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Why did moving the mouse cursor cause Windows 95 to run more quickly?

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Re: Why did moving the mouse cursor cause Windows 95 to run more quickly?

#61

Post by dTal »

_trampeltier wrote: post #16

From a comment: Try opening a large file with Notepad on a contemporary machine. The window must not be full screen. When loaded, mark all text using the mouse (the keyboard works as well, it just needs more manual skill). While still holding the button down (and marking) move the mouse down, so the text gets marked and scrolled. Now compare the scroll speed while holding the mouse still versus wiggling it. Depending…

I think you'll find that Shift + Page Down is the fastest way to mark a lot of text, since you're doing it page by page instead of character by character.

Re: Why did moving the mouse cursor cause Windows 95 to run more quickly?

#64

Post by Analemma_ »

gsich wrote: post #59
UI_at_80x24 wrote: post #13

This wasn't just restricted to COM port based I/O either. Back then I had a Logitech bus mouse. The mouse was connected directly to an ISA card, and didn't use the COM ports as most mice did back then. (I needed the extra COM port/IRQ for my modems.) I too witnessed the 'windows is running slow when installing' bug. I often would use the mouse cursor to 'mark' the position of the loading bar (we really are spoiled fo…

>I too witnessed the 'windows is running slow when installing' bug. I often would use the mouse cursor to 'mark' the position of the loading bar (we really are spoiled for speed these days). Most software doesn't feel any faster compared to Windows 95 (see Wirth's law). Also most shitware does not display a loading bar anymore, instead you get some spinning stuff that's just an animation.

> Also most shitware does not display a loading bar anymore, instead you get some spinning stuff that's just an animation.

In fairness, that's because users constantly complained about loading bars not being accurate (they'd freeze, change speeds, stop right at the end etc.), but having a "true" loading bar that proceeds smoothly basically requires solving the Halting Problem. So out it went.

Re: Why did moving the mouse cursor cause Windows 95 to run more quickly?

#66

Post by butisaidsudo »

air7 wrote: post #33
FillardMillmore wrote: post #3

Here I was thinking this was some sort of urban myth caused by superstitions in an age with less abundance of easily accessible tech information. Guess I owe my dad an apology now.

Me too. What a humbling slap-in-the-face, no? Sometimes when an idea sounds silly, and comes from a less technical person, one might disregard it even though it's easily testable/provable.

I love these kind of issues, here are two classics:

- Open Office won't print on Tuesdays: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cupsys/+bug/255161...

- Can't send email more than 500 miles: http://web.mit.edu/jemorris/humor/500-miles

Re: Why did moving the mouse cursor cause Windows 95 to run more quickly?

#67

Post by _trampeltier »

raxxorrax wrote: post #44

So in today's world... why do so many PCs emit a slight sound when moving the mouse. I know that there are high frequencies involved and periphery is one of the worst perpetrators of electromagnetic interference, but I still find that strange. And what exactly is emitting the sound here?

When it whas really quiet, I could hear sound from my old cellphone when the screen updatet (Moto G4).

Re: Why did moving the mouse cursor cause Windows 95 to run more quickly?

#68

Post by blihp »

raxxorrax wrote: post #44

So in today's world... why do so many PCs emit a slight sound when moving the mouse. I know that there are high frequencies involved and periphery is one of the worst perpetrators of electromagnetic interference, but I still find that strange. And what exactly is emitting the sound here?

Generally it's cheap/poorly designed audio amplifier circuits. Even though modern PC audio is mostly digital, the final stage (getting sound out the speaker) is still analog. If the motherboard designer isn't careful about how they place/isolate/ground the analog audio circuitry, it can pick up some of the PC's stray high frequency noise which gets worse the more you turn up the volume since now the noise gets amplified too.

A work around if you have a motherboard that is particularly bad about this is to use the digital audio output (S/PDIF via an optical or RCA jack) to connect an external amplifier or you could stream it via software. This tends to only be an option if the machine is stationary and not terribly realistic for people with a laptop on the go.

Re: Why did moving the mouse cursor cause Windows 95 to run more quickly?

#69

Post by koolba »

yokohummer7 wrote: post #57
johnchristopher wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What ? I still do that at least once a week/month. Last time it was for the linux dropbox updater, last week. I am also a fan of using another window so I can use the mouse and still have a marker to monitor progress.

I guess what has changed is me, not the computing environment. When I was young, I easily grew impatient when things were going slow. Nowadays I still kinda feel nervous, but not to the point to warrant such bookkeeping methods.

My urge to measure everything has only grown with age. I don't chalk it up to nervousness though. I'd say it's driven by curiosity and and a desire to forecast.

Re: Why did moving the mouse cursor cause Windows 95 to run more quickly?

#70

Post by tempguy9999 »

I had something that may have been related. In VLC with my old monitor (1920x1080) watching a film it would often flicker painfully. I found moving the mouse continually would make it smooth. A bit of python...

  import ctypes, time
  
  def move(x, y):
      ctypes.windll.user32.SetCursorPos(x, y)
  
  for x in range(10000000):
      move(0, 0)
      time.sleep(0.01)
      move(1, 1)
... and all was well.

(When I upgraded to a 4K monitor things got worse and the cursor fiddle doesn't help).

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