How old are we? Anonymous Poll

[taffernicus]

i can't stop laughing because age 0 is included in the poll

 

seeing all those vintage computers above makes me want to disassemble it and see what's inside. When hardware 3-4 decades ago was not as complex as today's hardware and could still be learned easily. it was the story behind the TTL 7400 and the development of the data bus that sparked my interest in it  but I forget which book mentioned it. The book is so old

 

for MS-DOS OS, the 21h interrupt made it fun . Other than that, yes I will not forget the A20 address line

Edited September 6, 2024 by taffernicus

[taffernicus]

computers like this were very expensive 4 decades ago in my where i live (based on information from my parents), they had the opportunity to use computers in their office around 1985 until 1993/4. Most of these computers are placed in government buildings and universities (some universities seem to use DEC VAX11/750 or 780 machines and hewlett packard unix workstations). I don't really know the other mainframe brands

[Zerush]

[taffernicus]

On 9/11/2024 at 3:53 AM, Zerush said:

The picture reminded me of the rumor that the arpanet was designed as a command and control system that could survive a nuclear attack

Edited September 14, 2024 by taffernicus

[Zerush]

7 hours ago, taffernicus said:

The picture reminded me of the rumor that the arpanet was designed as a command and control system that could survive a nuclear attack

After an nuclear attack, if we survive it, we don't have even any electric or electronic devices which we can use to connect to the Arpa- or any other net (EMP) and for sure worse problems.

Edited September 14, 2024 by Zerush

[taffernicus]

6 hours ago, Zerush said:

After an nuclear attack, if we survive it, we don't have even any electric or electronic devices which we can use to connect to the Arpa- or any other net (EMP) and for sure worse problems.

If it happens in the 21st century, there should be a bunker with EMI/EMC shielding containing ethernet PHY blueprints, tcp/ip codes, internet protocol codes, operating system codes, documentation and hardware specification sheets for routers, switches, etc. The first thing I thought of was that undersea fiber optic cables may not be directly impacted if land is the main target (excluding marine life). VSAT satellites will not be affected unless anti-satellite missiles are launched in large numbers or nukes are detonated in the atmosphere. Internet Exchange Points, Point Of Presence, data centers, buildings where the main root servers reside, etc will have the misfortune to be hit.

 

This horrible thing reminds me of metro:2033 and metro:last light game

Edited September 14, 2024 by taffernicus

[Zerush]

19 hours ago, taffernicus said:

If it happens in the 21st century, there should be a bunker with EMI/EMC shielding containing ethernet PHY blueprints, tcp/ip codes, internet protocol codes, operating system codes, documentation and hardware specification sheets for routers, switches, etc. The first thing I thought of was that undersea fiber optic cables may not be directly impacted if land is the main target (excluding marine life). VSAT satellites will not be affected unless anti-satellite missiles are launched in large numbers or nukes are detonated in the atmosphere. Internet Exchange Points, Point Of Presence, data centers, buildings where the main root servers reside, etc will have the misfortune to be hit.

 

This horrible thing reminds me of metro:2033 and metro:last light game

All this is true, surely important strategic installations will have corresponding protections, but this will only serve the strategic military and political groups. But all this is not going to help you when all your electronic and electrical devices have become smoking paperweights.

Also no electricity in the whole country, with this also no water and fuel, because they depend on electric pumps and with this also no supplies because they do not have transportation. Happy if you live in the countryside with your garden, chickens and a well, in cities Mad Max situations.

Edited September 15, 2024 by Zerush

[revelator]

also seed vaults but the question is how will we get them out in a nuclar vasteland with no or damaged infrastructure which in some cases would be lethal to habitat due to radiation ?. sure some pockets would exist but we cannot be sure they are  anywhere near us and even with protection things will get very hairy very very soon.

there is one truth about a nuclear war and that is that those that die in the explosion are the lucky ones, there is a reason why it was called MAD or mutually assured destruction because it is madness.

Strangely people still think the end of the world by nuclear war means earth will be gone... it wont, just us and probably a good deal of the existing fauna wildlife etc.

[Zerush]

A few decades ago, the risk of a nuclear attack was lower, because no one in their right mind was going to drop a large nuclear bomb on a country directly, leaving a contaminated territory. The same thing today, but we no longer think about launching a nuclear bomb or a missile directly, but rather letting it explode out of the atmosphere above a country, resetting it to the 18th century, kicking out the infrastructure and, in the process, also it's satellites, which they were not capable of in the first cold war..

Of course, this means that the inhibition threshold for pressing the red button has dropped significantly with this type of use.

[revelator]

well yes and no, but for a pacemaker user the answer will most likely be a big NO .

And who knows how some of the worlds leaders might react to such an attack ?.

The variable we cant anticipate is human reaction, not that we have done such a swell job in that regard in past ventures.

We dont need to look further back than the wars fought in recent years against an enemy whose feudal system gives them the god given right (dark ages stuff) to repress the female part of the culture and now even goes as far as wanting to decide which clothe beard etc. the population has to have.

They would rather die in the tens of thousands than give up those "rights" as long as they take some of us with them.

How do we fight against that ? well we cant unless we suddenly decide to decimate the entire populace, but that might not be palatable.

Not that it is likely they will do more than the occasional terrorism attack eh. burn the heretics stuff. Truth be told if i were in that part of the world id likely get out before the sand really got my feet burning hehe.

To many unknowns.

[Zerush]

5 hours ago, revelator said:

well yes and no, but for a pacemaker user the answer will most likely be a big NO .

And who knows how some of the worlds leaders might react to such an attack ?.

The variable we cant anticipate is human reaction, not that we have done such a swell job in that regard in past ventures.

We dont need to look further back than the wars fought in recent years against an enemy whose feudal system gives them the god given right (dark ages stuff) to repress the female part of the culture and now even goes as far as wanting to decide which clothe beard etc. the population has to have.

They would rather die in the tens of thousands than give up those "rights" as long as they take some of us with them.

How do we fight against that ? well we cant unless we suddenly decide to decimate the entire populace, but that might not be palatable.

Not that it is likely they will do more than the occasional terrorism attack eh. burn the heretics stuff. Truth be told if i were in that part of the world id likely get out before the sand really got my feet burning hehe.

To many unknowns.

In any case, I am at an age since it is clear to me that I do not have enough years left to see the outcome of this comedy, I only hope that our children and grandchildren do not piss in "gratitude" on our graves.  

All that remains for me is to try to find out why the most stupid and inept sons of a bitch are always chosen to run the world, watching the news in the morning.

 

[revelator]

Ditto.