Comment Re:Inspiration to younger users - thing of the pas (Score 1) 212
Peter Harrap?
Peter Harrap?
Wow. You learn something everyday. I have always thought the whole reason was to save memory but yes, obviously that could be done when saving (and displaying on screen and editing).
Very interesting.
Yes, it was a joy to get the 128 (I skipped the 128 and went straight to the +2) and actually type the commands.
mmmm, RANDOMIZE USR 1234
The manual for the Spectrum was simply lovely as well. Not as hardcore as you machine code lovers but a fantastic introduction to sinclair BASIC (and any basic I suppose). It gave examples of every single key-word. A really nice manual - I still have mine!
This is a sadly missing accompaniment to any computer purchased today. Where will the next generation of programmers come from?
AAh, that makes more sense. I was getting confused because my science teacher used the tidy house analogy at school. If no energy is put into the system (the house), then it's gets messy or high entropy...and I always use to think that I could get it in the same state by purposely making it messy but of course that would require me putting energy into the system.
Sorry, I'm no physicist!
re: order/disorder/opinion
I've often wondered about this: If a pile of stones are randomly thrown on the ground, they have a high entropy yes? What I place them carefully in a pre-determined (but identical to the 'random' version earlier) configuration directly on the ground? Surely one has high entropy and the other has low entropy - yet they're identical!
Replace stones with some tiny molocules if you want.
I'm obviously missing something obvious.
Who are you?
And is the aforementioned console the Pandora?
I don't mind doing stuff if I can push my linux-based ideology onto them. Windows broken, right, let's install linux - it's the only way to fix this problem!
Joking aside (or is it?) sometimes it _is_ the only solution. Like when my friend's mom's laptop's WiFi stopped working and there were no XP drivers for the dongle she had - linux was the simple choice!
"I looked at the source and noticed gems such as, under Windows the fact that SDL_SemWait() was always calling WaitForSingleObject() (which is every time a kernel call with huge switching overhead)"
"So you fixed it and submitted a patch... right?"
I was going to say exactly the same thing.
Yeah, I like SDL.
So I took all the core features and wrote a unified wrapper around all of the major toolkit APIs: pure Win32, GTK+ and Qt.
It sounds like you reinvented wxWidgets?
It sounds like you reinvented zsnes?
Only joshing, I intend to try bsnes at some point (on my arcade cab)
I _really_ wish people would use sarcasm more to make their point around here.
Honestly, getting an arcade cabinet and sticking a PC inside was the best (gaming related) move I ever made. Obviously you need the space but it results in a 99% perfect arcade gaming experience. I bought mine over a year ago and I've yet to become bored with it (unlike every other (purely) gaming device I've ever owned, WII, XBOX etc). Having the correct controls for arcade game is simply unbeatable. Bombjack, for instance was simply not designed for DPads or keyboards it works so much better using a proper arcade stick.
Another factor in recreating the genuine experience is the monitor. You have to have an old style, low-res 15Khz display. Again, the old arcade were designed with the blurryness of these displays in mind. Some games look awful on an LCD or razor-sharp CRT yet look incredible on a 15Khz arcade monitor
I love my cab and will be very sad when the monitor eventually and inevitably dies...and CRT's are becoming as rare as hens teeth.
This was partly my plan (N900 and Pandora)
http://lessermatters.homeunix.com/LemmingsSDL
here:
http://lessermatters.homeunix.com/LemmingsSDL/
It has a bug in it (something not being set to NULL - I will upload the new version sometime...)
Please don't hit me Sony...
Tell me about it.
Every so often I have to go to the local tip to throw away big items that won't fit in the bin (trashcan) and I am AMAZED at the amount of computer hardware that is piled up there. I used to retrieve the odd machine that looked useable and 9 times out of 10, the machine will boot up (albiet slowly) into Windows XP. A simple install of a lite linux distro and bam! - A perfectly useable computer.
It seems people (morons?) throw away XP machine when they "slow down" as they are "too old".
It completely annoys the god-damn hell out of me.
Oh, the last time I tried to take a machine - I was shouted at and told "You're not allowed to take old computers anymore!!!" - they even have a freakin camera checking for those pesky re-cyclers!
And as for the 'broken' laptops - give them me! I'll install debian on it, hook it up to an LCD and use it has a nice 'n quiet MythTV frontend!
Honestly - some people need shooting.
The best era for 'computer music' was the 80's. Fact. Rob Hubbard, David Whittiker (sp?) to mention just two.
I also love the chip tune music that is sometimes still to be found today on 'cracktros'. Great, simple melodies that tend to loop indefinatly, sometimes making it very difficult to switch off.
I still have an serial-gen (windows) exe for Nero that has an amazing chip-tune.
THIS is what computer music is.
Oh and also don't forget the 8bit sound / pop crossover that has sort of happened with the likes of Max Tundra.
All this new stuff on your Xbox's and you Playstations is NOT computer music in my opinion...
Where there's a will, there's a relative.