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12017. alistairconnor - 11/10/2004 12:18:51 PM I'm doing some fascinating work on optimising database performance on a high-end cluster, fiddling with BIOS settings to favour I/O or memory access, etc... it may sound dry but I'm really enjoying it.
Specially since I've reduced the time of a crucial batch process from two and a half hours to 37 minutes...
It's all about making the trains run on time. 12018. Macnas - 11/10/2004 12:26:04 PM You'd get on well with a mate of mine, he built an alpha cluster a while back, and cut 6 hours off some process function or other. He tried to explain it to me, but when he started going on about quorum and the like, I had to call a halt, for both our sakes. 12019. PelleNilsson - 11/10/2004 1:18:33 PM In 1984 I put together a network optimisation program for Jordan using DBaseII and Basic. It ran on an Osborne PC with 64K internal memory and a 6MB stand-alone hard disk the size of an OH-projector. The processing time was about two hours. Fifteen years later after software (Pascal) and hardware upgrades the time was down to five minutes. These days transmission capacity is so cheap that nobody bothers much about optimization. 12020. alistairconnor - 11/10/2004 1:26:24 PM Hey listen Pops, in 1984 I was writing multi-user business software which ran on a Data Genera minicomputer the size of my desk. It had 128k of memory, and no hard disk at all: it ran off twin eight-inch floppies.
I swear this is true.
Optional addendum : And we used to live in shoebox in t'middle o't'road. 12021. Macnas - 11/10/2004 3:21:54 PM Did I ever tell you about the time my mate went out on a service call, to solve some disk problem?
He got there and found the 5.5 inch floppies were knackered, totally unreadable and refusing to boot, so he asked if they had made back-up copies.
"Oh yes" they replied, "we make copies every Friday, no fear of that".
They then produced the copies for him, consisting of an A4 binder with every copy they had ever made neatly inserted into clear plastic envelopes. Unfortunately (have you guessed yet? thought so..) they were photocopies.
Every Friday on the dot, they would photocopy the 5.5" floppies. Hence the knackered state of the floppies, and the total lack of back-up.
12022. alistairconnor - 11/10/2004 3:40:09 PM The people concerned wouldn't be Irish, would they?
... By any chance?
... Thought not. They were Computer Users. And/or Blondes. Same thing really. 12023. Magoseph - 11/10/2004 4:19:04 PM Ali, in the Business Section of the Milwaukee Journal this morning is the following article title: The Greater Milwaukee Committee is planning and paying for a trade mission to Cannes, France, next week to position the city's downtown as fertile ground for European retailers. Milwaukee is one of three U.S. cities, along with Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, N.C., that will exhibit at MAPIC, an international market for retail real estate that is expected to draw about 5,000 representatives of brokers, retailers and related companies.
As you can see, I live in a state that is not anti-French. I'm thinking of contacting the GMC. After all, I have a good résumé in sales experience and I can pay for my trips to France--I'm kidding, of course, since I can't leave my husband alone anymore, but it is tempting though, maybe just to offer my interpreter services if some French people come here to investigate...I could invite them over, at the very least. 12024. Macnas - 11/10/2004 4:22:47 PM Of course they were Irish. Probably Irish computer using blondes no less. But at least the manufacturers didn't have to cover the computer case in wool in order to attract people to use them, as they did in NZ.
That being said, this was back in the days when a computer was a mysterious magical box that sat there and....did ...stuff, or something.
Kind of like today really. 12025. judithathome - 11/10/2004 5:59:53 PM Magos, if you decide to do that...go to France for Milwaukee...I will volunteer to go along and keep you company. 12026. Magoseph - 11/10/2004 6:10:48 PM No, no, Judsie, you take Flexy and see that he takes his meds. 12027. judithathome - 11/10/2004 6:14:09 PM I could do that, too...but you have to bring me some nice stuff from Paris! 12028. Magoseph - 11/10/2004 6:23:59 PM No problem, I inherited a property I want to sell, so I'll buy what you want...almost. 12029. PelleNilsson - 11/10/2004 6:32:28 PM Around Christmas time in 1982 two things happened at the office. A small project in Saudi Arabia was completed and the geek we had sent there had dumped the Osborne in the office. Here it is in all its glory. 64K memory, two 90K floppies, 5" screen.
 
I and a Norwegian fellow had been picked to evaluate a tender for a new international exhange in Jordan. We had four offers, each with two or three financing options. We thought with dread on all the calculations and then we noticed the Osborne. None of us had ever seen a PC before. We opened it up and inside was a floppy marked "SuperCalc". No manual. We started the thing up and found ourselves looking at a grid. No comprehension on our part but we intuited that it could be useful in some yet to be understood way. We called the geek and he explained the basics. A new world opened. I never looked back. 12030. judithathome - 11/10/2004 10:43:29 PM Magos, my needs are small...some violet sachets and chocolate covered strawberries...espresso pastilles, things like that. 12031. Magoseph - 11/11/2004 1:06:08 PM Judsie, you mean to tell me that you're a 'low maintenance woman'? I don't think so.
Hello, Mac, how's the weather in your area? How's everything this morning?
12032. Macnas - 11/11/2004 1:10:31 PM Hello Mago, weather is ok, overcast and cold, but no rain.
As for the rest, I'm busy updating some standards and procedures. Thrilling. 12033. Magoseph - 11/11/2004 2:06:46 PM Thank you, Mac. I appreciate greatly your contribution to this thread and your unfailing courtesy in answering my queries.
I must confess here--after all, I peppered this thread with every little detail in my life. So now, this is what happened in my younger son's life, which is to say mine also. Within two months, he lost his wife, his dog, and his car, but kept his house. I posted up-thread the picture of his mashed car. Later today, I'll post the pictures of his new dog and new car. As for a new wife, he appears gun-shy, but time will tell.
Expressions of regret for these events weren't felt deeply in our family, since we knew that it is best for him and his future that he be free soon. (continued) 12034. Magoseph - 11/11/2004 4:36:11 PM At the airport coming from Alabama--Maggie the Shar-Pei.
The car--some favorite model...
12035. judithathome - 11/11/2004 6:22:17 PM I adore the dog!! Real cutie-pie. Or cutie-pei. 12036. Ms. No - 11/11/2004 7:23:58 PM heh!
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