Date   : Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:41:39 +0100
From   : rick@... (Rick Murray)
Subject: No wonder CompSci graduates are unemployed

On 03/11/2010 14:13, Jules Richardson wrote:

> The emulator would be very visual, allowing easy inspection of memory
> contents, bus and CPU activity etc. to help teach how the machine worked.

<numpty>Oooh, why do I gotta learn all that crap, I just need to know 
how to do stuff in VBA!</numpty>


Back in the day, it was respected to know *how* the machines worked. 
Now, thanks to proprietary parts and patents and mind-blowing 
complexities, computers are fast becoming objects that sit and get 
"used" and little more.

It is scary how many computer repair people are unable to do basic 
things like resolve IRQ conflicts. I've been asked to help support older 
((E)ISA type) machines because repair people open them up, stare inside, 
then go away. It's like "network card don't work? swap in a different 
one" is a better idea than "WHY is this card not working?".

[hint - the telly capture card and the network card are both using a 
common interrupt on PCI because of a crappy motherboard (Compaq, hello!) 
so the "fix" is to set up and use an ISA network card (non-PCI) and 
accept that the machine will never ever cope with recording to network, 
even if the spec suggests it ought to be capable of it]


Best wishes,

Rick.

-- 
Rick Murray, eeePC901 & ADSL WiFI'd into it, all ETLAs!
BBC B: DNFS, 2 x 5.25" floppies, EPROM prog, Acorn TTX
E01S FileStore, A3000/A5000/RiscPC/various PCs/blahblah...