Thoughts on Computing

In most regards, we have come an extremely long way from the first computers. There have been ridiculous advances in size, cost, speed, power consumption and portability. But what’s interesting is that today, outside of extravagant purpose-built supercomputers, everybody’s running Intel with the same architecture. It’s like going to the car lot and having your choice of 10 different makes, and they’ve all got the same engine and suspension. Apple shows up with a different interior and a different paint color. Let’s say, Victoria Plum Firemist. Dell can’t figure out what color to paint their car so they look at Apple and paint theirs “Purple”.  That’s the state of machines today

But it wasn’t always so. In fact, until the PC revolution, there was no common “best” way to build a machine. For the first decade or so of commercial machines, you either chose a scientific computer, or a business oriented computer. Both were general purpose, but a scientific machine excelled at complex math (maybe it had hardware floating point) while a business machine was better at sorting and merging (high speed I/O). You might buy a Univac 1103 for your hydrodynamics problems, and a Univac II for payroll and inventory. The eventual availability of compact, affordable memory and reduced circuit size meant one machine could excel at both tasks. History credits this to the famed IBM 360 which was a make-or-break proposition for the company*. If you’ve ever wondered why it was called the 360, now you know- to encompass the complete circle of computing demands.

But a bent towards a specific field is pretty general. Today, a byte is specified as 8 bits, also known as a Word. 8-bit microcontrollers spurred the microcomputer industry in the late 70’s. 4 bits was too few (there was an Intel 4004) and 16 bits at that stage, just out of reach for most applications. But, it was realized very early on that the bigger the computer word, the more “work” that could be done in a single computing cycle. And even in 1952, people were trying to get all the computing speed they could out of their vacuum tube machines (which were remarkably fast). One machine might specify an instruction, a source address and a destination address (in binary of course) in a single word. 64-bits, or even more, were not uncommon 50 years ago. A large word also had the advantage that large numbers could be manipulated without splitting them into segments, but that’s another story. Other machines, such as the NORC, might even specify the addend address, the augend address and the destination address in a single word. Others included the address of the next instruction within that word.

And here’s the thing… Nobody had yet settled the matter of whether decimal arithmetic, or binary arithmetic, was the superior thing. That would take another 10 or 15 years. Having the machine work entirely in binary meant more efficient use of memory, but it also meant that conversion into, and out of, the machine would be required if it were to be human readable. And then we have 1’s complement, 2’s complement, XS3, etc.  Decimal machines solved this issue by acting on the digits of the stored numbers specifically as BCD, but 4 bits are required for each digit, so there’s a memory tradeoff because you essentially throw away the values of 11-15.

And what then, of letters? IBM preferred the EBCDIC encoding arrangement which assigned 6-bits to each letter; others preferred some flavor of 7-bit ASCII. Not only are the two incompatible, but ASCII allows natural sorting; that is, the binary code for G is greater than F, and F is greater than E. This is not so with EBCDIC. And how might the machine tell the difference between a number and a letter? If two leading zeros are appended to each BCD number, memory is wasted. Though clever designers might then assign these two bits to serve a different function (such as in the 1401).

But as the saying goes, that’s not all! Why must the machine word length be a fixed number of digits? What if it was infinite and the ends defined by some sort of bit pattern? This would certainly make for a much more efficient machine and a lot less wasted memory. And so was the IBM 1401 born. It far outsold the conservative projections of most everyone at IBM and became the most popular computer in the world up until the microcomputer movement. Words could be variable length, and their total length defined by a code known as a word mark.

So now we have scientific and business, BCD and binary, fixed length (of many varieties), variable length, and encoding differences.

Oh yes, and checking facilities. How does one ensure the exact number of bits has been recorded to tape when the blocks are written at several thousand bits per second and the loss of just one bit will completely invalidate the data? To say nothing of swapping reels on drives of various adjustment. Well, there’s no one way to do it. “All 1’s” checkers, checksum counts, even/odd parity bits, redundant channel recording, redundant CPU comparisons, and a host of other techniques were favored by various companies for various machines. And all worked pretty darn well.

And still, we haven’t discussed instruction architecture, which can get pretty wild. Or memory systems and addressing.

All of these variations meant lots of variety, and competition, and new ideas in CPU and architecture design. Something that’s exceedingly rare today, and likely never to be visited again given that software development work is done primarily at a high level language and that coders no longer have to give any though to the nuts and bolts of the machine. And as long as we can put more transistors on a chip, and make memory smaller, cheaper, and faster, there’s no need to care. The downside is that we’ve narrowed our path of computer evolution, which is only 1 of many nails in the coffin for the personal computer.

*One of many reasons the 360 was a gamble was that up until this time, IBM had attempted some semblance of machine compatibility amongst their scientific machines, and again with their business machines. The 360 was totally incompatible with ALL existing machines, and it would be some time before emulators (or useful software in general) would be available.

The Redbox Special

The problem with Jobs, is that Ashton Kutcher is no Noah Wyle. Seriously. He’s good, but between an overly simplistic script and failed attempts to channel Jobs’ concentrated anger, well, this film is a rental at best. I can overlook the choppy editing, the rearranging of events in time, the trumped-up, over-dramatized “pivotal moments”, but this thing is a train wreck compared to Pirates. Which, for a 15-year-old, made for TV movie, manages to be more convincing, more comedic, and more professional than this Virgin production.

Other than that, it was great.

I also spent slightly more than the ticket price on a DVD documentary about Eckert and Mauchly which arrived this week. My review on Amazon was not kind. That makes two terrible computer biopic/documentaries endured within 48 hours.

Long Overdue

Lots going on (of course) and an update is long overdue. In the meantime, I thought this was rather interesting... Source: http://architecturefarm.wordpress.com/

revisions

July 1, 2013

A nice piece in the Boston Globe today about the culture of revising in literature.  The article makes the point that revisions weren’t a big part of writing until the early 20th century, in part because literature was seen as a more impulsive, romantic art form.  It was the modernists, the argument goes, who wanted to actually craft writing so that it made a point, an argument, or anything more than an impression.
The other half of this, though, is what Hannah Sullivan, who has written a book called The Work of Revision, calls “literary technology.”  Paper was expensive, printing more so, and thus first drafts for Shakespeare often had to be final drafts as well.  When typesetting was mechanized, and particularly when the typewriter made rewriting easy and necessary, the sanctity of the original faded, and authors, publishers, and (yes) editors came to see texts as living documents.  That, of course, has only accelerated as pixels have replaced ink-on-platen characters.
This article is great on so many levels–of course, I see a parallel to construction, in that a lot of the nineteenth century construction drawing sets I’ve looked at show that the revision process there, too, was not what we’re used to today.  Commercial buildings in particular tended to go through a pretty brief sketching phase, and then turned into completely developed drawings pretty quickly.  Manufacturers and builders filled in most of the blanks from there.  Today, we go through at least four or five rounds of drawing sets before anything goes out to bid, and a nearly infinite number of design options early in the process.  Blame cheap paper or SketchUp, but like writing, architectural practice today is as much revision as anything else…which in the best of all worlds gives us the opportunity to continually refine and edit.

May-Day

It’s been a very fast month….This time of year always is, but it doesn’t help I’ve been away for work for a good portion. Siding work was cut short due to losing the picker, which was ok because it wasn’t going to be of much use while I was traveling. And so, I found myself away the second week of this month, only to return to a fever pitch. I basically had 4 days to get the Damfest preparations completed (modify the amp, get the Damfest staples, do the grocery shopping), then get as much done on the Toro as I could for the 4^th St. Cruise since I would be returning the day before (and the dash was still torn apart), find time to pickup the glass door that was ready at Laidig’s, set aside time to haul things up from the Parents’ basement for their garage sale, and haul things in from The Lodge (like a 300 lb Pepsi machine) before Friday morning. It all went off without a hitch, except for the glass pick-up. This required the station wagon due to the glass length, and the wagon decided to strand me a few blocks away from my glass guy just after the pick-up. Therein lies a tale best suited for another time. Suffice it to say, that was a lost evening.

But it all worked out and we had our annual Damfest Celebration that Friday, the 17^th. To my surprise, we had a pretty decent turn-out and exceeded our usual tear-down time by several  hours. It was a blast.

The garage sale was also a success- I managed to part with some larger items that would have taken too much floor space out at the Lodge. These were ‘gimmes’ I had picked up over the years, usually as a bonus along with the real thing I was going for. A large CBS-Columbia 50’s TV, a GE Hi-Fi with FM band, my ’39 Silvertone with record cutter, a full-size Casio keyboard, and some other oddball stuff.

From there, a blur of mowing, planting and cleaning before I left again for another week in Downers. This time getting home Friday afternoon, the 24^th. A stop at the post office revealed a load of goodies waiting for me. Parts to finish up the Toro and a case of paper tape for the teletype machines. A quick run by Menards for some 1/8” lauan ply for the bookcase project, and then the great unloading. I got the Toro spiffed up, ran it up to Janesville to see if my new vacuum lines had improved things, and also topped off the tires (if you ever need air, the JV Kwikstar has an industrial compressor…the air hose is ¾ diameter and you’ll spend a fraction of the time filling your tires compared to EVERY. WHERE. ELSE. Plus, it’s FREE.) Yes, it’s worth the drive. Unfortunately, the clouds started rolling in that evening, but we still had acres to mow. It was dark when I put the tractor in the shed and that’s just about the time the rain started.

I awoke to thunder and lightning, and knew the 4^th Street Cruise was going to be a bust. That’s okay, because the day was going to be a busy one and I could use all the hours I could get. I put away my tools and materials in CS3 while Cara worked on cleaning upstairs in the Lodge. The Fondue Party was that night and there was still final shopping and cleaning to be done. I honestly don’t know where the day went, but 6:30 rolled around mighty quick. The fondue was a mixed bag…the conventional unit failed to heat properly and the beer/cheese mix wasn’t cooperating. Still, the mini-Cordon Bleus were great. After a tour of the facilities, Ben and Hilary bowed out before the games could begin. Viet was new to the game of dominoes, but that didn’t seem to stop him. We finally wrapped things up after 12…or was it 1? Like I say…a blur. And oh yes, I proposed to Cara over dinner!

Sunday was equally soggy. The day started with assembling the Ikea shelves I had bought the week prior, but the changes I had planned involved modifying the sides with my skilsaw. Unfortunately, I discovered this after we had the first one fully assembled. Nothing more to do than perform the operation then and there in the living room with the shop vac following along. We were able to modify the others out on the front balcony in between cloudbursts until the rain, and a dead battery, ultimately forced our hand. So…a trip to Menards was in order for their 11% off sale for trees and bushes. This entailed me digging the old, dead bushes out and hauling the whole mess in the back of the Blazer.  We were able to get things exchanged and the new trees and bushes loaded as the rain once again, returned. With all this rain we figured we better check on the parents’ basement since they were out of town….and yes, water shooting through the basement wall is never a good thing. So…several hours later we had 95% of it vacuumed up and fans running. Now, with evening descending, we returned home to finish the last shelf mods. I scrambled like mad to mark and cut the plywood outside that I had previously purchased while there was still enough light to follow my pencil marks. (I’ll have a separate entry on this). Then back off the sawhorses and into the Lodge for gel staining. That gel stain is interesting stuff. While it all set up to dry, I cleaned up and put on a new LD of Sleepers before calling it a night. Deniro nailed it as always.

Which brings us to yesterday…A quiet day by comparison. Ran into town to check on the parents’ basement. Planted the trees and bushes we bought. I got all the cabinets assembled with their new backs. We made a trip to the cemetery with flowers Cara had bought. I fixed up the Model 28 teletype with the new parts that arrived. Then a late dinner followed by Double Indemnity. Also…found my camera!

The Cottage View

After reading about the screen slated for removal, and the marquee and magnificent, larger-than-life, neon sign coming down the following day, I began to mull-over thoughts of a trip to the Cottage View Drive-In Theater in Cottage Grove, MN.

Mind you, I have no personal attachment to the that drive-in, but being a fan in general, and having visited it several times during the day on various trips through, each time noting the compounding neglect, I figured now was as good a time as any. So last Wednesday I left work at 11, rushed home, changing cars along the way, grabbed my camera, some Dr. Pepper for the road, and aimed the Blazer for Janesville to fill up the tank and top-off the tires. 

As is my style, I took the county blacktops and older state highways up to St. Paul. It was a beautiful day for a drive, and upon arrival, I noticed the twin entry/exit lanes were occupied by various semi trailers and utility vehicles. The major portion of the sign had just been lowered into place and attachment points were being welded to the top and bottom for support.

I strolled around and snapped a few pics and eventually decided to approach the one man not wearing a workers’ uniform. See, here’s the thing. This drive-in has been at risk for closing for the last several seasons. Dare I say half a decade. As a twin-cities suburb, urban sprawl had made its way right up to the backlot of the theater. The neighboring housing development literally towers above the main lot as the parking area was built on a flat lower than the surrounding embankment.

And let’s be honest, you can tell the writing was on the wall. The speakers had mostly disappeared, lights were falling apart, the ticket booth could have used some paint. Having known this for years in advance, I was going to see about trying to save a few artifacts, legally, that I could re-purpose for my drive-in.

So I approached the man standing there and learned that he and his wife were actually the long-time managers and were there to see the sign come down. No real emotion was expressed by him, but  the community had been rallying via facebook and there were other cars that had made a point to stop along the main road and snap a few photos.

The bad news is that I came home empty handed…but the reason is the good news. The sign, the screen, the projection equipment, and according to this fellow, the light fixtures I came to see about, are all being saved and transported to Hastings, MN.  A fellow with much land and apparently, deep pockets, has been rescuing endangered history, including churches and old-time jails according to his website. Visitors are invited each year for an old time power show as well. www.littleloghouseshow.com

Meanwhile, it occurs to me how we lost our own Hillcrest Drive-in back in ’00, and how social media didn’t really exist back then. Apparently, I provided a few photos to ‘drive-in jim’.  http://www.drivein-jim.net/cory.html  Wouldn’t it have been interesting if we had a Save The Hillcrest FB page with 18k hits. Not that it would have affected the outcome any. These decisions to sell-out are pretty much a done-deal before word ever gets out to the public.

Before leaving, I made a point of navigating to the upper neighborhoods, found a nice spot to park, and made my way down to the gravel to snap a few last photos.

And so, while I returned sans-fixtures, it was a gorgeous day for a drive, and rather than make excuses about this place being 4 hours north, at least I can say ‘I tried’.