23 Apr
2004
23 Apr
'04
2:12 a.m.
At 19:57 -0500 4/22/04, Sellam wrote:
The computer is now just
hardware, and soon enough, with cool technology like keychain harddrives
or what not, you'll bring in your own OS and software tools and modify the
hardware to your purposes, leaving it as it was for the next user.
I think the NeXT Optical drives were intended to provide a
functionality like this. Carry your own OD media around, stuff it
into the NeXT you sit down at, and your entire (256Mbyte) environment
is right there with you. (I'm not sure I have a reference to support
this, though. Maybe NeXT sales materials? Anyone else?)
Performance didn't live up to the rapidly moving HD performance of
the day, and the idea got overtaken by network via ethernet. Sit
down, telnet into your machine back home.
That makes me think that the idea will only work where 1) the
portable medium has pretty good performance (speed-wise) relative to
current primary mass storage, and 2) The OS/environment startup
process is relatively short (say, maybe, < 20 seconds?)
--
- Mark
210-522-6025, page 888-733-0967
23 Apr
23 Apr
2:54 a.m.
On 23 Apr 2004, at 15:12, Mark Tapley wrote:
At 19:57 -0500 4/22/04, Sellam wrote:
A recent variation on this theme is the 'Home on iPod' feature that
Apple were rumoured to add to MacOS X.
See http://www.ipodhead.com/archive/000022.php for details and
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2002/02/08/netinfo.html for a
description of how to do a cut down version of it yourself.
Another possibility which is closer to the Optical drives is the
ability of any Mac with firewire to boot off a firewire disc (including
the iPod).
Cheers,
Brian.
--
Computer programmer: n. Red-eyed mumbling mammal capable of conversing
with inanimate objects.
The computer is now just
hardware, and soon enough, with cool technology like keychain
harddrives
or what not, you'll bring in your own OS and software tools and
modify the
hardware to your purposes, leaving it as it was for the next user.
I think the NeXT Optical drives were intended to provide a
functionality like this. Carry your own OD media around, stuff it into
the NeXT you sit down at, and your entire (256Mbyte) environment is
right there with you. (I'm not sure I have a reference to support
this, though. Maybe NeXT sales materials? Anyone else?)
Performance didn't live up to the rapidly moving HD performance of the
day, and the idea got overtaken by network via ethernet. Sit down,
telnet into your machine back home. 
3:46 a.m.
>>>> "Brian" == Brian Foley
<bfoley(a)dcs.warwick.ac.uk> writes:
Brian> A recent variation on this theme is the 'Home on iPod' feature
Brian> that Apple were rumoured to add to MacOS X.
It's there. An iPod is a firewire disk, and yes, you can have your
home directory there. I haven't tried it, but I saw the doc. It was
either in the Apple docs, or in the "Mac OS X -- the missing manual"
book (good book!).
paul
7:37 a.m.
At 19:57 -0500 4/22/04, Sellam wrote:
The computer is now just
hardware, and soon enough, with cool technology like keychain harddrives
or what not, you'll bring in your own OS and software tools and modify the
hardware to your purposes, leaving it as it was for the next user.
EXACTLY the way that it was ~25 years ago,
when machines had FLOPPY drives,
but NO hard drives.
The only difference is that now we are talking about 100M to
100G of removable storage, instead of 100K.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
9:15 a.m.
On Fri, 23 Apr 2004, Fred Cisin wrote:
Indeed. Sigh. Another case of computer ideas coming full circle and
being passed off as "new". I must admit that I'd even forgotten that this
is how it used to be <ashamed blush>.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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At 19:57 -0500
4/22/04, Sellam wrote:
The computer is now just
hardware, and soon enough, with cool technology like keychain harddrives
or what not, you'll bring in your own OS and software tools and modify the
hardware to your purposes, leaving it as it was for the next user.
EXACTLY the way that it was ~25 years ago,
when machines had FLOPPY drives,
but NO hard drives. 
9:26 a.m.
Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
Indeed. Sigh. Another case of computer ideas coming
full circle and
being passed off as "new". I must admit that I'd even forgotten that this
is how it used to be <ashamed blush>.
But with a floppy ( 8 inch ) { providing it worked right }
you could do real work on the computer, in 32k+ of memory.
How many gig are needed for today's all singing and dancing
( but no work ) computers.
Ben.
PS. The 8 inch drive had sticky heads in seeking tracks.
Hit the drive to get it to work but not too hard as that
would reset the computer because of a lose card.
Ben.
7548
days inactive
7548
days old
5 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
bfoley＠dcs.warwick.ac.uk -
bfranchuk＠jetnet.ab.ca -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
mtapley＠swri.edu -
pkoning＠equallogic.com -
vcf＠siconic.com