Modern pcs are amazing if you think about it

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: Sea Moose
I cant wait to see what pcs are like in 10 years......

And did those turbo buttons actually do anything?

Not that I ever could tell.

Yes. A lot of older code was written such that everything simply processed faster with a faster processor; this meant that if you doubled processor speed, the character sprites and everything would move twice as fast. This caused problems in some cases, so the "turbo" buttons were used to slow a fast processor down and thereby enable the use of older programs.

Basically, it allowed you to slow the computer down so that programs that were dependent on CPU speed for their timing information could run reasonably well. A sort of hardware "compatibility mode".

ZV

 

[Kalmah]

Originally posted by: nkgreen

Originally posted by: Kalmah
Think about some of the very first computers... Like that one that was completely made out of clockwork. Every single part was custom machined out of metal. Have you ever seen the original blueprint for that thing?

Text
I don't think this is the one that I was looking for. But it's still amazing. This one had a crank-shaft that you had to spin to control the clock speed.

That guy was a genius.

Link's blocked at work. Is it one of Babbage's engines?

No, this is a different one.. can't remember which. I think it was the Babbage engine that I was originally looking for though.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: vi edit

Originally posted by: nerp
I recall the olden days when watching video on a computer wasn't feasable because they were too slow. And playing an mp3 and writing in Word caused the music to skip and the cursor to lag when I typed too fast. Today, the advancements between generations are far less dramatic on the surface. I could replace my E8400 with the fastest quad in the world and the actual experience using the machine day-to-day would be pretty much identical.

Or when a 2x CD-Burner that cost you $400 with media that was $1+ would make a coaster if you simply looked at it funny while it was burning.

$1 media didn't come around till I bought my 4x CD-RW. And oh how I glared at it, I think it just used to flip a coin and decide whether or not I was getting any successful burns on any given day.

I still have my first computer, even though I've thrown out many that came after it. HP Pavilion something or the other, Pentium 200 MMX, S3 ViRGE, 32 MB EDO, 3.7 GB Quantum HD, and a 16x CD-ROM drive, bitches.

 

[Sea Moose]

remember the days when some players couldnt play dvds?