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Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

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Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#131

Post by ehnto »

acheron wrote: post #12

One that got worse and then better again at least in my experience is boot up time. Old computers running MS-DOS I remember booting up very quickly (unless you waited for the full memory self test), then for quite a long time it took forever to get into Windows no matter what you did to try to speed it up. More recently things start up pretty quickly again; I think it's mainly hardware (solid-state disks being the ma…

My linux laptop sleeps so efficiently that I just never shut it down. It can sleep for days, at which point I've almost definitely plugged it into something. It sleeps in my backpack with no temperature issues. The SSD makes working with traditionally quite heavy tooling lightning fast.

Likewise, my Windows machine hibernates so fast that boot time feels like I'm just waking it up from sleep.

Thanks to the advent of SSDs, applications are also quite peppy to startup. Music, movies, pictures, all so fast to use.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#132

Post by ehnto »

Narishma wrote: post #105
dexen wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but I do think Windows seems to do a little better software-wise too Windows 10 does a little trick to speed up boot - when you perform a shutdown, Windows 10 saves a mini-hibernation image to the hibernation file. When you perform normal boot, it can start up quite fast[1]. This gives noticeably shorter boot time especially on spinning rust drives (i know, i know, $CURRENT_YEAR). However if you perform a "reboot" i…

That's the first thing I disable after ever Windows 10 update (it keeps getting reset for some reason). If you have a dual-boot setup, it can result in a corrupted partition if you try to access your Windows 10 partition from another OS when fast start is enabled.

I run separate partitions for OS and storage on dual boot machines, so I can avoid the risk of one OS corrupting the other.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#133

Post by jagged-chisel »

wolfgke wrote: post #13
joncrane wrote: post #2

Kind of related: does anyone else notice how long it takes to change channels on the TV these days? It used to be instantaneous when cable first came out and at some point it became this laggy experience where you'll press buttons on the remote and the channel takes forever to change. I hate it and it's one of the reasons I don't have cable any more.

The central reason is that modern video codecs use I-frames and P-frames (sometimes also B-frames; even though as far as I am aware, these are not used for TV broadcasts); see https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Video_compression... I-frames are only sent, say, once or twice a second. When a channel is switched, the TV has to wait for the next I-frame, since P-frames (and B-frames) only encode the difference t…

I remember when a family member first got satellite - the tuner would change instantly, and the show would "pepper in" over a second or so until the next full frame. There's no technical reason the change can't be displayed immediately - it might not be pretty, but whether that's preferable is subjective.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#134

Post by zozbot234 »

kabdib wrote: post #72

I had an Atari ST in a closet, and decided to get rid of it a while back. I pulled it out to test it. The boot sequence, all the way to a desktop with a mouse that moves, takes less than one second. If you boot from a hard drive, maybe another second. For a while I just kept hitting the reset button, marveling at the speed at which the ST came up. Most machines I work with these days take minutes to get rolling. Okay…

> The boot sequence, all the way to a desktop with a mouse that moves, takes less than one second.

That's an exceptional case though - the GUI OS was hardwired in ROM. The Amiga was an otherwise comparable machine that had to load much of the OS from disk, and it did take its time to boot to desktop.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#135

Post by ehnto »

Pxtl wrote: post #115

This seems to be conflating several separate problems 1) I can't manipulate data in my resultset well enough in google map. 2) Searches are too slow. 3) Mousing is bad. Now, you can argue that those are related. The first two are an argument for moving away from full-page post/response applications to SPA-style applications where the data is all in browser memory and as you manipulate it you're doing stuff on the cli…

Mousing is bad. It really is a cumbersome tool. I do a lot with my workspaces so that I can avoid using it.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#137

Post by keedon »

blackearl wrote: post #26

>Mice are bad. Mice are absolutely terrible. Bah humbug, I hate modern technology! This luddite author should go into goat herding if they hate modern tech so much.

The computer mouse was invented back in the 60s, its hardly modern technology

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#139

Post by JoeSmithson »

hyperdeficit wrote: post #97
sonofaplum wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think that use case is that common? And why do you think google maps should elevate that particular use case above other competing use cases?

I hadn't even thought of this specifically, but after it was mentioned in the initial post I realized just how much that is my use case most of the time and how often I am fighting with google maps to accomplish what are relatively simple tasks like adding an additional point along a route. If you are trying to add multiple additional points on a route it gets even worse. This is all much worse on the Android app as…

I just tested this and it works as follows;

- Open Maps

- Search destination. It autocompletes after about 5 characters

- Select destination

- Screen changes to infobox about the location. There is a prominent "Directions" button

- Press "Directions"

- It changes to a route view, the Start is autocompleted to Current Location but obviously editable

- Press into start location edit box

- I can type location or "Choose on map"

This process requires essentially the minimum possible information from me (I want directions, from A, to B). What is frustrating about it?

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