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Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s computer

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Re: Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s computer

#21

Post by kough »

jxramos wrote: post #2

I remember listening to OK Computer some years ago and I must have been studying or something or other and the track "Fitter Happier" came on. Those familiar know how it goes, the Stephen Hawking voice droning on about all these ideals worth pursuing ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HimvFbossU8 ). I sat back half listening that evening and this funny response came out in my head, where I responded to the monotone na…

Ha, funny you bring up that track – one of my first late nights programming was soundtracked by Fitter, Happier on repeat. I was so in the flow I didn't even realize it was repeating itself. Only when I sat back to take a break did I notice. The weird thing was the immense wave of depression that broke over me when I did.

Re: Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s computer

#22

Post by slau »

axaxs wrote: post #16

Reminds me of the original Quake game on CD, which, if put into a normal CD player, would play through the NiN soundtrack.

Half life did the same, as I recall, as did many other titles.

I assume that the CD simply had two "tracks," with the audio CD "partition," if I may call it that, being the first. This allowed the game developers to play music during the game using the CD-ROM drive's hardware audio decoding (remember that small molex that went from the drive to the soundcard?) without impacting the game's performance.

These days, it's impressive to think that decoding WAV audio could at one point be a limiting factor for a CPU.

Re: Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s computer

#23

Post by eropple »

Someone wrote: post #14
hkmurakami wrote: post #3

Pretty sad they're calling this an "app". If it's dated to 1996, clearly it's a "program"!

"Application" was around way earlier, as shorthand for "application program" (to be distinguished from "utility program", and, possibly, "game") For examples look at the search hits in https://archive.org/stream/1981-03-compute-magazine/Compute_... . I wouldn't call this an application, though. "App" is completely wrong, as it was introduced by Apple for user-facing programs running on a mobile phone (if Android had…

"App" significantly predates the iPhone. Binary/warez sites regularly used "apps" as a shorthand, NeXTSTEP used .app before Apple bought it...heck, Apple called an early Mac development framework "MacApp".

We've been calling applications "apps" for going on thirty years at a minimum.

Re: Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s computer

#25

Post by enraged_camel »

miahi wrote: post #4
hkmurakami wrote: post #3

Pretty sad they're calling this an "app". If it's dated to 1996, clearly it's a "program"!

Everything is an "app" now. For me it sounds cheaper, somehow trivializing the work of many.

Yes, it definitely has a connotation of commoditization.

Re: Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s computer

#26

Post by jxramos »

kough wrote: post #21
jxramos wrote: post #2

I remember listening to OK Computer some years ago and I must have been studying or something or other and the track "Fitter Happier" came on. Those familiar know how it goes, the Stephen Hawking voice droning on about all these ideals worth pursuing ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HimvFbossU8 ). I sat back half listening that evening and this funny response came out in my head, where I responded to the monotone na…

Ha, funny you bring up that track – one of my first late nights programming was soundtracked by Fitter, Happier on repeat. I was so in the flow I didn't even realize it was repeating itself. Only when I sat back to take a break did I notice. The weird thing was the immense wave of depression that broke over me when I did.

sounds like it made you "more productive", ha.

Re: Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s computer

#27

Post by mrkrabo »

slau wrote: post #22
axaxs wrote: post #16

Reminds me of the original Quake game on CD, which, if put into a normal CD player, would play through the NiN soundtrack.

Half life did the same, as I recall, as did many other titles. I assume that the CD simply had two "tracks," with the audio CD "partition," if I may call it that, being the first. This allowed the game developers to play music during the game using the CD-ROM drive's hardware audio decoding (remember that small molex that went from the drive to the soundcard?) without impacting the game's performance. These days, it'…

It will boggle your mind then to know that most games still have their sounds in .wav files, even the music sometimes.

It's very rare for a game to have its music compressed, unless the hardware can decode it on the fly (think wma on the xbox, or adpcm on the ps)

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