Only 14 megahertz? The Commodore 64 can run at 20 megahertz using the same processor (65816) and has some awesome games running at the speed. It seems to me that an Apple IIgs should be able to accomplish similar speeds?
Oh, how quickly we forget! (Or in your case, never knew).
THE CRYSTAL FREQUENCY IS NOT THE CPU CLOCK FREQUENCY!
I would have suspected that a slashdotter would understand that; but apparently not.
The CPU in the C-64 ran at either 1 or 2 MHz (can't recall). Actually, IIRC, it ran at something like 980MHz. And it was NEVER a 65816 (the 16 bit variant of the 6502). The C-64 used a 6510, which was a custom 6502 variant that Commodore (which had a foundry) produced. The 6510 was a 6502 core with some features of the 6522 VIA tacked on (and which the C-64 didn't even use!)
The Apple ]['s CPU ran at 1MHz (actually, something like 1.023 MHz, IIRC. The IIGS ran at twice that speed.
The IIGS actually DID use the Western Design Center WDC65816, IIRC. It was essentially a 16 bit 65C02 core, with an expanded register set and expanded memory space. In fact, I have the 8-bit bus version (WDC65802) in my Apple ][+. It is still 16 bit internally, but handles its 16 bit instructions as "double byte" read/write cycles. The cool thing is that it is pin-compatible with the (NMOS) SY6502 used in the Apple ][ (until the IIGS). (Actually, the//c and perhaps the//e used the CMOS Rockwell R65C02. But I digress
The 14MHz (actually 14.318181818) MHz comes from the fact that it is an even multiple of the NTSC video standard's frame rate, thus making the video clock chain easy to design. I believe that the C-64 used a more "integrated" video chip, but I imagine that the 20MHz was also related to video timing.
It's only a fucking mess if it's designed to be a fucking mess. A little design work up front to make components easily replaceable would go a long way towards causing less waste, which is good for everyone. There's absolutely no reason the laser on your DVD player can't be a user replacable part, as easy as changing the batteries on your remote control. The only reason situations like this exist is because of self serving decisions by greedy people and a lack of awareness by the rest of us.
Bullshit.
Most of the design decisions have to do with the fact that the consumer is only willing to pay $50 for that DVD burner, and OEMs are only willing to pay $15 (or less). That isn't "greed", that's "market pressure".
And there is another thing with the DVD laser, specifically: Liability. Imagine the lawsuit that would happen when someone blinded themselves by defeating the (cost increasing) interlocks that would have to be designed-in (or when those interlocks failed to work), and leaned over to "check that the laser is working".
People are, by and large, too stupid to be trusted with not melting their retinas. You and I are not. But "people" are.
Think about it. There's a reason for those warning stickers on the outside of the DVD burner mechanism.
I had to take apart my dishwasher's font panel to get at the main logic board. I thought It blew, but it turned out to be a simple fuse after checking. $15 later, I have a working washer again.
The main issue is that you CAN repair a washer if needed with full schematics from the manufacturer. I DL'd the logic board info from a web site.
You can't do that in a closed device.
It's not "closed". It just uses industrial adhesives to affix the glass, instead of more traditional fasteners. Even iFixIt doesn't claim that the iPad is "unserviceable". Only "difficult to service".
And if it had not been a simple fuse in your dishwasher, do you still think you could have done component-level repair of say, the microcontroller? Of course not; because the MCU would have had firmware flashed into it. And I dare say you wouldn't have found THAT on the intarwebs.
So, considering that nearly all of the components in the iPad are custom, or fairly difficult to source, in a practical sense, it (like most consumer electronics) is basically unrepairable these days.
Nobody was talking about OS upgrades, this whole thread is about the idea that self-repairs and upgrades are becoming impossible as Apple seals their devices tighter and tighter.
The iPad and iPhone have used industrial adhesives since I believe day 1. Note that they don't use them on the iMac. And in the case of the Mac mini, they have made it significantly easier in recent models to gain access.
Why? Because we are talking about an entirely different class of device.
So, quit with the Conspiracy Theory crap. I love a good Conspiracy Theory as much (and maybe even more) than the next guy; but this ain't one.
I have made NOTHING up. You're just a zealous fandroid. Oh, and did I mention "Clueless"?
Exhibit 1: Snippet from an email from my not-exactly-tech-savvy Nephew. This was from last week. Obviously, he didn't put in a sig that included a "commercial" for T-Mobile!:
"...typing at red lights, lol, so VERY L.A. of me!
Sent from my Android phone on T-Mobile. America’s first nationwide 4G network." [Emphasis added]
Exhibit 2: Snippet from an email from one of my employer's clients. I don't think he bothered to put the sig in, either. Also received last week:
"...Yes would definitely put it in the doc maybe even as a prerequisite.:)
Guitar picks come in many different thicknesses, and their shape lends to their utility in separating bezels.
But of course, a guitarist, like myself, would find a guitar pick naturally easy to use. Tortex.73 Medium would be just fine for me and a 600w heat gun to rip through the iPads.
I am also a guitarist. And I don't doubt that it made a good "first approximation" for a "correct" tool. But I seriously wonder about a guitar pick's ability to remain "stiff" under the blast of a heat gun (which you can melt solder and even (on some) light a cigarette from!). I would have thought that a teflon-coated paint-scraper-like tool would have been the ideal.
What someone needs to come up with is a "heat ring", that you could simply lay on the iPad, wait a few minutes, and then simply use one of "iFixit's" "suction cups" (again, with a teflon or silicone-rubber (like they make those baking dishes from) "cup"). No twisting of the glass. No uneven heating. No "running around" to TRY and heat the entire perimeter.
Nevermind. Forget I said anything! (Runs off to draw up his invention)...
"Not one person in 1,000 reading my words has the skill nor equipment necessary to do component-level repair on anything as densely-populated as your average smartphone or tablet"
This is slashdot. Quite a bunch of us work with IR Reflow all day long, either by hobby or by profession. Your stated odds are way off the mark.
Ok, maybe so. But if I published this in a more general forum (say, with the same population that can and does purchase smartphones and tablets), that ratio would balloon to one in about 100,000 (or maybe even one in a million).
Isn't this the same bunch of clowns that declared the End Of the World As We Know It because Apple started using tri-wing screws? (Ones for which they just happened to sell overpriced drivers?) Even though at the time you could buy tri-wing drivers from any number of other tool outfits for a buck or two?
Do you whine because you can't (for all practical purposes) replace the keypad on your remote control? (I'm sure SOMEONE does; but...). Do you complain because you can't effectively repair your DVD burner?
Wouldn't it be better if we could? Why does everything have to be disposable?
You do realize, of course, that even if Radio Shack sold the parts, not one person in 10,000 could do anything more than ruin the drive taking it apart.
Disclaimer: I fix most of my shit; but, as an embedded engineer and former electronic bench tech, I know both when it simply isn't practical, and I also know what a fucking MESS (many, many, many) people make of things when they TRY to repair them.
Incidentally, I notice your name is Macs4all. The last straw in our K12 with iMacs is Apple deliberately gimping hard drives with non standard sensor pins on the SATA connection to force the use of "Apple Branded Parts". If a commodity SATA drive is put in a new iMac, the fans run at Jet Engine. A third party extension can force the OS to use S.M.A.R.T.
And I note that your username is "Domatic". What of it?
Apple was simply an early adopter of a then upcoming add-on to the SATA connector standard. It was not an evil plot to keep you from using third-party hard drives. Boo hoo, you have to load a free Kext when you replace a hard drive, because the industry has been slow to adopt the temp sense signal use by the drives that Apple has spec-ed for their OEM suppliers.
So now, due to your petulance and laziness (can't be bothered to install a Kernel Extension), you subject your entire school system to substandard equipment.
Or did the Dell rep come in and give you some head?
Define failed repair. If the front glass replacement is the repair, then I give it a 10 out of 10 as you cant damage something that is already trashed.
The problem with ipad2 repair is that most of the "parts" out there are china knockoff crap that does notwork or are discarded QC seconds. I have personally repaired 12 ipad 2's. ALL of them for screens because the screen glass is too thin. And in every case I had went through about 4 digitizer glass replacements because the ones sent were crap or had dead areas. and NONE of them had the frame, button or locator for the camera attached.
You can not remove the front glass without shattering it into tons of pieces and spending an hour picking them out of the adhesive tape around the edges. I tried tons of ways, and it is impossible to remove that screen intact.
I will agree with you wholeheartedly on the sources of "Apple" replacement parts. But, as far as the removal of the glass front, obviously Apple is able to repair iPads (or contract to have it done), and obviously iFixIt is able to do it, at least somewhat. So your comment that it is IMPOSSIBLE to remove an iPad's front glass is demonstrably false. It may be true for you; but it is not true overall.
"You do realize you're not only insane; but reflect the views of approximately.000000000000001% of the population, don't you?"
IF you are in the US, yes. IF you are talking global, it's more like $35% Only in the USA is the average citizen too stupid to fix appliances. In other countries it is fairly common for people to DIY fix their appliances and other things. I hear that many even do their own home repairs.
Disclaimer: I am a US citizen, and yes my fellow americans are dumb as boxes of rocks. I blame high Furctose Corn Syrup and reality TV.
Depends on the culture. For example, in the U.S., it is common for people to either fix their appliances/devices, or to have them fixed by someone. However, in Japan, it is considered "hick-ish" to do either. You are supposed to simply throw out the old thing (don't know if it applies to cars), and buy a new one (seriously!). This comes from an American I knew that lived in Japan for awhile. He wanted to fix his washer or something, and the Japanese people he talked to looked at him like he was the Unwashed...
I had an Apple ][GS, the last of the line, and the assembler was alive and well ("call 151" if I remember properly... can't really test without crawling through storage)
My information was restricted to the differrences between the original Apple ][ and the ][+. As many posters have noted, Apple brought back the Mini-Assembler (at least) in the//c and//e, as well as in the IIGS. It was only in the ][+ that those things disappeared.
Yeah, when the IIGS came out, with that uber-cool Ensoniq sampler-synth chip, I wanted to turn them in on-the-fly background-music machines. So, instead of subscribing to a MUZAK service, they could stick one of these in a closet, and it would algorithmically churn out music (or a reasonable facsimile thereof), using a desired instrument set, and a desired "style". Remember, it only has to sound "musical", and that can be easily accomplished through algorithmic "composition".
I'm arguing with Daniel all over this thread. But...
Percentage sales and percentage of devices in use if they diverge are measuring two very different things I'm not sure either one is irrelevant. As for browser share that's not an accurate reflection. Given the different usage patterns on iOS vs. Android, and the different demographics for iOS vs. Android we have no reason to believe browser share isn't introducing a major complication in terms of how frequently people use browsers per phone.
Blah blah, woof woof.
Ya gotta use something, and there is no reason to believe that browser share is any more, nor any less, accurate. All I know is that no one is taking into account when devices are thrown in the drawer, and I submit that happens far more often with Android devices than with iOS. Precisely because of the demographics, and the relative cost of the two.
Wow.... what a geek. lol. I didn't know they had removed it in the mid-line models.
You may not have remembered that, but I forgot all about the monitor and the ! to jump to the assembler. Was the call address negative because it was in ROM?
(kind of makes sense, I remember reading how the architecture reserved half the address space for ROM).
Addresses could be expressed as negative, because Integer BASIC had a numeric range of -32767 to +32768 (or 32767). So, Apple took advantage of a "wraparound" from 65536 to express addresses higher than 32767 ($7FFF) as negative.
This restriction was actually removed in Applesoft; but it could use the old addressing trick as well.
Yep. I was quite the Apple ][ geek. Also was one of the two founders of the Indy Apple Pickers, a user group that grew to 600 strong, and exists to this day as a Mac user group (although I haven't had anything to do with the club since the early 1980s). I doubt any of the present members would even know my name...
You can always make anecdotes about hardware durability. My 4-year-old Macbook Pro runs hot because of clogged fans that would require lengthy disassembly to clean, and is falling apart at seams that were presumably glued together.
Unless you're compiling statistics on these things on a large scale, anecdotes aren't useful.
The same thing happened with cars; out with the carburetor, in with the fuel injectors
And good riddance, too! There is nothing more kludgy and annoying than a "modern" carburetor, with PWM-controlled "mixture" valves, twenty-seven vacuum-driven choke widgets, fuel preheaters, et frickin' cetera!
But as SMD rework stations became accessible, companies started using BGAs. And as a few hobbyists learned how to replace BGAs (with great difficulty), companies started using COBs. As far as I know, no one's even considering manual rework of those.
Hobbyists are going to lose this race. Perhaps they already have. It's unfortunate, but really it was always sort of inevitable.
Give me a break!
Most small-scale contract manufacturers won't even touch BGA or COB; and yet you claim that there are hobbyists (plural) that routinely deal with BGA? I might believe QFN (but PCB coplanarity makes that a challenge for the hobbyist), but not BGA. That's the province of robotic pick and place, and silkscreened-on solder paste. Not one "hobbyist" in a million is going to have those tools, nor the skills to set up and use them.
You just need better equipment. Can you imagine a '50s tube set repair guy trying to fix SMD boards with a soldering gun? No, he would have considered them unrepairable, but SMD rework stations are relatively inexpensive today. As the technology advances, so must the tools.
If you call $1200 or so "relatively inexpensive"... And then don't forget the video microscope setup. You'll be needing one of those, too...
I understand the appeal of fixing your own stuff, being able to take things apart and figure out how they work, and making them work better, but there's some things that are just not suitable for that kind of thing. Like, you don't hear people bitching that the transistors aren't replaceable on their CPU. As other components miniaturize, it's just too difficult to effect field repairs. They become too small and too delicate and tolerances are too tight.
Exactly!
On many schematics, you see ICs with the designator "U", such as U13, U104, etc. Ever wonder what that "U" means? It means "Unserviceable unit". In other words, you can't pop the top off the IC and replace the tubes inside ('cuz there aren't any). I kid you not. That's what the "U" stands for.
However, in this case, iFixIt never claimed that the iPad was "unserviceable"; rather, they claimed that it wasn't easy(for a regular person) to service.
Now, think of any device of the complexity and density of a smartphone or tablet (any brand, any model), and tell me which one that statement wouldn't apply to...
Nub. "Fastener 'wells'" are only "fugly" if you spend your every waking moment fantasising about sucking the throbbing pickle of The Lord Our Steve (RIP), which given your username you blatantly do.
I'd rather my devices were screwed together, TYVM, and yes, I do buy them on that basis.
Rather than on their functionality or fitness-of-purpose.
Fastener wells are "fugly" on anything. And on a portable device they quickly become even more fugly, gathering all manner of lint and other detritus, like so many robot belly-buttons.
Oh, and thanks for the ad hominem attack based on my username. Right on cue...
And learn to spell "Noob". What kind of Slashdotter are you, anyway?
And among the reasons I will avoid an iPad for a while:
- Since the screen is nearly edge-to-edge, I will need a tough protector. I would cry at a scratch. Add $40+
- And a decent case, scratches on the back would be tear-worthy. Add $50+, and I like real leather. Mo' $
- At least two other chargers. Nothing lasts long enough, so one for the car and one for wherever. Add $60
Sheesh, I'll need something else, like a BT keyboard. I'm adding $200 in accessories, and i haven't bought an app yet.
I have several BT headsets to choose from, single and stere, so I've already spent that,.
And this would be different on an Android tablet, how, exactly?
Oh, I know (at least as far as the case goes)! They're already so butt-ugly that you wouldn't mind a scratch on them...
BTW, the carbon-fiber case I got for my iPhone 4s cost me a whopping $13 on Amazon, and protects both the back and front (with a flip-down cover on the front-side). Plus, it only adds about a millimeter to the overall size of the phone. The Addesso case I got for my iPad has a *removeable* Bluetooth keyboard in it, and I think I paid $40 for it. There were cheaper cases with keyboards; but that was the one I wanted.
As for "never enough chargers"; if 10 hours+ of continuous use on your iPad isn't enough, you need to seriously step away from the "devices" and get a life.
Slashdot Mirror
you really spent $15k on an Apple 1?
No. I got it for FREE in 1976, in exchange for some programming work. Had it ever since?
Anyone wanna buy it?
So when it is time to replace the water filter for your refrigerator, do you have someone come over and do it for you or do you have it shipped out?
I don't have a water filter in my refrigerator. That whole "ice/water in the door" thing sucks.
But that is hardly the same as designing a device where every square millimeter is precious, now is it?
Only 14 megahertz? The Commodore 64 can run at 20 megahertz using the same processor (65816) and has some awesome games running at the speed. It seems to me that an Apple IIgs should be able to accomplish similar speeds?
Oh, how quickly we forget! (Or in your case, never knew).
//c and perhaps the //e used the CMOS Rockwell R65C02. But I digress
THE CRYSTAL FREQUENCY IS NOT THE CPU CLOCK FREQUENCY!
I would have suspected that a slashdotter would understand that; but apparently not.
The CPU in the C-64 ran at either 1 or 2 MHz (can't recall). Actually, IIRC, it ran at something like 980MHz. And it was NEVER a 65816 (the 16 bit variant of the 6502). The C-64 used a 6510, which was a custom 6502 variant that Commodore (which had a foundry) produced. The 6510 was a 6502 core with some features of the 6522 VIA tacked on (and which the C-64 didn't even use!)
The Apple ]['s CPU ran at 1MHz (actually, something like 1.023 MHz, IIRC. The IIGS ran at twice that speed.
The IIGS actually DID use the Western Design Center WDC65816, IIRC. It was essentially a 16 bit 65C02 core, with an expanded register set and expanded memory space. In fact, I have the 8-bit bus version (WDC65802) in my Apple ][+. It is still 16 bit internally, but handles its 16 bit instructions as "double byte" read/write cycles. The cool thing is that it is pin-compatible with the (NMOS) SY6502 used in the Apple ][ (until the IIGS). (Actually, the
The 14MHz (actually 14.318181818) MHz comes from the fact that it is an even multiple of the NTSC video standard's frame rate, thus making the video clock chain easy to design. I believe that the C-64 used a more "integrated" video chip, but I imagine that the 20MHz was also related to video timing.
It's only a fucking mess if it's designed to be a fucking mess. A little design work up front to make components easily replaceable would go a long way towards causing less waste, which is good for everyone. There's absolutely no reason the laser on your DVD player can't be a user replacable part, as easy as changing the batteries on your remote control. The only reason situations like this exist is because of self serving decisions by greedy people and a lack of awareness by the rest of us.
Bullshit.
Most of the design decisions have to do with the fact that the consumer is only willing to pay $50 for that DVD burner, and OEMs are only willing to pay $15 (or less). That isn't "greed", that's "market pressure".
And there is another thing with the DVD laser, specifically: Liability. Imagine the lawsuit that would happen when someone blinded themselves by defeating the (cost increasing) interlocks that would have to be designed-in (or when those interlocks failed to work), and leaned over to "check that the laser is working".
People are, by and large, too stupid to be trusted with not melting their retinas. You and I are not. But "people" are.
Think about it. There's a reason for those warning stickers on the outside of the DVD burner mechanism.
I had to take apart my dishwasher's font panel to get at the main logic board. I thought It blew, but it turned out to be a simple fuse after checking. $15 later, I have a working washer again.
The main issue is that you CAN repair a washer if needed with full schematics from the manufacturer. I DL'd the logic board info from a web site. You can't do that in a closed device.
It's not "closed". It just uses industrial adhesives to affix the glass, instead of more traditional fasteners. Even iFixIt doesn't claim that the iPad is "unserviceable". Only "difficult to service".
And if it had not been a simple fuse in your dishwasher, do you still think you could have done component-level repair of say, the microcontroller? Of course not; because the MCU would have had firmware flashed into it. And I dare say you wouldn't have found THAT on the intarwebs.
So, considering that nearly all of the components in the iPad are custom, or fairly difficult to source, in a practical sense, it (like most consumer electronics) is basically unrepairable these days.
Nobody was talking about OS upgrades, this whole thread is about the idea that self-repairs and upgrades are becoming impossible as Apple seals their devices tighter and tighter.
The iPad and iPhone have used industrial adhesives since I believe day 1. Note that they don't use them on the iMac. And in the case of the Mac mini, they have made it significantly easier in recent models to gain access.
Why? Because we are talking about an entirely different class of device.
So, quit with the Conspiracy Theory crap. I love a good Conspiracy Theory as much (and maybe even more) than the next guy; but this ain't one.
I have made NOTHING up. You're just a zealous fandroid. Oh, and did I mention "Clueless"?
:)
Exhibit 1: Snippet from an email from my not-exactly-tech-savvy Nephew. This was from last week. Obviously, he didn't put in a sig that included a "commercial" for T-Mobile!:
"...typing at red lights, lol, so VERY L.A. of me!
Sent from my Android phone on T-Mobile. America’s first nationwide 4G network." [Emphasis added]
Exhibit 2: Snippet from an email from one of my employer's clients. I don't think he bothered to put the sig in, either. Also received last week:
"...Yes would definitely put it in the doc maybe even as a prerequisite.
Dave
Sent from my Windows Phone" [Emphasis added]
So NOW what, fucktard?
Guitar picks come in many different thicknesses, and their shape lends to their utility in separating bezels.
But of course, a guitarist, like myself, would find a guitar pick naturally easy to use. Tortex .73 Medium would be just fine for me and a 600w heat gun to rip through the iPads.
I am also a guitarist. And I don't doubt that it made a good "first approximation" for a "correct" tool. But I seriously wonder about a guitar pick's ability to remain "stiff" under the blast of a heat gun (which you can melt solder and even (on some) light a cigarette from!). I would have thought that a teflon-coated paint-scraper-like tool would have been the ideal.
What someone needs to come up with is a "heat ring", that you could simply lay on the iPad, wait a few minutes, and then simply use one of "iFixit's" "suction cups" (again, with a teflon or silicone-rubber (like they make those baking dishes from) "cup"). No twisting of the glass. No uneven heating. No "running around" to TRY and heat the entire perimeter.
Nevermind. Forget I said anything! (Runs off to draw up his invention)...
"Not one person in 1,000 reading my words has the skill nor equipment necessary to do component-level repair on anything as densely-populated as your average smartphone or tablet"
This is slashdot. Quite a bunch of us work with IR Reflow all day long, either by hobby or by profession. Your stated odds are way off the mark.
Ok, maybe so. But if I published this in a more general forum (say, with the same population that can and does purchase smartphones and tablets), that ratio would balloon to one in about 100,000 (or maybe even one in a million).
Isn't this the same bunch of clowns that declared the End Of the World As We Know It because Apple started using tri-wing screws? (Ones for which they just happened to sell overpriced drivers?) Even though at the time you could buy tri-wing drivers from any number of other tool outfits for a buck or two?
Yup. That be them...
Do you whine because you can't (for all practical purposes) replace the keypad on your remote control? (I'm sure SOMEONE does; but...). Do you complain because you can't effectively repair your DVD burner?
Wouldn't it be better if we could? Why does everything have to be disposable?
You do realize, of course, that even if Radio Shack sold the parts, not one person in 10,000 could do anything more than ruin the drive taking it apart.
Disclaimer: I fix most of my shit; but, as an embedded engineer and former electronic bench tech, I know both when it simply isn't practical, and I also know what a fucking MESS (many, many, many) people make of things when they TRY to repair them.
WTF?
Incidentally, I notice your name is Macs4all. The last straw in our K12 with iMacs is Apple deliberately gimping hard drives with non standard sensor pins on the SATA connection to force the use of "Apple Branded Parts". If a commodity SATA drive is put in a new iMac, the fans run at Jet Engine. A third party extension can force the OS to use S.M.A.R.T.
And I note that your username is "Domatic". What of it?
Apple was simply an early adopter of a then upcoming add-on to the SATA connector standard. It was not an evil plot to keep you from using third-party hard drives. Boo hoo, you have to load a free Kext when you replace a hard drive, because the industry has been slow to adopt the temp sense signal use by the drives that Apple has spec-ed for their OEM suppliers.
So now, due to your petulance and laziness (can't be bothered to install a Kernel Extension), you subject your entire school system to substandard equipment.
Or did the Dell rep come in and give you some head?
Define failed repair. If the front glass replacement is the repair, then I give it a 10 out of 10 as you cant damage something that is already trashed.
The problem with ipad2 repair is that most of the "parts" out there are china knockoff crap that does notwork or are discarded QC seconds. I have personally repaired 12 ipad 2's. ALL of them for screens because the screen glass is too thin. And in every case I had went through about 4 digitizer glass replacements because the ones sent were crap or had dead areas. and NONE of them had the frame, button or locator for the camera attached.
You can not remove the front glass without shattering it into tons of pieces and spending an hour picking them out of the adhesive tape around the edges. I tried tons of ways, and it is impossible to remove that screen intact.
I will agree with you wholeheartedly on the sources of "Apple" replacement parts. But, as far as the removal of the glass front, obviously Apple is able to repair iPads (or contract to have it done), and obviously iFixIt is able to do it, at least somewhat. So your comment that it is IMPOSSIBLE to remove an iPad's front glass is demonstrably false. It may be true for you; but it is not true overall.
"You do realize you're not only insane; but reflect the views of approximately .000000000000001% of the population, don't you?"
IF you are in the US, yes. IF you are talking global, it's more like $35% Only in the USA is the average citizen too stupid to fix appliances. In other countries it is fairly common for people to DIY fix their appliances and other things. I hear that many even do their own home repairs.
Disclaimer: I am a US citizen, and yes my fellow americans are dumb as boxes of rocks. I blame high Furctose Corn Syrup and reality TV.
Depends on the culture. For example, in the U.S., it is common for people to either fix their appliances/devices, or to have them fixed by someone. However, in Japan, it is considered "hick-ish" to do either. You are supposed to simply throw out the old thing (don't know if it applies to cars), and buy a new one (seriously!). This comes from an American I knew that lived in Japan for awhile. He wanted to fix his washer or something, and the Japanese people he talked to looked at him like he was the Unwashed...
I had an Apple ][GS, the last of the line, and the assembler was alive and well ("call 151" if I remember properly... can't really test without crawling through storage)
My information was restricted to the differrences between the original Apple ][ and the ][+. As many posters have noted, Apple brought back the Mini-Assembler (at least) in the //c and //e, as well as in the IIGS. It was only in the ][+ that those things disappeared.
Yeah, when the IIGS came out, with that uber-cool Ensoniq sampler-synth chip, I wanted to turn them in on-the-fly background-music machines. So, instead of subscribing to a MUZAK service, they could stick one of these in a closet, and it would algorithmically churn out music (or a reasonable facsimile thereof), using a desired instrument set, and a desired "style". Remember, it only has to sound "musical", and that can be easily accomplished through algorithmic "composition".
Never did it, though...
I'm arguing with Daniel all over this thread. But...
Percentage sales and percentage of devices in use if they diverge are measuring two very different things I'm not sure either one is irrelevant. As for browser share that's not an accurate reflection. Given the different usage patterns on iOS vs. Android, and the different demographics for iOS vs. Android we have no reason to believe browser share isn't introducing a major complication in terms of how frequently people use browsers per phone.
Blah blah, woof woof.
Ya gotta use something, and there is no reason to believe that browser share is any more, nor any less, accurate. All I know is that no one is taking into account when devices are thrown in the drawer, and I submit that happens far more often with Android devices than with iOS. Precisely because of the demographics, and the relative cost of the two.
Wow.... what a geek. lol. I didn't know they had removed it in the mid-line models.
You may not have remembered that, but I forgot all about the monitor and the ! to jump to the assembler. Was the call address negative because it was in ROM? (kind of makes sense, I remember reading how the architecture reserved half the address space for ROM).
Addresses could be expressed as negative, because Integer BASIC had a numeric range of -32767 to +32768 (or 32767). So, Apple took advantage of a "wraparound" from 65536 to express addresses higher than 32767 ($7FFF) as negative.
This restriction was actually removed in Applesoft; but it could use the old addressing trick as well.
Yep. I was quite the Apple ][ geek. Also was one of the two founders of the Indy Apple Pickers, a user group that grew to 600 strong, and exists to this day as a Mac user group (although I haven't had anything to do with the club since the early 1980s). I doubt any of the present members would even know my name...
You can always make anecdotes about hardware durability. My 4-year-old Macbook Pro runs hot because of clogged fans that would require lengthy disassembly to clean, and is falling apart at seams that were presumably glued together.
Unless you're compiling statistics on these things on a large scale, anecdotes aren't useful.
Ok, how about this "large scale" statistic?
Oh, and note where the article appears. Hardly an Apple fan site...
Your move.
The same thing happened with cars; out with the carburetor, in with the fuel injectors
And good riddance, too! There is nothing more kludgy and annoying than a "modern" carburetor, with PWM-controlled "mixture" valves, twenty-seven vacuum-driven choke widgets, fuel preheaters, et frickin' cetera!
BTW, I agree wholeheartedly with your post...
But as SMD rework stations became accessible, companies started using BGAs. And as a few hobbyists learned how to replace BGAs (with great difficulty), companies started using COBs. As far as I know, no one's even considering manual rework of those.
Hobbyists are going to lose this race. Perhaps they already have. It's unfortunate, but really it was always sort of inevitable.
Give me a break!
Most small-scale contract manufacturers won't even touch BGA or COB; and yet you claim that there are hobbyists (plural) that routinely deal with BGA? I might believe QFN (but PCB coplanarity makes that a challenge for the hobbyist), but not BGA. That's the province of robotic pick and place, and silkscreened-on solder paste. Not one "hobbyist" in a million is going to have those tools, nor the skills to set up and use them.
You just need better equipment. Can you imagine a '50s tube set repair guy trying to fix SMD boards with a soldering gun? No, he would have considered them unrepairable, but SMD rework stations are relatively inexpensive today. As the technology advances, so must the tools.
If you call $1200 or so "relatively inexpensive"... And then don't forget the video microscope setup. You'll be needing one of those, too...
And that doesn't give you the skills
Idiot.
I understand the appeal of fixing your own stuff, being able to take things apart and figure out how they work, and making them work better, but there's some things that are just not suitable for that kind of thing. Like, you don't hear people bitching that the transistors aren't replaceable on their CPU. As other components miniaturize, it's just too difficult to effect field repairs. They become too small and too delicate and tolerances are too tight.
Exactly!
On many schematics, you see ICs with the designator "U", such as U13, U104, etc. Ever wonder what that "U" means? It means "Unserviceable unit". In other words, you can't pop the top off the IC and replace the tubes inside ('cuz there aren't any). I kid you not. That's what the "U" stands for.
However, in this case, iFixIt never claimed that the iPad was "unserviceable"; rather, they claimed that it wasn't easy (for a regular person) to service.
Now, think of any device of the complexity and density of a smartphone or tablet (any brand, any model), and tell me which one that statement wouldn't apply to...
Nub. "Fastener 'wells'" are only "fugly" if you spend your every waking moment fantasising about sucking the throbbing pickle of The Lord Our Steve (RIP), which given your username you blatantly do.
I'd rather my devices were screwed together, TYVM, and yes, I do buy them on that basis.
Rather than on their functionality or fitness-of-purpose.
Fastener wells are "fugly" on anything. And on a portable device they quickly become even more fugly, gathering all manner of lint and other detritus, like so many robot belly-buttons.
Oh, and thanks for the ad hominem attack based on my username. Right on cue...
And learn to spell "Noob". What kind of Slashdotter are you, anyway?
Ditto.
And among the reasons I will avoid an iPad for a while:
- Since the screen is nearly edge-to-edge, I will need a tough protector. I would cry at a scratch. Add $40+
- And a decent case, scratches on the back would be tear-worthy. Add $50+, and I like real leather. Mo' $
- At least two other chargers. Nothing lasts long enough, so one for the car and one for wherever. Add $60
Sheesh, I'll need something else, like a BT keyboard. I'm adding $200 in accessories, and i haven't bought an app yet.
I have several BT headsets to choose from, single and stere, so I've already spent that,.
And this would be different on an Android tablet, how, exactly?
Oh, I know (at least as far as the case goes)! They're already so butt-ugly that you wouldn't mind a scratch on them...
BTW, the carbon-fiber case I got for my iPhone 4s cost me a whopping $13 on Amazon, and protects both the back and front (with a flip-down cover on the front-side). Plus, it only adds about a millimeter to the overall size of the phone. The Addesso case I got for my iPad has a *removeable* Bluetooth keyboard in it, and I think I paid $40 for it. There were cheaper cases with keyboards; but that was the one I wanted.
As for "never enough chargers"; if 10 hours+ of continuous use on your iPad isn't enough, you need to seriously step away from the "devices" and get a life.