[Coco] The early days of Hacking and Coding a CoCo Was: Here's a CoCo 1 ...

[Allen Huffman]

On Jan 19, 2014, at 11:54 PM, Aaron Wolfe <aawolfe at gmail.com> wrote:
> I didn't mean to imply anything was stupid or pointless.

That's what *I* was implying, a few years ago. But now I realize this machine I carry with me is sooooo much faster than the computer I had not too long ago, I figure I should stop complaining unless I'm really trying to do some heavy lifting.

> are not efficient at many of the things computers can do.  SSH is a
> good example.  That is something I do quite a bit and have tried on a

Have you played with some of the iOS solutions?

> online documentation while working on a remote linux box via SSH.  On
> a tablet you can never see all three at the same time!

I can see how that would be a problem. But the resolution of my tablet is higher than the resolution of my laptop, so I can't really complain about lack of screen real estate. (Screen is smaller, though, since I have a larger laptop than I used to have.)

> For the cost of an ipad plus bluetooth keyboard and mouse, you could
> have a very nice laptop capable of so much more than an ipad is, and
> when you compare traveling with ipad + kb + mouse, there isn't much
> gained in terms of portability vs a small laptop either.

True, true... But I wonder: how many pictures do folks take with their digital camera, versus their phones? It doesn't matter how great the device is if you never have it with you. I think if I had an Ultrabook, which would still be twice as bulky, I might "almost" see myself carrying something like that around.

> Cringley's vision of the future may be spot on, but today's tech isn't
> delivering that experience.  

That sounds like a software issue then, more than a hardware issue. We use three netbook computers (Atom processors) to run three attractions in Haunted Houses, and those things are so slow and limited compared to a modern tablet, but they are enough to do the job. Unforunately, their screen is so tiny and the keyboards are crap, it's harder to type on them than an iPad and bluetooth keyboard. (I started out with a Dell netbook and used it for a month or so, then the iPad came out and I got rid of the netbook.)

The times they are a changing, and us "old folks" (welcome to the club) are going to be holding on to our quaint keyboards and "mice" while a new generation is coming up wondering why we touch things to use them :)

		-- A