Computer Reset

[Tim Marlow]

I haven’t had a windows system crash on me for at least fifteen years Doug, NT has been out of use for decades. I was a Microsoft accredited system administrator on our old NT 4 fermenter control system in the nineties, by the way, and it wasn’t a problem even then. I seriously think most system issues of this type are down to user error. Use the machine sensibly, occasionally carry out basic maintenance, and it just doesn’t happen. I think It’s a bit of an urban myth that seems to have grown up around Windows, mostly promulgated by apple users to be absolutely honest.
As to service packs, my IPad updates its OS about once a fortnight, or so it seems……

[Waspie]

I haven’t had a windows system crash on me for at least fifteen years Doug, NT has been out of use for decades. I was a Microsoft accredited system administrator on our old NT 4 fermenter control system in the nineties, by the way, and it wasn’t a problem even then. I seriously think most system issues of this type are down to user error. Use the machine sensibly, occasionally carry out basic maintenance, and it just doesn’t happen. I think It’s a bit of an urban myth that seems to have grown up around Windows, mostly promulgated by apple users to be absolutely honest.
As to service packs, my IPad updates its OS about once a fortnight, or so it seems……

Shows you how long I have had a Mac!!!
My NSA Qual was gained through the military albeit I was a civvie. And yes, most problems I had to deal with were operator error down to lack of training!!
As to iPad updates - yup, I reckon that's because Mac users think virus' are a Windows problem!! Not the case!!! But I can only relate my Windows experience to when I used or owned one, which has to be close to 20 years ago now.
Anyway, Mac lost their way since Jobs died. Still prefer them.

[Guest]

Don’t quote “GarageBand” at me, by the way, it’s rubbish compared to a decent DAW.

It’s a cheap airbrush compared to an Iwata or H&S. Don’t expect it to be a great tool, but it will be good enough for a lot of people.

The only people that need state of the art machines are heavy graphic users and gamers, general users just fall for the hype and buy new when they don’t need to.

And people who want/need to keep their computers running (fairly) recent software for the foreseeable future. Buy a low-end computer and you will probably be wishing for a faster one a few years down the line if you keep everything updated, buy a high-end one and that will be closer to half a dozen years.

Of course, this is a matter of choice for some, while others can’t afford a higher-end computer and so end up paying about as much, if not more, over a given amount of time. But like I said earlier, if it does what you want it to and you get along with it, then it’s the right computer for you.

[Waspie]

It’s a cheap airbrush compared to an Iwata or H&S. Don’t expect it to be a great tool, but it will be good enough for a lot of people.


And people who want/need to keep their computers running (fairly) recent software for the foreseeable future. Buy a low-end computer and you will probably be wishing for a faster one a few years down the line if you keep everything updated, buy a high-end one and that will be closer to half a dozen years.

Of course, this is a matter of choice for some, while others can’t afford a higher-end computer and so end up paying about as much, if not more, over a given amount of time. But like I said earlier, if it does what you want it to and you get along with it, then it’s the right computer for you.

Mind you Jakko, Some of the high end Windows systems, hardware not software can top many many thousands of ££££'s. Probably bought by the gaming fraternity. Personally, games machines for games, PC's for normal usage!!

[Tim Marlow]

Horses for courses, yep. I once found a Silicon graphics station, (cryocooled et Al, as used for making the dinosaurs in Jurassic park), in a lab being used as a word processor. Apparently the grad student it had been sourced for was working on 3D protein structure, which would certainly need that sort of processing power. However, when his research contract ran out and he returned to uni nobody else knew how to use it, so they just checked emails and typed up the occasional document on it :tongue-out3:

[Waspie]

Horses for courses, yep. I once found a Silicon graphics station, (cryocooled et Al, as used for making the dinosaurs in Jurassic park), in a lab being used as a word processor. Apparently the grad student it had been sourced for was working on 3D protein structure, which would certainly need that sort of processing power. However, when his research contract ran out and he returned to uni nobody else knew how to use it, so they just checked emails and typed up the occasional document on it :tongue-out3:

Sounds a familiar tale. Mega expensive target analysis HP computer the size of industrial lathe. Once it became obvious no-one could actually use it, it reverted to the units most expensive word processor. At one point a HP rep from the States came over to the UK looked at it, stated it was good in its day and jumped on the next flight back to the USA!!!!

[Dave Ward]

Last century, I was using a high-end CAD system, for designing engineering components. I was designated to produce homologation drawings for emissions certification for our diesel engines.The man who dealt with this was a world expert on diesel emission regulations & control. He would come and explain to me what was wanted. I'd then produce the drawings & he'd come and look. He always marvelled at the CAD work - he suddenly asked me " If I brought you my laptop, would you load the CAD programme for me? " I thought he was joking, but no, he wasn't - I had to explain that the System ran on a mainframe in the basement & I only worked on a terminal. He thought about this and said " but my laptop is the latest - it runs Windows98!!"
This gentleman was very indecisive, my first drafts were rejected & we went through several iterations ( usually over 2-3 weeks ), before finally settling on one, which was invariably the first that was produced! I was always the first person he came to for these drawings,, and the sequence was always the same, I never had the first draft accepted. When he appeared I knew that I was in for a few weeks of dithering ( I was doing my normal work as well ). He was a real gentleman, so you could never take offence. ( He was in the process of totally restoring a Lotus Elan Sprint - I wonder if he ever finished it?! )
Dave

[Guest]

I once found a Silicon graphics station, (cryocooled et Al, as used for making the dinosaurs in Jurassic park), in a lab being used as a word processor.

Here’s an idea of what Tim is talking about (probably not quite the same machine, though), for those who’ve never heard of SGI:—

Remember, this dates from a time when Windows (and Mac OS? not sure) couldn’t even move a window across the screen “live” with its full contents — when you dragged a window by its title bar, it would stay in its original place and you would just drag a rectangle; let go of the mouse button and the window popped over to where you dropped that rectangle (which is why this is impressive: NeXTSTEP had “live” window-dragging in 1992 when Windows XP could but didn’t even have it enabled by default ten years later … Of course, you paid rather more for NeXT hardware than for the PC you had at home 30 years ago — though nowhere near what Silicon Graphics charged.)

[Tim Marlow]

Here’s an idea of what Tim is talking about (probably not quite the same machine, though), for those who’ve never heard of SGI:—

Remember, this dates from a time when Windows (and Mac OS? not sure) couldn’t even move a window across the screen “live” with its full contents — when you dragged a window by its title bar, it would stay in its original place and you would just drag a rectangle; let go of the mouse button and the window popped over to where you dropped that rectangle (which is why this is impressive: NeXTSTEP had “live” window-dragging in 1992 when Windows XP could but didn’t even have it enabled by default ten years later … Of course, you paid rather more for NeXT hardware than for the PC you had at home 30 years ago — though nowhere near what Silicon Graphics charged.)

It was this one Jakko…..

Four processors, and a massive 2GB of RAM…..I think my phone has more than that these days LOL…..

[Waspie]

I started with 256k Scion!!!
Remember them. Hand held pocket pc!!!!!
Used to love producing graphs and pie charts on them.

[Guest]

It was this one Jakko…..
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1203581[/ATTACH]

You know, with that “push here” on the little lid at the top, you would be forgiven for mistaking that for something like this:

[ATTACH]484776[/ATTACH]

Four processors, and a massive 2GB of RAM…..I think my phone has more than that these days LOL…..

Quite probably — my 2016 iPad has 2 GB, but only a dual-core processor (Plus a 12-core GPU.) I suspect it would benchmark rather higher than the SGI 540.