|
Squish posted:Isn't ferrite memory so drat stable, that these might well have the same data stored in them? The Apollo guidance computers used ferrite core memory for program storage, sort of like a ROM. In fact, exactly like ROM in that it couldn't be changed. The bits that made up the software to navigate to the moon and land on it were created by running wires through ferrite cores (1) or bypassing them (0). Program assembly was done by older women in an assembly line process - string this wire through here and there and so forth. Edit for clarification: the AGC program memory was a form of ferrite core memory called core rope. Different in that it can be read many many times TotalLossBrain has a new favorite as of 18:11 on Aug 19, 2015 |
#
?
Aug 19, 2015 18:04
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 18, 2024 04:08 |
|
|
TotalLossBrain posted:The Apollo guidance computers used ferrite core memory for program storage, sort of like a ROM. Yeah, Read-Once Memory. You have to write the data back after reading it. -e- Unless it's the rope-variant. That's permanent.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2015 18:08
|
|
|
moller posted:When will another laptop meet my gray, square needs? My gray square obsolete laptop can crush your laptop with only it's weigth.  pic not mine, made by dude who's been selling those laptops some time ago Itronix GoBook IX250, a military laptop which weights about seven pounds. Official specs give him 850mhz celeron processor, but I very much doubt it can achieve such speed, before the temperature rises and processor locks into low 450mhz. I use it mostly for DOS games (there is a big issue with lack of sound, though) and I'm going to install Win98 on it next week. The battery still holds charge, though, and it runs off my Thinkpad's charger.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2015 18:08
|
|
|
sirbeefalot posted:Goddamn that was a great laptop. Mine was the top of the line, last revision for that model. Begrudgingly sold it after a good 7-8 years. One of the first with a multi-touch trackpad, poo poo was like witchcraft. I think I got mine a month before they announced the switch to Intel.  It still lasted longer than any other laptop I've ever had. About 3 years with me and another 3 or 4 with my mother-in-law.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2015 20:15
|
|
|
moller posted:I had a very similar toshiba and it was my second favorite laptop ever in terms of form factor/construction. I loved mine, had it for ages, it survived European traveling and being tossed around in my bag. What it did not survive was the tropical climate of Honduras when I gave it to my dad.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 01:52
|
|
|
Count Chocula posted:Otherwise I couldn't get Facebook messages or anything. Jesus Christ how horrifying.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 05:43
|
|
|
Jerry Cotton posted:Jesus Christ how horrifying. Oh nooo not staying in contact with friends and family members 
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 05:59
|
|
|
Lady Naga posted:Oh nooo not staying in contact with friends and family members If only he had a phone.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 11:26
|
|
|
Some people have no credit so they just Facebook. Some people don't have your number. I'm torn on physical media. I got rid of 90% of my CD collection and I kinda regret it. I had them in this big albums, hundreds of them. Just kept one box. My friend had a bunch of awesome VHS tapes she had to get rid of, so we kept the covers to use for art - lots of b-movie and monster stuff. I'm probably getting rid of most of my DVDs too. I remember reading some Star Trek book where physical books were just a rare affectation. We're not at that point yet, since it's way more fun and easy to read books than using e-readers or iBooks, but it was still oddly accurate.
|
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 12:22
|
|
|
Jerry Cotton posted:If only he had a phone. Facebook messaging has replaced SMS for a lot of people. Sorry the times are moving past you, grandpa
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 14:16
|
|
|
Lady Naga posted:Facebook messaging has replaced SMS for a lot of people. Sorry the times are moving past you, grandpa Call your mum.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 14:38
|
|
|
Jerry Cotton posted:Call your mum. Don't worry. I'll call his mum.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 16:27
|
|
|
Samizdata posted:Don't worry. I'll call his mum. She'd probably get really angry at you for misgendering me and hang up 
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 16:40
|
|
|
Lady Naga posted:She'd probably get really angry at you for misgendering me and hang up <bows graciously at his defeat>
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 16:47
|
|
|
Efexeye posted:It's only obsolete because they don't make drivers for it any more but I loved my Ergodex DX-1. I still have it and would use it if I could! LethalGeek has a new favorite as of 17:43 on Aug 20, 2015 |
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 16:47
|
|
|
Oh, that wasn't my picture, I just grabbed it off the web. I turned mine horizontally and had separate setups for Guild Wars and FPSes. also you should take the period out of your link 
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 16:49
|
|
|
Why can’t these keyboards work without drivers by following the USB HID specification? Or do they, just without some features?
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 16:56
|
|
|
Platystemon posted:Why can’t these keyboards work without drivers by following the USB HID specification? The SteelSeries Merc keyboards have the little console off to the side bound to random keys for some reason. I guess as an incentive to get you to install their driver suite so you also have to install their proprietary software that lets you bind whatever you want to the keys? 
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 16:58
|
|
|
Lady Naga posted:The SteelSeries Merc keyboards have the little console off to the side bound to random keys for some reason. I guess as an incentive to get you to install their driver suite so you also have to install their proprietary software that lets you bind whatever you want to the keys? They're not bound to random keys. If you don't have the driver software, they act like the regular keys. It's pretty useful because some games don't let you rebind keys (like Lost Planet), so you can get around that. The software also changes configs automatically when the game starts. I really like this keyboard, and I'm going to be disappointed when it dies.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 17:08
|
|
|
Inco posted:They're not bound to random keys. If you don't have the driver software, they act like the regular keys. It's pretty useful because some games don't let you rebind keys (like Lost Planet), so you can get around that. The software also changes configs automatically when the game starts. I really like this keyboard, and I'm going to be disappointed when it dies. The one I had treated everything in the console like I was holding alt+some random key if the drivers weren't loaded. This was back in like 2007 tho.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 17:21
|
|
|
Lady Naga posted:Facebook messaging has replaced SMS for a lot of people. Probably because cell companies charge ridiculous rates for text messaging, which costs them next to nothing.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 17:31
|
|
|
Count Chocula posted:Some people have no credit so they just Facebook. Some people don't have your number. I am not entirely sure books are going to become an obsolete medium entirely. The difference is that books form a tactile "experience" when reading that a lot of people like whereas CDs/VHS etc.. are simply storage mediums and arent really part of the actual experience short of the quality they can provide. Perhaps I am to conservative with my multimedia consumption though as I still buy physical albums I want to listen to and buy actual books to read.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 18:40
|
|
|
Lady Naga posted:She'd probably get really angry at you for misgendering me and hang up How self-centered do you have to be to think we'd be mentioning you in any way?
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 18:45
|
|
|
Nutsngum posted:I am not entirely sure books are going to become an obsolete medium entirely. The difference is that books form a tactile "experience" when reading that a lot of people like whereas CDs/VHS etc.. are simply storage mediums and arent really part of the actual experience short of the quality they can provide. Physical books have never been threatened by e-books in the non-Anglophone markets.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 18:46
|
|
|
Aside from storage, there are usability advantages to ripping a CD or DVD. You can put the files anywhere you want, make your own playlists, ignore lenghty animated menus and forced trailers... Books, not so much. You take a printed book from the shelf and there's your content right there. Digital text has a huge storage and searchability advantage, but suddenly you have a (comparatively) whole lot of poo poo between you and the content.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 18:52
|
|
|
Nutsngum posted:I am not entirely sure books are going to become an obsolete medium entirely. The difference is that books form a tactile "experience" when reading that a lot of people like whereas CDs/VHS etc.. are simply storage mediums and arent really part of the actual experience short of the quality they can provide. The main thing I like physical books for is being able to easily flip between two non-adjacent pages at a whim. So books where you may want easy access to multiple pages at once like technical manuals, textbooks, game guides and Tabletop RPG books are far better in physical form than in e-reader form. Tabbed browsing/window tiling on a computer replicates this functionality so I don't mind accessing those types of information on a computer but e-readers don't compare at all.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 18:53
|
|
|
m2pt5 posted:Probably because cell companies charge ridiculous rates for text messaging, which costs them next to nothing.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 19:44
|
|
|
Jerry Cotton posted:Physical books have never been threatened by e-books in the non-Anglophone markets. Thats an interesting point as well. Books at the end of the day are dependent on no infrastructure past their initial printing and transport. Zonekeeper posted:The main thing I like physical books for is being able to easily flip between two non-adjacent pages at a whim. So books where you may want easy access to multiple pages at once like technical manuals, textbooks, game guides and Tabletop RPG books are far better in physical form than in e-reader form. Completely agree with this as well. I also appreciate the art put into such books a lot more when physically holding them.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 20:09
|
|
|
Jerry Cotton posted:How self-centered do you have to be to think we'd be mentioning you in any way? What? I mean; if you actually want an answer, probably the fact that I was directly quoted. The guy even apologized for what he said so I have no clue what you're so angry about????
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 20:41
|
|
|
Lady Naga posted:What? You would not be the topic of conversation in his phone calls with your mom.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 20:42
|
|
|
Jmcrofts posted:You would not be the topic of conversation in his phone calls with your mom. My mom loves me and would talk about me at length thank you.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 20:43
|
|
|
GWBBQ posted:With the caveat that they're not really comparable services, carrier rates for text messages are at least 4 times as much as the cost for getting the same amount of data from the Hubble Space Telescope
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 21:30
|
|
|
 Obsolete? Hell no! I still use this lil' beauty for talking to serial devices - Win95 and Hyperterm FTW.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 22:00
|
|
|
John Big Booty posted:That's just gravy. That reveal and the public's subsequent reaction were two of the strangest things I've seen happen in telecommunications. "Uh, yeah, you heard right, I guess: It doesn't cost us anything when you send and receive text messages. They just hitch a ride on incoming and outgoing calls. The data is being sent one way or another so there's literally no cost to us whatsoever for you to use the service. Anyway, here's your bill, including a $46 surcharge for text messaging." "Who do I make the check out to?"
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 22:48
|
|
|
The_Raven posted:
With a paint job, I bet that wouldn't look out of place in a cyberpunk movie.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2015 23:04
|
|
|
GOTTA STAY FAI posted:That reveal and the public's subsequent reaction were two of the strangest things I've seen happen in telecommunications. Ummmm, yeah. MMS is nothing but a hack utilizing some unused (for anything else) packet space. The only cost for the carrier is routing. Mayostard posted:With a paint job, I bet that wouldn't look out of place in a cyberpunk movie. Yo. Check this out guys, this is insanely great, it's got a 28.8 BPS modem! Active matrix, man. A million psychedelic colors. Man, baby, sweet, ooo!
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2015 08:17
|
|
|
Uh, I thought the US had joined the rest of us in "unlimited SMS included in most plans"?
Computer viking has a new favorite as of 08:37 on Aug 21, 2015 |
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2015 08:27
|
|
|
Mayostard posted:With a paint job, I bet that wouldn't look out of place in a cyberpunk movie. The typical "cyberpunk" computers you see in stuff like Gibson and Shadowrun are almost always based on the MSX/MSX2 platforms. Because that's what was big in Japan and Japan is the future. They were made by a number of manufacturers but overseen by Microsoft Japan, which eventually split off from MS and became notable publisher of budget video game titles ASCII/Agetec. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2015 08:28
|
|
|
El Estrago Bonito posted:The typical "cyberpunk" computers you see in stuff like Gibson and Shadowrun are almost always based on the MSX/MSX2 platforms. Because that's what was big in Japan and Japan is the future. They were made by a number of manufacturers but overseen by Microsoft Japan, which eventually split off from MS and became notable publisher of budget video game titles ASCII/Agetec. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2015 08:50
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 18, 2024 04:08 |
|
SubG posted:That article is from 1948, but it's even older than that. The first commercially produced and successful typewriter was introduced in the 1870s, and there are surviving examples of typewriter art from the 1890s. E.g., from Pitman's Typewriter Manual published in 1893: The photos from this thread need to be compiled into an awesome Tumblr.
|
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2015 11:14
|
|
