont give the game away. Promise....
...to blow the bloody doors off!
... is an ASCII version! That old ATi Radeon 9500 ASC has been king of the market for too long. It's beginning to look dated. Imagine playing NetHack on this ASUS! Never will an @ look more realistic...
I don't recall the Golden Figurine, but Elite almost caused its own fair share of Electron-Hurling at some points. I'm sure games were harder back then.
I remember my old Acorn Electron. Elite in black and white wireframe graphics - it was fantastic. The first graphics card I actually bought on its own was a 3D Prophet 4000XT 64MB, which I still have in my parts box. I think I still have a Rage from my old G3 Mac lying around too, and the G3 and G4 I still have still contain their Rage and GeForce 2MX respectively, and still work perfectly.