16 Feb
2002
16 Feb
'02
7:03 a.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
Sure... But I noticed the '_good_ software'.
Presumably that means you
like non-Windows machines :-)
Not in all cases , I has a dislike of Red-Hat for example. Why because
your base machine needs a network card for internet access. Guess what,
I got a modem! Linux too is becoming bloatware in the sense you 50,000
libraries to run anything useful. That was feature I like about DOS
programs they run on any DOS.
Agreed. I regard technical docs (and not what now
passes for 'technical
documentation' which generally contains less info than old-time user
manuals) as being as least as important as the machines themselves.
That's why I have _shelves_ of service manuals, source listings, OS
manuals, etc for machines I don't even own yet.
The same is true of programing languages. In many cases I know what I
want to do, but don't want to wade through "hello world" programs to
find out the parameters used by printf.A case in point is at one time I
was thinking of programing my FPGA in HDL language but could find usable
doc's for the language .I ended up using schematics, and it was a good
thing as I have better say in just what my logic is, not what the
compiler wants to give me. With 98% of my fpga full I don't have room
for crap.
As some of you know, I am one of the few poeple to
still be using a
_repairable_ PC. Meaning I have schematics, etc for it. And meaning that
I know what all the chips really do.
Where the heck did you find that? Mind you even with DOC's every new
chip seems to be in a unsocketable package.I am building a CPU using a
FPGA and all the chips are in TQFP's. Grrrr or 3 volts.
OK, I'll admit I play games. But I've found
games for my HP67 (with 224
_bytes_ of program memory) that are more fun to play (at least to me)
than most modern PC games. I prefer 'thinking' games over 'blast the
b*st*rds'. And there are many of the former for classic computers.
Well here are some adult games that are more of challenge than you
think.
http://www.peachprincess.com/ America does not seem to have the knack
to write
good games sadly.
Yep. Which is why _all_ possibly restorable examples
of (b) should be
saved whenever possible.
What interests me in not the computers like the PDP-8 but the machines
that came and went like the "Data Glitch 7" from FooBar Computers and
Fast Food Industries. While hardware may be impossible to save, the
Documents and things like the instruction set still provide a feel for
how things where done back then.
-tony
---
Ben Franchuk - Dawn * 12/24 bit cpu *
www.jetnet.ab.ca/users/bfranchuk/index.html