I used to have a PDP 11-34 in my basement… I wrote my stuff for my first divorce on a Commodore 64…
That count?
August 22, 2018 at 11:02 am
EagleRising
The way back machine reminds me of all the time I spent on a real favorite of the time, my Kaypro II, sporting its CP/M OS w/2 5 1/4 floppies. It’s 9 in text only green screen was a vast improvement over the Osborn 1 5 in screen.
Chris, your art never ceases to amaze me.
August 22, 2018 at 1:28 am
Ozymandius
In my day, all we had were rocks
August 22, 2018 at 6:39 pm
pyrodice
Oh, there’s the problem, first you gotta pound the rocks flat, and pour lightning into them, THEN you can teach them to think.
August 22, 2018 at 10:14 am
gruundehn
I loved my old “Trash-80” and wish I still had it. Jut to show it off since using it for printing or internet anymore would just be too much of a problem. Some of the programs were great, perhaps even better than what is available today. The word processor I had “Electric Pencil” was easy to use and was not burdened with features I never use. Some of the games were a lot of fun even if the graphics were primitive compared to today.
August 22, 2018 at 12:11 pm
GWB
Atari 800 – I remember when we hooked up a tape recorder to save a program I’d made…..
(And that’s skipping the kit computer we had before that: 1-line LED “screen”, cash register tape printout, and a self-built case.)
In spite of its Tandy Radio Shack origins, somehow K-Mart put tons of Model 1 TRS-80’s on closeout at I think $59 ’82-ish.
Coming off the precious metals crash and closing our biz in West Palm, moving here to cowtown Sebring with zero $ in the midst of the Reagan pre-boom (aka depression) years, there was still not even those few bucks to spare…put it on layaway for Christmas I think. I was playing around with property things anticipating the better times to come after the S&L debacle, and was flat-out amazed at its ability to work with variable amortization parameters that had taken me a lot of scribbling from tables to work out.
Late ’84 we moved from a rental to our own little 5 acre paradise with a single wide and a barn, and enroute somehow the little ‘puter worked its way out of its box among the others on the open trailer we were using and I glanced in the rearview and saw it go somesaulting along the shoulder of the road next to a ditch and a pasture. Went back and looked for a half hour but it was never to be found, either it went into the ditch or the pasture or it was just hiding in the weeds…consoled myself that would have been killed in the crash anyway, and that I could soon get something real to replace it….
But I still wish I had found it and kept it. Not only as a reminder of the origins of the little computer that I think outsold the Apple by miles, but of the vestiges of both the nerd paradise of Radio Shack and K-Mart, at the time still a giant 5&10 that I much preferred to the horrible megaboxes of today like Wally.
August 22, 2018 at 3:35 pm
JJ cooper
Did you use Runoff?
August 22, 2018 at 3:30 am
Too Tall
This is clearly a job for an 8080 with an 8-bit architecture.
Grin. Radio Shack Model 100 (which worked out Pi to 2 more decimal places than did my HP41CX). And HP Language in the HP41CX was quite a challenge when compared to Basic in the Model 100…
Remember, folks, that a Surveyor is used to contouring curves from a few important reference points!
Someone needs to tell JO that sticking her ass out like that *does* make it look bigger, though it still maintains the proper proportions.
As to the clothes problem I would guess it is more of a prioritization issue. Sam’s hair is not stiff and so must be modeled using algorithms like those used to model flowing liquids (as opposed to a fixed surface), this is quite computationally intensive. So assuming the hair modeling subroutine has a higher priority than the clothing subroutine, which is certainly how I would design it, the clothing will be delayed, perhaps by a considerable margin.
PS first computer was a Trash 80 handheld (belonged to a teacher, all I could get it to do was say “syntax error”, I was hooked), first computer I owned was an Atari 800 w/ tape drive, still have it around here someplace along with the Atari 400 we got a little later. When I upgraded the memory to 32K was sure I would never be able to use that much memory. Now I’m using an 8 processor PC with 16GB M/1TB SSD and I still have to clean out the cruft from time to time
I was on the design team for the GNAT System 10. I had input on the location of the control keys and insisted that ctrl z, x, c, v perform the tasks they do today. Keep the string functions together on the keyboard! We had some “discussions” with Mr Kay and his final response was “So? Sue me.” His financial situation compared to ours ended that “discussion.”
34 Comments
Perfection, squared.
Perfection, rounded. Not a right angle to be seen,..
Yet every angle I see is “right”. 😉
“If y0u’ve got the curves, Baby, I’ve got the angles!!” –Wolfman Jack
Seriously, let’s slow down that clothing protocol a bit.
Make it load at a 286 pace, please!
For those of us old enough to remember a 286 and DOS 6.0
I go all the way back to the TRS-80.
Ditto.
My Hubby has an Osborn 1
I used to have a PDP 11-34 in my basement… I wrote my stuff for my first divorce on a Commodore 64…
That count?
The way back machine reminds me of all the time I spent on a real favorite of the time, my Kaypro II, sporting its CP/M OS w/2 5 1/4 floppies. It’s 9 in text only green screen was a vast improvement over the Osborn 1 5 in screen.
Chris, your art never ceases to amaze me.
In my day, all we had were rocks
Oh, there’s the problem, first you gotta pound the rocks flat, and pour lightning into them, THEN you can teach them to think.
I loved my old “Trash-80” and wish I still had it. Jut to show it off since using it for printing or internet anymore would just be too much of a problem. Some of the programs were great, perhaps even better than what is available today. The word processor I had “Electric Pencil” was easy to use and was not burdened with features I never use. Some of the games were a lot of fun even if the graphics were primitive compared to today.
Atari 800 – I remember when we hooked up a tape recorder to save a program I’d made…..
(And that’s skipping the kit computer we had before that: 1-line LED “screen”, cash register tape printout, and a self-built case.)
In spite of its Tandy Radio Shack origins, somehow K-Mart put tons of Model 1 TRS-80’s on closeout at I think $59 ’82-ish.
Coming off the precious metals crash and closing our biz in West Palm, moving here to cowtown Sebring with zero $ in the midst of the Reagan pre-boom (aka depression) years, there was still not even those few bucks to spare…put it on layaway for Christmas I think. I was playing around with property things anticipating the better times to come after the S&L debacle, and was flat-out amazed at its ability to work with variable amortization parameters that had taken me a lot of scribbling from tables to work out.
Late ’84 we moved from a rental to our own little 5 acre paradise with a single wide and a barn, and enroute somehow the little ‘puter worked its way out of its box among the others on the open trailer we were using and I glanced in the rearview and saw it go somesaulting along the shoulder of the road next to a ditch and a pasture. Went back and looked for a half hour but it was never to be found, either it went into the ditch or the pasture or it was just hiding in the weeds…consoled myself that would have been killed in the crash anyway, and that I could soon get something real to replace it….
But I still wish I had found it and kept it. Not only as a reminder of the origins of the little computer that I think outsold the Apple by miles, but of the vestiges of both the nerd paradise of Radio Shack and K-Mart, at the time still a giant 5&10 that I much preferred to the horrible megaboxes of today like Wally.
Did you use Runoff?
This is clearly a job for an 8080 with an 8-bit architecture.
Z80 and machine code……
I remember a class project doing a vending machine in 256 bytes max. I had 7 left over when I was done….
Atari 400?
The Atari 400 was our *third* computer (and was the first one that was completely MINE). I still have it.
🙂
(And, yes, the 400 was a later model than the 800. It was the stripped-down version, designed to appeal to those who couldn’t afford an 800.)
Sort of like the 486DX being a gimped out 486 with a dead math coprocessor?
The whole reason the 486 existed was they had managed to get the math coprocessor on to the same silicon die.
LOL I’m old enough to remember 8088.
And I’m STILL in lust with a redhead with only two dimensions.
How about DOS 3.0 at 55.5!
Mmmm… crunchy.
https://youtu.be/ituapJsZhAM
Grin. Radio Shack Model 100 (which worked out Pi to 2 more decimal places than did my HP41CX). And HP Language in the HP41CX was quite a challenge when compared to Basic in the Model 100…
Remember, folks, that a Surveyor is used to contouring curves from a few important reference points!
Ah yes, logical contouring. I used to teach that as part of pre-assignment cartographer training at the Defense Mapping Agency training center….
So, an engineer and a robot walk into a bar….
Ok, nevermind all the techie blather, I wanna see the mole.
At least she ditched that Hillary pallor.
Yeah, I wouldn’t want to see a naked Hillary.
SHUDDER!
As the pendulus swing… 🙂
Could I make my own Sam with a 3D printer? If so, I would buy one tomorrow!!!
And, yes, having worked with 3d-modeling a little, the curves take a LOT of points, and therefore work!
Someone needs to tell JO that sticking her ass out like that *does* make it look bigger, though it still maintains the proper proportions.
As to the clothes problem I would guess it is more of a prioritization issue. Sam’s hair is not stiff and so must be modeled using algorithms like those used to model flowing liquids (as opposed to a fixed surface), this is quite computationally intensive. So assuming the hair modeling subroutine has a higher priority than the clothing subroutine, which is certainly how I would design it, the clothing will be delayed, perhaps by a considerable margin.
PS first computer was a Trash 80 handheld (belonged to a teacher, all I could get it to do was say “syntax error”, I was hooked), first computer I owned was an Atari 800 w/ tape drive, still have it around here someplace along with the Atari 400 we got a little later. When I upgraded the memory to 32K was sure I would never be able to use that much memory. Now I’m using an 8 processor PC with 16GB M/1TB SSD and I still have to clean out the cruft from time to time
I was on the design team for the GNAT System 10. I had input on the location of the control keys and insisted that ctrl z, x, c, v perform the tasks they do today. Keep the string functions together on the keyboard! We had some “discussions” with Mr Kay and his final response was “So? Sue me.” His financial situation compared to ours ended that “discussion.”