Text 266, 60 rader
Skriven 2005-02-26 04:06:01 av Roy J. Tellason (1:270/615.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Greg Mayman
Ärende: FAN OF TRUE MULTITASKING
================================
Greg Mayman wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

 -=> Roy J. Tellason said to Greg Mayman
 -=> about "FAN OF TRUE MULTITASKING" on 02-17-05  20:15.....

 GM> And as a side issue, their power supply would work from 80 volts
 GM> to 260 volts, no changes necessary apart from adapters to fit the 
 GM> power outlets in different countries.

 RJT> I've wondered how something could be designed to do that...

 GM> The p/s used more or less the same principle as the ones in most
 GM> computers these days. AFAIK they just extended the amount of
 GM> control on the pulse width in the chopper circuit.

Yeah.  I wonder what details need to be different,  though.

 RJT> I ran across one VCR that was sold in Europe,  has a European-style
 RJT> plug on it with US adapter,  and was supposed to deal with a wide range
 RJT> of input voltages.  Here I found out that it's using a relay (!) to
 RJT> switch configurations when you get to the higher end of things.  Not
 RJT> exactly what I was looking for.

 GM> There was an (army?) radio unit a friend of mine saw many years
 GM> ago, back in the 60's IIRC, that would operate on AC or DC from 6
 GM> to 240 volts, using a pile of sensers and relays to switch it
 GM> between the different modes. Also not what you wanted either <G>

Yeah,  but _that's_ flexible!  :-)

 RJT> So does this BBS machine,  which also has only 16M in it.  I guess it
 RJT> all depends on what you want to do with it.

 GM> Yes, that's my views exactly. Too many people seem to think that
 GM> just because all the new machines come out, all the old ones
 GM> suddenly stop working.

 GM> I will concede that the older machines are incapable of running a
 GM> lot of software that is intended for the newer machines, but where
 GM> is the law that says you gotta get the latest software anyway?

Whatever law it is that decided that programmer's time was more costly than the
hardware it runs on.  The use of "toolkits" and libraries that make life easier
for the programmer.  That and "features" that get stuck in to newer stuff that
somebody or other just can't live without,  all of these factors contribute to
the bloat...

 RJT> There you go.  If you can deal with a command line then there's a lot
 RJT> of usable power out there,  cheap.

 GM> Darn cheap. Often just for the cost of picking it up. The problem
 GM> is to get it before it is trashed.

Yep.  It sure is a shame that as much stuff gets into landfills as seems to be
the case...

I try and prevent that whenever possible,  but there's only so much you can do.

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