Big Glass! - Page 2

xilman · 2020-07-15, 18:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by kriesel

As an undergrad student employee, I knew grad students who toggled in boot loaders on front panel switches, to read paper tape, to get the next level of loader into the machine

I'm fairly sure you don't know me from that era, but that is exactly what I did.

a1call · 2020-07-15, 19:47

It was called "Assembler" in my neck of the woods:

Quote:

In computer programming, assembly language (or assembler language),

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language

VBCurtis · 2020-07-15, 20:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by chalsall

In one of my students' case, he is constrained in that he is working with a laptop, and thus only has a single mini-HDMI port to work with. So, we're exploring the idea of his getting himself a 43- or 49-inch "Ultra HD" TV, to use as his display when working. His laptop will only be able to drive 3840 x 2160 at 30 Hz, but I don't think for the (mostly) textual work this will be a problem. Also, he is constrained in the amount of space his workspace can contain, so 49 will probably be the maximum possible.

Take your 21" 1920 screen and double all measurements: 42" 3840 screen. I don't think a 49" would be better than a 43" for monitor use- I'd rather add sharpness than size if I were trying to use a TV as a monitor.

chalsall · 2020-07-15, 20:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by VBCurtis

Take your 21" 1920 screen and double all measurements: 42" 3840 screen. I don't think a 49" would be better than a 43" for monitor use- I'd rather add sharpness than size if I were trying to use a TV as a monitor.

An excellent observation. Thanks!

fivemack · 2020-07-16, 08:47

I’ve used a Raspberry Pi 4 attached to a 55” UHD screen quite successfully. Remember you’re sitting further back from a big TV; with it at the back of the small dining table I use as a desk, there’s still a bit of neck movement between windows at the left and right of the screen.

kriesel · 2020-07-16, 15:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by a1call

That tells me you are probably a tad older than I am.

Maybe. I started programming early. A teacher bought a 3-bit mechanically operated "computer" and assigned me physical assembly etc. I think that was around age 12. A high school math teacher included me as a freshman with seniors going to his teachers' college multi-day event to learn Fortran programming. Either Fortran 66 or Fortran IV. The last year of high school we had one actual paper-consuming teletype terminal shared among hundreds of students, connected by acoustic coupler modem to a nearby university's computer offering BASIC language programming. .Required programming classes in college were Fortran 66.
Haven't gotten around to implementing what most would consider "big glass" yet. Megapixels already seems like big glass, given that history.

chalsall · 2020-07-16, 22:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by kriesel

Megapixels already seems like big glass, given that history.

Many of us here can reminisce about how hard we had it in the early days of compute. Heck, it was tough all-around way back then! I had to walk five km from and to school to access a computer! Half the time in the snow, and up-hill both ways...

But once you've gone "Big Glass", you'll hate ever having to work without it.

I know it's a bit ridiculous, but I really can't be productive with only two monitors anymore. My "workflow" has just adapted to having lots of stuff open, all side-by-side.

Oh, and absolutely. Kids today have no idea how good they have it. Now if we could just get them off their phones, and onto workstations, we can start making some progress...

Uncwilly · 2020-07-16, 23:22

I had to machine my own gears for my first computer. Then some society gal came along and started using it.

And had to use tweezers to fix a programming bug on my 3rd machine.

a1call · 2020-07-17, 00:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by kriesel

The last year of high school we had one actual paper-consuming teletype terminal shared among hundreds of students, connected by acoustic coupler modem to a nearby university's computer offering BASIC language programming.

I remember those. I never owned one but remember my teacher shoving the telephone handset into one of them circa 1980 which would be pre-internet. I think I took a WAT5 (Programmed by University of Waterloo) FORTRAN course the next year where the big glasses in the computer lab were actually noisy dot-matrix printers which were used as a shell access. You could do graphics on them. A friend of mine spent couple of weeks typing letters which printed out a girl's image.
Unfortunately all this puts me in a more advanced age (Sound much better than older). I was definitely more than 12 years old at the time.

Chuck · 2020-07-17, 00:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by kriesel

The last year of high school we had one actual paper-consuming teletype terminal shared among hundreds of students, connected by acoustic coupler modem to a nearby university's computer offering BASIC language programming. .Required programming classes in college were Fortran 66.
Haven't gotten around to implementing what most would consider "big glass" yet. Megapixels already seems like big glass, given that history.

Old modem

chalsall · 2020-07-17, 03:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

Then some society gal came along and started using it.

LOL... I just got that!

2020-07-16, 23:22	#19
Uncwilly 6809 > 6502 """"""""""""""""""" Aug 2003 101×103 Posts 3×3,163 Posts	I had to machine my own gears for my first computer. Then some society gal came along and started using it. And had to use tweezers to fix a programming bug on my 3rd machine. Last fiddled with by Uncwilly on 2020-07-16 at 23:23

2020-07-16, 08:47	#16
fivemack (loop (#_fork)) Feb 2006 Cambridge, England 13×491 Posts	I’ve used a Raspberry Pi 4 attached to a 55” UHD screen quite successfully. Remember you’re sitting further back from a big TV; with it at the back of the small dining table I use as a desk, there’s still a bit of neck movement between windows at the left and right of the screen.