Old trackball won't work on modern laptops

[Joerg]

Joerg wrote:
(snip)




Amen to that, Joerg. Stuff is either made so cheap that it breaks long before
it should or the new models of the things it's used with render it obsolete.
Either way, ya gotta buy new. It sux.

Try to find a new SCSI scanner or an x-GHz AT motherboard. Was checking out DVD
burners on the Plextor site the other day and did a double-take when I noticed
that all on that page, except one, is USB. Only the one odd one is ATAPI.

You think you have a problem? My OS doesn't support USB.

There is one solution to that and the industry shoots itself in the foot
at times because of it: You can forego upgrades for a long, long time.
Sure, I just bought a new PC for the lab because I needed one there. But
I can and on occasion do schematic entry on this here newsgroup machine
from the mid-90's. When working on schematic capture or filter design I
do not notice any significant difference in productivity versus the new
XP machine. Oh, and it has a real CRT where I can see stuff without
glasses even when the sun hits the screen.

Did I mention that we do not own a DVD player at home and that one can
live just fine without it? Or that the old 25" analog TV still works
like a champ? That my car does not "feature" electric this, that and the
other thing but passes smog with flying colors every time? That this
consulting office is usually heated by a wood stove? That I split the
firewood with a hydraulic cylinder driven by an engine built in 1942?
That the 1950's tube radio here in the office sounds better than them
newfangled MP3 players yet never needed new electrolytics?

 

[Joel Kolstad]

Try to find a new SCSI scanner or an x-GHz AT motherboard. Was checking
out DVD
burners on the Plextor site the other day and did a double-take when I
noticed
that all on that page, except one, is USB. Only the one odd one is ATAPI.

Some are going to be SATA as well... in fact, I believe that Plextor was one
of the first companies to release SATA DVD/CD burners.

You think you have a problem? My OS doesn't support USB.

Keep the OS/2 machine around for whatever you need it for, spend $250 on a
bare-bones PC and install Linux?

 

[Joel Kolstad]

Did I mention that we do not own a DVD player at home and that one can
live just fine without it?

I'll ship you one for free if you'd like, Joerg! Just e-mail me your
address...

There's nothing wrong with keeping to the technology you already have and
enjoy, although I would suggest that sometimes you may not appreciate newer
technology until you've actually sat down and used it for awhile. There is
a perceptible, positive difference between, e.g., a 1080p big-screen TV and
your 25" analog clunker, while I'd buy that heating your office with wood is
perhaps actually a little nicer than heating with electricity or gas.

That the 1950's tube radio here in the office sounds better than them
newfangled MP3 players yet never needed new electrolytics?

I'm told that what most people consider the "better" sound of tubes is what
we engineers generally refer to as "distortion."

---Joel

 

[jasen]

Some of my filter design software doesn't come any other way than DOS.
Never had any problems running it all w/o a clean DOS boot. The only
catches are the occasional "speed overruns", IOW the program relied on
some DOS timers or whatever to flag a status but now it blazes by so
fast that I can't see what the flags read. And the calc speed of those
old programs on new PCs is phenomenal compared to the early 90's.

the timer (0x40:0x1c) is typically well emulated, code that uses timing
loops, however, will fail miserably as processors are now 1000 times
faster than they were in the 80s

what software is giving you grief?

Bye.
Jasen

 

[jasen]

This is not completely correct, read the wine myth FAQ.
http://www.winehq.org/site/myths

Interesting, but I didn't notice that point being addressed.


Bye.
Jasen

 

[Jan Panteltje]

Interesting, but I didn't notice that point being addressed.

windows->linux
It specifically mentions other OSses like BSD etc
Also 'convert into' is the vaguest formulation of what it does I
have seen so far.
I think one can say it is pretty much a windows clone using Unix for
the IO.
(Now somebody will argue with ta).
So let's refer to the description on their site.

 

[Joerg]

the timer (0x40:0x1c) is typically well emulated, code that uses timing
loops, however, will fail miserably as processors are now 1000 times
faster than they were in the 80s

what software is giving you grief?

Don't remember. As much as I do remember it was WDF filter design
routines from Texas Instruments. But AFAIR I found a "fix" on the web to
recompile in a way that the main program didn't use fixed timing
intervals anymore and that made it work. With the Mildenberger WDF
program I still have the issue that some warnings show up for about
100msec and I have to repeat the run several times, reading one word per
"flash" to make out what it says.

 

[Joerg]

I'll ship you one for free if you'd like, Joerg! Just e-mail me your
address...

Thanks, Joel. But we wouldn't use it at all

There's nothing wrong with keeping to the technology you already have and
enjoy, although I would suggest that sometimes you may not appreciate newer
technology until you've actually sat down and used it for awhile. There is
a perceptible, positive difference between, e.g., a 1080p big-screen TV and
your 25" analog clunker, ...

True, but we only watch the evening news. And even those only up to the
weather forecast. TV doesn't mean much for us.

...while I'd buy that heating your office with wood is
perhaps actually a little nicer than heating with electricity or gas.

No rushing air, much healthier IMHO.

 

[Robert Latest]

["Followup-To:" header set to sci.electronics.design.]

No rushing air, much healthier IMHO.

The primary heat source doesn't make a difference to the helthiness of room
climate. Those European-style water-heated radiators make a nice heating, no
matter how the water gets hot (I'm saying European-style because all I've
ever seen in the US were those AC ducts used for both heating and cooling -
quite unpleasant, actually).

robert

 

[Albert van der Horst]

<mutter, mutter> Well yes, I shall have to cross the hardware bridge too
but assuming that I have an ISA slot then is Wine likely to allow me use
it for the emulator? Of course, I am now less certain that I could
purchase a motherboard with ISA on it - do they still make them?

Linux also contains dosemu, that is probably better at running
old DOS software then Wine. At least you will have less overhead, and
an easier time debuggin.

 

[Richard Kanarek]

Greetings,

The following is a link to a new, bare, 5 ISA slot motherboard. Price:
$5.95.

http://www.bgmicro.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=11773

(Home page: www.bgimicro.com)


Need I continue?


Cordially,
Richard Kanarek

Not affiliated with BG Micro except as an occasional (satisfied)
customer.