20 Mar
2007
20 Mar
'07
3:44 p.m.
Jos wrote...
I am currenly contemplating what kind of IO to put on
my coming i8008
system
Well, we do expect a link to pictures & stuff!
: what is it that makes blinkenlights (i.e. leds and
switches ) seem so
attractive ?
Curb appeal :) But seriously, see below....
It must be about the worst possible way to interact
with a computer...
Oh I respectfully disagree. Depending on what you are doing, a
front panel
can be the best way to interact. If you're writing in assembly and debugging
your program it's eminently useful to see visually what is in the registers.
Yes, you can do this with an online debugging tool, but I myself find it
easier to just look at the lights. I mean, there is a reason they were
called "PROGRAMMERS panels".
So why is it then that almost all early micros had
them ?
Maybe because it is one of the best possible ways to interact with the
computer ;)
a 7segment display with keyboard ( as in a H8) is
clearly more usable, and
would have cost nothing more. Or were early eproms (for the monitor
program) that expensive ?
I dunno. Didn't the discrete toggle or paddle
switches and lights cost a lot
more than a prefab keypad and LED display? And as programmer front panels
faded, wasn't that about the same time people were really moving towards
higher level languages and multiuser stuff rather than single machine
language programs (in general)? I don't know, just conjecturing!
Jay