Computer power usage

16Kb? Luxury!! PDP-8 with 4K of 12-bit core memory was all we had...(in a brown paper bag in the middle of the M1 of course, to complete the Python reference ;-) )

Regards, Tony

Reply to
Tony Jeffree
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Now you have done it Lester; I remember well the meetings we had to tell us that the ICL1900 we were installing was "state of the art" and would make life so much simpler. Then the difficult meetings to tell the SIX girls who worked out the wages and bonus that four of them would need to go. A year later the six were indeed reduced to four but we had another TWENTY TWO employed just to feed and look after the bl**dy thing plus a new =A3200K building. The four girls all got better paid but much easier jobs - progress indeed. The best "money spinner" that we could have wished for. The thing never ran our programme scheduling that had to go to another site with an even more powerful (64kb and much more expensive) machine, a trip that provided an "all nighter" that was very lucrative indeed. DAHIK

Keith

Reply to
jontom_1uk

We have a few oldies in the collection at home, including a couple of Osborne luggables, some (3)Philips P2000C luggables (later and much more sophisticated than the Osbornes) some early Toshiba laptops, Epson QX10 in original boxes, Epson PX-8 laptop, Epson HX-4 Laptop, a later Epson lappie (which I can't remember the number of) and a few others gathering dust.

They all work, although we haven't run most of them for a few years now.

Peter

-- Peter A Forbes Prepair Ltd, Rushden, UK snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

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Reply to
Prepair Ltd

Writing the program name on the top edge of the bunched cards helped when the ubiquitous rubber band broke and dumped the lot on the floor. :-(

Tom

Reply to
Tom

A fan of the Epson laptops myself I hope you still have the ROMs for the PX-8 Peter? Mine was replaced with the later "twin 3.25 disk" one that had a real screen and could handle Wordstar on one disk with the dictionary (on line) and about 8 files on the other. All killed of course by the release of Windows 3.11 that we all seemed to "need" at the time. A bitter experience as my 9 month old =A31000 Mitac notebook was rendered useless as I couldn't get the 4Mb upgrade for the ram. Mitac's advice was "throw it in the skip we have run out of modules"; an experience that made convincing the wife that I needed another new machine very difficult

Keith

Reply to
jontom_1uk

Not quite as tight as IBM 1401 with 1.4k of 6 bit BCD characters!

Reply to
brightside S9

It took me some time to get Sheila to do the accounts ON a computer - she still claims it would be quicker with paper books although we do save a few pounds. I've not updated Sage for 'ahem' years. I just dare not move her machine off W2k :)

Reply to
Lester Caine

Don't.

Nothing wrong with Win2kPro and a lot of major users are still with it after the debacle of XP SP2 and Vista.

You'll have to drag us kicking and screaming before we would change.

Peter

-- Peter A Forbes Prepair Ltd, Rushden, UK snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

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Reply to
Prepair Ltd

Now you have done it Lester; I remember well the meetings we had to tell us that the ICL1900 we were installing was "state of the art" and would make life so much simpler. Then the difficult meetings to tell the SIX girls who worked out the wages and bonus that four of them would need to go. A year later the six were indeed reduced to four but we had another TWENTY TWO employed just to feed and look after the bl**dy thing plus a new £200K building. The four girls all got better paid but much easier jobs - progress indeed. The best "money spinner" that we could have wished for. The thing never ran our programme scheduling that had to go to another site with an even more powerful (64kb and much more expensive) machine, a trip that provided an "all nighter" that was very lucrative indeed. DAHIK

Keith

But the ICL 1900 is no more than a re-boxed Ferranti Argus 500. (ICT + Gov money + Ferranti knowhow = ICL) and for those of you wanting something to worry about, there are a few nuclear power stations and also some Cat A prisons still controlled by Ferranti Argus machines that I looked after 20 years ago!!!

AWEM

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

I'm not sure that would worry me too much Andrew, better than trusting MS in it's two latest guises (XP and Vista). Modern components are causing me to worry as well, I've just had the third new hard disk fail in as many weeks on install. All "good" makes but when you look closer they are all Chinese made. I now have to look at the manufacturer and the country of origin it would seem.

Although I had left by then the ICL was replaced in the early 80's when the Americans took over the facility and couldn't stop laughing at our "IT centre". When I returned in the late 80's having been working with one of the then most powerful mainframes in Europe, I also had a good laugh at their IBM "ludite" machine that had replaced it. "What goes round comes................" I guess.

The truth is they don't make them like that anymore and it's a bl***y good job really :-)

Keith

Reply to
jontom_1uk

FWIW I find XP Home solid as a rock. I wouldn't touch Vista with a bargepole (nor ever trust Microsoft -- the destroyer of VB -- again)

Reply to
Suzy

Im not sure if its the computers, or Andrew maintainance we should be worried about ;)

Dave

Reply to
dave sanderson

machines

Step outside sir - 'scope probes at 100 paces !

FWIW CEGB paid my firm a premium to retain me, but it didn't work - I left them anyway

Now what you should be worrying about is that it's 20 years SINCE I did the maintenance

AWEM

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

Eh ? Microsoft destroyer of VB ? When did that happen ?

Reply to
Boo

Not sure when. But vb evolved through version 3 to 6 and was always backward compatible. There are millions of lines of code worldwide using this platform. Then a few years ago Microsoft produced a version nicknamed dot.NET which rendered all that work completely useless (although they still called it "visual basic"). There has been an enormous outcry. More info if desired

Reply to
Suzy

Precisely. The next OS for many currently using W2k after it drops off the support/update schedule in 2010 won't be XP or Vista nor I suspect anything Microsoft.

Reply to
Mike

Have Microsoft definitely announced that Win2k is going to finish being supported?

I can't see any reason not to keep on using it, I/we don't play games and a 1ghz machine is fine for here in the office, soighly better/quicker at home, but you don't need the fastest/best machine for most things, only Vista...

Peter

-- Peter A Forbes Prepair Ltd, Rushden, UK snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

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Reply to
Prepair Ltd

I couldn't agree more with that point Peter; with the exception of my son all of my family are happy with machines I build from "updated" components. They range from 1.2 AMD duron (the cheap "braindead" one) to the Intel E7650 Core 2 Duo 2.66Gh I'm using now. This one was rescued from an update project that I've just completed for a lad who plays the latest games and re-builds his machine (well I do) every 3-4 months. He is really upset that the latest version of Crysis is built for better graphics cards than are currently available, still didn't stop him spending the cost of a good Myford on the upgrade though. To be honest I can't tell the difference in speed/graphics quality but he always seems pleased for a month or two anyway!!

I have a couple of small Samsung laptops that are used for the internet/office type work and they are both less than 1Ghz and cope extremely well running XP (spit2 as well?) which I have to admit is now fine as long as you keep it clean and stop it loading everything it wants to at startup. Most upgrades I do stem from hard disk problems where they have just become too full of crap and slow down. Despite my best advice (I do try really) they always seem to go for a new machine if it is more than a couple of years old. Having said that the cost of a new very capable basic "box" can now be less than =A3200; so by the time you have bought a replacement HD for the old one and set it up the difference in cost is not that great. I must admit that lately some people are now seeing that they don't need a new pc every couple of years and that suits me fine as I'm trying to greatly reduce my involvement in the pc building "hobby" for other reasons. I guess it is another aspect of modern life that has moved from "repair and upgrade" to "throw away and replace". At least that will keep me in computers for a few years more.

Keith

Reply to
jontom_1uk

I think pressure from corporates in the US has forced a rethink on Microsoft's part. Wasn't it already to have been shelved, but the delays in 'Vista' meant they had to offer an olive branch? All I can actually find on Microsoft's site is a reference to "The end-of-life date for Windows 2000 will be no sooner than January 1, 2010." in relation to the 'Update Rollup 1' for it.

The fact that IE7 is not available for W2k was supposed to pressure people into changing, but if you don't use IE at all .....

Certainly the ITX boxes with a 1.3Ghz processor work great - and only need 20W to run :)

Reply to
Lester Caine

Just to finish this thread as it is a bit OT:

The best machines we have had in the past 10 years are Compaq EN SFF desktops, they are small, extremely quiet, VERY reliable and have built in video, network and sound.

We have 10 around the family and at the factory, great little machines and the fastest is 1ghz, slowest 533mhz.

We are just waiting for the corporate HP D530's to come below £50 and then we will probably start thinking about upgrading.

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

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Reply to
Peter A Forbes

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