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13 Oct 2026 05:51:06 EDT (-0400)
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From: Verm
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 10:48:21
Message: <4bf3fa35$1@news.povray.org>
>> Now if I could figure out what a typical MIPS rating for a normal PC
>> today is, I'd have something dissimilar to compare it to. :-}
<snip>
> By running many jobs concurrently we make full use of the machine.  If I could
> port POVRAY to our mainframe, I'm sure it would be slower than most current PCs.
>  But cpu intensive work is not what the mainframe does best.

I've always been tempted to try povray on one of our mainframes even if 
it was running from within linux on ZOs. 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_on_zSeries)


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From: Clarence1898
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 11:15:01
Message: <web.4bf3ffadecb621eff0b197720@news.povray.org>
Verm <a@b> wrote:
> >> Now if I could figure out what a typical MIPS rating for a normal PC
> >> today is, I'd have something dissimilar to compare it to. :-}
> <snip>
> > By running many jobs concurrently we make full use of the machine.  If I could
> > port POVRAY to our mainframe, I'm sure it would be slower than most current PCs.
> >  But cpu intensive work is not what the mainframe does best.
>
> I've always been tempted to try povray on one of our mainframes even if
> it was running from within linux on ZOs.
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_on_zSeries)

So have I.  Whenever I get time I would like to install zLinux in a test lpar to
see how well it runs.  Of course the first app I would try to port would be
povray.  Unfortunately getting the spare time is the hard part.  I no sooner get
done with one project and two are stacked in the queue.  Oh well, maybe someday.

Isaac


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 19 May 2010 12:51:22
Message: <4bf4170a$1@news.povray.org>
scott wrote:
> separate words for 10e9 and 10e12, so there is no such confusion.

And chinese uses steps of 10e5 or so, rather than 10e3.  My wife always has 
to spend several seconds mentally adjusting any number over 1000 she heard 
about, because (for example) 10,000 and 100,000 have their own words in chinese.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
    Ada - the programming language trying to avoid
    you literally shooting yourself in the foot.


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From: Orchid XP v8
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 13:16:45
Message: <4bf41cfd$1@news.povray.org>
>>>> But hey, who gives a fig what *I* think?
>>>
>>> Well it is up to you to make suggestions that are worth listening to.
>>
>> I doubt that's going to work.
> 
> That's your problem. ;-)

As with so much in life, it seems...

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


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From: Orchid XP v8
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 13:17:41
Message: <4bf41d35$1@news.povray.org>
>> I think the "real" difference between a desktop and a server is 
>> probably fault-tolerance. 
> 
> Yep. And when downtime starts costing you thousands of dollars per 
> second, you start doing things like having two independent entirely 
> separate power companies supplying the power to your building, along 
> with several independent ways of getting to your networks, including 
> both satellite and land lines, as well as several leased lines 
> guaranteed not to be in physical proximity and terminated in different 
> states.
> 
> Now, maybe a large bomb in the building or an airliner crashing into it 
> would have taken it out, so they're probably behind the times compared 
> to (say) google, but it was pretty impressive for 20 years ago.

Fortunately, my employer does not need to go to such lengths. ;-)

Dealing with *one* ISP is quite hard enough... (And then there's the 
fact that in the UK there is only one IP carrier. Unless you happen to 
live in London.)

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


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From: Orchid XP v8
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 13:18:32
Message: <4bf41d68$1@news.povray.org>
>> Even today, I see people selling "servers" which are really like
>> "desktops". (1.2 GHz Intel Celeron with 512 MB RAM? I don't think so...)
> 
> Depends on what the server is doing.  If it's just serving files up, 
> that's more than adequate; hell, I used to do file & print on an 80286 
> with 16 MB of memory.

Depends on how many files, of what size, to how many users.

Now the Domain Controller? *That* requires almost no hardware at all...

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


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From: Orchid XP v8
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 13:19:06
Message: <4bf41d8a@news.povray.org>
Clarence1898 wrote:

> Reliability and redundancy is one of the strong points of IBMs last few
> generations of mainframes.  If any page of memory fails, the error can be
> corrected, if it is a hard error, that page of memory will be automatically
> taken offline. If a processor fails, there are spare processors that can take
> over and continue the operation if one fails.  Multiple paths to all i/o devices
> where possible.  Of course redundant power supplies. Much of the machines
> circuitry has redundant components. When a component fails, the machine phones
> home and reports the failure.  Many time operations is completely unaware of any
> problem until an IBM CE shows up at the door with a replacement part in hand.
> And many components can be replaced on the fly, with out any downtime. The
> latest machines are not totally fault tolerant, but each new generation is
> better than the last.  I think the latest z/9 and z/10 models have a MTBF of
> over 30 years.

That's pretty impressive, really...

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


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 13:30:15
Message: <4bf42027@news.povray.org>
Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> (And then there's the
> fact that in the UK there is only one IP carrier. Unless you happen to 
> live in London.)

When you get up to this point, you're running your own personal wires 
(fibers) into other cities to connect to other ISPs. Or probably directly 
into the backbone, for that matter.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
    Ada - the programming language trying to avoid
    you literally shooting yourself in the foot.


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 13:32:12
Message: <4bf4209c$1@news.povray.org>
On 19/05/2010 6:16 PM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>>>> But hey, who gives a fig what *I* think?
>>>>
>>>> Well it is up to you to make suggestions that are worth listening to.
>>>
>>> I doubt that's going to work.
>>
>> That's your problem. ;-)
>
> As with so much in life, it seems...
>

<Sigh>

-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 13:57:55
Message: <4bf426a3@news.povray.org>
On Wed, 19 May 2010 18:16:27 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

>>>>> But hey, who gives a fig what *I* think?
>>>>
>>>> Well it is up to you to make suggestions that are worth listening to.
>>>
>>> I doubt that's going to work.
>> 
>> That's your problem. ;-)
> 
> As with so much in life, it seems...

Well, as I've said up here before, you can either let life happen to you, 
or you can do something about it.

Took me a long time to learn that lesson myself.

Jim


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 14:00:25
Message: <4bf42739@news.povray.org>
On Wed, 19 May 2010 18:18:28 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

>>> Even today, I see people selling "servers" which are really like
>>> "desktops". (1.2 GHz Intel Celeron with 512 MB RAM? I don't think
>>> so...)
>> 
>> Depends on what the server is doing.  If it's just serving files up,
>> that's more than adequate; hell, I used to do file & print on an 80286
>> with 16 MB of memory.
> 
> Depends on how many files, of what size, to how many users.

Generally not, because file/print is I/O intensive, not CPU intensive.

Unless you start adding things like compression, encryption, block 
suballocation, and the like to the picture.

> Now the Domain Controller? *That* requires almost no hardware at all...

I can remember running 8 DCs (Windows 2000) on a Dual processor P2 
Proliant 6000.  Not for production, of course, but for testing an AD 
design.  VMware was pretty good for that setup. :-)

CPU becomes important when the server does actual processing tasks; 
memory when the server is doing other things as well - for example, 
running Apache, or using memory as a disk cache.

Jim


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 15:05:58
Message: <4bf43696$1@news.povray.org>
On 19/05/2010 6:57 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Wed, 19 May 2010 18:16:27 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>
>>>>>> But hey, who gives a fig what *I* think?
>>>>>
>>>>> Well it is up to you to make suggestions that are worth listening to.
>>>>
>>>> I doubt that's going to work.
>>>
>>> That's your problem. ;-)
>>
>> As with so much in life, it seems...
>
> Well, as I've said up here before, you can either let life happen to you,
> or you can do something about it.
>
> Took me a long time to learn that lesson myself.
>
> Jim

Words of wisdom, James. Words of wisdom.

-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 15:10:18
Message: <4bf4379a$1@news.povray.org>
On 19/05/2010 6:17 PM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>
> Dealing with *one* ISP is quite hard enough... (And then there's the
> fact that in the UK there is only one IP carrier. Unless you happen to
> live in London.)

Or Hull, or Manchester, or Birmingham or Glasgow or Edinburgh or ...

-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 15:26:15
Message: <4bf43b57$1@news.povray.org>
On Wed, 19 May 2010 20:06:01 +0100, Stephen wrote:

>> Well, as I've said up here before, you can either let life happen to
>> you, or you can do something about it.
> 
> Words of wisdom, James. Words of wisdom.

One of these days I'll follow it more than I do now - I still have a lot 
of areas where I actively engage in avoidance where I shouldn't, and I 
just let things happen rather than directing them.

It's something I've been reading a lot about recently as I look at my own 
career development path.

Jim


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From: Orchid XP v8
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 15:27:49
Message: <4bf43bb5$1@news.povray.org>
>>>> Even today, I see people selling "servers" which are really like
>>>> "desktops". (1.2 GHz Intel Celeron with 512 MB RAM? I don't think
>>>> so...)
>>> Depends on what the server is doing.  If it's just serving files up,
>>> that's more than adequate; hell, I used to do file & print on an 80286
>>> with 16 MB of memory.
>> Depends on how many files, of what size, to how many users.
> 
> Generally not, because file/print is I/O intensive, not CPU intensive.

I was thinking more that you'd need more RAM, not CPU power.

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


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 15:31:26
Message: <4bf43c8e$1@news.povray.org>
On 19/05/2010 8:26 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Wed, 19 May 2010 20:06:01 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>
>>> Well, as I've said up here before, you can either let life happen to
>>> you, or you can do something about it.
>>
>> Words of wisdom, James. Words of wisdom.
>
> One of these days I'll follow it more than I do now - I still have a lot
> of areas where I actively engage in avoidance where I shouldn't, and I
> just let things happen rather than directing them.
>

That is the human condition.

> It's something I've been reading a lot about recently as I look at my own
> career development path.
>

Don't read, act. Or rather think then act.
See you in Edinburgh soon. :-)

-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen


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From: andrel
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 15:57:42
Message: <4BF442B9.2060700@gmail.com>
On 18-5-2010 22:31, Darren New wrote:
> andrel wrote:
>> 1980, except that it was the next day and not six months later.
> 
> To be clear, they pretty much stopped making that sort of machine in the 
> late 70s, but many of them lasted into the 90s before they ahd to be 
> retired, often for lack of parts.
> 

What I actually meant that when I started at uni (1982) we could still 
hand over a deck of cards at a front office and collect our results next 
day. It was also the first year we could also do it using terminals, 
though we still had to collect our output ourselves. The machine the 
programs were run on was, IIRC, a Cyber 205 in the central super 
computing facility.

At the medical physics department we had a VAX, this was retired in 
about 85 after running against an IBM compatible. Although the VAX won 
by 60% there was a small difference in cost. The IBM compatible costed 
about $2000 or so whereas the VAX consumed a couple of $100000 just in 
electricity and maintenance per year. (forgot the actual numbers but the 
difference was a factor in that ballpark).

We also had a VAX in the experimental cardiology department, where I am 
working now. That one was retired around 1998, after a colleague and me 
wrote a program that could finally do on a PC what the VAX had been 
doing until then. Although it is even now hard to duplicate the 4000 by 
4000 resolution we had on our display monitor.


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 23:45:04
Message: <4bf4b040@news.povray.org>
On Wed, 19 May 2010 20:31:28 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 19/05/2010 8:26 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Wed, 19 May 2010 20:06:01 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>>
>>>> Well, as I've said up here before, you can either let life happen to
>>>> you, or you can do something about it.
>>>
>>> Words of wisdom, James. Words of wisdom.
>>
>> One of these days I'll follow it more than I do now - I still have a
>> lot of areas where I actively engage in avoidance where I shouldn't,
>> and I just let things happen rather than directing them.
>>
>>
> That is the human condition.

Yeah, that's true enough.  Passivity is easy; activity is hard.  People 
tend for the easy.

>> It's something I've been reading a lot about recently as I look at my
>> own career development path.
>>
>>
> Don't read, act. Or rather think then act. See you in Edinburgh soon.
> :-)

Maybe a holiday this year, the way the dollar is comparing against the 
pound, it's looking like this could actually happen this year. :-)

Jim


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 19 May 2010 23:46:02
Message: <4bf4b07a$1@news.povray.org>
On Wed, 19 May 2010 20:27:45 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

>>>>> Even today, I see people selling "servers" which are really like
>>>>> "desktops". (1.2 GHz Intel Celeron with 512 MB RAM? I don't think
>>>>> so...)
>>>> Depends on what the server is doing.  If it's just serving files up,
>>>> that's more than adequate; hell, I used to do file & print on an
>>>> 80286 with 16 MB of memory.
>>> Depends on how many files, of what size, to how many users.
>> 
>> Generally not, because file/print is I/O intensive, not CPU intensive.
> 
> I was thinking more that you'd need more RAM, not CPU power.

There again, it depends.  If you're doing multi-gigabyte file 
distribution for system imaging, there isn't enough RAM available to 
cache the file sizes we're talking about, so it's better to fully 
optimize the I/O channels from end to end.

Jim


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From: scott
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 20 May 2010 03:31:30
Message: <4bf4e552$1@news.povray.org>
>> separate words for 10e9 and 10e12, so there is no such confusion.
>
> And chinese uses steps of 10e5 or so, rather than 10e3.  My wife always 
> has to spend several seconds mentally adjusting any number over 1000 she 
> heard about, because (for example) 10,000 and 100,000 have their own words 
> in chinese.

Yep that happens here with all my Japanese colleagues (I think they have 
words for 10e4 and 10e8 there).  At first I just thought they were really 
dumb because it took them 10 seconds to translate a number!  Our Japanese 
teacher (who is not technical at all) usually just gave up with big numbers!


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 04:33:24
Message: <4bf4f3d4$1@news.povray.org>
>> That is the human condition.
> 
> Yeah, that's true enough.  Passivity is easy; activity is hard.  People 
> tend for the easy.

When your entire life has taught you that expending almost unbounded 
amounts of effort always produces no results, it becomes increasingly 
hard to find motivation...

Required XKCD link: http://xkcd.com/187/


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 04:34:37
Message: <4bf4f41d@news.povray.org>
>> Dealing with *one* ISP is quite hard enough... (And then there's the
>> fact that in the UK there is only one IP carrier. Unless you happen to
>> live in London.)
> 
> Or Hull, or Manchester, or Birmingham or Glasgow or Edinburgh or ...

Name one company in Hull that actually owns wires under the ground, not 
just rented from BT.


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From: Fredrik Eriksson
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 04:46:38
Message: <op.vczxbuoy7bxctx@toad.bredbandsbolaget.se>
On Thu, 20 May 2010 10:33:23 +0200, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>
> When your entire life has taught you that expending almost unbounded  
> amounts of effort always produces no results, it becomes increasingly  
> hard to find motivation...

Because like so many other people, you have unrealistic expectations.

http://www.johndiesattheend.com/updates/?p=1071



-- 
FE


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 07:29:47
Message: <4bf51d2b$1@news.povray.org>
On 20/05/2010 4:45 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> Maybe a holiday this year, the way the dollar is comparing against the
> pound, it's looking like this could actually happen this year.:-)
>

Keep us updated.


-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 07:33:39
Message: <4bf51e13$1@news.povray.org>
On 20/05/2010 9:34 AM, Invisible wrote:
>>> Dealing with *one* ISP is quite hard enough... (And then there's the
>>> fact that in the UK there is only one IP carrier. Unless you happen to
>>> live in London.)
>>
>> Or Hull, or Manchester, or Birmingham or Glasgow or Edinburgh or ...
>
> Name one company in Hull that actually owns wires under the ground, not
> just rented from BT.

Ha ha! You fell for it. :-P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_upon_Hull#Telephone_system


-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 08:03:04
Message: <4bf524f8@news.povray.org>
Stephen wrote:

> Ha ha! You fell for it. :-P

I guess you think that's clever, eh?

Interestingly, I don't recall ever seeing a cream telephone box while 
walking around Hull...


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 09:20:41
Message: <4bf53729$1@news.povray.org>
On 20/05/2010 1:03 PM, Invisible wrote:
> Stephen wrote:
>
>> Ha ha! You fell for it. :-P
>
> I guess you think that's clever, eh?
>

Yes :-D

> Interestingly, I don't recall ever seeing a cream telephone box while
> walking around Hull...


Neither have I but then I’ve only been there for a couple of days about 
ten years ago.


-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 11:46:57
Message: <4bf55971$1@news.povray.org>
On Thu, 20 May 2010 12:29:51 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 20/05/2010 4:45 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Maybe a holiday this year, the way the dollar is comparing against the
>> pound, it's looking like this could actually happen this year.:-)
>>
>>
> Keep us updated.

Shall do. :-)

Jim


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 11:48:44
Message: <4bf559dc$1@news.povray.org>
On Thu, 20 May 2010 09:33:23 +0100, Invisible wrote:

>>> That is the human condition.
>> 
>> Yeah, that's true enough.  Passivity is easy; activity is hard.  People
>> tend for the easy.
> 
> When your entire life has taught you that expending almost unbounded
> amounts of effort always produces no results, it becomes increasingly
> hard to find motivation...

BTDTGTTS.  Taking control takes effort, and it is/can be a trial-and-
error process.  Doesn't mean it's impossible.

> Required XKCD link: http://xkcd.com/187/

That's a good one and extremely relevant. :-)

Jim


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From: Orchid XP v8
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 13:16:39
Message: <4bf56e77$1@news.povray.org>
>> Interestingly, I don't recall ever seeing a cream telephone box while
>> walking around Hull...
> 
> Neither have I but then I’ve only been there for a couple of days about 
> ten years ago.

You'll notice I picked a city that I've actually visited...

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


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 16:31:57
Message: <4bf59c3d@news.povray.org>
On 20/05/2010 6:16 PM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> Interestingly, I don't recall ever seeing a cream telephone box while
>>> walking around Hull...
>>
>> Neither have I but then I’ve only been there for a couple of days
>> about ten years ago.
>
> You'll notice I picked a city that I've actually visited...
>

Sucker punch :-P


-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen


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From: John VanSickle
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 20 May 2010 20:09:48
Message: <4bf5cf4c$1@news.povray.org>
Invisible wrote:
> I had always assumed that the first computers were like current 
> computers, just using relays or whatever instead of transistors, and 
> with vastly inferior specifications.

A lot of the theory behind information processing, and especially on 
finding the most efficient algorithm to accomplish a specific task, 
comes from this era.  When a single clock cycle of computer time costs 
enough money to show up on a balance sheet, efficiency in computing 
becomes something of interest.

> For that matter, does anybody have a broad timeline of when various 
> technologies were in use? What are the dates for things like core 
> memory, drum memory, punch cards, magnetic tape, relays, vacuum tubes, 
> transistors, ICs, etc?

In the early 80s my high school went and bought a card reader for use in 
quickly tallying input from the 2000+ students on things like student 
council elections and so forth.  They wanted me to help get the system 
going, but I never spent more than an hour or so with it.

The US military had 50s-era cryptologic equipment, using vacuum tubes 
and magnetic cores, in active service until the late 80s.  The 
transmitter and receiver together took up an entire equipment rack.  It 
was widely rumored among Air Force crypto technicians that the designer 
of the system had been committed to an insane asylum, and that nobody 
else fully understood how it worked.

Regards,
John


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From: Neeum Zawan
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 20 May 2010 21:01:55
Message: <4bf5db83@news.povray.org>
On 05/20/10 00:31, scott wrote:
> Yep that happens here with all my Japanese colleagues (I think they have
> words for 10e4 and 10e8 there).  At first I just thought they were

	We have a word for 10e8 here. It's called "billion".


-- 
The meek shall inherit the dearth.


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From: Neeum Zawan
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 20 May 2010 21:02:45
Message: <4bf5dbb5@news.povray.org>
On 05/19/10 09:51, Darren New wrote:
> scott wrote:
>> separate words for 10e9 and 10e12, so there is no such confusion.
> 
> And chinese uses steps of 10e5 or so, rather than 10e3.  My wife always

	Wow. Another one. I wonder how long this has been going on without
people noticing.

	I recently bugged a guy at work for doing this.


-- 
The meek shall inherit the dearth.


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 20 May 2010 21:12:23
Message: <4bf5ddf7$1@news.povray.org>
Neeum Zawan wrote:
> On 05/19/10 09:51, Darren New wrote:
>> scott wrote:
>>> separate words for 10e9 and 10e12, so there is no such confusion.
>> And chinese uses steps of 10e5 or so, rather than 10e3.  My wife always
> 
> 	Wow. Another one. I wonder how long this has been going on without
> people noticing.
> 
> 	I recently bugged a guy at work for doing this.

Heh. It's rather confusing to *me* when she starts talking about "there was 
at first a hundred thousand people, then a thousand thousand people!" and 
similar convolutions. We don't have a word for ten thousand as such, or I'm 
sure it would get even more confusing instead of just a pause while the 
translation goes on.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
    Ada - the programming language trying to avoid
    you literally shooting yourself in the foot.


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 21 May 2010 00:48:57
Message: <4bf610b9$1@news.povray.org>
On Thu, 20 May 2010 18:07:20 -0700, Neeum Zawan wrote:

> 10e8

Sounds more like 100 million to me, unless I can't count. ;-)

Jim


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 21 May 2010 01:17:25
Message: <4bf61765$1@news.povray.org>
On 21/05/2010 2:12 AM, Darren New wrote:
> We don't have a word for ten thousand as such, or I'm sure it would get
> even more confusing instead of just a pause while the translation goes on.

Try Myriad that can be used for 10,000 as well as a very large number.

-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen


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From: scott
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 21 May 2010 02:59:37
Message: <4bf62f59@news.povray.org>
>> 10e8
> 
> Sounds more like 100 million to me, unless I can't count. ;-)

I think you (and I) can't count!


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 21 May 2010 03:56:32
Message: <4bf63cb0$1@news.povray.org>
>> When your entire life has taught you that expending almost unbounded
>> amounts of effort always produces no results, it becomes increasingly
>> hard to find motivation...
> 
> BTDTGTTS.

I wonder if it's possible to use some kind of Markov-chain method to 
probabalistically determine what random initialisms mean?

> Taking control takes effort, and it is/can be a trial-and-
> error process.  Doesn't mean it's impossible.

Sure. If some things worked and some things didn't, I could handle that. 
But when *nothing* works, where do you go next?

>> Required XKCD link: http://xkcd.com/187/
> 
> That's a good one and extremely relevant. :-)

That's why I chose it. ;-)


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 21 May 2010 04:00:22
Message: <4bf63d96$1@news.povray.org>
> A lot of the theory behind information processing, and especially on 
> finding the most efficient algorithm to accomplish a specific task, 
> comes from this era.  When a single clock cycle of computer time costs 
> enough money to show up on a balance sheet, efficiency in computing 
> becomes something of interest.

I'l bet it does...

Of course, today efficiency has nothing to do with how many instructions 
it takes and depends *only* on how good its cache behaviour is.

> In the early 80s my high school went and bought a card reader for use in 
> quickly tallying input from the 2000+ students on things like student 
> council elections and so forth.  They wanted me to help get the system 
> going, but I never spent more than an hour or so with it.

Man, I had no idea card readers persisted so long!

> The US military had 50s-era cryptologic equipment, using vacuum tubes 
> and magnetic cores, in active service until the late 80s.  The 
> transmitter and receiver together took up an entire equipment rack.

Ah yes, but that's military equipment. It takes a lot of time, money and 
effort to design mil spec equipment. If it still works, why change it? 
(Or rather, "who's going to pay to redesign it?")

> It 
> was widely rumored among Air Force crypto technicians that the designer 
> of the system had been committed to an insane asylum, and that nobody 
> else fully understood how it worked.

That totally sounds like something the Air Force would rumour. ;-)


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From: Mike Raiford
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 21 May 2010 09:50:32
Message: <4bf68fa8$1@news.povray.org>
On 5/21/2010 3:00 AM, Invisible wrote:

>
> Man, I had no idea card readers persisted so long!
>

What? You don't remember the whole US Election "hanging chad" debacle of 
2000? Those were punch cards... :)




-- 
~Mike


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 21 May 2010 10:00:00
Message: <4bf691e0@news.povray.org>
>> Man, I had no idea card readers persisted so long!
> 
> What? You don't remember the whole US Election "hanging chad" debacle of 
> 2000? Those were punch cards... :)

...there was a US Election in 2000?


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From: Mike Raiford
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 21 May 2010 10:44:42
Message: <4bf69c5a@news.povray.org>
On 5/21/2010 8:59 AM, Invisible wrote:
>>> Man, I had no idea card readers persisted so long!
>>
>> What? You don't remember the whole US Election "hanging chad" debacle
>> of 2000? Those were punch cards... :)
>
> ...there was a US Election in 2000?

There's one every 4 years ... the last one was in 2008.

-- 
~Mike


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 21 May 2010 10:58:27
Message: <4bf69f93$1@news.povray.org>
>>> What? You don't remember the whole US Election "hanging chad" debacle
>>> of 2000? Those were punch cards... :)
>>
>> ...there was a US Election in 2000?
> 
> There's one every 4 years ... the last one was in 2008.

My point being that the rest of the world probably doesn't take as much 
notice as the US itself does. ;-)


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 21 May 2010 12:03:36
Message: <4bf6aed8$1@news.povray.org>
On Fri, 21 May 2010 08:56:32 +0100, Invisible wrote:

>>> When your entire life has taught you that expending almost unbounded
>>> amounts of effort always produces no results, it becomes increasingly
>>> hard to find motivation...
>> 
>> BTDTGTTS.
> 
> I wonder if it's possible to use some kind of Markov-chain method to
> probabalistically determine what random initialisms mean?

http://tinyurl.com/24egq37

>> Taking control takes effort, and it is/can be a trial-and- error
>> process.  Doesn't mean it's impossible.
> 
> Sure. If some things worked and some things didn't, I could handle that.
> But when *nothing* works, where do you go next?

Ask for advice from someone with more experience.  And then follow that 
advice.  Iterate until success is achieved.

Jim


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Dusty
Date: 21 May 2010 12:05:30
Message: <4bf6af4a$1@news.povray.org>
On Fri, 21 May 2010 15:58:27 +0100, Invisible wrote:

>>>> What? You don't remember the whole US Election "hanging chad" debacle
>>>> of 2000? Those were punch cards... :)
>>>
>>> ...there was a US Election in 2000?
>> 
>> There's one every 4 years ... the last one was in 2008.
> 
> My point being that the rest of the world probably doesn't take as much
> notice as the US itself does. ;-)

Actually, a fair amount of the world does take notice, because the US is 
seen by many to be the one remaining "superpower" and the presidential 
election has a pretty significant effect on the rest of the world.

But Mike is wrong about there being an election every 4 years; there's an 
election every 2 years, just the "big" ones are every 4 years.

Jim


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 21 May 2010 12:06:01
Message: <4bf6af69$1@news.povray.org>
On Fri, 21 May 2010 08:59:36 +0200, scott wrote:

>>> 10e8
>> 
>> Sounds more like 100 million to me, unless I can't count. ;-)
> 
> I think you (and I) can't count!

<g>

Jim


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 21 May 2010 12:07:04
Message: <4bf6afa8$1@news.povray.org>
On Fri, 21 May 2010 08:59:36 +0200, scott wrote:

>>> 10e8
>> 
>> Sounds more like 100 million to me, unless I can't count. ;-)
> 
> I think you (and I) can't count!

Or indeed, looking at it now, 10e8 = 1e9.  Duh. :-)

Jim


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From: Neeum Zawan
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 21 May 2010 21:10:52
Message: <4bf72f1c$1@news.povray.org>
On 05/20/10 18:12, Darren New wrote:
> Neeum Zawan wrote:
>> On 05/19/10 09:51, Darren New wrote:
>>> scott wrote:
>>>> separate words for 10e9 and 10e12, so there is no such confusion.
>>> And chinese uses steps of 10e5 or so, rather than 10e3.  My wife always
>>
>>     Wow. Another one. I wonder how long this has been going on without
>> people noticing.
>>
>>     I recently bugged a guy at work for doing this.
> 
> Heh. It's rather confusing to *me* when she starts talking about "there
> was at first a hundred thousand people, then a thousand thousand
> people!" and similar convolutions. We don't have a word for ten thousand
> as such, or I'm sure it would get even more confusing instead of just a
> pause while the translation goes on.

	Eh. I wasn't referring to the vagaries of the Chinese number system naming.

	To give you a clue, 5e3 is not 125.

-- 
AD&D Famous last words: Me first.  Me first!


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Prehistoric dust
Date: 21 May 2010 21:31:48
Message: <4bf73404$1@news.povray.org>
Neeum Zawan wrote:
> 	Eh. I wasn't referring to the vagaries of the Chinese number system naming.

Yeha, yeah, fine. You understood well enough to correct me, I'll notice.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
    Ada - the programming language trying to avoid
    you literally shooting yourself in the foot.


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