Forgot your password?

typodupeerror

Comment: Re:What migration path? (Score 1) 413

by NixieBunny (#43567475) Attached to: My most frequent OS migration path?
I've been using all three for decades.

CP/M from 1978 to 1988. Call it DOS if you want; they're the same idea.
Mac since 1986, when I discovered how easy it was to use.
Unix since 1987, Linux in the mid 90s.
Windows since 1997 when I had to use a 'real' CAD program instead of the one our company built using a homegrown Forth OS.
I still only use Windows for engineering programs. My home machine is a Mac, and the telescopes use Linux.

Comment: Re:In all fairness with this economy. (Score 1) 420

Recession? Oh, yeah, I got hired in the 2002 recession because I could fix a system for a radio astronomy project that an ex-coworker was working on, even though I didn't know the first thing about radio astronomy. I never have had to look for a job, and I'm a college dropout.

It doesn't hurt that Jobs' old buddy the Woz wears my Nixie tube wristwatch.

Comment: Re:Mixed-handedness (Score 1) 260

by NixieBunny (#43264359) Attached to: On handedness: I am ...
Many, if not most, left handed people end up doing some tasks right-handed. These are the tasks that require a piece of equipment that's made for use with the right hand.

For example, I'm left-handed but I use right-handed scissors with my right hand, operate the mouse that's provided at the right side of the computer with my right hand, and play a right-handed bass guitar.

Comment: Re:leave it at L2 (Score 3, Informative) 40

by NixieBunny (#43093169) Attached to: For ESA's Herschel Mission, the End Is Near
Hopefully, the scientific instruments will have improved substantially in 30 years, so its guts will be obsolete and therefore useless. As a worker in terrestrial radio astronomy, I can assure you that we don't use any receivers more than 15 years old, and those are about 5x less sensitive than current instruments. Any system designed for space will use the latest proven technology, given the cost to get it up there.

Comment: Re:Why is it so difficult to cool (Score 1) 40

by NixieBunny (#43092727) Attached to: For ESA's Herschel Mission, the End Is Near
Cooling systems have radiators. I work on very similar radio telescope receivers on Earth. We have a big compressor, like the one used in a home air conditioning system, to cool the gaseous helium to its condensation point of 4 Kelvin. The compressor has a large fan blowing air through it to remove heat from the helium.

Space == no air.

Comment: I hope they figure it out (Score 1) 231

by NixieBunny (#42892677) Attached to: Tesla, Ford, Amazon Hint At Cloudy Future For Cars
This stuff has a ways to go. It's a major software undertaking to get it all to work. As an example, we recently bought a Prius with some web-enabled computer thingy in the dashboard. It's supposed to talk to the smartphone via Bluetooth and do all sorts of stuff. However, according to a list published by Toyota, only half of the integration features work properly with our iPhones. Basic things such as MP3 song time display are missing.

Comment: Re:upside down keypads? (Score 5, Informative) 120

by NixieBunny (#42848261) Attached to: John E. Karlin, Who Led the Way To All-Digit Dialing, Dies At 94
Elevators and cash registers did not have 7-8-9 keypads in 1960. Cash registers had 10 keys per digit, and elevators have always had one button per floor.

The only type of machine that had a 7-8-9 keypad was the ten-key machine, used by bookkeepers and accountants to total receipts.

Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. -- G.B. Shaw

Working...