Hiding the 3 letter extension started with win95. Prior to this, Win3.1(1) had the file manager MDI interface, which showed extensions, and did not show pretty decorated icons.

Win95a was a radical departure from the program manager interface, and had all the pretty high color icon eye candy, and the start menu interface. It is also when they started hiding file types in the new Explorer filesystem browsing program. ( WinNT4 did have the start menu interface and all that jazz before win95, but did NOT hide extensions or folders by default, IIRC.) It pissed me off to no end, so I would always turn veiwing extensions back on-- which windows would always throw hands up and say "But you could hurt your computer seeing those!", which was a load of bull. This is the "Hide the scissors" approach, and does not teach people to be responsible.

It has been a consistent "Feature" of windows ever since, and Microsoft keeps moving the "No, TURN THE EXTENSIONS ON AND STOP HIDING SHIT!" option deeper and deeper into the labyrinth one has to walk to take the mittens off.

Testdisk.

I find adding "FOSS" to the search term instead of "Free" makes a huge difference.

There's also the potential to use a wii with a VGA projector.

http://johnnylee.net/projects/...

Put the wiimote on the podium facing the screen, so the wiimote's sensor can detect your laser pointer. Then point at the screen where you want to draw.

It's a wiii homebrew, so you need a hacked wii--- but otherwise, this looks pretty damned low cost.

This seems like a no-brainer.

You just need a networked simple paint program, that works with large touch screens.

Booya. Distributed network fingerpainting.

"No"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...

Damn my myopia!

She's still on this side of the anomaly! Well-- That explains why contacting the other side is so difficult!

Well--

Nichelle Nichols (Comm officer Uhura) got there before he did.

Maybe the bridge crew can reverse the temporal polarity and send a tightbeam subspace transmission back to starfleet now that Spock is there! Afterall, they have the doctor, AND the chief engineer there too!

(This almost begs for a cameo fan episode.)

No, that would be Deforest Kelly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...
And he's already dead.

$ sh ./horridplotgen.sh

Welcome to the horrid movie plot generator!
Is this a sequel? [y/n] y
To which classic movie or series? [list for options] Bladerunner
What is the path for the entropy source? /dev/urandom
Quality level? [list for options] list
Passable Ok Meh Bad Terrible Hollywood
Quality level? [list for options] Hollywood
*************
WARNING!
You have selected "Hollywood"-- This will skip the rest of the configuration section, and set Hollywood defaults!
Are you sure? [y/n] y

Getting Bladerunner script from repository ......Done
Training Markov chain engines ......Done
Loading Hollywood_Sequel rules and preset defaults
Done
Confabulating plot synopsis ............Done

Review generated plot blurb before full scriipt generation? [y/n] y
------
After escaping from Tyrell towers with Rachel, Deckard attempts to flee the Earth with her to live on one of the remote colonies, fearing that another Blade Runner would submit Rachel to a "Voight-Kampff" test, and positively identify her as a replicant at some point if the pair remained on Earth. Rachel, now pregnant with Deckard's love child, must help Deckard fight their way off world as nosy officials and investigators attempt to detain them for their involvement in the events in Blade Runner leading to Tyrell's death, and the possibility that the replicants may have been successful in appropriating a means of circumventing their expiration dates and clandestinely transmitted the information offworld. Fearing the worst if Rachel is discovered, She and Deckard secretly depart earth aboard a cargo freighter headed for the Vega colony. There, he and Rachel welcome the birth of their half-replicant son, David, who is born with enhanced physical speed and strength. Many years later, Rachel begins to show signs of unanticipated complications of her replicant physiology due to being alive for so long. The three return to earth seeking answers from the archives of the financial remains of the once mighty Tyrell corporation, which has since fallen under the control of one of Earth's other mega-corporations; One specializing in military hardware and wetware. While on Earth, David makes hip, edgy teenage friends on the rough streets of LA, who help him and his father after the two help them resolve a long-standing gang turf war.
-------
Continue with script generation? [y/n] n
Delete all temporary files and evidence?[y/n] y
Done

You wont find MFM inside a portable, unless it was a custom job. MFM drives had to be "married" to a controller with a low-level format, which meant that if you changed out the drive, you had some work ahead of you. (easy if you know what to do, but i digress.) They also tended to be clunky, bulky, and power hungry.

IDE drives were smaller, sleeker, integrated the drive controller right onto the drive (So you never had to low-level format ever again), and used a tiny fraction of the power.

This whole tangent is making me feel old.

Mid to late 80s you mean.

When I say "Early 90s", I mean 1990 - 1992. (Mid 90s is 1993-1996, and late 90s is 1997-1999.)

Remember, computer equipment was fabulously expensive back then. People would buy a computer and try to keep it chugging for awhile. Seeing HDD-less portables was a common occurrence in the early 90s, which is why there were peripheral makers who made drive enclosures to sit on the LPT port for them.

I even have an example of such an early laptop.
NEC Ultralte SX/20

It debuted in 1991, and had a 40mb internal HDD. The PREVIOUS model released, The NEC Ultralite, was released just a few years earlier in 1988. That's late 80s, but was still commonly found in the early 90s. It did NOT feature an internal HDD, but was the first "Notebook" sized portable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N...

The comaq LTE came out a year later in 1989, with a 20mb drive.

But again, remember-- those were brand new machines with big honking price tags. Only people with serious bankroll were cruising around with them. The older equipment stuck around awhile.

No. The human brain is not made to last.

http://cercor.oxfordjournals.o...

Even with VERY mature stem cell based regenerative medicine, there is going to be problems with the buildup of neurotoxic metabolites within the brain over time, This is essentially what alzheimer's disease is (but the jury is still out on weather the creation of amyloid beta plaques and/or tau tangles is causal or symptomatic.)

http://www.sciencedirect.com/s...
http://www.sciencedirect.com/s...

The brain does not seem to have a very good elimination system for the purging of toxic metabolic biproducts, which causes slow, cumulative damage over time.

You are going to have to do some rather invasive interventions with genetically engineered glial cells and other neural progenitor cells to prop up human brains if you intend to have biological immortality.

Though I suppose the operative word here is "Laptop". You would be lucky to have a hard drive at all in early 90s portable equipment. Mid 90s equipment would be IDE.

I have NEVER seen an MFM drive smaller than 3.5 inch form factor. However, I HAVE seen MFM to LPT enclosures for the 3.5 inch form factor intended for use with early 90s portables. It really was the dark ages back then. (They were REALLY RARE though.)

I dont know if you are serious or not--

No. No ancient aliens. ESDI was in use in server equipment from that era. 200mb ESDI interface drives were pretty common inside IBM PS/2 series towers of that era.

Specifically, found inside IBM PS/2 model 60 systems.
http://ps-2.kev009.com/pcpartn...

These featured an MCA ESDI hard disk interface in the later models. (Early models had MFM controllers.)

If you suspect aliens, please inform the person selling this 680mb ESDI drive on Ebay.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/MICROSC...

MFM and ESDI technology didn't get much beyond the 600-700mb before it was completely eliminated, but you CAN find drives that large with that interface type.

No aliens involved.

I have personally seen 200mb and larger ESDI drives in vintage PS/2 systems.