14 Jun
2005
14 Jun
'05
1:18 p.m.
On 6/14/05, Ronald Wayne <appleto at gmail.com> wrote:
On it not being a challenge: setting aside the thought
that a lot of
people will have trouble because they use the latest hardware
alongside their old machines, there is still that issue of the machine
multiplier. Any determined user of an early-1980s machine will have a
lead in the endurance and online challenges simply because they are
earning two or three times as many points while doing the same thing.
So while 68040s and 80486s are permitted, they are at a disadvantage.
Well... my old Amiga 1000 (1985 - 8MHz 68000) was attached to the rest
of the world via UUCP starting in 1987. I used to run mail _and_ news
on a 20MB (MB!) spool disk (yes, it was a partial news feed). Given
that there are web servers and browsers, etc., I don't think an Amiga
is much of a challenge, either. I mean, I _like_ my "modern" 300MHz
laptop, but I would still be able to communicate with people, write
software, print letters, etc., with something 4% as fast with 1% of
the memory. I would have to backtrack to an 8-bit as my daily-use
machine to really affect my daily routine. If I were using a 486, I'd
probably just throw a version of Linux on it that fit the memory
footprint (Slackware or RedHat 5), and go about my normal business.
Just don't make me mess with dial-up - I haven't used a modem in over
10 years. It was cute and all in 1983. By 1993, POTS lines didn't
cut it.
-ethan