RE: [expert] a stooooooooopid question
Not only was there discrepancies with the 'signed' zero, but IBM used to do a core dump and bring production to a screeching halt because of a 'divide by zero' error. > -Original Message- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Wolfgang Bornath > Sent: Friday, September 06, 2002 6:00 AM > To: Expert List > Subject: Re: [expert] a stopid question > > > On Fri, Sep 06, 2002 at 00:43 -0700, James Sparenberg wrote: > > yes I remember running a cobol program that proved taht 2+2=4 and > > listening to some guy begging people for 30 seconds of computer time so > > he could finish his current class project (seems his last one had an > > endless loop and he ate up 2 minutes of time before someone caught > > it..) The large (I think it was 16 inch X 30 inch) green and white > > striped (so you could read across lines) paper and a red pen... This is > > called debugging. Then after 2 days of hair pulling and no sleep finding > > out that on the Honeywell -1 + 1 = -0 and 1 - 1 =0 Now the computer > > knows that -0 = 0 but if your test reads > > > > if x=0 > > do > > a > > else > > b > > > > and you have a -0 result... it will do b from now until forever. Even > > if you know it should be a. I decided at that point to go > > systemsHowever the Amiga brought me back to really having fun with > > computers. That and BBSs. > > That time produced more stories of this kind than you can tell in a > lifetime > > wobo > -- > "... and anyway, an html can't carry a virus." (Aug 2001, Usenet) > --- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ: #128612867 GPG-ID: A69882EE > --- > ISDN4LINUX-FAQ -- Deutsch: http://www.wolf-b.de/i4l/i4lfaq-de.html > > Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
RE: [expert] a stooooooooopid question
Oh, for sure - Computers were just plain *FUN* back then !!! Now, they're just a *&^%in' job. We had two different ways of generating computer 'music' back then - One, was to turn to a really low band on one of those new-fangled Japanese transistor radios and set it on top of the CPU. The other way was to put the print chain in neutral, run a bunch of cards thru the reader and listen to the 'tune' on the printer. > -Original Message- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Wolfgang Bornath > Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 5:34 PM > To: Expert List > Subject: Re: [expert] a stopid question > > > On Thu, Sep 05, 2002 at 15:12 -0700, James Sparenberg wrote: > > > Wobo, > > A Univac computer for me.. and yes pitty the poor individual who > > didn't get the cover seated correctly on the card reader. Cards > > flying everywhere. (Pity them even more if thier cards weren't > > numbered!!) The real treat was paper tape readers Do remember > > watching someone "edit" his code with an xacto knife (couldn't get time > > on the card punch machines because of a power outage) by candlelight no > > less. That's when I decided to go systems no soldering irons and no > > knives hehe. > > But, you know, all this new shiny notebook and desktop stuff, it's > handy and I love testing some new things I learned and sometimes I feel > adventurous and do something like installing FreeBSD or some small > Linux distro. > > But it's not the adventure of those times way back when. We may have > cursed the d cards and the forms we wrote our assembler codes on. We > may have cursed the d* white coats feeling important and whining > about computer time all day long. But I felt like a boy with his > electric train on Christmas eve. > > I don't have that feeling with any of our modern computers. > Only once in a while, exactly once in a half year when the new Mandrake > distro is out! > > Writing that reminds me of some more translations I have to do until > tomorrow for the new distro. Back to work! > > wobo > -- > "... and anyway, an html can't carry a virus." (Aug 2001, Usenet) > --- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ: #128612867 GPG-ID: A69882EE > --- > ISDN4LINUX-FAQ -- Deutsch: http://www.wolf-b.de/i4l/i4lfaq-de.html > > Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
RE: [expert] Why is disk fragmentation a must in windows and not in Linux
Randy/Roberto, Microsoft used to say that disks using the NTFS file system didn't get fragmented - However, like most of Microsoft's statements it was wishful thinking. Several after-market 'defrag' programs appeared to take care of this for NT3.51 and NT4. With NT5 (Win2000), Microsoft admitted that NTFS did indeed get fragment and included a disk defragmenter program with it. But, you're still better off getting an aftermarket program to defrag Win files. Mike S. > -Original Message- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Randy Kramer > Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 1:37 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [expert] Why is disk fragmentation a must in windows and > not in Linux > > > Roberto Armenteros wrote: > > This is just a curiosity. Windows computers need to be > > fragmented very often. On the other hand, I once read > > somewhere that disk fragmentation in linux wasnt > > recomended "I am not how true this is." The fact is > > that disk fragmentation in linux is not often spoken > > about. Is there something special about the way linux > > handles the disk so it can have this privilege? I > > would appreciate anyinsight about this. > > Roberto, > > I've edited your first couple sentences to be more accurate: > > This is just a curiosity. Windows computers need to be *defragmented* > very often. On the other hand, I once read somewhere that disk > defragmentation in linux *is not required*. > > Fragmentation is a bad thing. Disks under Windows get fragmented, > meaning that pieces of a single file get scattered in different places > on the disk -- among other things it makes access slower. So, you must > *defragment* Windows disks which tries to put the pieces (fragments) of > a file all in one place, in the right order. > > For reasons I don't fully understand, Linux files systems typically > don't get fragmented as easily, and hence don't need to be defragmented > very often if ever. > > However, fragmentation does occur, and some Linux file systems (at least > one of the journaled file systems) has a utility for defragementing it. > > BTW, the fragmentation in Windows occurs on FAT16 and FAT32 partitions. > I don't know whether fragmentation occurs on NTFS4 or NTFS5 file > systems. > > Randy Kramer > > Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
RE: [expert] Travan Tape drives
I always found Travans to be more trouble than they're worth. I didn't start out this way intentionally - But, I've been using all those old 2 & 3 GB drives leftover from days gone by as backups. Hard drives are so cheap now, I'm thinking about putting one of those removable caddy's in one of my cases just for backup purposes... Mike S. > -Original Message- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of dfox > Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2002 10:01 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [expert] Travan Tape drives > > > > Anyone know any reason why I should NOT go buy a Travan, IDE > ATAPI-base tap= > > e drive and use it for Mandrake? > > Because SCSI based DAT drives work better :). Personally I have not had > a Travan-based drive, but one thing I noticed is that the cost of the > tapes themselves are rather expensive. DATs are cheaper (my dds-4's were > $5 a pop when I got them) and even though the cost of the drive may be > less expensive, if you plan on needing a number of tapes you may be > better off with DAT. > > > Matthew > > Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
