131–140 of 202 posts
i still remember using encarta. I used it more than wikipedia on those days :D It worked so nice offline . Miss those days :(
Encarta (1993-2009) was a big inspiration to start the Conzept encyclopedia project. Still much more to do to reach the audio-visual wow-factor and sheer fun that Encarta had, especially for children. Conzept is an attempt to create an encyclopedia for the 21st century. A modern topic-exploration tool based on Wikipedia, Wikidata, Open Library, GBIF and other information sources. Please check it out here: https://con…
https://conze.pt/explore/art%20genre?l=en&t=link&s=true&i=74...
https://conze.pt/explore/Fruit%20dove?l=en&t=link&s=true&i=7...
https://conze.pt/explore/Temple?l=en&t=link&s=true&i=44539&u...
I also remember the CD-ROM era (and before that). It was also the time when software just worked. There was no other way. The content on those CDs was permanent. Software rarely needed an updated, it didn't called home with telemetry and it didn't needed a constant internet connection to work. There wasn't subscription models for most of the software. So you want to do some 3D renderings? Just install this CD with 3D…
And attach this dongle to the back of your machine. Lost the dongle? You no longer have working software.
Nowadays cellular providers zero-rate data for wikipedia and other educational websites so at least every kid with access to a smartphone can access.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It was also the time when software just worked. I don't remember this at all! I remember monkeying around with config.sys and autoexec.bat setting env variables and loading drivers all so I could play some game I downloaded from a BBS. You had to constantly switch back from Windows to DOS depending on what application you were using. for ease of use. By contrast, in today's world you can go on an app store (windows…
I would expect that for most people the time period where there was overlap between config.sys tinkering, Windows, and BBS was pretty small. And likely even less overlap with the era where "3D Studio was on a CDROM". And to be honest I have always found these stories of "ohmygod I need one extra K of unfragmented low memory, time to tinker with config.sys again" way overblown. I would just do this selective boot thin…
That whole period of the PC industry where 'multimedia' became mainstream was pretty magical. I know the Amiga was well ahead of the PC ecosystem for a long time in capability but it never hit schools (at least where I grew up in South Australia) like PCs did. So with the emergence of VGA and Super VGA, widespread availability (and relative affordability) of 486 DX class PCs, Soundblasters and Optical Drives, the PC…
Hmm, to me the term "multimedia PC" already sounded outdated from the start, similar to the "a CD ROM can contain a whole library shelf worth of data" hype. I just thought like, this 386 PC could make sound and graphics and games. This Pentium can do it too, granted with more colors and a CD ROM drive and a fancy "where do you want to go today" movie, but does that warrant all this hype of being called "multimedia"?…
Though it's not really necessary to call this out anymore, seeing as virtually every corner of computing is capable of a whizz-bang multimedia experience and has been for a long time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even 386 was absolutely crushing A1200 in some respects. In Amigas, you had to set every bit of a pixel separately, which didn't hurt for 2D games with static art assets (which you just copied from memory onto the screen), but it was a killer for anything 3D based. In result, you could have a 386 run Doom IIRC, whereas 3d shooters on Amiga 1200 were much worse than even Wolfenstein 3D.
Oh yes, and Wolfenstein actually ran quite well even on a 286. Higher res and framerate than same time period Amiga titles. Aside from the additional inefficiency you mentioned, I think 3D is an area where none of the Amiga's specialised hardware chipsets helped (or at least, nowhere near enough / as much as they did with 2D), and the CPU performance disparity started to really show.
Encarta (1993-2009) was a big inspiration to start the Conzept encyclopedia project. Still much more to do to reach the audio-visual wow-factor and sheer fun that Encarta had, especially for children. Conzept is an attempt to create an encyclopedia for the 21st century. A modern topic-exploration tool based on Wikipedia, Wikidata, Open Library, GBIF and other information sources. Please check it out here: https://con…
I find Wikipedia is increasingly relying upon meta-circular authority. Ie, a Wiki article will cite an expert who cites another expert who cites Wikipedia, and so ultimately the Wikipedia article is using itself as an authoritative source.
Or the authority is fragile. Ie, the wiki article will cite a trusted source who in turn cites some Tweets as their authoritative source.
Or the authority is broken. Ie, the wiki article will cite a trusted source who cites sources that are no longer present on the Internet, and so Wikipedia's broken link discovery fails.
Is it possible not to rely upon Wikipedia as a primary source for your articles?