Actually, If I remember right (digging back oh, nearly 30 years into the recesses of my mind), the C-64 had a fairly unusual tape format, unlike almost everyone else, just like their disk drive was unique (everyone else used a fixed number of sectors/track, where Commodore used a variable number, with more sectors/track as you moved out, to get more data on the disk)
Ok Gang, I haven't even got fully through the list, but Items 1 and 2 make me thing the list is totally bogus. Guy is complaining about "gee, too much horsepower for what it does". I've been in that market. Buying a $500 PC, throwing a piece of software to display a green arrow (or scan a ticket) that was written in a week, and used over and over is often MUCH cheaper than "Why not program some stripped down embedded system for that task?".
I've been ther - for some reason, those "stripped down embedded system"s often cost MORE (much more) than a PC, and if you've ever priced the cost of hiring an embedded systems developer vs say a VB developer, you would understand
Hey Gang, I'll be honest, I ran a VERY VERY expensive electronics test lab on dos/windows. Now, first, viruses were not a problem, as the system was NOT in a network at all - wou wanted data, you used the sneaker net (This was in the 16 bit windows days)
The other thing is, other than data COLLECTION, and issuing ONE command (start) all it did was MONITOR the HPIB (aka GPIB aka IEEE-488) bus, and record what was going on. EVERYTHING was running it's own embeded Microcontroller (Including some custom ones we wrote). The windows box (and originally it was a DOS box - yeah, that's how far back it goes - BTW I checked with the old company - it's still running) just was a (believe it or not) inexpensive data recorder (a PC was cheaper than a dedicated recorder)
It's not just airbags It's Manditory "stability control" It's manditory anti lock brakes It's Traction control It's the motors and pumps and sensors and wires to RUN these things
I won't claim 1000Kg - but I know that auto designers have said they add a LOT of weight
BTW Power windows, the way they are done TODAY, save weight. "Back when", when cars were offered with manual and power windows, the window mechanism was basically the manual system (BIG driven gear, small pinion gear on the crank), driven with a fairly high torque motor. The Mfgs went to "pure power" because they were able to redesign the whole door to be lighter by using a higher speed, smaller, lower torque motor to open/close the windows, and tossing out the remnants of the manual system. It allowed not only a lighter window mechanism, but a thinner lighter door
The problem is - let's say you get rid of every SUV on the road, and everyone goes to light cars. You still have trucks (real trucks, used for WORK - from large pickups up to tractor-trailers) out there. They are not getting lighter. Look at Harry Chapin
Yes - the "Freedom Tower" (Replacement for the World Trade center) was just delayed months - it seems the central core is either 12K or 14K concrete (can't remember which) - seems 1 truck of "regular" concrete got mixed in by accident. They had to rip out all the walls, and start again. I gather it set them back like 8 months
OK - you convinced me - not with the argument - I realized that my set was old enough it didn't have LEDs (and yeah, LEDs tend to become SED - Smoke emitting diodes - when hooked up wrong)
Unfortunately, with a school, you pretty much are stuck with autocad, as that is typically what you are teaching.
I gave up on autocad, and went with one of the lower end parametric cad programs (Alibre) - of course Catia is the "big boy" of the parametric CADs.
Alibre has a free version - limited to what it can do, but not too bad (what do you want for free as in beer) and Design Pro isn't unreasonable in price (For instance they were just running a tax rebate special - $300)
Pro/E used to have a free desktop version - I actually keep my Win2K box running just for it. It was quite nice, all features EXCEPT you were limited to ONE part (no assemblies)
Autocad is "the industry standard", but like a LOT of standards, is NOT the "Best of breed". I've always thought of Autocad as a good general purpose CAD. Thing is, it's mostly a architectural CAD IMHO. Yeah, you can do other kinds of CAD work in there, but you are either going to suck it up and buy modules, or...
If you are going to do Machine shop work - grab Pro/E or Alibre (any of the parametric CADs are better for mechanica design than AutoCAD). If you're a BIG shop and want to integrate with your parts ordering, inventory management, workflow analysis, QC/QA - spend the bucks, go Catia
(No releationship to any cad company except as a user - and not even that, much, anymore)
Be a plumber, or an electrician, of an Air Conditioning Mechanic, etc - You get out from behind the desk (and therefore stay fit), they can't off-shore your job, and if you decided to go into business, you can
AofE (sitting right in reach as I type) is probably the "standard" recomendation. One problem with it. It's perfect if you already KNOW the material, and a real DOG to learn from, but a perfect "second book" or "Gee, I can't remember how to...
Yeah, but we HAVE Resharper or Refactor!pro (name your posion). That's the story. Visual Studio 2005/2008 with easily available add ins (Refactor, nUnit, CruiseControl etc) plus your choice of say svn, TFS or gasp VSS (for smaller projects) is great (wish SVN was as well integrated as say TFS, but...)
A LOT of the issues in the main article go away when you go to a pure "Managed code" developemnt model, except that there is a HELL of a lot of software to be ported to.NET, and a LOT of it is fairly poorly written VB6 code (or earlier - there were companies that did not move mission critical apps past VB3)
Like it or not, in the real word, there are a LOT of VB6 applications out there. They are becoming real dogs to maintain. Porting them is a dog (as Microsoft says, figure 2/3rds the effort of writing from scratch), and a BIG part of the problem in porting these legacy applications is that there really ARE no VB6 tools to do basic refactoring/writing test cases BEFORE you make the port, so you are less likely to break things
I have a lot of posts (relatively anyway) in my Blog on this subject, including some places where I think Microsoft failed the developer community (and therefore shooting themselves in the foot RE Vista and the like)
Take a look kg2v.blogspot.com (yeah - shameless plug, but I have NO Ads on my site, so you can't accuse me of link whoring - link slutting, yeah, but I'm not getting paid;) )
I'm a developer, and got my first wide screen display about 6 weeks ago. I'd never go back. Most of my routines are fairly short, but because I tend to use DESCRIPTIVE names for things, my lines tend to be LONG - I actually scroll a heck of a lot LESS with a wide screen
Add this to the recent find of 400 Billion Barrells of Oil in the artic (North of the North slope - only really drillable with new tech - gee - we just gaibed 700-900 billion barrels of oil.
Why? The ONLY sound my computer is setup for is "Beep" - Don't want any more than that - just enough to get my attention. I don't game on it - or listen to music - I surf, and I write software - silence is golden
I'm glad to see this. You get them for the opposite reason as a diabetic leg ulcer (instead of poor supply in - you have poor flow out). These things can take YEARS to heal (I'm going on a year)
I managed to catch an antibiotic resistant strain of something. Taking dyvox right now - Not fun at all, but it seems to have cleared the infection - I'll be done with this course on Friday night. Can't wait (there are a number of side effects, and a HUGE number of eating restrictions)
Slashdot Mirror
Ah, not necessarly - for instance, in NYC, you have the NYC Health and Hospitals Corp - which is fully owned by the city, even if it's a Corp
http://www.nyc.gov/html/hhc/html/home/home.shtml
There are something like 20 hospitals/treatment centers in "the system"
In most states, a film/covering on your license plate is an offence in itself
I saw it on MSNBC before I saw it here
Actually, If I remember right (digging back oh, nearly 30 years into the recesses of my mind), the C-64 had a fairly unusual tape format, unlike almost everyone else, just like their disk drive was unique (everyone else used a fixed number of sectors/track, where Commodore used a variable number, with more sectors/track as you moved out, to get more data on the disk)
Then why do we have to "Monday Morning router reboot" a munch of the C name routers, every week
There is a reason EVERY picture of an airship teathered to the Empires state building looks the same - they only did it once
ConEd (NYC's electric supplier) got approvale for a 23% rate increase yesterday
Ok Gang,
I haven't even got fully through the list, but Items 1 and 2 make me thing the list is totally bogus. Guy is complaining about "gee, too much horsepower for what it does". I've been in that market. Buying a $500 PC, throwing a piece of software to display a green arrow (or scan a ticket) that was written in a week, and used over and over is often MUCH cheaper than "Why not program some stripped down embedded system for that task?".
I've been ther - for some reason, those "stripped down embedded system"s often cost MORE (much more) than a PC, and if you've ever priced the cost of hiring an embedded systems developer vs say a VB developer, you would understand
Hey Gang,
I'll be honest, I ran a VERY VERY expensive electronics test lab on dos/windows. Now, first, viruses were not a problem, as the system was NOT in a network at all - wou wanted data, you used the sneaker net (This was in the 16 bit windows days)
The other thing is, other than data COLLECTION, and issuing ONE command (start) all it did was MONITOR the HPIB (aka GPIB aka IEEE-488) bus, and record what was going on. EVERYTHING was running it's own embeded Microcontroller (Including some custom ones we wrote). The windows box (and originally it was a DOS box - yeah, that's how far back it goes - BTW I checked with the old company - it's still running) just was a (believe it or not) inexpensive data recorder (a PC was cheaper than a dedicated recorder)
Look at the rules for 2009 - stability control is now law
It's not just airbags
It's Manditory "stability control"
It's manditory anti lock brakes
It's Traction control
It's the motors and pumps and sensors and wires to RUN these things
I won't claim 1000Kg - but I know that auto designers have said they add a LOT of weight
BTW Power windows, the way they are done TODAY, save weight. "Back when", when cars were offered with manual and power windows, the window mechanism was basically the manual system (BIG driven gear, small pinion gear on the crank), driven with a fairly high torque motor. The Mfgs went to "pure power" because they were able to redesign the whole door to be lighter by using a higher speed, smaller, lower torque motor to open/close the windows, and tossing out the remnants of the manual system. It allowed not only a lighter window mechanism, but a thinner lighter door
The problem is - let's say you get rid of every SUV on the road, and everyone goes to light cars. You still have trucks (real trucks, used for WORK - from large pickups up to tractor-trailers) out there. They are not getting lighter. Look at Harry Chapin
Yes - the "Freedom Tower" (Replacement for the World Trade center) was just delayed months - it seems the central core is either 12K or 14K concrete (can't remember which) - seems 1 truck of "regular" concrete got mixed in by accident. They had to rip out all the walls, and start again. I gather it set them back like 8 months
OK - you convinced me - not with the argument - I realized that my set was old enough it didn't have LEDs
(and yeah, LEDs tend to become SED - Smoke emitting diodes - when hooked up wrong)
They can HAVE my old 150-1 kit, I sure don't want it any more
I have a bunch of my old 150 in 1 and 300 in 1 kits (have to get my kids a bit more interested)
I also have a bunch of prototype boards, OScopes etc
That and a Full sized lathe and Mill. We will be doing a "rebuild my 8" Dobsonian scope into a truss tube dob" this summer (probably)
Have I tried one? Yep, typing on it right now. And have one on 2 PCs at home. I'm MUCH slower on other keyboards
Unfortunately, with a school, you pretty much are stuck with autocad, as that is typically what you are teaching.
I gave up on autocad, and went with one of the lower end parametric cad programs (Alibre) - of course Catia is the "big boy" of the parametric CADs.
Alibre has a free version - limited to what it can do, but not too bad (what do you want for free as in beer) and Design Pro isn't unreasonable in price (For instance they were just running a tax rebate special - $300)
Pro/E used to have a free desktop version - I actually keep my Win2K box running just for it. It was quite nice, all features EXCEPT you were limited to ONE part (no assemblies)
Autocad is "the industry standard", but like a LOT of standards, is NOT the "Best of breed". I've always thought of Autocad as a good general purpose CAD. Thing is, it's mostly a architectural CAD IMHO. Yeah, you can do other kinds of CAD work in there, but you are either going to suck it up and buy modules, or...
If you are going to do Machine shop work - grab Pro/E or Alibre (any of the parametric CADs are better for mechanica design than AutoCAD). If you're a BIG shop and want to integrate with your parts ordering, inventory management, workflow analysis, QC/QA - spend the bucks, go Catia
(No releationship to any cad company except as a user - and not even that, much, anymore)
Be a plumber, or an electrician, of an Air Conditioning Mechanic, etc - You get out from behind the desk (and therefore stay fit), they can't off-shore your job, and if you decided to go into business, you can
AofE (sitting right in reach as I type) is probably the "standard" recomendation. One problem with it. It's perfect if you already KNOW the material, and a real DOG to learn from, but a perfect "second book" or "Gee, I can't remember how to...
I's actually say get
Elelectricity - Principlas and Applications http://www.amazon.com/Electricity-Principles-Applications-Richard-Fowler/dp/0078262860/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210161568&sr=8-1
and as a second book "Electronics - Principles and Applications" (well this seems to be what replaced it) http://www.amazon.com/Electronics-Principles-Applications-Experiments-Manual/dp/002804245X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210161865&sr=1-3
another good one - go to ARRL.ORG and get
Understanding Basic Electronics
Yeah, but we HAVE Resharper or Refactor!pro (name your posion). That's the story. Visual Studio 2005/2008 with easily available add ins (Refactor, nUnit, CruiseControl etc) plus your choice of say svn, TFS or gasp VSS (for smaller projects) is great (wish SVN was as well integrated as say TFS, but...)
.NET, and a LOT of it is fairly poorly written VB6 code (or earlier - there were companies that did not move mission critical apps past VB3)
;) )
A LOT of the issues in the main article go away when you go to a pure "Managed code" developemnt model, except that there is a HELL of a lot of software to be ported to
Like it or not, in the real word, there are a LOT of VB6 applications out there. They are becoming real dogs to maintain. Porting them is a dog (as Microsoft says, figure 2/3rds the effort of writing from scratch), and a BIG part of the problem in porting these legacy applications is that there really ARE no VB6 tools to do basic refactoring/writing test cases BEFORE you make the port, so you are less likely to break things
I have a lot of posts (relatively anyway) in my Blog on this subject, including some places where I think Microsoft failed the developer community (and therefore shooting themselves in the foot RE Vista and the like)
Take a look
kg2v.blogspot.com
(yeah - shameless plug, but I have NO Ads on my site, so you can't accuse me of link whoring - link slutting, yeah, but I'm not getting paid
I'm a developer, and got my first wide screen display about 6 weeks ago. I'd never go back. Most of my routines are fairly short, but because I tend to use DESCRIPTIVE names for things, my lines tend to be LONG - I actually scroll a heck of a lot LESS with a wide screen
Add this to the recent find of 400 Billion Barrells of Oil in the artic (North of the North slope - only really drillable with new tech - gee - we just gaibed 700-900 billion barrels of oil.
Why? The ONLY sound my computer is setup for is "Beep" - Don't want any more than that - just enough to get my attention. I don't game on it - or listen to music - I surf, and I write software - silence is golden
I'm glad to see this. You get them for the opposite reason as a diabetic leg ulcer (instead of poor supply in - you have poor flow out). These things can take YEARS to heal (I'm going on a year)
I managed to catch an antibiotic resistant strain of something. Taking dyvox right now - Not fun at all, but it seems to have cleared the infection - I'll be done with this course on Friday night. Can't wait (there are a number of side effects, and a HUGE number of eating restrictions)