drivebyubnt's comments

drivebyubnt | 5 years ago | on: 27-inch iMac gets a major update

Consensus is that the first ARM devices will be 13.3-inch MacBook Pro and a new redesigned 24" iMac, based mostly on Ming Chi Kuo's report from just before WWDC2020.

https://9to5mac.com/guides/ming-chi-kuo/

drivebyubnt | 5 years ago | on: Xbox Architecture

A 3 chip solution was very common for that era. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northbridge_(computing)

The only unusual thing here is that the GPU and Northbridge are the same chip.

drivebyubnt | 6 years ago | on: A Quick Tour of the HP-9000 712/100 NeXTSTEP Workstation (2016)

HP also was a leader in device ergonomics. Their devices were pretty and easy to use, as well as reliable.

I don't think anyone had offices. It was all cubicles. (I worked at HP Labs in the 80's and met both Bill and Dave a couple of times.)

One cool thing HP had was "lab stock" cabinets on every floor that were full of free-for-experimentation ICs and other components. I think it's likely that the Apple I and Apple II computers were designed using components taken from those lab stock cabinets. (The story is that Steve W. tried to get HP interested in producing the Apple computers, but they just wouldn't go for it.)

drivebyubnt | 6 years ago | on: Which Machines Do Computer Architects Admire? (2013)

I'd be careful about giving too much credit to the original ARM design. In retrospect, like many early RISC designs, it was over-optimised for its original application. Most of the unique/novel features of the original ARM architecture turned out to be bad ideas in the long run. Most of them were later removed from the architecture, or persist only in backwards compatibility modes.

ARM is ubiquitous today more due to business models and historical accident than to inherent superiority of the design. (See also x86.)

drivebyubnt | 6 years ago | on: Which Machines Do Computer Architects Admire? (2013)

Register renaming was IBM 360/91 1967

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomasulo_algorithm

drivebyubnt | 6 years ago | on: Why Google+ Failed

The main reason Google launches popular products by invitation only is to manage server load. Otherwise you get situations like the Pokemon Go launch, where the service was unreliable for the first few months.

drivebyubnt | 7 years ago | on: Magic Leap One now available for $2295

It was a dig at Palmer Luckey, who wrote a scathing review of the MLP.

https://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/

drivebyubnt | 10 years ago | on: Origin of the name “Google”

One of the early pop-culture mentions of googol was Peanuts, 23rd Jan 1963

http://www.peanuts.com/search/?pubdate=&sort_by=bydate&seaso...

drivebyubnt | 10 years ago | on: Alan Kay on re-creating Xerox PARC's design magic at CDG

He was a fellow at Atari too, without helping them very much. Alan's a great guy, a great speaker, and he made fundamental contributions to OO with Smalltalk. But probably his single biggest contribution was that he funded the creation the Alto out of his group's budget. (So as a VC rather than a scientist or manager.)

drivebyubnt | 11 years ago | on: Bad Microsoft

Have you read the mini-Msft blog? The big problem for msft employees is the up-or-out review system. If you don't make partner, the review process seems designed to kick you out of the company.

drivebyubnt | 12 years ago | on: The Sorry State of Peer-to-Peer iOS-to-Android connectivity

FWIW Java based mDNS libraries works fine on stock Android. I believe mDNS is the standards body name for the protocol that Bonjour uses.

drivebyubnt | 12 years ago | on: Odroid-U3: A quad-core 1.7GHz ARM single-board computer for $59

Consider a ubiquity networks edge router lite. It is $99 and has 3 gigabit Ethernet ports and dual core MIPS CPU and hardware packet forwarding. Runs Debian Linux. Active community.