I got my first computer (Atari 800) running last year. Actually, I got an lcd tv from a yard sale, plugged it all in and it worked like new. More fun than my 2GHz PC.The magic is still there.
I vividly remember going to the library and bookstores every day after school in hopes of getting the latest computer magazine that might have one more bit of technical detail on the blitter chip.
That's strange... I remember it as Agnes also. And there was Daphne and another. Wikipedia now says Denise. I could be mixing it up with the Atari ST as I followed both very carefully through development.
I've worked on many "embedded systems for aircraft..." and spacecraft. Performance has never been a concern (well, since the 1970's) and it's quite easy to stay below the 70% utilization requirements. Think flight simulator without the graphics.
I've worked with old engineers who were still stuck in the mainframe mindset and totally unaware of the raw computing power of a generic garage assembled PC. OTOH, they had deep hardware experience for which they earned $5000/day consulting on problems that teams of younger engineers couldn't solve in a month - because they had already solved the same problem 30 years before. This is the black magic that made Intel what it is.
Old engineering joke:
Henry Ford once balked at paying $10,000 to General Electric for work done troubleshooting a generator, and asked for an itemized bill. The engineer who performed the work, Charles Steinmetz, sent this: "Making chalk mark on generator, $1. Knowing where to make mark, $9,999." Ford paid the bill.
I was reading some statistics about ham radio enthusiasts a couple years ago and found out that female participation since the 1930's has been about 11% across all countries and cultures. At my ham last test, there were 18 males and one female. All the club meetings I go to are always talking about getting more people involved, especially women and girls. The ratio there is about 3/20. I've invited a neighbor's daughter countless times, but she is always disinterested
And last night I was reading about Forrest Mims and Ed Roberts and the the Home Brew computer club. It kinda sounded like all this microcomputer nonsense got its start in the world of ham radio electronics enthusiasts. So why not look there for answers since there is a hundred years of global statistical data?
they work right on the knife edge between inferno and explosion.
So do a great many things. You can bring down a jumbo jet if you know which wire to cut or hole you build your wasp nest in or where to forget to add oil.
I did a 22 state two month road trip (three coasts) over the last 2.5 months. I have a GPS and halfway through the first leg, one of my co-drivers threw it out the window after one too many wrong directions, but we completed the trip with a rand mcnally atlas that was only referenced a few times. And this person is a professional driver now. They have a galaxy smartphone and it was beset with similar problems. I don't mind , but apparently some people do.
That said, I find it pretty easy to get anywhere without a map or GPS if you have some rudimentary knowledge of how the free ways arelaid out. Flagstaff,LA.Seattle,Detroit,Boston, NYC. No map, no GPS,no problem.
How do you define hard work, in the physics sense? I worked for years doing lawn care. It was dirty, very hot, required great physical strength, but it was mostly relaxing, I got a good workout, could listen to music, make my own hours and could think my own thoughts.
I make 10-100x as much as an engineer, but it is much more physically and emotionally draining, I stay up nights worrying about problems, have to be there when the customer tells me and I am surrounded by people complaining about the same and who really don't know what their job is. Your degree says you studied engineering FFS, what did you do, cheat on all of your tests?
Warm body. Check, Breathing - optional. A lot of this was due to cost plus accounting in companies where I've worked, where your salary is based on the your cost to the customer. Somebody who fixes a problem in one hour is much less valuable than someone who takes three weeks.
Not only that, but a manager's salary is based off of the cumulative cost of all underlings so a manager of a large team of mostly incompetent people will be making much more than someone over a small team of highly competent people, no matter how much more they are paid individually over the incompetent ones.
Your problem is defining "success" as being "rich"...
This idea is pervasive on/. and other sites. I've achieved great comfort and freedom over the last decade with very minimal money. I don't live in NYC, have a car valued over $1000, a cell phone or new clothes,but I'm currently supporting 4 other adults and a child with a nice warm safe house, good food and a lot of toys.
I was poor as a kid, so would spend hours in the library every day reading every computer magazine and journal and dreaming of things that I could do. I'd basically learned everything that I was expected to know for my EE degree a decade later (at least as far as digital electronics went).
I find computers mostly boring today, but like to spend time playing with my 40 year old hardware and buying up vintage equipment on ebay that I'd read about. I'm still on the lookout for a DG Eclipse. I don't know what I'd do with it, but I could own a piece of history...
Slashdot Mirror
I vividly remember going to the library and bookstores every day after school in hopes of getting the latest computer magazine that might have one more bit of technical detail on the blitter chip.
That's strange... I remember it as Agnes also. And there was Daphne and another. Wikipedia now says Denise. I could be mixing it up with the Atari ST as I followed both very carefully through development.
there is a reason it is no longer used much.
Because Motorola would not budge on price when IBM came to them wanting to use it in their new "PC", while second choice Intel would.
Putting a restaurant out of business because of a name is not friendly, it is retarded.
I've worked on many "embedded systems for aircraft..." and spacecraft. Performance has never been a concern (well, since the 1970's) and it's quite easy to stay below the 70% utilization requirements. Think flight simulator without the graphics.
It's only social games if you want it to be. There's plenty of technical work to be done. Don't play that game.
Old engineering joke:
Henry Ford once balked at paying $10,000 to General Electric for work done troubleshooting a generator, and asked for an itemized bill. The engineer who performed the work, Charles Steinmetz, sent this: "Making chalk mark on generator, $1. Knowing where to make mark, $9,999." Ford paid the bill.
Is less than what it cost to refuel a shuttle SRB
and we get more of this crap
This had nothing to do with programming, just an international statistic I'd come across.
Yes. Disassemble it, scan it and duplicate all the parts.
And last night I was reading about Forrest Mims and Ed Roberts and the the Home Brew computer club. It kinda sounded like all this microcomputer nonsense got its start in the world of ham radio electronics enthusiasts. So why not look there for answers since there is a hundred years of global statistical data?
You have so little faith in laser scanners and modern manufacturing CAD/CAM/CAE software?
they work right on the knife edge between inferno and explosion.
So do a great many things. You can bring down a jumbo jet if you know which wire to cut or hole you build your wasp nest in or where to forget to add oil.
That said, I find it pretty easy to get anywhere without a map or GPS if you have some rudimentary knowledge of how the free ways arelaid out. Flagstaff,LA.Seattle,Detroit,Boston, NYC. No map, no GPS,no problem.
My friend's sister is a director for the western US in a large Fortune 500 company, so much higher than managerial level and she only makes 250k/year.
I make 10-100x as much as an engineer, but it is much more physically and emotionally draining, I stay up nights worrying about problems, have to be there when the customer tells me and I am surrounded by people complaining about the same and who really don't know what their job is. Your degree says you studied engineering FFS, what did you do, cheat on all of your tests?
What would you expect a factory job to be like?
Not only that, but a manager's salary is based off of the cumulative cost of all underlings so a manager of a large team of mostly incompetent people will be making much more than someone over a small team of highly competent people, no matter how much more they are paid individually over the incompetent ones.
If NASA had stuck to 9 to 5 days during the Apollo era, they never would have made it to the moon.
Baumol's cost disease
Your problem is defining "success" as being "rich" ...
This idea is pervasive on /. and other sites. I've achieved great comfort and freedom over the last decade with very minimal money. I don't live in NYC, have a car valued over $1000, a cell phone or new clothes,but I'm currently supporting 4 other adults and a child with a nice warm safe house, good food and a lot of toys.
I've lived in California and was recently back for a few weeks and did not see any crumbling infrastructure.
They are the ones that label you as a troll also.
I find computers mostly boring today, but like to spend time playing with my 40 year old hardware and buying up vintage equipment on ebay that I'd read about. I'm still on the lookout for a DG Eclipse. I don't know what I'd do with it, but I could own a piece of history...