On Fri, 22 Nov 2002, ben franchuk wrote:
> I did not say General purpose computing can't be done, just that it is a
> very small amount of memory for most user programs. It is really hard
> work to have a useful programs written on the small 8 bit machines, and
> fit in 32k or 48k of memory incuding the OS.
I find it rather odd that such a comment would be made in the face of tens
of thousands of applications software and games that were developed on
dozens of 8-bit computer platforms having anywhere from 4K to 64K of main
RAM where the operating system and application shared that memory space.
?
On a 4K Mattel Aquarius I wrote software that:
- Allowed me to catalog my comic book collection in a database saved to
cassette tape (I was 12 ;)
- Played games
This machine had 4K TOTAL. After BASIC initialized there was actually
something less than 2K of program space.
On a 48K Apple ][+ I:
- Wrote and edited documents in full screen WYSIWYG mode
- Created databases
- Worked numbers in spreadsheets
- Played games
To be blunt, I cannot understand how anyone on this list can make such
comments. It was not difficult, as Ben has characterized. In fact, it
was probably easier. Not only that, but a whole industry was created on
machines that had a fraction of a fraction of the computing power and
storage that systems today have. We could not get from there to here if
it were that "difficult".
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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Received on Sat Nov 23 2002 - 14:31:00 GMT