Re: An oddball thought experiment - alternate PC universe
Posted on 2014-06-19, 19:44
Supposedly these nano vacuum tubes have 10x the performance of transistors, but it may not be possible to make them as small yet.
Re: An oddball thought experiment - alternate PC universe
Posted on 2014-06-19, 15:37
And after checking out the Ferranti Pegasus, I think I know where the Fallout guys got some of their design inspirations. Neat, but an hour of preventative maintenance every day? Yikes. I'm pretty sure we would have made the leap to transistors even if we (for whatever reason) couldn't have made the …
Re: An oddball thought experiment - alternate PC universe
Posted on 2014-06-19, 15:30
Kreshna, Going to 2nd Obobskivich here and say probably not possible? I think back in the days of analog and mechanical and other similarly slow systems, the sorts of problems or jobs they were using them to solve were of the nature of "we need to run this really long calculation, it will take …
Re: An oddball thought experiment - alternate PC universe
Posted on 2014-06-19, 11:01
I think this would make a very interesting system. But I don't think the size would have to be to the extent of a Chrysler building hehe. Maybe only twice the size of current compnents and very expensive. Would be interesting for Supercomputing tasks. There's only so much silicon can handle with …
Re: An oddball thought experiment - alternate PC universe
Posted on 2014-06-19, 06:24
Well, analog systems I think were used for stuff like calculating projectile trajectories, and accounting. Not sure what else. I think the Jacquard loom used a type of analog computer for controlling the loom. So, add basic automation to the list? No saving and editing your paperworks, then. :( A …
Re: 8088 Domination
Posted on 2014-06-19, 03:27
Re: An oddball thought experiment - alternate PC universe
Posted on 2014-06-19, 03:10
In rough order of complexity: http://www.northdownfarm.co.uk/rory/tim/tim-8.htm http://www.nablaman.com/relay/ http://isquared.weebly.com/ http://www.clivemaxfield.com/diycalculator/popup-m-hrrgcomp.shtml http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~harry/Relay/index.html So it would appear quite a lot is possible with …
Re: An oddball thought experiment - alternate PC universe
Posted on 2014-06-19, 02:52
Well, analog systems I think were used for stuff like calculating projectile trajectories, and accounting. Not sure what else. I think the Jacquard loom used a type of analog computer for controlling the loom. So, add basic automation to the list? A transistor system would be digital, though. Vacuum …
Re: An oddball thought experiment - alternate PC universe
Posted on 2014-06-19, 01:00
Well, I think with discrete transistors, you could probably make something with the complexity of an 8088 (maybe?) but it would be incredibly labor intensive to wire up. And it would probably be a pretty low-memory system since it would need to be core memory or something like that. And huge, I'm …
An oddball thought experiment - alternate PC universe
Posted on 2014-06-19, 00:22
Suppose we had never gotten beyond vacuum tubes and relays: would we even have computers outside of large businesses? What about discrete transistors? That might make a "personal" PC more likely, but still incredibly expensive compared to all the ICs we have in our systems. Would it even be possible …
Re: what hardware were you using in 1999?
Posted on 2014-06-18, 05:43
I know this is an old thread but thought I'd add my system. I was in college and still living at home at this time so had extra cash. I think I had the following, if I recall correctly: BX motherboad with Celeron 300A 256 or 512mb RAM 10GB HD CD-RW Voodoo 3 PCI Diamond Shotgun dual 56k modem (wish I …
Re: Tell your story. What made you sign up to Vogons?
Posted on 2014-06-16, 05:30
Very informative forum with intelligent community (even if they don't like exploring too much ). Was also hoping to be around people as messed up as me, and contribute. I always want to be living a specific day and year, everyday. Also think Dosbox is the best thing next to chocolate milk.. I guess …
Re: How does the modern generation view 31 year old gamers and pc enthusiasts
Posted on 2014-06-15, 16:28
I was never a big console gamer in the 8 an 16 bit era and still am not, although console games are becoming more PC-like and vice versa. I think the only old school console games I ever beat were Donkey Kong, Super Mario and Rygar. The main reason I hated old-school console games were that some …
Re: How does the modern generation view 31 year old gamers and pc enthusiasts
Posted on 2014-06-15, 03:22
So do older PC enthusiasts and gamers look dumb to the current generation? Can't help but notice that perhaps keyboards might become obsolete and replaced by voice input and touch screens. I mean when you think about it, all a computer enthusiast is capable of, is knowing everything a PC does, and …
Re: Let's get to know eachother a little better :)
Posted on 2014-06-11, 22:53
I had sorta sussed out that it must be some sort of licensing or professional cert but I'm glad you didn't know either, Gerwin 😁
Re: Let's get to know eachother a little better :)
Posted on 2014-06-11, 22:26
That is good but I would strongly recommend you complete MBO4 / HBO / WO ASAP anyway. Better safe than sorry. :) Ah, everyone keeps saying that XD and although I realize this might be a problem when I ever need to find a new job, I don't really care about that right now. Maybe later sometime. It …
Re: Let's get to know eachother a little better :)
Posted on 2014-06-10, 16:38
Its hard to cry tears for lost Australian jobs when you look at the ridiculous wages that makes these jobs unsustainable, for instance I work in a menial factory job but made $432 for 8 hours on Sunday at double time rates, yesterday for the Queens birthday public holiday another $540 at double …
Re: Let's get to know eachother a little better :)
Posted on 2014-06-07, 22:27
What is your undergrad in? I wouldn't do IT, btw but you might want to combine computer science with a minor or associates in some other hard science and then go do IT/programming for eggheads. Worst case, you can always decide to go do IT for management weenies later on.
Re: Let's get to know eachother a little better :)
Posted on 2014-06-07, 22:22
That's another option. I can definitely state that small towns suck. Anything under 100k people is too small for there to be much going on. If you're in some sleepy burg of 3000 souls or less in the Midwest GTFO now. I don't know I'd pile on more debt just yet, though. If you're smart enough, or can …
Re: Let's get to know eachother a little better :)
Posted on 2014-06-07, 21:40
Get yourself a shitty used car and start your own business. Most stuff you could do (building small networks, tech support, security consulting, web design, etc) is very low overhead. If you live in east bum-fark Idaho there may not be a market for much other than PC repair, but it's better than …
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