Reply to: BYTE Magazine

[EternalOptimist]

Probably not.

Did he mean thermocouple?

I find it amazing that such a device can generate enough current to keep a solenoid pulled in.

no, deffo a thermistor. resistance changes with temperature, so you can use it to slowly turn things down as they get hotter

[EternalOptimist]

I dunno.

I think, on reflection, it was a bit of both, though, I suspect, rather more of the first.

As time went on, and technology advanced, most of the really interesting stuff became buried in little bits of black plastic.

And the little bits of black plastic became smaller & smaller.

Eventually, of course, they'll disappear altogether & all that's left will be grey goo.

My bosses gas went off two days ago. He came in yesterday and said 'It's the thermistor, whatever that is.'

So I told them. Years and years of useless knowledge. It wont get me a payrise will it ?

[lilelvis2000]

Parody of Pournelle's BYTE column from rec.humor.funny

Not as funny as the real thing. http://www.chaosmanorreviews.com/

[EternalOptimist]

It's amazing how the articles move from being high brow & difficult to understand to merely tedious & uninteresting as the years went on.

.

Is that because the quality went down, or because your knowledge went up

[threaded]

Yes, I have piles of Byte, Dr. Dobbs, Elektor, Wireless World, RadCom, Practical Wireless, Practical Electronics & loads of others I can't remember the names of, going mouldy in a cellar in one house. Dumped several pallet loads a while back, but still have more to go.

I can't for the life of me think why I thought it important back then to keep them now.

Get several periodicals delivered now, free, that I normally take along to a client and leave in their coffee room, rather than fill up my paper bin at home.

[bogeyman]

Parody of Pournelle's BYTE column from rec.humor.funny

Ha! Excellent.

[bogeyman]

I remember that his original IBM PC was called "Lucy van Pelt"

I've tried to forget, but any mention of him brings it back

Alex named it Lucy Van Pelt because it was such a fussbudget.

Yup! There you go.

A 'fussbudget'

As for 'Big Cheetah' ... apparently an i286 with 2Mb ... the mind boggles.

[NickFitz]

Parody of Pournelle's BYTE column from rec.humor.funny

[Zippy]

No, no, I'm intrigued !

I used to work for the technology division of an engineering company and it was considered part of the job to read these (and other) mags.
I used to enjoy Jerry Pournelle's column but the general opinion among the lads was that he was a bit of a jessy.

[NickFitz]

Ahh, Jerry Pournelle and Chaos Manor. Didn't he give his computers names? Can't remember what called them...

I remember that his original IBM PC was called "Lucy van Pelt"

I've tried to forget, but any mention of him brings it back

[RichardCranium]

what about vsj? although it no longer drops through the letterbox [sniff].

I thought I was the only subscriber to the Visual Systems Journal.



RC in still-mourning-for-Freelance-Informer mode.

[Platypus]

Oh don't you start! I got it in the neck yesterday when I confessed that I read books with equations in them

No, no, I'm intrigued !

[Zippy]

A lady geek !?

Oh don't you start! I got it in the neck yesterday when I confessed that I read books with equations in them

[Platypus]

I used to read Byte and Dr Dobbs. Happy days.

A lady geek !?

[Cliphead]

Oh God. Jerry Pournelle! He used to name his computers things like 'Big Cat' and 'Mothership' and endlessly drone on about how he struggled manfully to add 1Mb of RAM to his latest baby.

He was a total wang - in the AtW mold.

Beat me to it