Darren New wrote:
> I think the basic problem is that after the early 80's, people weren't
> designing programming languages based on 8-bit processors with 16-bit
> address spaces. I mean, C and FORTRAN were considered terribly wasteful
> of resources back when 1K of RAM was a lot of memory. :-)

I learned to micro-optimize with LEGO Mindstorms. It *interprets* bytecode,
and the interpreter runs on a tiny slow H8 microcontroller. I was writing
in NQC, btw, not the graphical system it comes with (the one connecting
command blocks like puzzle pieces). You could really notice the difference
of speed by just moving switch case labels around (most common/important
ones first so that it needs to do fewer comparisons before reaching them).

The hardcore guys were writing alternate firmwares :) I heard someone added
floating point support in less than 2KB, complete with the NaN and infinity
mess.

(And their children were probably using the graphical programming language
with the same robotics kit. Clearly a toy for all ages.)

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> I can't believe a computer expert wouldn't know that.

Wow, Warp didn't comment on that line yet? :)

(a "look who's speaking" kind of comment)

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Nicolas Alvarez wrote:
> Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> I can't believe a computer expert wouldn't know that.
> 
> Wow, Warp didn't comment on that line yet? :)
> 
> (a "look who's speaking" kind of comment)

Wow. Now we're getting meta-nasties. :-)

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
  Helpful housekeeping hints:
   Check your feather pillows for holes
    before putting them in the washing machine.

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Some computer archeology: http://www.pagetable.com/?p=32

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Warp wrote:
>   Some computer archeology: http://www.pagetable.com/?p=32

Wow! LOL.

I did have a tape for a C64 laying around somewhere and I was going to 
attempt to decode it... but then I found an illegal copy of the data 
online, so I didn't need to bother.

(Did you know, you can actually get C64 sound emulator plugins for 
WinAmp?? Retro, much?)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> (Did you know, you can actually get C64 sound emulator plugins for 
> WinAmp?? Retro, much?)

  Emulators for old consoles and game computers are very popular among
certain demographic groups of computer nerds.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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>> (Did you know, you can actually get C64 sound emulator plugins for 
>> WinAmp?? Retro, much?)
> 
>   Emulators for old consoles and game computers are very popular among
> certain demographic groups of computer nerds.

Apparently.

Now, the fact is, when I listen to this thing, I can't help but think 
that the filter responses aren't quite correct. What the HELL does that 
make me? o_O

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Now, the fact is, when I listen to this thing, I can't help but think 
> that the filter responses aren't quite correct. What the HELL does that 
> make me? o_O

  Honestly, IMO the sound quality of the C64 sucks. For example the NES
and the Spectrum128 had much better sound.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> > (Did you know, you can actually get C64 sound emulator plugins for
> > WinAmp?? Retro, much?)
>
>   Emulators for old consoles and game computers are very popular among
> certain demographic groups of computer nerds.
>
> --
>                                                           - Warp

For the jurassic computer nerds, see http://www.hercules-390.org/.
An emulator for old IBM 360/370 mainframes.  You too can have an IBM
mainframe on your desktop. Running MVS 3.8 on a 2.4G P4 is about as fast
as an IBM 3033U circa 1980.

Isaac

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> (Did you know, you can actually get C64 sound emulator plugins for
> WinAmp?? Retro, much?)

Yes, I downloaded all of Sonic the Hedgehog music in its "original format"
(file format is basically a dump of the commands the main SEGA CPU sent to
the YM2612 sound chip).

Lots of SEGA music can be downloaded from http://project2612.org/

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