9 ms·

Perhaps it's better to see for a minute how people used this kind of editors when they first appeared, than to keep reading about them for ages: https://youtu.b

by aasasd 4y ago

Perhaps it's better to see for a minute how people used this kind of editors when they first appeared, than to keep reading about them for ages: https://youtu.be/b6URa-PTqfA?t=100 https://youtu.be/b6URa-PTqfA?t=100 (BBC from '79, mentioning how people start working from home with the aid of newfangled microcomputers and network connectivity). I'm reminded most of all of the fdisk util, where the workflow is pretty much the same: print, modify, print, save. But also I can see where Vi/Vim come from, as I regularly do the same thing as in the vid: %s/something/something else/g and then wq.

Joker_vD 4y ago
I am sure anyone who worked with gdb without GUI/"dual" mode is aware of this experience.
- aasasd 4y ago
  https://www.seekpng.com/png/detail/350-3502039_-name-stock-photo-no-thanks.png https://www.seekpng.com/png/detail/350-3502039_-name-stock-p...
the_biot 4y ago
That video is marvellous, when you compare it to today's technology and how it's used. The angsty "does it mean we'll all have to learn to type?", the female BASIC programmer working from home on her terminal with printer as a display. Great stuff.
- aasasd 4y ago
  Yeah, I'm kinda getting into these vids from the seventies and eighties. “Introducing The Amazing Compact Disc, 1982” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tx6TYnPat8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tx6TYnPat8 — “You can pick it up and move around, even shake, and nothing happens”, yeah sure bud. “Introduction to Microsoft Excel, 1992” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOO31qFmi9A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOO31qFmi9A “Susan Kare explains Macintosh UI ergonomics on the Computer Chronicles, 1984” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_q50tvbQm4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_q50tvbQm4 — the control panel is just astounding by modern standards, especially seeing as for me the control panel is a litmus test of an OS interface. Also one of my favorite music-making tutorials is the three-part, three-hour series ‘Intro to Synthesis’ from sometime in the early 80s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atvtBE6t48M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atvtBE6t48M — instead of going through all the terminology in ten minutes and one second, the guy takes his time twiddling knobs and showing what each one does.
  - atorodius 4y ago
    The Macintosh UI one is gorgeous. Such simple systems. I wished our computers, or maybe just our phones, would be so simple and non-distracting still.
    - aasasd 4y ago
      https://baldphone.com https://baldphone.com
    - wrycoder 4y ago
      They can be, if you set them up correctly. Get an iPad, and delete all the app icons, except the couple you use every day, like iMail and Safari. (You can always access them from the Applications folder.) Turn off all the notifications. Set the desktop background to some non-distracting solid color. Keep your data in folders, don't clutter up the desktop. Use Pages to write things. Or, maybe just use write.as on the web, and let them handle the fiddly details like backup and web page hosting of your work. If you have a Linux background and just want something simple (but very capable when you need it), run i3 or Sway on Alpine.
vishnugupta 4y ago
whoa! What did I just see!? Could someone please explain to me how that telephone head set placed next to printer thing contraption works?
- mikepurvis 4y ago
  http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/couplers.html http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/couplers.html
- linksnapzz 4y ago
  The printer thing is a teletype. Think of it as a terminal onscreen, but...the text actually gets printed to typewriter paper line by line. The phone thing is almost certainly an acoustic coupler for a 300-baud modem, hooked to the teletype. You'd dial the modem pool for the server you were trying to connect to, and when you heard the happy modem noises come through the handset, you'd slam it down on the two rubber cups, and your modem/terminal would do the Hayes AT dance, and a point-to-point data connection would be established. 300 baud was good for printing teletypes, as the mechanical printhead can only move so fast....
  - bluGill 4y ago
    More like 150 baud. I'm not sure if there was protocol negotiations or just a lot of wait back and forth. I actually used such a thing to dial a BBS when my Atari 800xl's modem got hit by lightning. Obsolete then, and slow but I got my fix. Fun times...
    - linksnapzz 4y ago
      Yeah, looking more closely, acoustic couplers predated the Hayes modem by at least a decade. I don't know what the standard was for agreeing on a baud rate for earlier ones.
- aasasd 4y ago
  I mean, modems and faxes in effect just whistle into the phone line. At some level of proficiency, you might be able to do that yourself ;) Afaik phone phreaking used a variety of whistling devices of different complexity: from https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/02/phone-phreaks-the-toy-whistles-early-hackers-used-to-break-into-the-phone-network.html https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/02/phone-phreaks-the-t... to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_box https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_box
atorodius 4y ago
Marvellous. Always wondered exactly how ed was useful :)
pluijzer 4y ago
Be sure to continue watch also the rest of the video, amazing spot on prediction for amongst other things working from home. Sort of wish I could work from home distraction free with a typewriter on my kitchen table though, instead having to be constantly be distracted by slack, zoom, email etc. '79 seems like a much simpler time.
- cupofpython 4y ago
  1) Mute phone 2) Turn off desktop notifications 3) Set timer 4) enjoy working in peace 5) timer goes off, check feeds for updates Repeat Steps 3, 4, 5. for timer length suggestions see: pomodoro
  - hackbinary 4y ago
    Let me simplify and fix this for you. 1) Mute phone 2) Turn off desktop notifications 4) enjoy working in peace 5) check notifications when you like 7) Live a happier and less stressful life.
    - cupofpython 4y ago
      6) forget to check notifications in a reasonable amount of time and miss important alerts, possibly negatively impacting your career growth.
      - herbst 4y ago
        7) learn to not care so much :) Edit:// to be fair I have downtime notifications on priority. Everything else is not time critical
      - hackbinary 4y ago
        >> career growth Sorry, I don't buy in the fetishisation of that and being instantly available. If someone needs to get in touch with me, then they will.

by aasasd 4y ago

Joker_vD 4y ago

I am sure anyone who worked with gdb without GUI/"dual" mode is aware of this experience.

aasasd 4y ago
https://www.seekpng.com/png/detail/350-3502039_-name-stock-photo-no-thanks.png https://www.seekpng.com/png/detail/350-3502039_-name-stock-p...

the_biot 4y ago

That video is marvellous, when you compare it to today's technology and how it's used. The angsty "does it mean we'll all have to learn to type?", the female BASIC programmer working from home on her terminal with printer as a display. Great stuff.

aasasd 4y ago
Yeah, I'm kinda getting into these vids from the seventies and eighties. “Introducing The Amazing Compact Disc, 1982” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tx6TYnPat8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tx6TYnPat8 — “You can pick it up and move around, even shake, and nothing happens”, yeah sure bud. “Introduction to Microsoft Excel, 1992” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOO31qFmi9A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOO31qFmi9A “Susan Kare explains Macintosh UI ergonomics on the Computer Chronicles, 1984” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_q50tvbQm4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_q50tvbQm4 — the control panel is just astounding by modern standards, especially seeing as for me the control panel is a litmus test of an OS interface. Also one of my favorite music-making tutorials is the three-part, three-hour series ‘Intro to Synthesis’ from sometime in the early 80s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atvtBE6t48M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atvtBE6t48M — instead of going through all the terminology in ten minutes and one second, the guy takes his time twiddling knobs and showing what each one does.
- atorodius 4y ago
  The Macintosh UI one is gorgeous. Such simple systems. I wished our computers, or maybe just our phones, would be so simple and non-distracting still.
  - aasasd 4y ago
    https://baldphone.com https://baldphone.com
  - wrycoder 4y ago
    They can be, if you set them up correctly. Get an iPad, and delete all the app icons, except the couple you use every day, like iMail and Safari. (You can always access them from the Applications folder.) Turn off all the notifications. Set the desktop background to some non-distracting solid color. Keep your data in folders, don't clutter up the desktop. Use Pages to write things. Or, maybe just use write.as on the web, and let them handle the fiddly details like backup and web page hosting of your work. If you have a Linux background and just want something simple (but very capable when you need it), run i3 or Sway on Alpine.

vishnugupta 4y ago

whoa! What did I just see!? Could someone please explain to me how that telephone head set placed next to printer thing contraption works?

mikepurvis 4y ago
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/couplers.html http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/couplers.html
linksnapzz 4y ago
The printer thing is a teletype. Think of it as a terminal onscreen, but...the text actually gets printed to typewriter paper line by line. The phone thing is almost certainly an acoustic coupler for a 300-baud modem, hooked to the teletype. You'd dial the modem pool for the server you were trying to connect to, and when you heard the happy modem noises come through the handset, you'd slam it down on the two rubber cups, and your modem/terminal would do the Hayes AT dance, and a point-to-point data connection would be established. 300 baud was good for printing teletypes, as the mechanical printhead can only move so fast....
- bluGill 4y ago
  More like 150 baud. I'm not sure if there was protocol negotiations or just a lot of wait back and forth. I actually used such a thing to dial a BBS when my Atari 800xl's modem got hit by lightning. Obsolete then, and slow but I got my fix. Fun times...
  - linksnapzz 4y ago
    Yeah, looking more closely, acoustic couplers predated the Hayes modem by at least a decade. I don't know what the standard was for agreeing on a baud rate for earlier ones.
aasasd 4y ago
I mean, modems and faxes in effect just whistle into the phone line. At some level of proficiency, you might be able to do that yourself ;) Afaik phone phreaking used a variety of whistling devices of different complexity: from https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/02/phone-phreaks-the-toy-whistles-early-hackers-used-to-break-into-the-phone-network.html https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/02/phone-phreaks-the-t... to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_box https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_box

atorodius 4y ago

Marvellous. Always wondered exactly how ed was useful :)

pluijzer 4y ago

Be sure to continue watch also the rest of the video, amazing spot on prediction for amongst other things working from home. Sort of wish I could work from home distraction free with a typewriter on my kitchen table though, instead having to be constantly be distracted by slack, zoom, email etc. '79 seems like a much simpler time.

cupofpython 4y ago
1) Mute phone 2) Turn off desktop notifications 3) Set timer 4) enjoy working in peace 5) timer goes off, check feeds for updates Repeat Steps 3, 4, 5. for timer length suggestions see: pomodoro
- hackbinary 4y ago
  Let me simplify and fix this for you. 1) Mute phone 2) Turn off desktop notifications 4) enjoy working in peace 5) check notifications when you like 7) Live a happier and less stressful life.
  - cupofpython 4y ago
    6) forget to check notifications in a reasonable amount of time and miss important alerts, possibly negatively impacting your career growth.
    - herbst 4y ago
      7) learn to not care so much :) Edit:// to be fair I have downtime notifications on priority. Everything else is not time critical
    - hackbinary 4y ago
      >> career growth Sorry, I don't buy in the fetishisation of that and being instantly available. If someone needs to get in touch with me, then they will.