Actually all those lights served a purpose. The showed the system was not in a looping state and was operating correctly. I used to maintain a Tandem mainframe system and by looking at the lights I could see the load, page swapping, disk activity, etc. A single glance told me if it was in trouble or operating within specs.
They were very nice systems. More art than computers. It's too bad Compaq and HP ruined them.
Probably the most innovative thing in the C64 world was you could turn off major parts, or all, of the OS and use the underlying RAM if you needed it. You are doing assembly only? Turn off the BASIC and use the underlying memory. Writing a game? Turn off the entire OS and with your own boot loader you had access to all 64k.
I used to poke a few locations and watch the memory bits change.
Not to bash MS but they wrote it. I think it sucked too. In the day I converted my PET programs to the C64 then some to the Amiga. Kingdom was cool as was Stock Broker. Man! The hours I wasted on Stock Broker and burning my friends in stock deals.;)
Oh, and Rat Run. That was another great time waster. IIRC it was a bit rough on the PET to C64 conversion due to lining up the walls. Not sure if I did an Amiga version. I think so but that was soooo long ago.
It was a tough conversion to the Amiga due to it being label based instead of line based. The Pet to C64 was easy. Just remove a line or two from the beginning.
I found one in a AT&T computer years ago and it ran MS DOS. I didn't know MS wrote anything for Motorola processors except Amiga BASIC at the time. It was back in the days when we were looking for the Picasso virus.
I do enjoy driving. I do it a lot but an exhaust sound does not get my adrenaline pumping. I learned long ago in my motorcyle days: loud - bad. Quiet - good. Cops can hear loud a lot further than they can hear quiet.
It was speed that got my adrenaline pumping, not noise. BTW it was not a "sedan motorcycle" we are talking about. It was a Kawasaki Z1. Google it for its history. I kept it quiet for one reason - to go fast silently.
How does not liking noise equate to not enjoying driving? How is a noisy car better handling than one that is not?
On the other hand -- if I were lucky enough to write a book that became a classic after laboring through years of education and life experience and writing ten books that never sold -- I might wish that the continued value of my prodigious (and often unremunerated) efforts to the human race be reflected in some returns to my children and grandchildren.
Then invest some of that money you made on your work and grant it to them.
The whole thing had to be kept pretty quiet on both sides, as it was a near certainty that if the net-powers-that-be discovered we were using the internet for sordid commerce then there would probably be hell to pay and access to lose.
Ah! The old NSF transition period. I remember that.
qz
Re:Standards! Standards! Where are the standards!
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The Web Is 16 Today
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Heck! Five errors? I can fix that in, oh, [billable time] an hour or so. Maybe two if the moon is full.
As others pointed out it was an interview with Brian Eno. This was the part I liked. Check out the last sentence.
Q: How do you explain the proliferation of ``unplugged'' performances by rock stars lately?
A: I think I can sympathize with what it is reacting against. Because a lot of music in the last 10 or 15 years has been made on computer-driven sequencers, it has a certain flavor to it. Sometimes that flavor's all right. But I'll tell you what the main effect of sequencers has been: Everybody thinks that when new technologies come along that they're transparent and you can just do your job well on it. But technologies always import a whole new set of values with them. And one of the values that sequencers imported was everything's got to be exactly right.
It's so easy because a computer is basically a nerd-designed, screwdriver addict's machine. It's a machine that's perfect for making small adjustments and not very good for making bold strokes. I think people just got sick of sitting in studios for hours while some bloke in front of a screen kind of tightened everything up, so that every kick drum beat fell exactly on the one.
If you've been around that way of composing and you pick up an acoustic instrument and hit it, you think, ``Jesus, it's so full of life. There's so much going on in here.'' So I think people are really reacting to what has been rather an unimaginative use of computer technology so far. What I think is, of course, that there'll be a new generation of people who'll use computers with the same freedom that Pete Townshend uses an acoustic guitar. But those people are just starting to emerge, I think. The computer brings out the worst in some people.
For example, the miata has a tuned exhaust note. It cost a bunch of money, money that could have been used for executive bonuses, but Mazda instead invested it in the car.
Think how much they would have saved to make a quiet car by using existing mufflers.
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Easy. I don't own one. ;)
qz
Uhm, cameras?
Just a guess.
qz
Actually all those lights served a purpose. The showed the system was not in a looping state and was operating correctly. I used to maintain a Tandem mainframe system and by looking at the lights I could see the load, page swapping, disk activity, etc. A single glance told me if it was in trouble or operating within specs.
They were very nice systems. More art than computers. It's too bad Compaq and HP ruined them.
qz
I didn't get the memo either.
qz
If you want to see pics of Area 51 they are out there. Google provides.
qz
Maybe that is why the Circuit City in my town closed.
qz
Actually, paraphrased it is "That's a pretty nice server. You wouldn't want anything to happen to it, would you?"
Now extrapolate that to iPods. All of a sudden your music stops. AFAIK Apple can't do that but can the Zune?
qz
I see tolerance is working well here. I am guessing you are going for a +5 funny.
It wasn't.
qz
Probably the most innovative thing in the C64 world was you could turn off major parts, or all, of the OS and use the underlying RAM if you needed it. You are doing assembly only? Turn off the BASIC and use the underlying memory. Writing a game? Turn off the entire OS and with your own boot loader you had access to all 64k.
I used to poke a few locations and watch the memory bits change.
Very cool.
qz
Not to bash MS but they wrote it. I think it sucked too. In the day I converted my PET programs to the C64 then some to the Amiga. Kingdom was cool as was Stock Broker. Man! The hours I wasted on Stock Broker and burning my friends in stock deals. ;)
Oh, and Rat Run. That was another great time waster. IIRC it was a bit rough on the PET to C64 conversion due to lining up the walls. Not sure if I did an Amiga version. I think so but that was soooo long ago.
It was a tough conversion to the Amiga due to it being label based instead of line based. The Pet to C64 was easy. Just remove a line or two from the beginning.
But it was fun in those days.
qz
I found one in a AT&T computer years ago and it ran MS DOS. I didn't know MS wrote anything for Motorola processors except Amiga BASIC at the time. It was back in the days when we were looking for the Picasso virus.
Yeah. It was infected.
qz
Vista went gold. Isn't that the final first release? Isn't this the first version the public will see?
qz
By that time it will be too late.
qz
I do enjoy driving. I do it a lot but an exhaust sound does not get my adrenaline pumping. I learned long ago in my motorcyle days: loud - bad. Quiet - good. Cops can hear loud a lot further than they can hear quiet.
It was speed that got my adrenaline pumping, not noise. BTW it was not a "sedan motorcycle" we are talking about. It was a Kawasaki Z1. Google it for its history. I kept it quiet for one reason - to go fast silently.
How does not liking noise equate to not enjoying driving? How is a noisy car better handling than one that is not?
qz
Then invest some of that money you made on your work and grant it to them.
qz
qz
Ah! The old NSF transition period. I remember that.
qz
Heck! Five errors? I can fix that in, oh, [billable time] an hour or so. Maybe two if the moon is full.
qz
qz
As others pointed out it was an interview with Brian Eno. This was the part I liked. Check out the last sentence.
Q: How do you explain the proliferation of ``unplugged'' performances by rock stars lately?
A: I think I can sympathize with what it is reacting against. Because a lot of music in the last 10 or 15 years has been made on computer-driven sequencers, it has a certain flavor to it. Sometimes that flavor's all right. But I'll tell you what the main effect of sequencers has been: Everybody thinks that when new technologies come along that they're transparent and you can just do your job well on it. But technologies always import a whole new set of values with them. And one of the values that sequencers imported was everything's got to be exactly right.
It's so easy because a computer is basically a nerd-designed, screwdriver addict's machine. It's a machine that's perfect for making small adjustments and not very good for making bold strokes. I think people just got sick of sitting in studios for hours while some bloke in front of a screen kind of tightened everything up, so that every kick drum beat fell exactly on the one.
If you've been around that way of composing and you pick up an acoustic instrument and hit it, you think, ``Jesus, it's so full of life. There's so much going on in here.'' So I think people are really reacting to what has been rather an unimaginative use of computer technology so far. What I think is, of course, that there'll be a new generation of people who'll use computers with the same freedom that Pete Townshend uses an acoustic guitar. But those people are just starting to emerge, I think. The computer brings out the worst in some people.
qz
qz
Think how much they would have saved to make a quiet car by using existing mufflers.
qz
The free version is a zip file that turns into a .exe file that won't run on my Mac.
.exe file...
I wonder what magic is in the
qz
Or buy in a local small (used) book store. They can't afford the cameras nor do they want to.
Not all stores record transactions.
qz
Don't be so sure of that. I work for the govt. Kind of. Sort of.
I leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure this out.
qz