XPost: rec.arts.comics.strips   
   From: psperson@old.netcom.invalid   
      
   On Sun, 19 Oct 2025 11:26:38 -0400, Cryptoengineer   
    wrote:   
      
   >On 10/19/2025 10:04 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:   
   >> Lynn McGuire   wrote:   
   >>> So you are going stop porting mainframe software down to the PCs, a   
   >>> trend that got started in 1987 with the 80386 ?   
   >>>   
   >>> We actually supported our mainframe software on the PC in 1984 using the   
   >>> IBM AT/370 board running at 0.5 mips and 0.1 mflops with 6 MB of ram   
   >>> soldered to a full length daughter board for $14,000 each, including MVS   
   >>> (IIRC, maybe was CMS).  I am fairly sure that we sold over a thousand of   
   >>> these for IBM.  The 80386 / 80387 combo was a welcome change for   
   >>> mainframe software porting down to the PC.   
   >>    
   >> There are currently serious issues with code bloat with commercial software   
   >> because as Mr. Gates says, "people don't buy new versions for bug fixes,   
   >> they buy it for new features."  So we have small applications like Matlab   
   >> which was a great engineering math package that ran in 4Mb on the Sun 4,   
   >> and we add stuff and add stuff and now we have a bloated mess that barely   
   >> shambles along on a 16GB PC.   
   >>    
   >> I once took apart a factory automation system on a Vax and figured out   
   >> what it was actually doing... it had many data entry screens, and it had   
   >> all kinds of internal databases.... but really all it needed to be doing   
   >> was to talk to a PLC, take user input to send to the PLC, and take data   
   >> from the PLC to put unsorted into six flat files which would get uploaded   
   >> to an IBM.  It came in around 300,000 lines of code and I replaced it with   
   >> about 500 lines of python.   
   >   
   >I recently got into 3d printing. I have a newish gaming laptop that had   
   >16Gb of RAM - a number which would have been beyond impressive just   
   >15 years ago.  It was literally a million times the RAM I took home in   
   >my first computer (Apple ][+).   
   >   
   >The main SW that runs on the PC is 'Bambu Labs', which turns STL files   
   >into printer-specific commands and sends it to the printer. The original   
   >version I installed ran fine, but then Bambu brought out a new version.   
   >   
   >It wouldn't run in 16Gb, even with everything else shut down. I bumped   
   >the ram to 64 Gb, and now it runs.   
   >   
   >I guess I'm old, since I find this mind-boggling.   
      
   I agree with your assessment.   
      
   I think I would consider that to be a "downgrade". And revert to the   
   prior version.   
      
   But then, I am not attracted to the Latest Newest Version -- provided   
   the Oldier Dinkier Version I am running works fine for me.   
      
   Also, what amounts to printing a file doesn't sound like something   
   that has to be done entirely in RAM. Is parking parts of the   
   program/data on the disk when not needed no longer allowed?   
      
   The relevant rule: an "upgrade" makes things better. If a new   
   version/"update" makes things /worse/, then it is a "downgrade".   
      
   Corollary: don't "update" anything if you don't have a /reason/ to do   
   so. By "reason" is meant a problem with the program you hope the   
   update will solve or a new feature that you know you could find a use   
   for if it actually works as you imagine it does. It does /not/ mean   
   just to get the "latest and greatest".   
      
   Note that, with Windows, one is pretty much stuck with doing updates   
   and hoping they focus on "new features" that will have no impact on   
   the usefullness of the computer. The Corollary, sadly, only applies   
   when you have a choice.   
   --    
   "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,   
   Who evil spoke of everyone but God,   
   Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)