Stephen <mcavoys_at@aoldotcom> wrote:
> >    Ironically, there exists a technology to make flatscreen CRTs, with all
> > the advantages of CRT (such as contrast) with less of the disadvantages
> > (such as distortion, misalignment, etc). The basic idea is that there's
> > one (static) electron ray per pixel. (Well, three, one for each color
> > component.)
> >
> >    For some reason the technology has never been commercialized, even though
> > it could potentially be feasible.
> >

> I think that idea would have been beyond the ken of man at the time. 
> Nice to have heard it though.

  What do you mean "at the the time"? It's a modern invention.

  I didn't remember the name of the technology, but I found it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-conduction_electron-emitter_display

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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On 12/04/2011 10:03 PM, Warp wrote:

>
>> I think that idea would have been beyond the ken of man at the time.
>> Nice to have heard it though.
>
>    What do you mean "at the the time"? It's a modern invention.
>

What I meant was in the 1950/60s the thought of having a matrix of tiny 
cathode ray tubes, would be beyond belief.

>    I didn't remember the name of the technology, but I found it:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-conduction_electron-emitter_display
>

Thanks for the link.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:17:28 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 12/04/2011 6:29 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>>> It's news to me that DAT was ever intended as anything other than a
>>> >  studio format.
>> That's why it sucks so hard as a backup medium - it was only intended
>> to be used for lossy data (ie, audio), and was adapted for use for
>> backup medium.
> 
> Are you sure about that, Jim?
> I seem to remember that in the mid 70s I used DAT tape to load
> programmes and data into a Burroughs mini computer.

I'm pretty sure about that.  "Digital Audio Tape" is what DAT stands for.

You aren't thinking about standard cassettes?  I used to use those on 
Commodore PET and C64 computers, and they also had occasional issues with 
data loss.

Jim

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On 2011-04-12 09:15, Invisible wrote:
> When I was a kid, I used to enjoy watching TV programs about the future.
> Stuff like Tomorrow's World and Beyond 2000. Basically programs where
> they show you crazy new inventions. Some of them seemed fantastic, some
> of them seemed utterly stupid. There aren't that many that I still
> remember.

They're still around, in various forms.  'Beyond Tomorrow' is afaict the 
same people who did Beyond 2000, but since we're past 2000...  There's 
also Popular Science's 'the Future of' or somesuch.  Few episodes I saw 
were each focused on a particular topic, such as gaming, transportation, 
etc.

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>> It's news to me that DAT was ever intended as anything other than a
>> studio format.
>
> That's why it sucks so hard as a backup medium - it was only intended to
> be used for lossy data (ie, audio), and was adapted for use for backup
> medium.

Digital is digital. If you lose digital data, generally it utterly 
screws everything up.

I too spent many years using DAT (actually DDS-4) tapes for backup. We 
had occasional problems, but nothing major.

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On 12/04/2011 06:20 PM, Stephen wrote:

> FYI My Tascam DAT recorder has an "Engineering" mode that ignores DRM.

And this is why DRM will never work. As long as at least one device 
exists which ignores DRM, the system is trivially broken.

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On 12/04/2011 10:28 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:17:28 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>
>> On 12/04/2011 6:29 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>>>> It's news to me that DAT was ever intended as anything other than a
>>>>>   studio format.
>>> That's why it sucks so hard as a backup medium - it was only intended
>>> to be used for lossy data (ie, audio), and was adapted for use for
>>> backup medium.
>>
>> Are you sure about that, Jim?
>> I seem to remember that in the mid 70s I used DAT tape to load
>> programmes and data into a Burroughs mini computer.
>
> I'm pretty sure about that.  "Digital Audio Tape" is what DAT stands for.
>

Well they were not called DAT but they were in the same casing and had 
similar lengths. They did have a small hole punched near to the ends of 
the tape and a light sensor to stop the tape running off the spindle.

> You aren't thinking about standard cassettes?  I used to use those on
> Commodore PET and C64 computers, and they also had occasional issues with
> data loss.
>


Never had one of those.


-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 13/04/2011 8:55 AM, Invisible wrote:
> On 12/04/2011 06:20 PM, Stephen wrote:
>
>> FYI My Tascam DAT recorder has an "Engineering" mode that ignores DRM.
>
> And this is why DRM will never work. As long as at least one device
> exists which ignores DRM, the system is trivially broken.

True :-D

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 4/13/2011 0:54, Invisible wrote:
> Digital is digital. If you lose digital data, generally it utterly screws
> everything up.

Not really. When the digital is a digital representation of analog, it's OK 
to lose some bits sometimes.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Coding without comments is like
    driving without turn signals."

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On 4/13/2011 0:55, Invisible wrote:
> And this is why DRM will never work. As long as at least one device exists
> which ignores DRM, the system is trivially broken.

In that sense of trivial, it's already trivially broken, because there are 
no secrets involved. To play encrypted media, you have to decrypt it on the 
customer's equipment, meaning the customer has in his hands everything he 
needs to know to bypass the DRM.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Coding without comments is like
    driving without turn signals."

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