John Foust wrote:
>
> At 06:39 PM 6/17/98 -0700, Greg Troutman wrote:
> >
> >>From the photos I'd like to point out that he was actually using an
> >800XL. Anyway the book is highly recommended not only for the Atari
> >mention, but more so for it's majestic presentation of numerous
> >individuals who pursue science purely for the love of it.
>
> One might argue that he didn't need something as powerful
> as an Atari 800XL to do that. :-) These days, computer-aided
> hobby astronomer hackers are modifying Quickcams to use as
> el cheapo CCD imagers, running multimedia star-mapping tools
> on Windows laptops in the field, etc. I've even thought about
> writing a star-finder for my PalmPilot, having picked up
> an 8" Dobs for my birthday. (Of course, it's been cloudy
> ever since.) And the PalmPilot isn't far from the Atari ST
> or Amiga 1000 - 68000-ish chip, 3 megs of RAM, except it
> runs for three weeks on two AAAs.
>
> After all, Charles Moore created FORTH to control telescopes, too.
No, Charles Moore created FORTH as a notation system for teaching
mathematics -- it just happened that when the notation system was
converted to a programming language that it became handy for such
things as controlling telescopes.
--
Ward Griffiths
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows.
Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else.
Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_
Received on Fri Jun 19 1998 - 02:20:48 BST