On 04/11/2023 17:04, lar3ryca wrote:
> I was pretty much forced into it by wanting to be employed.

I was employed before Windows was a thing, and learned it as it came
out. I learned a lot more about NT - to the extent of device drivers and
file system filters - and was oriented that way for years. But my last
few jobs required me to learn Linux, which I now use on my own computer.

We now have around the house Windows, Android, Linux and an iPhone in
daily use.

Andy

On 04/11/23 06:30, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
> On Fri, 3 Nov 2023 11:55:45 -0700 Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Alan Bowler <atbowler@thinkage.ca> wrote:
>>> On 2022-11-12 9:07 a.m., lar3ryca wrote:
>
> It was a year ago, but never mind!
>>>>
>>>> I never did like the 8080 or any of its successors, and the RCA
>>>> COSMAC, Z80, and PIC were in the same category. Actually the
>>>> PIC was in a class of its own, the worst microprocessor I ever
>>>> used.
>>>
>>> The 16 bit z8000 (z80001) was actually a quite nice little
>>> system once you decoded the manual and found the actual
>>> instruction set. E.g. the manuals talked about various formats of
>>> the move instruction. When you reclassified things by op code
>>> value and what they did you found a more or classic load
>>> register, store register, and memory to memory move.
>>>
>>> It was not quite as elegant as the PDP-11, but it was an easily
>>> programmed machine. The manuals were terrible, trying to make it
>>> look like a z80.
>>
>> IMO, at the time Motorola 6809 was the best of the bunch, and the
>> Mot 16- and 32-bit chips improved on it, while the later Intel
>> chips just got more bizarre.
>
> Tried doing any ARM asm? [I haven't]

I have. About ten years ago I was working on smart relays, where an FFT
had to be calculated many times per second. (The goal was to catch
high-frequency noise that could be hazardous but which conventional
relays didn't see.) That meant a fast processor was needed. Most of the
software was written in C, but we needed a thread-switching kernel that
I had to write in assembly language.

The RISC approach initially looked elegant, and I was suitable
impressed, but two problems caused me trouble. The first was a very
strange approach to version numbering, which left me confused about
which ARM version I was working on. (I kept on using instructions that
didn't exist because of misleading documentation.) The other was
related: the instruction set depended on version. When we upgraded the
hardware, I had to completely re-do that kernel.

What really annoyed me about the later ARM versions was that some
complex instructions were added to the "reduced instruction set" --
presumably some lobby groups pushed for special new features -- which
damaged the elegance of the RISC approach.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW

In alt.folklore.computers Sn!pe <snipeco.2@gmail.com> wrote:
> TonyCooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Earlier today I took my 7 year-old grandson to a Maker Faire event.
>> One of the exhibits was an array of old computers and computer games.
>> I'm not what game he's playing in this photo, but he thought it was
>> "cool".
>>
>> <https://photos.smugmug.com/2023-MAKER-FAIRE/i-5RN8Mpc/0/18ad473a/O/2023-11-04-17.jpg>
>
> That looks like the old classic 'Pacman'

Most likely a knockoff, as it's running on a CoCo 2 and Pac-Man was never
officially ported to the CoCo AFAIK.

--
_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

TonyCooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> writes:
> Earlier today I took my 7 year-old grandson to a Maker Faire event.
> One of the exhibits was an array of old computers and computer games.
> I'm not what game he's playing in this photo, but he thought it was
> "cool".
>
> https://photos.smugmug.com/2023-MAKER-FAIRE/i-5RN8Mpc/0/18ad473a/O/2023-11-04-17.jpg

Looks like a Tandy. Has the different colour keys in the right places,
and the rainbowish motif on the body:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TRS-80_Color_Computer_2-64K.jpg

It looks like an odd version of PacMan, as the cylindrical topology
of PacMan was pretty integral to the game, and that's lacking.

Phil
--
We are no longer hunters and nomads. No longer awed and frightened, as we have
gained some understanding of the world in which we live. As such, we can cast
aside childish remnants from the dawn of our civilization.
-- NotSanguine on SoylentNews, after Eugen Weber in /The Western Tradition/

Phil Carmody <pc+usenet@asdf.org> wrote:

> TonyCooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> writes:
> > Earlier today I took my 7 year-old grandson to a Maker Faire event.
> > One of the exhibits was an array of old computers and computer games.
> > I'm not what game he's playing in this photo, but he thought it was
> > "cool".
> >
> > https://photos.smugmug.com/2023-MAKER-FAIRE/i-5RN8Mpc/0/18ad473a/O/2023-11-0
4-17.jpg
>
> Looks like a Tandy. Has the different colour keys in the right places,
> and the rainbowish motif on the body:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TRS-80_Color_Computer_2-64K.jpg
>
> It looks like an odd version of PacMan, as the cylindrical topology
> of PacMan was pretty integral to the game, and that's lacking.

Known in mathematical and physical contexts
as 'periodic boundary conditions'.
These are not limited to two dimensions,

Jan

On Fri, 3 Nov 2023 13:30:34 -0600, lar3ryca wrote:
>
> Do you remember the Pentium with the floating point bug?
>
> "I am Pentium of Borg. Prepare to be approximated."

| I am Pentium of Borg. Division is futile. You will be approximated.
--
Andreas

Old schoool arcade video games https://ankman.de/

Le 18/02/2024 à 05:33, Andreas Kohlbach a écrit :
> On Fri, 3 Nov 2023 13:30:34 -0600, lar3ryca wrote:
>>
>> Do you remember the Pentium with the floating point bug?
>>
>> "I am Pentium of Borg. Prepare to be approximated."
>
> | I am Pentium of Borg. Division is futile. You will be approximated.

Divide and conk out.

On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 10:24:39 +0000
Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> wrote:

> Le 18/02/2024 à 05:33, Andreas Kohlbach a écrit :
> > On Fri, 3 Nov 2023 13:30:34 -0600, lar3ryca wrote:
> >>
> >> Do you remember the Pentium with the floating point bug?
> >>
> >> "I am Pentium of Borg. Prepare to be approximated."
> >
> > | I am Pentium of Borg. Division is futile. You will be approximated.
>
> Divide and conk out.
>
Halt and Catch Fire

--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.

"Kerr-Mudd, John" <admin@127.0.0.1> writes:
>On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 10:24:39 +0000
>Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Le 18/02/2024 =E0 05:33, Andreas Kohlbach a =E9crit :
>> > On Fri, 3 Nov 2023 13:30:34 -0600, lar3ryca wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Do you remember the Pentium with the floating point bug?
>> >>
>> >> "I am Pentium of Borg. Prepare to be approximated."
>> >=20
>> > | I am Pentium of Borg. Division is futile. You will be approximated.
>>=20
>> Divide and conk out.
>>=20
>Halt and Catch Fire

Punch Card
Punch Disk
Punch Operator.

On 2024-02-18, Scott Lurndal <scott@slp53.sl.home> wrote:

> "Kerr-Mudd, John" <admin@127.0.0.1> writes:
>
>> On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 10:24:39 +0000
>> Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> Le 18/02/2024 =E0 05:33, Andreas Kohlbach a =E9crit :
>>>
>>>> On Fri, 3 Nov 2023 13:30:34 -0600, lar3ryca wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Do you remember the Pentium with the floating point bug?
>>>>>
>>>>> "I am Pentium of Borg. Prepare to be approximated."
>>>>
>>>> I am Pentium of Borg. Division is futile. You will be approximated.
>>>
>>> Divide and conk out.
>>
>> Halt and Catch Fire
>
> Punch Card
> Punch Disk
> Punch Operator.

Execute Operator
Reverse Drum Immediate
Branch on Burned-Out Indicator
Rewind and Break Tape
Add Abnormalized

--
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X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | excitement, but also dark alleys
/ \ if you read it the right way. | down which the unwary get mugged.