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Halt and Catch Fire

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Re: Halt and Catch Fire

#81

Post by abc123abc123 »

magic_hamster wrote: post #77
caned wrote: post #60

This show captures much of what I miss about computing in the 80s and 90s. You could get your hands on hardware, be able to largely understand what all the hardware and software was doing. You mostly used computers as tools, which only accepted commands and didn't try to affect your decisions or workflow (yes, there was Clippy). The leaps forward in computing power, memory and storage were more impactful to the every…

Computers still do the exact same thing they did back then, which is to read opcodes and do binary math. That is all. It is people and corporations that found a way to monetize them which is hostile to us users. But I think that with time, this too shall pass and computers will still do what they always did. You can still enjoy designing a small PCB, working with microcontrollers and building something fun.

This is the way! Just because shitty and privacy invading and infatile services and tools exist, does not mean you have to use them.

Self-host, program in C or what ever you find sexy, and enjoy.

If you work for Evilcorp, perhaps consider joining a smaller company and settle for a lower salary in return for being treated like a human and not like a cog in a machine?

Worked for me, and I am happier for it.

Re: Halt and Catch Fire

#82

Post by greenbit »

adrian_b wrote: post #74
greenbit wrote: post #26

The Commodore PET 4032 video system was generated by a 6545 (6845 equivalent) cathode ray tube controller, which generated the video buffer addresses and the HS and VS sync pulses. This was memory mapped and if one was not careful with POKE commands, you could effectively stop the CRT raster scan, leaving the beam parked at the center of the screen. This could burn the phosphors off that spot in a matter of minutes.…

That was definitely a defect of the monitor, not a serious mistake of the programmer. Any damaged monitor should have been paid by whoever had approved such a monitor design, even in the case of a monitor integrated in an all-in-one computer, which was not supposed to be disconnected from the computer. I have also seen some monitors designed so badly, like the IBM MDA monitor mentioned at the link provided by userbin…

Found a schematic for the 4016/4032 at https://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/schematics/computers...

The vertical deflection drive appears to have some feedback, so maybe that could constitute an oscillator, but I can't see any feedback at all in the horizontal section, it looks entirely feed-forward. I get the impression they were just integrating the square wave into a ramp. The diagram shows 15us low out of only 50us total line time, which seems like quite unlike the typical 15.75 kHz sync of the time. I recall getting hold of the 6845 datasheet and trying in earnest to understand how to program that chip, and was baffled that the reference set of register values wouldn't produce a display. The fact I was missing at the time was that one had to start from 20kHz for the horizontal refresh.

Re: Halt and Catch Fire

#83

Post by rigonkulous »

caned wrote: post #60

This show captures much of what I miss about computing in the 80s and 90s. You could get your hands on hardware, be able to largely understand what all the hardware and software was doing. You mostly used computers as tools, which only accepted commands and didn't try to affect your decisions or workflow (yes, there was Clippy). The leaps forward in computing power, memory and storage were more impactful to the every…

Time is running out to do something effective about that enslavement - well, there are other very effective things that can be done to 'cure' people of electronic enslavement (EMP and/or other disaster) - but the point is, if we want to do something effective, we must be teaching new generations, old technology.

Technology doesn't get old - users do. However, users getting older 'feel better about this fact', often ignored, by upgrading to new technology - and into this very slippery wheel of consumerism has been deposited a great deal many traps, by operating system vendors, to keep us in the wheel.

The solution is to promote, among as young a generation as can tolerate it - immediately - the idea of using old technology to do wonderful and new and interesting things.

>Everyday user

Yes, a majority of every day users do not need this kind of backwards-focused thinking, to get work done. It is, very specifically, about the kids.

We have to make sure there are still hackers in 10 years time.

Re: Halt and Catch Fire

#84

Post by rigonkulous »

bblb wrote: post #67
caned wrote: post #60

This show captures much of what I miss about computing in the 80s and 90s. You could get your hands on hardware, be able to largely understand what all the hardware and software was doing. You mostly used computers as tools, which only accepted commands and didn't try to affect your decisions or workflow (yes, there was Clippy). The leaps forward in computing power, memory and storage were more impactful to the every…

I'm not a slave to my computer. Stop using bad services that are designed to manipulate your behaviour. There's still the good old Internet out there with genuinely interesting content. IPv8 and it's (eventually mandatory) device-attestation-auth-at-protocol-level will end all of this pseudoanonymous free thinking information exchange. It was good while it lasted.

A very subjective view - but as originators and not just users of technology, we must be objective, too.

There are, genuinely, people out there who will believe anything their phone will tell them to believe. Its not just about 'good old Internet' - its about the literacy rate of the user.

Literacy can be assayed by many different metrics - mine, personally (back to the subjective), is this: the ratio between whether the user is capable of programming the computer, compared to the computer, programming the user.

Re: Halt and Catch Fire

#85

Post by rigonkulous »

WalterBright wrote: post #54
greenbit wrote: post #26

The Commodore PET 4032 video system was generated by a 6545 (6845 equivalent) cathode ray tube controller, which generated the video buffer addresses and the HS and VS sync pulses. This was memory mapped and if one was not careful with POKE commands, you could effectively stop the CRT raster scan, leaving the beam parked at the center of the screen. This could burn the phosphors off that spot in a matter of minutes.…

In 1978 I built a single board computer with a 6800 uP and a 6845 to drive the display. Made a keyboard for it, and it worked. Unfortunately, in my many moves it has disappeared, though I still have the schematics for it. Somehow I missed the boat on being a billionaire!

Oh, I have so many of my own experiences to tell in this regard, but .. I'm a little curious .. if you still have the schematics, why not build it again and pick up where you left off?

(Disclaimer: I speak as one who has kept almost every computer I've ever hacked on since 1978...)

Re: Halt and Catch Fire

#86

Post by rigonkulous »

sph wrote: post #69
burnte wrote: post #3

It was a fun show. I really enjoyed it, a fictional run through the 80s and 90s computing industries.

I don't get why it's so praised. Everybody says it's about the rise of computing, and all I got was a shoehorned romance story with computers in the background. Just like all those sci-fi shows where the sci-fi is only a background to family drama.

I lived that era and personally had many of the experiences of the characters over the decades, so as I watched, I compared the show to my own experiences.

So for me the love/romance aspect was just the network television layer I had to peer through, in order to find the marrow of the meal, so to speak.

That said, it did have a fast attack, a moderate decay, but then a fast release, in terms of 'interest envelope', for me personally. I enjoyed the good bits while they lasted, and tolerated the soap opera in case there were dregs, all the way to the end...

Re: Halt and Catch Fire

#87

Post by rigonkulous »

Unai wrote: post #53
0xCMP wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a shame that it is such a niche show in practice. The acting of Lee Pace and Mackenzie Davis in particular are so good across all 4 seasons. I recommend it at every chance I get, but few people ever watch it. They're more likely to give Silicon Valley a try.

Lee Pace is just bigger than life, and Mackenzie Davis is electric in every scene, but my favourite on the show was Scoot McNairy's character. A very specific type of nerd that's rarely written with such depth and nuance. Although I guess that could be said of all the main (and not so main) characters in the show. If anyone else loved these actors watching HACF, I would recommend watching The Fall (Pace), Fargo S3 (M…

(Lived the HACF era/story personally, so it was a poignant watch.)

What HACF got right, imho, was the collection of the various personalities that were attracted to the rising computer technology, of the era.

I've known plenty of Joe's and Camerons and Donna's, but the ones I chose to remember were the Gordons .. alas, there are the odd Gilfoyle and Josh stains among the sheets of memory too, though ..

Re: Halt and Catch Fire

#88

Post by [deleted] »

adrian_b wrote: post #74
greenbit wrote: post #26

The Commodore PET 4032 video system was generated by a 6545 (6845 equivalent) cathode ray tube controller, which generated the video buffer addresses and the HS and VS sync pulses. This was memory mapped and if one was not careful with POKE commands, you could effectively stop the CRT raster scan, leaving the beam parked at the center of the screen. This could burn the phosphors off that spot in a matter of minutes.…

That was definitely a defect of the monitor, not a serious mistake of the programmer. Any damaged monitor should have been paid by whoever had approved such a monitor design, even in the case of a monitor integrated in an all-in-one computer, which was not supposed to be disconnected from the computer. I have also seen some monitors designed so badly, like the IBM MDA monitor mentioned at the link provided by userbin…

[deleted]

Re: Halt and Catch Fire

#89

Post by treyd »

bblb wrote: post #67
caned wrote: post #60

This show captures much of what I miss about computing in the 80s and 90s. You could get your hands on hardware, be able to largely understand what all the hardware and software was doing. You mostly used computers as tools, which only accepted commands and didn't try to affect your decisions or workflow (yes, there was Clippy). The leaps forward in computing power, memory and storage were more impactful to the every…

I'm not a slave to my computer. Stop using bad services that are designed to manipulate your behaviour. There's still the good old Internet out there with genuinely interesting content. IPv8 and it's (eventually mandatory) device-attestation-auth-at-protocol-level will end all of this pseudoanonymous free thinking information exchange. It was good while it lasted.

That IPv8 proposal that was circulating a few weeks ago was not a serious proposal (written entirely by a single person with no substantial involvement in IETF before then) and has no roadmap to any kind of adoption.

Re: Halt and Catch Fire

#90

Post by brookst »

sph wrote: post #69
burnte wrote: post #3

It was a fun show. I really enjoyed it, a fictional run through the 80s and 90s computing industries.

I don't get why it's so praised. Everybody says it's about the rise of computing, and all I got was a shoehorned romance story with computers in the background. Just like all those sci-fi shows where the sci-fi is only a background to family drama.

All good stories are about the characters. Genre-first gets old quick.
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