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Dear Time Lords: Freeze Computers in 1993

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Re: Dear Time Lords: Freeze Computers in 1993

#51

Post by Megranium »

hypercube33 wrote: post #48
Megranium wrote: post #39

I honestly don't share the nostalgia. I enjoy having a computer that allows me to create all kinds of things that weren't possible in 1993 ... mash together all kinds of audio, video, text ... put it in a backpack, bring it somewhere, perform on stage, with an 800$ laptop. Amazing. I'm one of those "Encarta kids" who dug through Encarta for nights on end while the parents were out, and still spend slow Sundays readin…

I feel like you missed out on the best part of Napster - finding someone's stash of music you like surrounded by things you've never heard of and then exploring it. My memory swears you could leave someone a message but that's a lifetime ago, but I know I connected with a few people who helped me absolutely get into metal music and that's changed my life for the good forever. Other than that you'd go to a LAN party a…

Oh I do remember Napster, but that was way after 1993 as well ;)

Either way, that still took ages to download, etc, so, it was less immediate. And somehow, I remember it more as a source for stuff that's already well-known ...

Never was too much into LAN parties though ...

Re: Dear Time Lords: Freeze Computers in 1993

#52

Post by einr »

weinzierl wrote: post #41
leptons wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was plenty of amazing stuff going on with computing in the 90's. You just had to know where to look. Do you consider the 68000 CPU to be 16 or 32 bit, or both?

The 68000 was introduced in 1979, to me it is part of the 80s. But you are making a good point. Maybe the distinction between 8/16/32/64-bit isn't really helpful. I loved the Amiga but I loathed all the XT/AT segmented memory bitplaned VGA 16-bit stuff. That to me is the deep dark ages.

I loved the Amiga but I loathed all the XT/AT segmented memory bitplaned VGA 16-bit stuff. That to me is the deep dark ages.

I get the sentiment, but I have to nitpick the details ;)

VGA isn't bitplaned. It's chunky -- to put a pixel on the screen in 320x200x8 VGA mode 13h you literally just write a single byte to the VGA memory. The Amiga, on the other hand, does use planar graphics.

(Maybe you're thinking of EGA, which is planar and a pain to program for)

Re: Dear Time Lords: Freeze Computers in 1993

#53

Post by Megranium »

qsera wrote: post #38
Megranium wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always amazed how Youtube can be so many different things for different people ... It's true that it used to be better a few years back, but people still upload great content even it it's harder to find nowadays. Also, music ... back in the 90ies, if you were drawn to the obscure side of music, you'd read about it, and could, at best, imagine what it was like, because your local record store didn't have it, the b…

Yea.. I have stayed up all night waiting for RHCP's "Otherside" to come on MTv to record it on tape.. Will kids today even understand something like that, is anyone captured by music like that these days?

I don't really have nostalgia for that, I prefer the immediacy honestly.

Nowadays people are captured by music differently, as they were captured by music differently before music could be mechanically or digitally reproduced.

Re: Dear Time Lords: Freeze Computers in 1993

#55

Post by birdsongs »

mrwh wrote: post #6

I don't think I was ever happier as a programmer than I was in the early 90s, well before university, with no thought of the internet, writing games on my Amiga. Incidentally, I recently replayed Loom, from a bit before that era. It's still a lovely, wonderful game! Such a shame the fan-made sequel (Forge) seems to have died.

Same, but it was late 90's and I had found a Quick Basic compiler on our Windows 95 laptop. It had the ability to compile EXEs and I felt like I'd discovered some old magics. Like, this thing was just sitting here? All I had to do was double click qb45.exe?? And it opened a fully integrated terminal IDE???

The built in syntax help, which was incredible, and some example programs (no idea why our laptop had these) let me self-teach.

Now I sit all day and write bare metal firmware, but it feels so empty.

Re: Dear Time Lords: Freeze Computers in 1993

#56

Post by rwmj »

josephg wrote: post #4

I've been half joking lately that if I wrote an OS, I'd call it Nostalgia OS. I'd aim for a UI reminiscent of windows 98 / windows 2000 / snow leopard. With HID guidelines and a rich, clear, cohesive set of UI widgets to build applications with. I think that was the peak computing user interface - at least as I experienced it. Of course, the kernel would be based on capabilities (probably SeL4). And applications woul…

To some extent (not capabilities), Haiku fits the bill here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_%28operating_system%29). Applications are bundles (but not WASM of course). The UI is very clean. The whole OS is also elegant and very fast on modern hardware.

Re: Dear Time Lords: Freeze Computers in 1993

#57

Post by medi8r »

karteum wrote: post #32
medi8r wrote: post #5

1993. No phone. No expectation of being contactable. If you are out you are out. No SSDs though :(

Actually the GSM spec existed in 1993 :)

In UK first affordable phone plans I remember were 96. I think T Mobile did free evening calls.

Re: Dear Time Lords: Freeze Computers in 1993

#58

Post by qwertfisch »

rwmj wrote: post #56
josephg wrote: post #4

I've been half joking lately that if I wrote an OS, I'd call it Nostalgia OS. I'd aim for a UI reminiscent of windows 98 / windows 2000 / snow leopard. With HID guidelines and a rich, clear, cohesive set of UI widgets to build applications with. I think that was the peak computing user interface - at least as I experienced it. Of course, the kernel would be based on capabilities (probably SeL4). And applications woul…

To some extent (not capabilities), Haiku fits the bill here ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_%28operating_system%29 ). Applications are bundles (but not WASM of course). The UI is very clean. The whole OS is also elegant and very fast on modern hardware.

Yes because BeOS was way ahead of its time. A complete new OS, doing all system things so much more efficiently, that it could allow wasting cpu time on high level actions, like moving windows in real-time while they were playing videos. On 1993s hardware, impossible with Windows or OS/2.

Re: Dear Time Lords: Freeze Computers in 1993

#59

Post by qwertfisch »

karteum wrote: post #32
medi8r wrote: post #5

1993. No phone. No expectation of being contactable. If you are out you are out. No SSDs though :(

Actually the GSM spec existed in 1993 :)

The GSM spec is some years older, because you need time to built networks and phones based on it. In Germany GSM started 1992, and we already had a decent state-wide analog mobile phone network (mostly car phones because of the hardware requirements), called "C net" This was popular since the 80ies and only shutdown in 2000, when GSM was widely established with three private networks (and also cheaper then).

Re: Dear Time Lords: Freeze Computers in 1993

#60

Post by BoxOfRain »

happymellon wrote: post #42
josephg wrote: post #4

I've been half joking lately that if I wrote an OS, I'd call it Nostalgia OS. I'd aim for a UI reminiscent of windows 98 / windows 2000 / snow leopard. With HID guidelines and a rich, clear, cohesive set of UI widgets to build applications with. I think that was the peak computing user interface - at least as I experienced it. Of course, the kernel would be based on capabilities (probably SeL4). And applications woul…

> windows 98 / windows 2000 / snow leopard I don't know if I would group those together. Windows 98/2k were visually similar, but OSX by that point was looking quite refined. It had toned down the blue, but still had some visual flare. 95/98/2k had a very utility appearance. Just compare the recycle bins between each to see how much more effort went into OSX look and feel.

My favourite OSX in terms of visual design was the Panther/Tiger era personally. Leopard looked good, but there was something really cheerful and friendly about Tiger. The iPods of those days were also really well thought-out in my opinion.

Definitely a world apart from the utilitarian Windows 98 UI.

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