To the laser show software companies

[godfrey]

BTW, DOS died about 8 years ago... Isn't it about time to quit writing apps like it is still alive and thriving.

And yet I still drop to a DOS prompt to do things faster than I can with a GUI interface.

Such as;

xcopy c:\users\admini~1\docume~1\*.* /e/s m:\users\data

It just works...and I don't have to sit and watch pieces of paper flying across a window into a folder waiting for Windows to "calculate remaining time" for the operation to complete.

All Windoze does is get larger and larger with every release. My Windows directory (c:\windows) is 8.8 gig... All you had to do to get a computer to boot years ago was (sys a:\) and that could fit on a 5.25" 360k floppy.

I'm surprised I'm not using Procomm Plus. SO DON'T TAKE MY DOS AWAY!

Thank god for Linux though...

[carmangary]

When I was in high school I ran a wrote BBS similar to this. It only had a 300 baud connection (30 characters per second - you could read faster than it the words appeared on the screen) and it only held fifty 1K messages. But, it ran on a TRS-80 with only 48K of RAM. For storage it only had a single density single sided disk drive that only held 80K.

[buffo]

I remember the TRS-model 80! 48K of ram, eh? Must have been a model II then, except I thought they only came in 32 K and 64K versions.?. (Model I only had either 4K or later 16K...) Eh - those things came out when I was in junior high school.

My very first machine was a home-built Challenger C1P with 8K of ram. Came with Microsoft Basic 2.01! Hell of a little machine though.

Ahhh - Memories!

Adam

[flecom]

And yet I still drop to a DOS prompt to do things faster than I can with a GUI interface.

Such as;

xcopy c:\users\admini~1\docume~1\*.* /e/s m:\users\data

It just works...and I don't have to sit and watch pieces of paper flying across a window into a folder waiting for Windows to "calculate remaining time" for the operation to complete.

All Windoze does is get larger and larger with every release. My Windows directory (c:\windows) is 8.8 gig... All you had to do to get a computer to boot years ago was (sys a:\) and that could fit on a 5.25" 360k floppy.

I'm surprised I'm not using Procomm Plus. SO DON'T TAKE MY DOS AWAY!

Thank god for Linux though...

no way i still use Procomm Plus.. that thing is awesome... use it whenever im working on any cisco/hp stuff to console in... works every time without a hitch...

newer isnt always better

[trwalters001]

My first computer was a TRS-80 Model 1. I built a DAC board for it and was driving G-100 scanners and using a 5mw Metrologic HeNe!!
(showing my age...) ;-)

[godfrey]

My first computer was a TRS-80 Model 1. I built a DAC board for it and was driving G-100 scanners and using a 5mw Metrologic HeNe!!
(showing my age...) ;-)

Ahh...a trash-80 - I loved those. I ran (WWIV) BBS on a 8088. Also had a Tandy Model 100 laptop with a built in 300 baud modem. When I got a 2400 baud modem I was on top of the world.

Now, I have a 10 meg connection (cable) and think it's slow.

[carmangary]

I remember the TRS-model 80! 48K of ram, eh? Must have been a model II then, except I thought they only came in 32 K and 64K versions.?. (Model I only had either 4K or later 16K...)

Mine was a Model I. You could go up to 48K if you added the expansion interface. It was also needed to add the RS232 interface and disk controller.

[buffo]

Cool.!. I never knew anyone that had an expansion interface for the Model I. (Never could get them, we always thought it was a vaporware product.)

Magical times, those days were...

Adam

[PackCat]

OK, OK... enough nostalgia already...

Yes, I remember using pin connectors to set my serial ports and addresses and cross my fingers after the 10th configuration setting and hoped it would work. God forbid you lose one of those little devils. I also remember writing assembly language on an old Apple to make it do light show patterns to the music.

The point I was making, is that all of the software I see, looks like it was still written by 6 yr old kids in a basement, that want to sell it for $29.95, like those cabinet creator disks.
I wouldn't mind paying $2K for a program with an expansive library that looked like it was written by a serious company with an expense account and could back their product without you having to master CAD-CAM to use it. I paid $6K for Autocad in 2000 no less, just to watch my Dad never use it, because it was all DOS commands and manual compile instead of point-n-click.

I had another laser that was programmed by a keypad on the controller, where you plotted all of the points, (like GPS navigation on a cellphone) that was easier to work with than all of the Laser software I've seen.
A Laser package with a UI like Millennium (Laser Electronics Ltd) and a corporate backing would be a good start.

The age of user programming is over. The end user should manage the software, not teach it how to do its core function.

[carmangary]

Well, I have to agree with you to some extent. I decided to write my own software instead of paying for something that I thought was over priced. But, it as easy as you think. You try to write some good software on the budget that these companies have. A good computer programmer can cost a company $150K a year in the US. How many copies of Mamba is that?