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Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#731

Post by bitwize »

tremendo wrote: post #529
bitwize wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're pretty much the equivalent of the Japanese soldier who got stranded in the Philippines and kept fighting WWII until the 1970s. HTML mail won . If you work in an office they will use either Exchange or Google Apps; Exchange's default configuration is a fuck you to text-based mail clients.   Hope you like all your email looking like this, because the only response you’ll get from your sysadmin should…

Perhaps, but why give up if you're not missing any benefit? I still pretty much can rely on something not being readable as plain text also not being worth my time.

Failure to read emails from your boss or coworkers, irrespective of whether they've been turned into HTML hash, might get you disciplined or fired. So there's not no benefit.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#732

Post by mbfg »

TMON - Terminal Monitor for early Macintoshes. It was like you were touching the hardware of the machine. I'm probably one of the few that wrote a set of plugins for TMON for doing all kinds of crazy stuff to make debugging awesome. Loved it so much, named my dog after it.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#733

Post by infodroid »

digi_owl wrote: post #724
infodroid wrote: post #679

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To put this into context. The Sharp Zaurus SL-C3000 was released in Japan in 2004. It was a Linux computer with a 3.7" touch display, 4GB hard drive, USB port, SD and CF card slots, 3.5mm jack, infra-red port, built-in speaker that fit in a case with dimensions 124x87x25mm. Even though the Pyra has a 5" display, its dimensions are no less bulkier at 140x84x29mm. I would have expected a lot more progress given the har…

Looking into it some more, it is indeed mostly the battery. It is 3x the capacity of the C3000, and runs the full width of the Pyra. Never mind that they also made use of the thickness to fit 4 shoulder buttons for gaming (or other things), and two full size USB-A ports (one of them claimed to support ESATA as well via an adapter).

There is no doubt the Pyra is much more capable than early 2000's palmtops. It has built-in wifi, bluetooth, HDMI output, sensors, etc.

Nevertheless, I am sure we can all agree that its design does not make efficient use of internal space. There is a lot of room for improvement to make the device more compact. Yet this does not seem to be a priority for the creators or many of the end users.

For comparison take a modern device that is comparable in dimensions like the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact at 127x65x8.9 mm. Sony fit an LCD and 2700mAh battery in just 9mm of thickness.

As for the large battery, it seems gratuitously huge. Do we really need 6000mAh in such a device? This is like 2.5x a typical phone with a comparable processor.

This is a great device for some use cases. But it is not practical as a PDA.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#734

Post by CapTVK »

Turbo/fastloaders for the Commodore C64 Datassette.

https://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/Datassette

And just be glad you don't have to use these anymore.

Loading programs from cassette was a pain. A game from tape could take 15-30 mins! Fast-loaders that could speed up loading by a factor of 10 were a godsend in those days.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#735

Post by ZenoArrow »

davb wrote: post #710
ZenoArrow wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "They'd be cutting off massive markets where internet connectivity isn't consistently good (most of the world)." With all due respect, countries without decent Internet infrastructure are unlikely to be places where there are plenty of people with the spare cash to blow on a console. Furthermore, Nintendo has said that the NX is not designed to be a replacement for the Wii U, meaning that Nintendo may still plan to…

> With all due respect, countries without decent Internet infrastructure are unlikely to be places where there are plenty of people with the spare cash to blow on a console. I think you underestimate the woeful state of broadband in many developed nations. Here in the UK, many non-rural areas struggle to get more than 8Mbps down, 1Mbps up. With more devices in the home putting demands on connections and many ISPs cap…

>_"Here in the UK, many non-rural areas struggle to get more than 8Mbps down, 1Mbps up."

I live in the UK too, so I know that's baloney. The penentration of BT Infinity and Virgin Broadband in urban areas is pretty high, and average speeds exceed 8mpbs.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#736

Post by exabrial »

throwanem wrote: post #627
exabrial wrote: post #323

Ethernet port on my god damn macbook 'pro'!!!!!

The Thunderbolt adapter is $30. USB adapters are even cheaper. Given how rarely I find myself actually using Ethernet on my MBP, I'm perfectly happy to trade off the need for a dongle for a laptop half as thick as it would have to be to fit an internal Ethernet port.

So what's the distinction between a "Pro" model and the normal model then? I thought that was the point of having a "pro" lineup, was so serious work could be done and normal consumers would be steered towards the Air or MacBook line....

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#740

Post by dancodes »

mancerayder wrote: post #615
otakucode wrote: post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I would classify the problems with "licensing" of digital property as an erosion of the idea of ownership necessarily, though I can see how you got there. Personally I think that the destruction of consumer protections when it comes to digital property is a temporary situation. EVERY industry has tried this. Out of sheer stupidity, producers think that if they can destroy aftermarket and secondhand mark…

"One day, millions of people will wake up and find themselves locked out of access to a large amount of digital content that they "bought" with the original licensor demanding some additional money to re-unlock access to that material." Well, we now live in a world of yearly and monthly software subscriptions, so I don't see how the secondary market has any fighting chance even if the license terms we see these days…

You can: Click on the time next to the poster's username and you'll get a permalink to it.

Like this one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11696803

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