4 ms·

the machine it's probably tested on: http://www.cy384.com/projects/centris-650.html http://www.cy384.com/projects/centris-650.html

slavapestov 5y ago
And it’s sitting on top of a VAX. Perfect pairing
Aeolun 5y ago
Whenever I see these I’m baffed we could ever run a full GUI on these things, when the machines of today often have issues running one.
- userbinator 5y ago
  The faster the hardware gets, the more software becomes inefficient. Unfortunately, hardware hasn't become much faster outside of niche cases (massively parallel vector computations etc.) for the past decade or so.
  - snotrockets 5y ago
    Efficiency isn't limited to execution speed. Memory protection is efficiency, even if it has cost in execution speed. Better abstractions make it possible to write more complex programs, at the cost of some execution speed. I've programmed on very slow hardware in the past, and the only thing I miss from those days is my hairline.
- cy384 5y ago
  the GUI code for the earliest macs was absolutely a great feat of engineering by getting my hands dirty with the system, I'm impressed by the way things were designed for the wimpiest processors (and also getting a lot of insight into the flaws of the OS that were exposed as machines became more powerful)
  - fzzzy 5y ago
    They really managed to find ways to make it work despite the hardware of the day. There was a lot of hand coded assembly until the mid 90s.
  - tambourine_man 5y ago
    I, and I’m sure a lot of others here, would love to read about that.
    - dev_tty01 5y ago
      https://www.folklore.org https://www.folklore.org
      - tambourine_man 5y ago
        I’m aware of folklore.org, thanks. I’ve read it through and through.
- grishka 5y ago
  You can do wonders if you know what you're doing and avoid the web stack.
- cmrdporcupine 5y ago
  Funny, to me this machine as described is a monster. My brain still registers a 68040 as a powerful processor. My Atari ST ran a full GUI in 8mhz and 512K of RAM (+192KB of ROM) on a 68000. The original Mac had 128MB onboard RAM. GEOS on a C64 runs a convincing GUI in under 64K... on a 6502! My first PC was a 50mhz 486 with 8MB RAM, and I ran X11 + various things (netscape, xemacs, etc.) on it without a whole lot of issues.
- rvense 5y ago
  With the exception of (high-resolution) video, I still do much the same things I did on my computer 20 years ago. Most of it involves fetching and sending text over the internet. It's a little prettier now, the protocols are more advanced, and (crucially) it's a lot easier to develop and distribute applications[0], but in the abstract sense there's absolutely nothing new and nothing older machines couldn't handle given the right set of protocols - i.e. less JSON, less downloading raw application source code and expecting to run them in less than 100ms. [0] The web is good, actually. It sucks, but it's also pretty good.

slavapestov 5y ago

And it’s sitting on top of a VAX. Perfect pairing

Aeolun 5y ago

Whenever I see these I’m baffed we could ever run a full GUI on these things, when the machines of today often have issues running one.

userbinator 5y ago
The faster the hardware gets, the more software becomes inefficient. Unfortunately, hardware hasn't become much faster outside of niche cases (massively parallel vector computations etc.) for the past decade or so.
- snotrockets 5y ago
  Efficiency isn't limited to execution speed. Memory protection is efficiency, even if it has cost in execution speed. Better abstractions make it possible to write more complex programs, at the cost of some execution speed. I've programmed on very slow hardware in the past, and the only thing I miss from those days is my hairline.
cy384 5y ago
the GUI code for the earliest macs was absolutely a great feat of engineering by getting my hands dirty with the system, I'm impressed by the way things were designed for the wimpiest processors (and also getting a lot of insight into the flaws of the OS that were exposed as machines became more powerful)
- fzzzy 5y ago
  They really managed to find ways to make it work despite the hardware of the day. There was a lot of hand coded assembly until the mid 90s.
- tambourine_man 5y ago
  I, and I’m sure a lot of others here, would love to read about that.
  - dev_tty01 5y ago
    https://www.folklore.org https://www.folklore.org
    - tambourine_man 5y ago
      I’m aware of folklore.org, thanks. I’ve read it through and through.
grishka 5y ago
You can do wonders if you know what you're doing and avoid the web stack.
cmrdporcupine 5y ago
Funny, to me this machine as described is a monster. My brain still registers a 68040 as a powerful processor. My Atari ST ran a full GUI in 8mhz and 512K of RAM (+192KB of ROM) on a 68000. The original Mac had 128MB onboard RAM. GEOS on a C64 runs a convincing GUI in under 64K... on a 6502! My first PC was a 50mhz 486 with 8MB RAM, and I ran X11 + various things (netscape, xemacs, etc.) on it without a whole lot of issues.
rvense 5y ago
With the exception of (high-resolution) video, I still do much the same things I did on my computer 20 years ago. Most of it involves fetching and sending text over the internet. It's a little prettier now, the protocols are more advanced, and (crucially) it's a lot easier to develop and distribute applications[0], but in the abstract sense there's absolutely nothing new and nothing older machines couldn't handle given the right set of protocols - i.e. less JSON, less downloading raw application source code and expecting to run them in less than 100ms. [0] The web is good, actually. It sucks, but it's also pretty good.