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Sci-Fi Interfaces: Hackers

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Re: Sci-Fi Interfaces: Hackers

#61

Post by necrotic_comp »

ethbr1 wrote: post #38
dusted wrote: post #5

I wrote about hackers too, http://www.dusted.dk/pages/phlog/2023-12-02.txt the gist of that rant is that what you see in hackers is not what's not their screens, but what's in their minds, through a poetic lens.

Well said. It's amazing how often people dismiss computer visualization in media ( That's not the goal! It's intended to be representative of the process of interacting with a computer, not the interface itself. At a time when most viewers had little or no first-hand experience with a computer. If you showed a CLI then, maybe 1/20 people would understand it, and they'd be bored because they used it everyday at work.

That's exactly right! I didn't see hackers until I was in my mid 30s, but when they had the initial flyover of the city representing tables in a database ... I had a moment where I said "my goodness, this is the closest representation of how I think of data".

It's like when you're reading a book - you don't think about the words, the concepts and people come to life in your brain. I feel like this is the only movie to get that that happens with computers, too.

Re: Sci-Fi Interfaces: Hackers

#62

Post by pmarreck »

lanternfish wrote: post #3

Hmm. Now I'm curious if you could actually get a 3d interface with all that information dynamically rendered running with reasonable performance on period accurate personal hardware - it's definitely in the scope of the 95 demo scene stuff.

Circa 2000 I interviewed for a three-letter-acronym agency that shall remain unnamed and they were interested in me working on a 3D visualization interface of traffic across a network which actually sounded pretty fascinating. Sort of like "packet filter plus visualization" after given physical location information about the computers in question; even without that information, though, it would use something like the graphviz algorithm (or one of its options) to lay out the map on a 2D plane in 3D. Different kinds of traffic was color-coded, you could zoom in and inspect any stream, roll forward or backwards in history, etc.

Re: Sci-Fi Interfaces: Hackers

#64

Post by eesmith »

PrimeMcFly wrote: post #25
eesmith wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because its unlikely that the girl would have had access to an IRIX box, and while it was real software, it was dog-slow on low-end SGI without a graphics card, so she had to be using some pretty expensive hardware. As a filesystem browser it was not useful. Someone with Unix system experience would prefer a 2D browser, which IRIX also had. We only used the 3D browser for our demo setup for visitors.

She didn't need to know IRIX if she knew some other flavor of Unix, she was probably savvy enough to use man and access documentation if needed. The point is though most mock the scene as though the software they show was entirely fictional and made up, when it was in fact real and was in fact still UNIX.

I don't know why others mock it, but as an older person working in IT, I can explain why I mock it even when knowing it was real software SGI shipped with IRIX.

(Minor correction: it was not shipped with IRIX but a free demo you could ftp. After 30 years I had forgotten that until looking at https://web.archive.org/web/20070409024417/http://www.sgi.co... and similar sites just now.)

Re: Sci-Fi Interfaces: Hackers

#65

Post by ynniv »

pmarreck wrote: post #62
lanternfish wrote: post #3

Hmm. Now I'm curious if you could actually get a 3d interface with all that information dynamically rendered running with reasonable performance on period accurate personal hardware - it's definitely in the scope of the 95 demo scene stuff.

Circa 2000 I interviewed for a three-letter-acronym agency that shall remain unnamed and they were interested in me working on a 3D visualization interface of traffic across a network which actually sounded pretty fascinating. Sort of like "packet filter plus visualization" after given physical location information about the computers in question; even without that information, though, it would use something like the…

  A s/TV network/Three Letter Agency/ that wishes to remain nameless
  
  We have no names, man, no names. We are nameless. Can I score a fry? Thanks.

Re: Sci-Fi Interfaces: Hackers

#66

Post by dusted »

k2enemy wrote: post #41

If you're a fan of the movie, this youtube channel has amazing interviews with cast and crew. So many great anecdotes buried within... https://www.youtube.com/@HackersCurator/videos

Oh, that's excellent! Thank you! Now I know what to do with my evening! ;)

Re: Sci-Fi Interfaces: Hackers

#67

Post by Reason077 »

js2 wrote: post #59
PrimeMcFly wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You made it weird by mentioning a Spock haircut.

How about young Persis Khambatta in her Star Trek outfit with her Mr. Clean haircut … am I right?

I was more into the young Kirstie Alley playing the sexy vulcan in Star Trek II. Sadly both actors are no longer with us :(

Re: Sci-Fi Interfaces: Hackers

#68

Post by eesmith »

buzziebee wrote: post #26
eesmith wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because its unlikely that the girl would have had access to an IRIX box, and while it was real software, it was dog-slow on low-end SGI without a graphics card, so she had to be using some pretty expensive hardware. As a filesystem browser it was not useful. Someone with Unix system experience would prefer a 2D browser, which IRIX also had. We only used the 3D browser for our demo setup for visitors.

She was the granddaughter of a billionaire so it's not unreasonable to imagine she may indeed have had access to high end hardware. "No expense spared".

The I would expect "It's an SGI, I know how to use it."

Familiarity with 4dwm doesn't really transfer to NeXTStep or SunView, which were two other Unix window managers of the time.

The people she interacted with would surely distinguish between different Unix vendors - Apollo, Ridge, SGI, Sun, etc. - we certainly did.

Re: Sci-Fi Interfaces: Hackers

#69

Post by sgt »

dusted wrote: post #5

I wrote about hackers too, http://www.dusted.dk/pages/phlog/2023-12-02.txt the gist of that rant is that what you see in hackers is not what's not their screens, but what's in their minds, through a poetic lens.

I like your blog format. Kinda reminds me of Phrack.

Re: Sci-Fi Interfaces: Hackers

#70

Post by PrimeMcFly »

eesmith wrote: post #64
PrimeMcFly wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She didn't need to know IRIX if she knew some other flavor of Unix, she was probably savvy enough to use man and access documentation if needed. The point is though most mock the scene as though the software they show was entirely fictional and made up, when it was in fact real and was in fact still UNIX.

I don't know why others mock it, but as an older person working in IT, I can explain why I mock it even when knowing it was real software SGI shipped with IRIX. (Minor correction: it was not shipped with IRIX but a free demo you could ftp. After 30 years I had forgotten that until looking at https://web.archive.org/web/20070409024417/http://www.sgi.co... and similar sites just now.)

> I can explain why I mock it even when knowing it was real software SGI shipped with IRIX.

OK, please do.

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