[E3-hacking] Ever turning

[David Given]

On Sunday 19 June 2005 20:58, Jasmine Strong wrote:
> On 19 Jun 2005, at 20:54, David Given wrote:
> > I used to use a QL.
>
> Nah, you *tried* to use a QL.

Ah, I see you know them.

[...]
> Hey, I spent most of May writing a faster memcpy() for OMAP processors.

Hmm. An exciting life, eh?

[...]
> ...or a new Amstrad hobbyist machine, maybe?

The problem with the E3 is that it's *too* powerful; the temptation to port a 
real OS like Linux on it is far too great. If you go that route, eventually 
you start complaining because Firefox runs badly on it, which means you've 
missed the point.

The smaller 8-bitters were so crippled that you had to resort to clever tricks 
to get them to do anything at all... which means you end up having to learn 
the clever tricks, which stands you in good stead if, say, you have to spend 
a month writing memcpy().

Plus, it teaches you that you can write a usable word processor that runs in 
4kB. 

> My first computer was a CPC6128.  Lovely, it was.

I was posh. I had a (borrowed) BBC Micro.

[...]
> Indeed so.  Have you not fled that sinking ship yet?  Even the rats are
> going
> hungry, I hear.

No, no, I can say with some certainty that there are no rats left. Not even at 
the very back of the freezer.

-- 
"Curses! Foiled by the chilled dairy treats of righteousness!" --- Earthworm 
Jim (evil)