The AI-generated cat pictures thread
09-22-2011, 02:39 PM
#4361
Boost Pope
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,024
Total Cats: 6,591
Yes, but computer growth has been very much exponential. 1977 to 1990 was pretty slow, starting at such a rudimentary point in computing. Then 1990-2000 was a pretty big leap. 2000 to 2010 was an even larger leap forward, multiple times more so than the previous decade.
If you're talking about exponential growth in terms of the number of computers in the world, then yeah, there's no question there. Even as a lifelong geek, I own way more "computers" today than I did even just ten years ago, although only one of them actually sits on a desk. And people who would never have bought a "computer" 15 or 20 years ago probably own several of them today without even realizing it.
But in terms of technological development? We're in the weeds right now.
From the late 1950s through the early 1970s, development was pretty boring. Transistors got faster, and computer manufacturers packed more and more of them into the box, but nothing fundamentally interesting took place in terms of the underlying technology.
Then 1974 happened.
The 8080 wasn't actually the first microprocessor. It wasn't even the second. But it was the first one that you could actually build a full-fledged computer out of. That was a paradigm-shifting event. Computers could suddenly be small and cheap! And thus, the PC as we know it today was born.
That was huge.
Between '74 and '77 there was a lot of progress in terms of user-interface. Things like keyboards and monitors became a de-facto standard, which was a big leap from the earliest UIs:
And that was huger than huge. It was ******* mind-blowing.
After that, things kind of slowed down for a while. From 1977 until well into the 1980s, not much happened. Memory grew slowly, processor speeds ticked up incrementally. Massive growth in terms of the number of PCs that existed, but since manufacturers could barely build the machines fast enough to meet demand, there wasn't much need to improve them dramatically.
When the Intel 80386 came out, that seemed to kick things into high gear. Suddenly, the Processor War was on, and it was more than just cranking up the frequency for a change. New techniques like memory management, prefetch, and even branch prediction started to be envisioned. And processors in general were starting to get cheap enough that they could be customized for specific applications within the computer. Bit blitters led to polygon shaders, and suddenly graphics got interesting. Rudimentary FM synthesis paved the way for wavetable-based audio, and suddenly computers sounded as good as they looked!
And then, somewhere just after the turn of the century, it all sort of froze.
Seems like these days the only real innovation is in figuring out how to do the same things we did 10 years ago but in a smaller form-factor and with lower power consumption. Nowadays, each successive generation of CPUs is actually slower than the last! And they're not doing anything radical in terms of architecture either- Intel figured out that it was far easier to just cut-and-paste the same design over and over and slap the label "multi core!" onto it, and the copycats followed suit.
Right now, I fear that Moore's Law is in danger of repeal.
On an unrelated note:
Ha! I totally forgot about those! (I never owned one- I used scissors.)
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09-22-2011, 07:19 PM
#4370
I have three computers I have been wanting to throw away for quite a while. I slip a part of one in the trash can at my house every week - disappearing a little at a time. If I try to put the entire thing in there (instead of hiding it) the trash man throws it on my lawn.
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09-22-2011, 08:10 PM
#4374
Boost Pope
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,024
Total Cats: 6,591
Holy hell yes!
I killed so many hours playing Global War, Trade Wars 2002, and LORD that it's almost embarrassing.
In college, we had a massive whiteboard stuck to one wall of the apartment where I actually attempted to map out an entire TradeWars universe. I failed. That may have been, in all seriousness, the best videogame ever created, full stop.
Was that screenshot from a WildCat BBS?
I killed so many hours playing Global War, Trade Wars 2002, and LORD that it's almost embarrassing.
In college, we had a massive whiteboard stuck to one wall of the apartment where I actually attempted to map out an entire TradeWars universe. I failed. That may have been, in all seriousness, the best videogame ever created, full stop.
Was that screenshot from a WildCat BBS?
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09-22-2011, 08:49 PM
#4375
Holy hell yes!
I killed so many hours playing Global War, Trade Wars 2002, and LORD that it's almost embarrassing.
In college, we had a massive whiteboard stuck to one wall of the apartment where I actually attempted to map out an entire TradeWars universe. I failed. That may have been, in all seriousness, the best videogame ever created, full stop.
Was that screenshot from a WildCat BBS?
I killed so many hours playing Global War, Trade Wars 2002, and LORD that it's almost embarrassing.
In college, we had a massive whiteboard stuck to one wall of the apartment where I actually attempted to map out an entire TradeWars universe. I failed. That may have been, in all seriousness, the best videogame ever created, full stop.
Was that screenshot from a WildCat BBS?
I started my business one day when I got tired of waiting for my turn in Trade Wars and BRE. I ran several using PCBoard, Telegard, and Major BBS. I wish I still had some screenshots. I do have an old ad for one of them:
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We look forward to see you online soon!!
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09-22-2011, 09:25 PM
#4376
Elite Member
iTrader: (11)
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Overland Park, Kansas
Posts: 5,360
Total Cats: 43
The Acer is a complete computer, while the piece of **** apple does NOT include the $450.00 15" monitor. Yeah I bash crApple products, especially their computers. Name ONE thing an apple computer can do that a PC can't do that anyone gives a **** about, yet look at the price difference for what is basically the same ******* thing.
How about that Toshiba notebook? Jesus.. I was GIVEN a pretty similar notebook about 1999.. 2300$? Fawk..
**** your faggggot *** drifting, this is how Iraqis do:
That's borderline absolute ******* insanity or maaaad skill... You choose.
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09-22-2011, 09:44 PM
#4378
Elite Member
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Birmingham Alabama
Posts: 7,930
Total Cats: 45
Oh ****. At 6:30, the music in the in car view. All of their music sounds the same to me. I guess maybe that's good drift music. Sounds like what Apu would be listening to at the convenience store...Not enough crashing...
Youtube Arab drifting crash and enjoy.
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09-22-2011, 09:51 PM
#4379
Elite Member
iTrader: (11)
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Overland Park, Kansas
Posts: 5,360
Total Cats: 43
Works everyday the way you expect it? Neat. My Non-Mac desktop does the same thing.. Odd.
TBH I've never tried to drive like that in a FWD vehicle, but I've auto-x'd several.. That's some crazy *** ****!!
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