Why was everything more fun 40 years ago?
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I have been reading electronics magazines from the late 1970s and early 1980s. I had some of the issues and always wanted to read the articles in the issues I missed. Besides those which are relevant to my (then and now) interests, there are many more articles which promise lots of tinkering and fun. Examples? Build yourself a modem and get your box online.[^] The parts list for the modem includes lumber and a tennis ball. :-) Build a robot. With arms and sensors, not just a little toy.[^] Now, where did I see such a robot before? Build a raceway video game console.[^] These games on a chip obviously were popular at the time. Somewhere in the same issue there is an ad for a similar tanks viedeo game chip and there probably were even more. It cost something like $5.95, not much even in 1980. What computer to get if you want to learn all about microprocessors.[^] In the same issue: Computer control for the robot![^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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I have been reading electronics magazines from the late 1970s and early 1980s. I had some of the issues and always wanted to read the articles in the issues I missed. Besides those which are relevant to my (then and now) interests, there are many more articles which promise lots of tinkering and fun. Examples? Build yourself a modem and get your box online.[^] The parts list for the modem includes lumber and a tennis ball. :-) Build a robot. With arms and sensors, not just a little toy.[^] Now, where did I see such a robot before? Build a raceway video game console.[^] These games on a chip obviously were popular at the time. Somewhere in the same issue there is an ad for a similar tanks viedeo game chip and there probably were even more. It cost something like $5.95, not much even in 1980. What computer to get if you want to learn all about microprocessors.[^] In the same issue: Computer control for the robot![^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
We are pioneers. Once things get consumer friendly we lose interest. It's in the blood. Discovering is much funnier than simply braindead producing.
GCS d-- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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We are pioneers. Once things get consumer friendly we lose interest. It's in the blood. Discovering is much funnier than simply braindead producing.
GCS d-- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
Go tell that to QA :sigh:
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I have been reading electronics magazines from the late 1970s and early 1980s. I had some of the issues and always wanted to read the articles in the issues I missed. Besides those which are relevant to my (then and now) interests, there are many more articles which promise lots of tinkering and fun. Examples? Build yourself a modem and get your box online.[^] The parts list for the modem includes lumber and a tennis ball. :-) Build a robot. With arms and sensors, not just a little toy.[^] Now, where did I see such a robot before? Build a raceway video game console.[^] These games on a chip obviously were popular at the time. Somewhere in the same issue there is an ad for a similar tanks viedeo game chip and there probably were even more. It cost something like $5.95, not much even in 1980. What computer to get if you want to learn all about microprocessors.[^] In the same issue: Computer control for the robot![^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
Was nostalgia more fun 40 years ago?
This space for rent
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I have been reading electronics magazines from the late 1970s and early 1980s. I had some of the issues and always wanted to read the articles in the issues I missed. Besides those which are relevant to my (then and now) interests, there are many more articles which promise lots of tinkering and fun. Examples? Build yourself a modem and get your box online.[^] The parts list for the modem includes lumber and a tennis ball. :-) Build a robot. With arms and sensors, not just a little toy.[^] Now, where did I see such a robot before? Build a raceway video game console.[^] These games on a chip obviously were popular at the time. Somewhere in the same issue there is an ad for a similar tanks viedeo game chip and there probably were even more. It cost something like $5.95, not much even in 1980. What computer to get if you want to learn all about microprocessors.[^] In the same issue: Computer control for the robot![^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
CodeWraith wrote:
The parts list for the modem includes lumber and a tennis ball.
Well, what else are you going to use for the acoustic coupler? :laugh: And let's see just how much of Netflix you can watch using that modem!
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640 Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I have been reading electronics magazines from the late 1970s and early 1980s. I had some of the issues and always wanted to read the articles in the issues I missed. Besides those which are relevant to my (then and now) interests, there are many more articles which promise lots of tinkering and fun. Examples? Build yourself a modem and get your box online.[^] The parts list for the modem includes lumber and a tennis ball. :-) Build a robot. With arms and sensors, not just a little toy.[^] Now, where did I see such a robot before? Build a raceway video game console.[^] These games on a chip obviously were popular at the time. Somewhere in the same issue there is an ad for a similar tanks viedeo game chip and there probably were even more. It cost something like $5.95, not much even in 1980. What computer to get if you want to learn all about microprocessors.[^] In the same issue: Computer control for the robot![^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
40 years ago (or 30 in my case) we did more - we did hardware and software and all in-between... Since then we got specialized...
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge". Stephen Hawking, 1942- 2018
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Go tell that to QA :sigh:
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640 Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
Sadly it's a common forma mentis these days, even without descending in the monkey show that is QA. I had colleagues that instead of thinking 5 minutes to a solution spent days looking for premade solutions and designed convoluted ways to glue them together. The end results were bug ridden, unmaintaineable and crumbled at the first change. The simple idea of devising an algorithm was alien to them because "it's not possible to do better than the ones other people already made". Basically they were factory workers, you could swap programming with bending iron bars and they would hardly notice.
GCS d-- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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Was nostalgia more fun 40 years ago?
This space for rent
How come everything is electronic nowadays anyway, surely you could see how the centrifugal governor regulated the steam engine, and you could machine these yourself. Now it's all 555 timers and 8088 microprocessors!
KeithBarrow.net[^] - It might not be very good, but at least it is free!
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How come everything is electronic nowadays anyway, surely you could see how the centrifugal governor regulated the steam engine, and you could machine these yourself. Now it's all 555 timers and 8088 microprocessors!
KeithBarrow.net[^] - It might not be very good, but at least it is free!
Keith Barrow wrote:
Now it's all 555 timers and 8088 microprocessors!
and 90% of it not needed / useless ;) :rolleyes:
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Keith Barrow wrote:
Now it's all 555 timers and 8088 microprocessors!
and 90% of it not needed / useless ;) :rolleyes:
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
Nelek wrote:
90% of it not needed / useless
But ... but ... what would you do if your toaster couldn't connect to the internet? :omg:
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640 Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Was nostalgia more fun 40 years ago?
This space for rent
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I have been reading electronics magazines from the late 1970s and early 1980s. I had some of the issues and always wanted to read the articles in the issues I missed. Besides those which are relevant to my (then and now) interests, there are many more articles which promise lots of tinkering and fun. Examples? Build yourself a modem and get your box online.[^] The parts list for the modem includes lumber and a tennis ball. :-) Build a robot. With arms and sensors, not just a little toy.[^] Now, where did I see such a robot before? Build a raceway video game console.[^] These games on a chip obviously were popular at the time. Somewhere in the same issue there is an ad for a similar tanks viedeo game chip and there probably were even more. It cost something like $5.95, not much even in 1980. What computer to get if you want to learn all about microprocessors.[^] In the same issue: Computer control for the robot![^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
Hmm that robot (or Driod?) I think I have seen him without arms...
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I have been reading electronics magazines from the late 1970s and early 1980s. I had some of the issues and always wanted to read the articles in the issues I missed. Besides those which are relevant to my (then and now) interests, there are many more articles which promise lots of tinkering and fun. Examples? Build yourself a modem and get your box online.[^] The parts list for the modem includes lumber and a tennis ball. :-) Build a robot. With arms and sensors, not just a little toy.[^] Now, where did I see such a robot before? Build a raceway video game console.[^] These games on a chip obviously were popular at the time. Somewhere in the same issue there is an ad for a similar tanks viedeo game chip and there probably were even more. It cost something like $5.95, not much even in 1980. What computer to get if you want to learn all about microprocessors.[^] In the same issue: Computer control for the robot![^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
Surface mount killed kitchen table electronics while enabling what you're using to post on CP right now.
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Keith Barrow wrote:
Now it's all 555 timers and 8088 microprocessors!
and 90% of it not needed / useless ;) :rolleyes:
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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I have been reading electronics magazines from the late 1970s and early 1980s. I had some of the issues and always wanted to read the articles in the issues I missed. Besides those which are relevant to my (then and now) interests, there are many more articles which promise lots of tinkering and fun. Examples? Build yourself a modem and get your box online.[^] The parts list for the modem includes lumber and a tennis ball. :-) Build a robot. With arms and sensors, not just a little toy.[^] Now, where did I see such a robot before? Build a raceway video game console.[^] These games on a chip obviously were popular at the time. Somewhere in the same issue there is an ad for a similar tanks viedeo game chip and there probably were even more. It cost something like $5.95, not much even in 1980. What computer to get if you want to learn all about microprocessors.[^] In the same issue: Computer control for the robot![^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
You make me want to go down in my basement to dig up all my old BYTE issues from the late 1970s - I never got my collection complete from Isusse #1, but it is close. One of the 70's DYI projects that I remeber well was a computer controlled wood stove. This guy had build a container for finely cut wood (it wasn't pellets, but roughly that size, I believe) with a funnel into his stove, so the wood could fall down by gravitation. This must have been a few years before the IBM PC; the computer may have been an Altair or Imsai, controlling the motor opening the hatch allowing more wood to fall down, and the motor opening/closing the air vent. What I don't remember is how he read the inputs - you couldn't simply buy a USB thermometer in those days... When the magazines are ten years old, everybody ask "Why don't you throw that old shit out?" If you stubbornly cling to the magazines until they are fourty, everybody gasps: "What a treasure!"
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Nelek wrote:
90% of it not needed / useless
But ... but ... what would you do if your toaster couldn't connect to the internet? :omg:
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640 Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
[The Object-Oriented Toaster](http://www.danielsen.com/jokes/objecttoaster.txt)
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.
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I have been reading electronics magazines from the late 1970s and early 1980s. I had some of the issues and always wanted to read the articles in the issues I missed. Besides those which are relevant to my (then and now) interests, there are many more articles which promise lots of tinkering and fun. Examples? Build yourself a modem and get your box online.[^] The parts list for the modem includes lumber and a tennis ball. :-) Build a robot. With arms and sensors, not just a little toy.[^] Now, where did I see such a robot before? Build a raceway video game console.[^] These games on a chip obviously were popular at the time. Somewhere in the same issue there is an ad for a similar tanks viedeo game chip and there probably were even more. It cost something like $5.95, not much even in 1980. What computer to get if you want to learn all about microprocessors.[^] In the same issue: Computer control for the robot![^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
Because this was the heyday of the hobbyist. Then we shot ourselves in the foot by getting jobs, thinking we could get paid to do this fun stuff. It was still fun for a while. Then eventually it became a job. :sigh:
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We are pioneers. Once things get consumer friendly we lose interest. It's in the blood. Discovering is much funnier than simply braindead producing.
GCS d-- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
den2k88 wrote:
Discovering is much funnier than simply braindead producing.
You do not like working on the assembly line? :rolleyes: Me either. X| And here is the interesting part... As software development absorbs more process and more patterns it becomes more like assembly-line coding and you transform from an artist to a key-presser. However, with no process things are terrible -- some developers act like every project is a new piece of art that has zero process and they are the magicians. :sigh: That's bad. But, as software development nears the 100% repeatable process it becomes total monotony. X|
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den2k88 wrote:
Discovering is much funnier than simply braindead producing.
You do not like working on the assembly line? :rolleyes: Me either. X| And here is the interesting part... As software development absorbs more process and more patterns it becomes more like assembly-line coding and you transform from an artist to a key-presser. However, with no process things are terrible -- some developers act like every project is a new piece of art that has zero process and they are the magicians. :sigh: That's bad. But, as software development nears the 100% repeatable process it becomes total monotony. X|
Processes are good. Cobbling together anything written by others in the dirtiest possible way are not an acceptable process, nor are good. X|
GCS d-- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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Processes are good. Cobbling together anything written by others in the dirtiest possible way are not an acceptable process, nor are good. X|
GCS d-- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
Yes, process is good. I'm thinking you are agreeing with me. :) Imagine if there was a giant library which had every function you'd ever need. You'd just drag and drop the functions you want into a file in the order you want them to work and voila! You're done. This is process in the extreme. Very repeatable. Very boring. The ultimate CASE tool[^]!
