29 Sep
2007
29 Sep
'07
5:07 p.m.
On 29 Sep 2007 at 23:03, Tony Duell wrote:
Well, if I wanted a fast PC, I'd buy a fast PC.
But if I want to
experience a QX10, I'll use a QX10, and have all the fun of tracing video
problems caused by extra components [ask if you want to know _that_
story], and aligning those wonderful voice-coil floppy drives...
I'm more interested in the software. Much of it was implemented in
Forth and there were some very interesting aspects of the
implementation.
For my purposes, an accurate emulator is just as good (or even
better) than the original. I don't need to worry about flakey
components, or out-of-adjustment drives. I can run multiple sessions
for comparison and even hack the emulator code to trap what I'm
interested in.
As far as "recreating the experience", I honestly don't think it's
possible without the use of hynotism and some psychoactive drugs.
I'm not who I was in 1982 (thankfully!) and any "gee-whiz" that the
real thing had in 1982 is not going to make the same impression on me
today. (256KB? Golly, my wife's digital camera packs more than 4
orders of magnitude more on a MicroSD card--and it's nonvolatile).
I don't really care if it's implemented with chicken nuggets and used
chewing gum--as long as it works and runs the software I'm interested
in.
So, hang me for a heretic. :)
Cheers,
Chuck