Posts by David 132

Re: Need a USB Hub for that

> Thank you for that! I do try. :-)

As my mother used to retort ambiguously... "Yes. You certainly are trying."

You're right, and in the early 80s editions there's some really good in-depth discussions of how to write compilers, or plot lines on screen efficiently, or about object-oriented vs. functional programming. As the decade turns towards the 90s it's noticeable that the tone becomes more "look at this new ready-built PC from vendor X".

What struck me, more than anything I think, is how vibrant the ecosystem was at the time. Thousands of small companies touting their hardware/software/services, with varying degrees of hyperbole. "AI" cards for the PC/AT. Serial port printer sharers. 2MB!!! add-in memory boards. 19" monitors that can do a stunning 1280x1024 - in monochrome ;)

Maybe there's just as many small vendors now, but seeing them all shouting for attention in the small/classified ads really made me think that we've lost something, now that the personal computer is so much more standardized.

And less of the "kids today" please, sarcastic one above. I lived through that era the first time round and have the ZX81 RAMpack-blutack PTSD to prove it :)

I’m glad that PC/laptop screens have finally moved away from the annoyance of a few years ago where they were all 720p or 1080p (because those panels were manufactured by the bajillion for TVs, and hence cheaper).

It’s so nice to once again be able to buy computer screens with decent vertical resolution!

Re: Meanwhile....

Oh, come on. It's not as if these "AI" systems would do anything devious.

Re: If I designed products this way, we'd go bust

You had me fooled and even nodding along with you until you said that Outlook "works flawlessly".

Nice try, ChatGPT.

Of course, at the time, I was very, very drunk.

>"No, it is a gazebo"

But does it like Chopin?

Re: updating...

I use Windows NT4 on my machines. A full installation from scratch takes about 2 minutes.

(Seriously. Have you ever tried installing it in a VM on modern hardware? The installer absolutely flies.)

Re: single-tap, double-tap

Seconded, and I speak as one who generally prefers PCs for their greater flexibility.

I have never found a PC touchpad that is as reliable and efficient to use as Apple's implementation. They're always either too sensitive, or not sensitive enough, or randomly misinterpret clicks/swipes. Whereas the one on the Macbooks I've owned and used always just... works.

Re: installed on every machine

Interesting. Your comment made me think "Surely it supports legacy boot?".

But you're right. I have a T14 here (basically the same as the X1, but has an Ethernet port :) ) with a 12th Gen Core processor and yep, or rather nope - no legacy boot option in the BIOS, only UEFI.

As an aside though, I'm delighted to see that the BIOS setup UI on this one can be switched between fancy-schmancy graphical and good old quick-and-reliable text-mode. Never seen that on a BIOS before; it's normally one or the other.

Re: Ok... I have to ask

I know. Wifi, touchscreen, gigabytes of storage… it just doesn’t add up.

Re: Replicorrections

I have a lovely recording in my collection - and it's probably on youtube, although I CBA to check - of an IBM mainframe at Bell Labs in the very early 60s, running a demo. It starts by playing a rather wonky, but recognizable, monophonic rendition of Daisy, Daisy. Rough, but darned impressive for the era, you think. Then it begins the second repetition, this time with harmonies and percussion. Wow, you think, this is actually amazing for 1961-whatever.

And then the mind-blowing moment when, on the third iteration, the synthesized speech comes in singing the actual words. WTF.

They were clever boffins indeed. And my understanding is that this demo was the inspiration for HAL9000's performance a few years later.

This pint's for them.

Re: Bloating the bloat

I am not a Windows fan, and am in violent agreement with you, but I do have to query an apparent contradiction in what you said:

> which comes with very little included

followed by

>You have to deal with the manufacturers bloatware and on top of it with Redmond's bloat as well.

Which is it? "Very little included" or "deal with bloatware"?

Personally I'd rather have the former. Give me a basic OS with functional network drivers and a WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE EDGEnon-retardedEDGE CAN SAVE YOU MONEY browser and I LET'S GIVE YOU A FULLSCREEN UNSKIPPABLE TOUR OF EDGEcan take it from there myself and get the stuff I want. Yes, Microsoft, that Edge crap is exactly what I mean.

Re: Scammers ripping of the conmen.

No no no, I just drew a garish picture of a monkey in MS Paint and I'm selling it for $4000... therefore that's what it's worth, right? And if I have a disk crash and lose monkey.bmp then I can loudly complain that I've lost $4000.

That's how NFTs seem to work.

I read that as "a tetchy publication" and thought hang on, that's a bit strong... "acerbic" maybe, "cynical" definitely.. but "tetchy"?