[aklug] Re: Fwd: Re: Re: Vary cool screen...

That's just crazy! I'm about to take LPI exam 102. There's a lot of info you need to know if you want to pass. Nothing like your "old school" computer though. I was complaining about the test. I'll stop now. ;)

----- Original Message -----
From: jim@macdonald.org
To: aklug@aklug.org
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 10:25:55 AM GMT -09:00 Alaska
Subject: [aklug] Fwd: Re: Re: Vary cool screen...

 
I disagree. Let me tell you a horror story.

The first c= omputer I worked on while I was in the navy was an AN-UYK4. Now
that nomenc= lature probably doesn't mean anything to you so let me spell it
out a littl= e.

This was a standardised mainframe style computer system that= the Navy used
for Naval Tactical Data Systems (imagine networked radar dis= play
consoles).Now this system was designed and implemented BEFORE TCP/IP = was
invented so ever device on the system was in essence a terminal of the =
maincomputing unit. As such when you rebooted the computer (at least every=
12hours) from reel to reel tape you had to load each device as an address =
into memory and assign it to a register so the computer could communicate a=
nd feed it data.

Did I mention that each terminal was identifie= d by a Base 10 number on the
console? That in order for the console to comm= unicate you had to find the
trunking device it was attached to in the compu= ter room? That the trunking
unit had the consoles labelled in Hex on the tr= unking panel? Then you had
to load that trunking address in binary for ever= y console and line printer
on the network (200 plus nodes) into memory on a= boot strap panel? Oh and
ifyou didn't get it done in 10 minutes the = computer would not communicate
with the peripheral until it was rebooted an= d added.

oh and the last little caveat, the ship was essentiall= y blind during the
reboot because there was no RADAR displayed on the conso= les while it was
rebooting?

still like switches? I don't and muc= h prefer the newer interfaces. being
old school is one thing but try to rem= ember all the bad with the good when
you get all nostalgic. I shutter to th= ink of loading a modern operating
system even on a PC in such a manner.

On Jan 12, 2009, choward@indicium.us wrote: On Mon, 12 Jan 2009, James T=
weet wrote:

>Personally I think that touch screens are the d= umbest things in the
world.Just look down at your keyboard. See all that c= rap on there. Do you
want all of that crap on your monitor?
>
= >James
>
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>To unsubscribe, send ema= il to <aklug-request@aklug.org>
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>
>

I think we should go back to to= ggle switches, like in Star Trek TOS. Then,

I you wanted to enter any= thing into the computer, you just flip a bit!

"Open a channel Uh= ura." (click) "Channel open sir!"

Now how's that for efficiency!= Unfortunately I haven't been able to find
any at Walmart.

-- 
Christopher Howard
http://indicium.us
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-- 
Damien Hull
Linux Ninja
Open Source Assassin
http://linuxninjas.tv
http://elite.linuxninjas.tv
http://www.digital-overload.net
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