Zilog System 8000 Model 31 available in Australia

From: Dwight K. Elvey <dwightk.elvey_at_amd.com>
Date: Mon Nov 25 14:00:01 2002

>From: "Sellam Ismail" <foo_at_siconic.com>
>
>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.
>
>?
>
---snip---
Hi
 The only thing I miss on a 8 bit machine is the lack
of space for large data sets. I've never ran out of code
space in my 15 year ( when I was doing embedded stuff ).
Then I could never understand what happened to all the
space that most of today's compilers use. I've always used
a combination of assembly and Forth for embedded stuff.
I had to work with a few applications written by others
that were in C and found it very difficult to stay
within RAM limits for even simple applications. When I first
saw languages like SmalTalk, looking at the description, I
thought that finally someone was doing something right.
They talked about the efficiency of reuse and such ( concepts
that are natural to Forth ). Then I tried it and found that
it was more bloated than the C programs I was dealing with.
 The other thing that bothers me is that today we have
computers that can run several thousands of times faster
than an 8080 IMSAI. Still, it takes 5 to 10 minutes to
boot that machine. My IMSAI boots faster than I can reach
from the reset button to the keyboard. I'm told that is
is because the machine has to figure out what the I/O
looks like on each boot ( of course, MS rejected OpenBoot
for PCI boards that could have improved the boot time ).
 I find that applications written for these new and more
powerful computers that have been doubling in capabilities
every year are becoming garbaged up at a rate that is
faster than the computer get better.
 I doubt there is anyone that works for MS that even knows
if 50% of the software that they release is even being
usefully run under any condition ( maybe even 80% ).
 I believe that there complexity will eventually bring
them to the point that even hiring the entire graduating
class of computer science students will not fix.
 Just my ramblings
Dwight
Received on Mon Nov 25 2002 - 14:00:01 GMT