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Who Would Have Thought [message #196986] Fri, 28 November 2008 21:23 Go to next message
Sam Gillett is currently offline  Sam Gillett
Messages: 2422
Registered: June 2003
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I just ran across an ad for a 2 gig flash memory USB stick for $6.99(US) at
Staples.

Back in the days of Commodore who woulda thought memory would have thought
that memory would have become so cheap in the near future? After all, when
the machine was being produced, the memory in a C64 cost more than that...
less than 20 years ago.
--
Best regards,

Sam Gillett

Change is inevitable,
except from vending machines!
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #196987 is a reply to message #196986] Fri, 28 November 2008 21:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Leif Bloomquist is currently offline  Leif Bloomquist
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"Sam Gillett" <sgillettnospam@diespammergte.net> wrote in message
news:QI1Yk.1665$us6.131@nwrddc01.gnilink.net...
> I just ran across an ad for a 2 gig flash memory USB stick for $6.99(US) at
> Staples.
>
> Back in the days of Commodore who woulda thought memory would have thought
> that memory would have become so cheap in the near future? After all,
> when
> the machine was being produced, the memory in a C64 cost more than that...
> less than 20 years ago.

Indeed! Even more impressive to me is that you can now buy hard drives of
1.5 TERABYTES for...$159. Canadian dollars at that!

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-deta ils.asp?EdpNo=4138742&Sku=TSD-1500AS
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #196992 is a reply to message #196987] Sat, 29 November 2008 01:58 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Sam Gillett is currently offline  Sam Gillett
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Registered: June 2003
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"Leif Bloomquist" <spam@127.0.0.116> wrote ...

> "Sam Gillett" <sgillettnospam@diespammergte.net> wrote in message
> news:QI1Yk.1665$us6.131@nwrddc01.gnilink.net...
>> I just ran across an ad for a 2 gig flash memory USB stick for $6.99(US) at
>> Staples.
>>
>> Back in the days of Commodore who would have thought that memory would
>> have become so cheap in the near future? After all, when the machine was
>> being produced, the memory in a C64 cost more than that... less than 20
>> years ago.
>
> Indeed! Even more impressive to me is that you can now buy hard drives of
> 1.5 TERABYTES for...$159. Canadian dollars at that!
>
> http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-deta ils.asp?EdpNo=4138742&Sku=TSD-1500AS

If only that drive came with it's own case and power supply like the 1541
did. ;-)

Interesting though, is that external drives (USB) are starting to see
widespread use again. Was Commodore ahead of their time or what?
--
Best regards,

Sam Gillett

Change is inevitable,
except from vending machines!
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #196993 is a reply to message #196992] Sat, 29 November 2008 03:04 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: joe.j.cassara

On Nov 29, 1:58 am, "Sam Gillett" <sgillettnos...@diespammergte.net>
wrote:
> Interesting though, is that external drives (USB) are starting to see
> widespread use again.  Was Commodore ahead of their time or what?
> --
> Best regards,
>
> Sam Gillett

I thought that was the most charming aspect of external USB devices
when they first hit the market -- their similarity to the external
storage devices of our 8-bit days.
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #196994 is a reply to message #196993] Sat, 29 November 2008 03:24 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Sam Gillett is currently offline  Sam Gillett
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<joe.j.cassara@gmail.com> wrote ...

> On Nov 29, 1:58 am, "Sam Gillett" <sgillettnos...@diespammergte.net>
> wrote:
>> Interesting though, is that external drives (USB) are starting to see
>> widespread use again. Was Commodore ahead of their time or what?
>
> I thought that was the most charming aspect of external USB devices
> when they first hit the market -- their similarity to the external
> storage devices of our 8-bit days.

Also interesting is that both connect via a serial bus. These modern USB
ports are sure a lot faster than the old Commodore serial port though.
Digital technology has come a long way since the days of the C64. Back then
we measured the speed of the CPU in Mega Hertz. Now we use Giga Hertz as a
measure of CPU speed.

It makes one wonder what computers will be like by the time our kids get old
and gray.
--
Best regards,

Sam Gillett

Change is inevitable,
except from vending machines!
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #196995 is a reply to message #196992] Sat, 29 November 2008 05:02 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anssi Saari is currently offline  Anssi Saari
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"Sam Gillett" <sgillettnospam@diespammergte.net> writes:

> Interesting though, is that external drives (USB) are starting to see
> widespread use again. Was Commodore ahead of their time or what?

I've kind of been wanting to have some more CPU offloading
capabilities in hard drives. Especially as SATA has so much speed to
burn compared to what a single disk can deliver today, would be nice
if you could have, oh, say, on the fly unzipping done by the drive...
Sort of like what the best C64/1541 loaders did back in the day.

Some disks already have encryption and decryption anyway, but of
course that's not on the filesystem level.

Not that it really matters with the CPU power available today.
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #196996 is a reply to message #196986] Sat, 29 November 2008 06:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Hg is currently offline  Hg
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Registered: January 2012
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On Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:23:44 +0000, Sam Gillett wrote:

> I just ran across an ad for a 2 gig flash memory USB stick for $6.99(US)
> at Staples.
>
> Back in the days of Commodore who woulda thought memory would have
> thought that memory would have become so cheap in the near future?
> After all, when the machine was being produced, the memory in a C64 cost
> more than that... less than 20 years ago.


The future shock i've been getting recently has been the advance in mobile
devices. Less than ten years ago i couldn't understand how CPUs could get
any faster than they were - they were in the 600Mhz range at the time.

Now, mobile phones have 800Mhz CPUs installed -
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/11/17/asus_p565/

Now, I'm guessing in ten years mobile phones will have 4 Ghz CPUs installed-
or even sooner- especially as the money being pumped into mobile development
is increasing every year without fail.

Some things haven't changed, though. Most of us are still moving around in
a vehicle that generates motion by a series of small explosions :-)
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #196999 is a reply to message #196994] Sat, 29 November 2008 09:33 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Joe Forster/STA is currently offline  Joe Forster/STA
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> Now we use Giga Hertz as a measure of CPU speed.
> It makes one wonder what computers will be like by the time our kids get old
> and gray.

There's a limit for the nominal clock frequency (speed of light and
length of pathways inside the CPU) and we're getting close it. The
future's computers will probably be 1) massively parallel (can't make
one CPU faster => cram in a lot of them and try to make use of all),
2) quantum computers (read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer
) and 3) operating with light rather than electricity (read
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_computer ).
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #197006 is a reply to message #196993] Sat, 29 November 2008 18:49 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ramswell is currently offline  ramswell
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Registered: January 2012
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On Nov 29, 12:04 am, joe.j.cass...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Nov 29, 1:58 am, "Sam Gillett" <sgillettnos...@diespammergte.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Interesting though, is that external drives (USB) are starting to see
>> widespread use again. Was Commodore ahead of their time or what?
>> --
>> Best regards,
>
>> Sam Gillett
>
> I thought that was the most charming aspect of external USB devices
> when they first hit the market -- their similarity to the external
> storage devices of our 8-bit days.



What similarity might that be <CONFUSED>? Other than the fact that
they run on a serial platform and are "plug & play," I fail to see any
other resemblences with the older 8-bit models [HUGE & Heavy drives
requiring extra cabling to be connected in order for them to work,
they ONLY WORKED in platform specific applications { AKA PRECISE
CONNECTORS}, wherin the USB concept is extraordinary in the fact that
it is UNIVERSAL to all platforms that have the USB connection on it
<something that never could be done with the Atari, Apple, or
Commodores of their day>

I'm just saying. ;)


Charles
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #197010 is a reply to message #196999] Sat, 29 November 2008 21:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
David Murray is currently offline  David Murray
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> There's a limit for the nominal clock frequency (speed of light and
> length of pathways inside the CPU) and we're getting close it. The

Personally, I'm hoping we reach a limit where we stop making them
faster for a while. That way we won't constantly be playing a game of
catch-up all the time on our hardware, and then software developers
will be forced to write cleaner, more efficient code in order to
compete. That is essentially what happened in the C64 world towards
the end of its life. Also it would give hardware manufacturers
other things to concentrate on instead of selling cheap, fast
hardware. Take Apple for example. Although their hardware is fast,
the selling points tend to be the design and construction, as well as
the operating system.
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #197011 is a reply to message #197006] Sat, 29 November 2008 22:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
winston19842005@yahoo is currently offline  winston19842005@yahoo
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ramswell wrote:
> On Nov 29, 12:04 am, joe.j.cass...@gmail.com wrote:
>> On Nov 29, 1:58 am, "Sam Gillett" <sgillettnos...@diespammergte.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Interesting though, is that external drives (USB) are starting to see
>>> widespread use again. Was Commodore ahead of their time or what?
>>> --
>>> Best regards,
>>
>>> Sam Gillett
>>
>> I thought that was the most charming aspect of external USB devices
>> when they first hit the market -- their similarity to the external
>> storage devices of our 8-bit days.
>
>
>
> What similarity might that be <CONFUSED>? Other than the fact that
> they run on a serial platform and are "plug & play," I fail to see any
> other resemblences with the older 8-bit models [HUGE & Heavy drives
> requiring extra cabling to be connected in order for them to work,
> they ONLY WORKED in platform specific applications { AKA PRECISE
> CONNECTORS}, wherin the USB concept is extraordinary in the fact that
> it is UNIVERSAL to all platforms that have the USB connection on it
> <something that never could be done with the Atari, Apple, or
> Commodores of their day>
>
> I'm just saying. ;)

(Hmm - the "more options" link of Google has suddenly become plain
underlined text, NOT a link...)
Anyway, closest pre-cursor to USB I remember was Texas Instrument's
Hexbus interface, designed for their CC-40, TI-74, TI-95 calculator/
handhelds, and their never released (officially) TI-99/8 computer.
They also released a hexbus adapter interface for the TI-99/4A.

This device was a serial-based bus, minimal connections (plug similar
to the small end of a USB cable), and allowed daisy-chaining different
devices (wafer-tape drive, RS232, printer/plotter) with each device
getting its own address.

http://www.suddenlink.net/pages/curtismc/7495.htm
http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/cc40/cc40.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-99 states:
"The HexBus Interface was designed in 1982 and intended for commercial
release in late 1983. It connected the console to peripherals via a
high-speed serial link. Though it was prototypical to today's USB
(plug and play, hot-swappable, etc.), it was never released, with only
a small number of prototypes appearing in collector hands after TI
pulled out of the market. Several HexBus peripherals were planned or
produced. A WaferTape drive never made it past the prototype stage due
to reliability issues with the tapes. The 5.25-inch Floppy drive also
never made it past the prototype stage, even though it worked. A 4-
color Printer-Plotter, a 300-Baud Modem, and an RS-232 Interface were
released in quantity, mostly for use with the TI CC-40. All HexBus
peripherals could be used with a TI-99/4A when connected through the
HexBus Interface, through direct connection to the TI-99/8, or through
direct connection to the Texas Instruments Compact Computer 40."
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #197013 is a reply to message #196996] Sun, 30 November 2008 04:33 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Sam Gillett is currently offline  Sam Gillett
Messages: 2422
Registered: June 2003
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Senior Member
"Hg" <hg@hg2.hg> wrote ...
>
> Some things haven't changed, though. Most of us are still moving around in
> a vehicle that generates motion by a series of small explosions :-)

The gas turbine automobile almost made it. If I remember right, it was air
pollution issues that killed it.
--
Best regards,

Sam Gillett

Change is inevitable,
except from vending machines!
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #197014 is a reply to message #196999] Sun, 30 November 2008 04:33 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Sam Gillett is currently offline  Sam Gillett
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Senior Member
"Joe Forster/STA" <sta@c64.org> wrote ...

>> Now we use Giga Hertz as a measure of CPU speed.
>> It makes one wonder what computers will be like by the time our kids get
>> old and gray.
>
> There's a limit for the nominal clock frequency (speed of light and
> length of pathways inside the CPU) and we're getting close it. The
> future's computers will probably be 1) massively parallel (can't make
> one CPU faster => cram in a lot of them and try to make use of all),
> 2) quantum computers (read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer
> ) and 3) operating with light rather than electricity (read
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_computer ).

My guess is that it will be #1 first, with multiple CPUs on a single chip.
Then a combination of #1 and #3 in a single computer. #2 will be the last
thing to enter into the mix of technologies used to make future computers
more powerful.

Of course I could be wrong. Maybe Dr. Who could tell us... after all he has
already been to the future. ;-)
--
Best regards,

Sam Gillett

Change is inevitable,
except from vending machines!
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #197015 is a reply to message #197006] Sun, 30 November 2008 04:33 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: joe.j.cassara

On Nov 29, 6:49 pm, ramswell <shifty_bu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 29, 12:04 am, joe.j.cass...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> On Nov 29, 1:58 am, "Sam Gillett" <sgillettnos...@diespammergte.net>
>> wrote:
>
>>> Interesting though, is that external drives (USB) are starting to see
>>> widespread use again.  Was Commodore ahead of their time or what?
>>> --
>>> Best regards,
>
>>> Sam Gillett
>
>> I thought that was the most charming aspect of external USB devices
>> when they first hit the market -- their similarity to the external
>> storage devices of our 8-bit days.
>
>  What similarity might that be <CONFUSED>?  Other than the fact that
> they run on a serial platform and are "plug & play," I fail to see any
> other resemblences with the older 8-bit models [HUGE & Heavy drives
> requiring extra cabling to be connected in order for them to work,
> they ONLY WORKED in platform specific applications { AKA PRECISE
> CONNECTORS}, wherin the USB concept is extraordinary in the fact that
> it is UNIVERSAL to all platforms that have the USB connection on it
> <something that never could be done with the Atari, Apple, or
> Commodores of their day>
>
>  I'm just saying. ;)
>
>  Charles

Charles,

They're external instead of internal. Even though my first USB Zip
and CD-RW drives were smaller and faster than my first 1541, they all
sat outside of the desktop's case. That tickled me. That's all I
meant.

Joe
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #197016 is a reply to message #197014] Sun, 30 November 2008 06:54 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Martin 'Martinland' S is currently offline  Martin 'Martinland' S
Messages: 61
Registered: January 2012
Karma: 0
Member
Hi gals and guys,

On Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:33:21 +0100, Sam Gillett <sgillettnospam@diespammergte.net> wrote:

> "Joe Forster/STA" <sta@c64.org> wrote ...
>
>>> Now we use Giga Hertz as a measure of CPU speed.
>>> It makes one wonder what computers will be like by the time our kids get
>>> old and gray.
>>
>> There's a limit for the nominal clock frequency (speed of light and
>> length of pathways inside the CPU) and we're getting close it. The
>> future's computers will probably be 1) massively parallel (can't make
>> one CPU faster => cram in a lot of them and try to make use of all),
>> 2) quantum computers (read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer
>> ) and 3) operating with light rather than electricity (read
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_computer ).
>
> My guess is that it will be #1 first, with multiple CPUs on a single chip.

Yes, and the lack of real-world parallel algorithms already rears its ugly head:

I still use a single core chip, where sequential "standard", stable (=a bit older) and mostly open source or smallware software flies whereas on multicore they tend to run slower!

I'm sure hardcore gamers will have noticed by now that sometimes newer multicore systems don't perform that well on CPU-intensive stuff as compared to 3.4+ ghz single core. Of course most of the time these "symptoms" are overshadowed by the graphics card behemoths and there performance, which more than make up for the difference.

I doubt that there will be a fast transition to #1 because nobody writes efficient parallel code out of the box right now.

Please correct me, if I'm wrong - I like to be surprised... ;)

"They" won't admit it, but the "usual way" now is stuck on to frontiers: The physical speed barrier as well as the lack of software engineering and algorithm know how to cope w/ massively parallel computing.

As I always say: We live in very intersting times indeed, since we have reached the end of many many paradigms nowadays, be it economical, ecological or computational... ;) ;) ;)

Have a better one,
Martin

--
----------------------------------------------------------
"I don't know. I'm making this up as I go!"
(Ford as Dr. Jones Jr. in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark')
----------------------------------------------------------
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #197017 is a reply to message #197016] Sun, 30 November 2008 07:47 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Hg is currently offline  Hg
Messages: 162
Registered: January 2012
Karma: 0
Senior Member
On Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:54:01 +0100, Martin Schemitsch wrote:

> Hi gals and guys,
>
> On Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:33:21 +0100, Sam Gillett
> <sgillettnospam@diespammergte.net> wrote:
>
>> "Joe Forster/STA" <sta@c64.org> wrote ...
>>
>>>> Now we use Giga Hertz as a measure of CPU speed. It makes one wonder
>>>> what computers will be like by the time our kids get old and gray.
>>>
>>> There's a limit for the nominal clock frequency (speed of light and
>>> length of pathways inside the CPU) and we're getting close it. The
>>> future's computers will probably be 1) massively parallel (can't make
>>> one CPU faster => cram in a lot of them and try to make use of all),
>>> 2) quantum computers (read
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer ) and 3) operating with
>>> light rather than electricity (read
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_computer ).
>>
>> My guess is that it will be #1 first, with multiple CPUs on a single
>> chip.
>
> Yes, and the lack of real-world parallel algorithms already rears its
> ugly head:
>
> I still use a single core chip, where sequential "standard", stable (=a
> bit older) and mostly open source or smallware software flies whereas on
> multicore they tend to run slower!
>
> I'm sure hardcore gamers will have noticed by now that sometimes newer
> multicore systems don't perform that well on CPU-intensive stuff as
> compared to 3.4+ ghz single core. Of course most of the time these
> "symptoms" are overshadowed by the graphics card behemoths and there
> performance, which more than make up for the difference.
>
> I doubt that there will be a fast transition to #1 because nobody writes
> efficient parallel code out of the box right now.
>
> Please correct me, if I'm wrong - I like to be surprised... ;)
>
> "They" won't admit it, but the "usual way" now is stuck on to frontiers:
> The physical speed barrier as well as the lack of software engineering
> and algorithm know how to cope w/ massively parallel computing.
>
> As I always say: We live in very intersting times indeed, since we have
> reached the end of many many paradigms nowadays, be it economical,
> ecological or computational... ;) ;) ;)
>
> Have a better one,
> Martin


The Itanium approach was supposed to solve the problem of efficient parallel
code. It's not dead yet and through slow progress it's living up to some of
it's promised potential. I've read newer Itanium chips will be able to
utilise mainstream Intel motherboards in the future so it may well have a
place on the desktop at some stage.
Although i'm not sure how it fits in with the current trend of more cores
on 'conventional' CPUs and i'm even more uncertain how it will mingle with
the coming fusion of graphics rendering into the CPU. From a technical aspect
rendering and the Itanium program execution are two different things, from
a marketing point of view it could be very confusing for the general public
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #197020 is a reply to message #197017] Sun, 30 November 2008 10:42 Go to previous messageGo to next message
christianlott1 is currently offline  christianlott1
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Senior Member
On Nov 30, 6:47 am, Hg <h...@hg2.hg> wrote:

> Although i'm not sure how it fits in with the current trend of more cores
> on 'conventional' CPUs and i'm even more uncertain how it will mingle with
> the coming fusion of graphics rendering into the CPU. From a technical aspect
> rendering and the Itanium program execution are two different things, from
> a marketing point of view it could be very confusing for the general public

Different applications are different architectures.Some applications
favor MIMD, some SIMD. Maybe they all require some of both? Efficiency
is the only criteria. Generalized processing vs specialized processing
may always be at odds though. Just like in the job market.... Too much
of either is bad because you can't always tell future needs. Or maybe
it's all good and we just need to work in harmony? Four ways of seeing
the same thing or multiple things?

ok whatever, good morning everyone :)
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #197027 is a reply to message #197015] Sun, 30 November 2008 19:04 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ramswell is currently offline  ramswell
Messages: 1808
Registered: January 2012
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Senior Member
On Nov 30, 1:33 am, joe.j.cass...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Nov 29, 6:49 pm, ramswell <shifty_bu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>> On Nov 29, 12:04 am, joe.j.cass...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>>> On Nov 29, 1:58 am, "Sam Gillett" <sgillettnos...@diespammergte.net>
>>> wrote:
>
>>>> Interesting though, is that external drives (USB) are starting to see
>>>> widespread use again. Was Commodore ahead of their time or what?
>>>> --
>>>> Best regards,
>
>>>> Sam Gillett
>
>>> I thought that was the most charming aspect of external USB devices
>>> when they first hit the market -- their similarity to the external
>>> storage devices of our 8-bit days.
>
>> What similarity might that be <CONFUSED>? Other than the fact that
>> they run on a serial platform and are "plug & play," I fail to see any
>> other resemblences with the older 8-bit models [HUGE & Heavy drives
>> requiring extra cabling to be connected in order for them to work,
>> they ONLY WORKED in platform specific applications { AKA PRECISE
>> CONNECTORS}, wherin the USB concept is extraordinary in the fact that
>> it is UNIVERSAL to all platforms that have the USB connection on it
>> <something that never could be done with the Atari, Apple, or
>> Commodores of their day>
>
>> I'm just saying. ;)
>
>> Charles
>
> Charles,
>
> They're external instead of internal. Even though my first USB Zip
> and CD-RW drives were smaller and faster than my first 1541, they all
> sat outside of the desktop's case. That tickled me. That's all I
> meant.
>
> Joe



All good. I was just curious as to what you meant. Lololol


Charles
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #197028 is a reply to message #197020] Sun, 30 November 2008 19:07 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ramswell is currently offline  ramswell
Messages: 1808
Registered: January 2012
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Senior Member
On Nov 30, 7:42 am, christianlott1 <christianlo...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Nov 30, 6:47 am, Hg <h...@hg2.hg> wrote:
>
>> Although i'm not sure how it fits in with the current trend of more cores
>> on 'conventional' CPUs and i'm even more uncertain how it will mingle with
>> the coming fusion of graphics rendering into the CPU. From a technical aspect
>> rendering and the Itanium program execution are two different things, from
>> a marketing point of view it could be very confusing for the general public
>
> Different applications are different architectures.Some applications
> favor MIMD, some SIMD. Maybe they all require some of both? Efficiency
> is the only criteria. Generalized processing vs specialized processing
> may always be at odds though. Just like in the job market.... Too much
> of either is bad because you can't always tell future needs. Or maybe
> it's all good and we just need to work in harmony? Four ways of seeing
> the same thing or multiple things?
>
> ok whatever, good morning everyone :)



Well with all that being said, my question then becomes one of
compatibility as well.

Since the MMC64 is already out and being used effectively by many of
us as we speak, is USB around the corner for the C-64? now THAT would
be awesome!

Charles
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #197030 is a reply to message #197028] Mon, 01 December 2008 00:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
dowcom is currently offline  dowcom
Messages: 773
Registered: July 2003
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Senior Member
Group: comp.sys.cbm Date: Sun, Nov 30, 2008, 4:07pm (CST-2) From:
shifty_butch@hotmail.com (ramswell)

script:

>     Since the MMC64 is already out
> and being used effectively by many
> of us as we speak, is USB around
> the corner for the C-64? now THAT
> would be awesome!

We'd better hope not. USB is CPU intensive. Commies already use
'smart' periphs (with their own CPUs) to off-load some work from their
poor little 1 & 2 MHz CPUs.

salaam,
dowcom

To e-mail me, add the character zero to "dowcom". i.e.:
dowcom(zero)(at)webtv(dot)net.
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #197036 is a reply to message #197028] Mon, 01 December 2008 16:01 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Leif Bloomquist is currently offline  Leif Bloomquist
Messages: 1065
Registered: January 2012
Karma: 0
Senior Member
"ramswell" <shifty_butch@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:618f8633-02ed-4a06-8634-bf623b49c8e3@d36g2000prf.googlegroups.com...

> Since the MMC64 is already out and being used effectively by many of
> us as we speak, is USB around the corner for the C-64? now THAT would
> be awesome!

I don't follow the connection between MMC64 and USB...?

Anyway, the IDE64 4.1 has a USB port (!) It's really just so that you can
easily transfer files from the PC to the C64, and it simply appears as a
serial port to the PC. That said, the USB chip is apparently visible on the
64's memory map so fancier applications *might* be possible.

http://www.ide64.org/ide64v41.html
Re: Who Would Have Thought [message #197148 is a reply to message #197013] Tue, 09 December 2008 00:22 Go to previous message
Kelli Halliburton is currently offline  Kelli Halliburton
Messages: 132
Registered: August 2003
Karma: 0
Senior Member
Sam Gillett wrote:

> "Hg" <hg@hg2.hg> wrote ...
>>
>> Some things haven't changed, though. Most of us are still moving around in
>> a vehicle that generates motion by a series of small explosions :-)
>
> The gas turbine automobile almost made it. If I remember right, it was air
> pollution issues that killed it.


Turbine engines have great power-to-weight ratios. Unfortunately they
require very close tolerances and operate at extreme temperatures, which
requires the use of exotic materials that make them prohibitively expensive.

They also have great noise-to-power ratios, unless very carefully
constructed to avoid resonance and/or shock waves.

And lastly, they have terrible fuel consumption.
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