kens

34 ms·

631.
by kens 3y ago
> The punch cards had 80 columns – 72 for the program and 8 for sequencing – so each line of code could be at most 72 characters wide. In case anyone was wondering why the code only used 72 characters, it goes back to FORTRAN, developed
632.
Out-of-bounds read and write in the glibc's qsort()(openwall.com)
2 points by kens 3y ago|1 comments
633.
by kens 3y ago
I use the IBM 026 keypunch at the Computer History Museum. This is for historical things, not production use :-)
634.
by kens 3y ago
> Anyone using punchcards would be amazed by keyboards As someone who uses punchcards regularly, I don't understand what you mean. People used a keyboard to punch cards since the 1930s or earlier. You type on a keyboard and the keyp
635.
by kens 3y ago
> Acorn produced a 32-bit CPU with a 25k transistor count. The 80386 was years later, with 275k transistors Coincidentally, ARM1 and 80386 were both introduced in 1985. I'm a big fan of the ARM1 but I should point out that the 386 i
636.
by kens 3y ago
That's a very interesting investigation. However, perhaps computing has lost its way, when a production system uses emulators of 1970s terminals to run a 1970s editor on a version of a 1970s operating system. I really think that we&#x2
637.
by kens 3y ago
Author here for any questions...
638.
by kens 3y ago
Various fortune files attribute the quote to Robert Lucky. I would guess that it was misattributed to Alan Kay since quotes often get attached to famous people. "In the future, you're going to get computers as prizes in breakfast
639.
by kens 3y ago
Autho here for all your CMOS questions :-)
640.
by kens 3y ago
An article about the history of user interfaces that ignores the Xerox Alto? The article has the WIMP interface and graphical desktops emerging from the graphics of 8-bit home computers. The article also ignores that TUIs came from terminal
641.
by kens 3y ago
Well, I'm not sure why this has appeared on HN after 14 years...
642.
by kens 3y ago
That's an interesting thing. I wonder if 30 years from now, cars will all be electric but the pedal will still be called the "gas" pedal. It will be one of those words that kids don't understand where it came from, like
643.
by kens 3y ago
The article points out that Oxman's definition of Euclidean distance is jumbled nonsense. I took a quick look at a related Oxman paper [1] and it is a mess. I found a different and even more jumbled definition of distance: "Euclid
644.
by kens 3y ago
No, it's the other way around. The housing is pressurized to the input pressure. The sealed bellows are presumably pressurized to some standard pressure.
645.
by kens 3y ago
"Mean life" is essentially MTBF, the average time during testing until the system malfunctions, at which point the system is serviced and testing continues. The "reliable life" is the life with servicing, so it is longer
646.
by kens 3y ago
I'm sure a repair and servicing manual existed, but I haven't found one, or even a mention of one. Even obtaining the mil spec for the CADC was a big effort. As far as servicing, the official specification is "The computer sh
647.
by kens 3y ago
Thanks! Yes, it's amazing what the designers could do with the technology that was available. It's the sort of device that you would think couldn't possibly work, especially when it is experiencing the vibration and forces of
648.
by kens 3y ago
I haven't seen a guide like that, but it would be interesting. It amazes me that they were able to get the CADC to work, since it is a complicated 3-D task to get all the gears to mesh without colliding. Since the gears need to be in p
649.
by kens 3y ago
What started my journey? Mainly that a collector gave us this CADC to examine, and it turned out to be more interesting (and complicated) than I expected. As far as programming models, yes, the imperative model isn't a good fit here. Y
650.
by kens 3y ago
Author here, if you have analog computer questions...
651.
by kens 3y ago
That XKCD was published 2014-09-24. So less than 10 years later, identifying objects in photos has gone from an impossible research task to trivial. There's a complete list of publication dates at https://www.explainxkcd.com
652.
by kens 3y ago
Thanks. Much as I'd like to reverse-engineer the Casio SK-1 chip, I'm trying to stay focused on my current projects.
653.
by kens 3y ago
Prior to the IBM PC, a personal computer was called a "personal computer", not a "PC". I assumed that IBM came up with the "PC" name, but after a few minutes of research, it seems that IBM called their system t
654.
Copilot key will eventually be required in new PC keyboards(arstechnica.com)
133 points by kens 3y ago|247 comments
655.
by kens 3y ago
The submitted title "Spoonbill (2016–2013)" is wrong; the correct title is "Spoonbill (2016–2023)", which makes much more sense.
656.
by kens 3y ago
What I find interesting is that the colors aren't "real", in the sense that the materials aren't colored. The colors are mostly from thin-film interference due to the thin layers of material. And the black lines aren&#x2
657.
by kens 3y ago
Sorry, I don't know where you would find that information.
658.
by kens 3y ago
Author here for any questions :-) This is a change of pace from my x86 stuff, just a quick look at a 1982 Ethernet chip that unexpectedly used a second layer of polysilicon for resistors.
659.
by kens 3y ago
NASA has a vintage 1966 video "Toxic Propellant Hazards in Rocketry" that provides an interesting discussion of the dangers of nitrogen tetroxide and hydrazine propellants. It includes people mixing them together in the desert, al
660.
by kens 3y ago
Thanks! Maybe I'll get around to a book at some point...

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