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The MAD Computer Program

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Re: The MAD Computer Program

#21

Post by northwest65 »

gnulinux wrote: post #15
tyingq wrote: post #8

Quick translation to javascript: https://jsbin.com/qipapokova/1/edit?js,output (Note I flipped it with css, too lazy to fix in js :) Edit: Perhaps more historically accurate if you can watch it draw: https://jsbin.com/veniwodidi/1/edit?js,output

> Perhaps more historically accurate if you can watch it draw Were computers really that slow back then or is that effect exaggerated for nostalgia? Really hard to imagine computers that slow for us young generation.

Absolutely. I remember Elite on the Acorn Electron (think lower spec Beeb), and it would render in single digit FPS, in black and white wire frame. Just lovely.

Re: The MAD Computer Program

#22

Post by chris_overseas »

benj111 wrote: post #12
chris_overseas wrote: post #5

Ah good times, I remember spending countless hours typing in source code like this. At one point I also submitted the source for a couple of games I'd written to a computer magazine when I was younger, and was delighted to get one of them published. My address was included; if people sent me a $5 note and a 5.25" floppy I'd return their disk containing a copy of the game plus a couple of other "bonus" apps I'd writte…

Do you mean double sided or double density? I distinctly recall having to rotate discs on my BBC, and seems strange to needlessly break backwards compatibility.

His drive was single-sided double-density, giving 160k storage. The ones I was using were double-sided double-density, providing 360k of storage. I have no idea why the single sided drive had a bit less than half the storage of the double sided one though.

There were two "hacks" available with single vs double sided drives and disks. 5.25" floppies had a small notch in the side that, if you covered it with a sticker, meant the drive treated it as read-only. By cutting an equivalent notch in the opposite side of a disk to make it appear writable it was possible to flip it over 180° and use both sides of a double-sided disk in a single-sided drive. Conversely, disks that were rated as single-sided (and hence cheaper) could generally still be used successfully in a double-sided drive, though it wasn't recommended to store anything too important that way because the failure/problem rate was noticeably higher. My guess is that the single sided disks were binned as such due to them failing tests on one of the sides during manufacturing.

Re: The MAD Computer Program

#23

Post by benj111 »

chris_overseas wrote: post #22
benj111 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean double sided or double density? I distinctly recall having to rotate discs on my BBC, and seems strange to needlessly break backwards compatibility.

His drive was single-sided double-density, giving 160k storage. The ones I was using were double-sided double-density, providing 360k of storage. I have no idea why the single sided drive had a bit less than half the storage of the double sided one though. There were two "hacks" available with single vs double sided drives and disks. 5.25" floppies had a small notch in the side that, if you covered it with a sticker,…

Ah I see, so he had sent you a single sided disc then, that makes sense.
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