Unoffical empeg BBS

Quick Links: Empeg FAQ | RioCar.Org | Hijack | BigDisk Builder | jEmplode | emphatic
Repairs: Repairs

Page 2 of 2 < 1 2
Topic Options
#231815 - 01/09/2004 14:20 Re: What to do with old computer hardware ? [Re: andy]
music
addict

Registered: 25/06/2002
Posts: 456
Mmmmm, yeah, you just reminded me of ConflictCatcher and extensions which would duel with each other....

There were (and still are) a legion of flaws with both systems.

But my big point was this:
If you wanted to, for example, add a new piece of hardware, say an external tape drive, on one system you just dragged a few files off of a floppy and plugged in the new hardware, not 100% of the time but as a general rule. On the other system, you would have to mess with IRQ conflicts, edit a bunch of files, and mess with it for several hours, not 100% of the time but as a general rule.

The point I'm trying to make is definitely not "System A was better than System B" but simply that the difference in convenience had nothing to do with whether one system had more Megahertz, more RAM, etc. I.e., the simplicity/useability difference was not driven by the hardware technology inside, it was independent of it and orthogonal to it.

Today's much more powerful hardware can hide a multitude of sins of the software. But I wanted to point out that continually upgrading hardware shouldn't have to be a requirement for things to keep getting better.

As a techie, complexity can be fun.
But sometimes, simpler is better.

Top
#231816 - 01/09/2004 14:28 Re: What to do with old computer hardware ? [Re: wfaulk]
music
addict

Registered: 25/06/2002
Posts: 456
Quote:
Dare I point out that Unix has existed since 1969 or so, running on hardware of similar power as that of its contemporaries? (Plus much bigger stuff, to be sure.)


Yes, I think we're on the same page.

I definitely wasn't try to start a "1991 mac" vs. "1991 PC" flamefest, or a discussion of whether unix was a really wimped out shadow of Multics and we would have been better off if Linux had bin Lultics instead.

I just wanted to contrast the two arguments of:
1. More and newer is better, versus
2. Cleaner and simpler is better.

Top
#231817 - 03/09/2004 02:05 Re: What to do with old computer hardware ? [Re: andy]
gbeer
carpal tunnel

Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
Most often, the worst you had to do, was delete the preference files. Sane settings would be recreated by the software. Try that with a registery file.

Beyond that, AV software was the biggest cause of instability.

Quote:
I managed a whole network of Macs back in the System 7, Windows 3.11/95 days. Yes the Macs of that time where easy for newbies to use, but when the OS became unstable you ended up having to bin it and start again.

_________________________
Glenn

Top
Page 2 of 2 < 1 2