Computers
Sunday, March 17, 2024
Friday, March 15, 2024
The Game of Risk - Numberphile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdooKXXcWWc
I wrote a Risk AI for the Sega Genesis in the mid-90s. My algorithm was brute force trying to look a few moves ahead. It was computationally intensive and evaluated moves on the chances of success. This resulted in an aggressive approach that wanted to move a large army attacking countries one at a time.
The lead programmer didn't like my AI and wanted to use his own. I convinced his manager that my algorithm was winning and he told the lead programmer to use my code. However, the lead programmer used his own AI instead.
Your Internet is Too Fast
It was costing me around $90 a month for gigabit Internet service. So I downgraded to 200 Mbit, for about $35 per month, and it is plenty fast for me.
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
68000 processor vs. 65C816 processor
The 68000 was by far the easiest assembly language to program. The instruction set is HUGE, compared to the 6502 which has a small instruction set. As I recall, the 68000 allows you to have 8, 16, and 32-bit operations in both moving data and math and has a bunch of internal registers.
For me, programming the 68000 didn't feel much different from writing code in C.
However, the 68000 takes more clock cycles to execute its instructions. If we compare systems like the original Apple McIntosh vs the Apple II GS, or the Sega Genesis vs. the SNES, in both cases you have a roughly 8 Mhz 68000 versus a 2.8 or 3.58 Mhz 65816. The 65816 only has an 8-bit data bus but can execute instructions faster. Also, the original McIntosh used about 37% of its CPU time to drive the display.
For me, programming the 68000 didn't feel much different from writing code in C.
However, the 68000 takes more clock cycles to execute its instructions. If we compare systems like the original Apple McIntosh vs the Apple II GS, or the Sega Genesis vs. the SNES, in both cases you have a roughly 8 Mhz 68000 versus a 2.8 or 3.58 Mhz 65816. The 65816 only has an 8-bit data bus but can execute instructions faster. Also, the original McIntosh used about 37% of its CPU time to drive the display.
The 68000 is superior, but the 65816 is competitive with it. It is like CISC vs. RISC.
Apple deliberately limited the speed of the Apple II GS because they didn't want it to compete with the more expensive McIntosh. The chip can go up to 14 Mhz. Some people stated that the Apple II GS was the computer that Apple should have made instead of the McIntosh. It was cheaper, ran a graphical user interface, and was backward compatible with the Apple II.
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Do Hard Drives Vibrate?
I noticed that when I put my hand on my portable 5TB hard drive, it has a slight vibration. I didn't notice this before, so I was worried about it.
Google's AI tells me the following...
A small amount of vibration is normal for spinning drives. When in use, a hard drive's platter spins at 7,200 RPM, and its actuators and heads move to read and write data. This movement can cause a slight vibration in the X-Y plane. A healthy drive also makes mild, regular sounds of whirring.
Here are some other things to consider about hard drive vibrations:
- Rattling noisesIn most cases, rattling noises are normal and are no reason to worry. They are caused by mechanical parts of the HDD and just indicate that the drive is reading, writing or calibrating itself.
- Shock resistanceAt average HDD shock resistance is 50+ G while operating and 300+ G while non-operating.
- Driving a desktop hard driveSome say that you should not drive or expose a desktop hard drive to vibrations when powered on
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Saturday, March 9, 2024
Thursday, March 7, 2024
Saturday, February 24, 2024
Exciting decade for computer chips
In the 2010s computers advanced at a snail's pace. Sometimes people got excited when chips were 10% faster from one year to the next.
However, this decade has been dramatically different and it has everything to do with the circuit sizes on those chips. My 2009 iMac that died had a 42-nanometer chip. My 2017 iMac has a 14-nanometer chip. My new mini-computer has a 4-nanometer chip and it is very powerful for something not much bigger than a Whopper sandwich.
In late 2019 both Microsoft and Sony released their latest generation of video game consoles using 7-nanometer chips. Since these have APUs with the graphics "card" built into the main processor, I wanted something like this in a computer. I waited almost 4 years to be able to get something similar in a mini-desktop PC.
These smaller circuits are not cheap to make The equipment to make them can cost billions. This is why Taiwan Semiconductor, which made the investment, is the number one manufacturer of these chips.
But it has resulted in a paradigm shift where people realize that they don't have to spend a fortune on graphics cards to play games. The APUs are not as good as a $1200 gaming PC, but they are good enough.
This also has resulted in hand-held gaming systems that are as powerful as a computer and can also be used as a computer when hooked up to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
Even the most recent iPhone can double as a gaming system.
Reportedly, Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft are all coming out with more powerful gaming systems in the coming year. This has been an exciting decade for computer chips.
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Best wishes,
John Coffey
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Who The Hell Asked For A PS5 Pro?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k--psgxdUJw
I've been saying the same thing. I also bought a powerful mini-PC that can play games. All of this change, including the consoles and the handhelds, has happened because of AMD's new powerful energy-efficient chips. Intel has chips too, but they are not quite as good.
The PS5 and the XBox Series X consoles are 10.28 and 12 teraflop machines respectively. That is still a great deal of performance and you would have to spend a lot on a PC to match that.
Apple is also starting to push gaming on the most expensive iPhones.
I have no faith in Cloud Gaming, but this may eventually be the future where you can run triple-A games on any device with a screen.
Saturday, February 17, 2024
Why Everyone is Wrong about the Apple Vision Pro (including me)
@john2001plus
0 seconds ago
I don't need to wear a heavy screen on my head when I have a house full of more screens than I actually use. Two desktops and an iPhone are enough, but I also have a TV and a laptop that I rarely use, and two tablets I don't use. I also have a handheld game system that doesn't get much use.
Thursday, February 15, 2024
Thursday, February 8, 2024
USB-C Tutorial for Everybody
The bottom line is that when buying a USB-C cable, make sure that it supports the data speed that you want. The same thing applies to power delivery for fast charging.
Friday, February 2, 2024
Using Apple Vision Pro: What It’s Actually Like!
I find this interesting. I can't imagine it being more than a novelty for now. For it to be anything more than a novelty, it is going to have to immerse you into another world.
Saturday, January 27, 2024
34 *AWESOME* Atari 2600 Homebrews! Episode 1!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMzkgTKJm84
It is hard to believe that these are games for the 2600, which only had 160 bytes of RAM.
A few 2600 games had extra RAM or other chips to give better graphics or sound. I suspect that the emulators can handle the extra hardware.
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Friday, January 19, 2024
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Thursday, January 11, 2024
WARNING: ChatGPT Could Be The Start Of The End! Sam Harris
Sam Harris spends 30 minutes talking about the dangers of AI.
He makes assumptions about the future. I think that he underestimates the difficulty of building a general AI.
I think that ChatGPT is overhyped. It is like a Wikipedia that can talk. It has no understanding except to predict what words should follow other words based on statistical information. This is why it gets so much wrong. I asked it to write some computer code and the answer wasn't even remotely correct.
We will inevitably develop general AI, but AI is a tool to solve specific problems. We don't have to make an AI that matches human intelligence when it is more efficient to have problem-specific AI. Calculators can do math far better than I can, and even the best 8-bit chess computers can outplay me at chess. It would be like saying that when we developed mechanical locomotion, we needed to make a machine that functioned exactly like a horse. We found better ways to do locomotion.
This means that AI will be solving problems long before we have a general AI, but more importantly, we will be treating it as a tool, just like any other tool. For example, twenty years ago I was annoyed when Microsoft Word automatically corrected my spelling without asking me. It felt like the machines were already becoming smarter than us. Although that was a novel experience twenty years ago, we wouldn't think twice about it today.
Wednesday, January 3, 2024
Friday, December 15, 2023
Thursday, December 14, 2023
Friday, November 24, 2023
The M3 iMac Isn't for me (or you...)
Apple's iMac strategy doesn't make sense. The iMac used to be a top-of-the-line computer, but now they want you to buy a Mac Studio with a separate display that costs as much as an iMac.
As far as the iMac is concerned, there is no way I would go from a gorgeous 27-inch 5K display to a 24-inch 4K display. The smaller iMac is not intended for pro users. It would make a good family computer, but the lack of x86 compatibility is a serious drawback.
The M3 Pro chip benchmarks almost the same as the Ryzen 9 7940hs computer I paid just $640 for. The base model M3 iMac starts at $1299.
Apple can only charge so much because, for some unfathomable reason, people are still buying their products.
Saturday, November 18, 2023
People Are Doing Something Very Dark With AI-Generated Jesus, Expert Warns
To be clear, the various talking Jesuses posted by the Daily Believer account don't seem to be asking people for money in the vein of its evangelical predecessors, but the videos do ask viewers for something almost as good and well within TikTok's rules: comments, subscriptions, and shares, a sort of unholy trinity [!!!] for the streaming set.
Those who believe in God, the robotized white Jesus tells viewers, will get everything their heart desires — as long as they comment "I believe" and send videos to friends.
And if they don't, they may be subject to God's wrath, because one of the Daily Believer's animated Jesuses reminds viewers in its most popular video — "Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
Those who believe in God, the robotized white Jesus tells viewers, will get everything their heart desires — as long as they comment "I believe" and send videos to friends.
And if they don't, they may be subject to God's wrath, because one of the Daily Believer's animated Jesuses reminds viewers in its most popular video — "Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
I don't think that many religious people would take this seriously.
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Friday, November 3, 2023
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
Apple versus AMD
Apple's top of the line phone is twice as powerful as my 2017 iMac. It also costs more. That seems like overkill, although I'm kind of impressed.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Apple+A17+Pro&id=5683
My new AMD Ryzen 9 7940hs mini-computer is five times faster than the 2017 iMac. According to Geekbench, the new Apple M3 chip is 1% slower than the AMD chip, although that doesn't compare the extra functionality on both chips, like graphics and AI.
Apple has more powerful versions of the M3. However, the base model M3 laptop starts at $1600. Apple products are not cost effective, at least not compared to AMD. If you want Apple products then you pay more.
It was just 10 months ago that everyone went orgasmic over the new M2 Mac Mini. However, you couldn't upgrade the computers once you bought them, and the $600 base model came with inadequate memory and storage. Apple charged a fortune to get better specs. This looked like a scam to me.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Apple+A17+Pro&id=5683
My new AMD Ryzen 9 7940hs mini-computer is five times faster than the 2017 iMac. According to Geekbench, the new Apple M3 chip is 1% slower than the AMD chip, although that doesn't compare the extra functionality on both chips, like graphics and AI.
Apple has more powerful versions of the M3. However, the base model M3 laptop starts at $1600. Apple products are not cost effective, at least not compared to AMD. If you want Apple products then you pay more.
It was just 10 months ago that everyone went orgasmic over the new M2 Mac Mini. However, you couldn't upgrade the computers once you bought them, and the $600 base model came with inadequate memory and storage. Apple charged a fortune to get better specs. This looked like a scam to me.
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Minisforum UM790 Pro 7940HS Mini PC
My new (mini) computer has impressed me so far. On paper, it runs five times faster than my 2017 iMac. Although certain apps, like chess-playing programs, don't run five times faster (because adding more cores does not produce a linear improvement), the computer is a multitasking beast. Not only does it have 8 processor cores, but hyperthreading gives it 16 logical cores. I have tried to slow it down by having 14 cores doing computationally intensive tasks, and the computer handles it with no problem.
This is a different experience than my 2017 iMac which would slow to a crawl if I tried to do something computationally intensive on all four cores. (I'm not sure if some of this improvement is due to Windows 11. I noticed that Windows 10 uses a lot of CPU power just for the Operating System and so far that is not the case with Windows 11.)
I've seen some evidence of thermal throttling if I push the processor, but it is not bad. The fan can get a little noisy. Hypothetically, if the same processor were in a bigger case it could have a better cooling system and maybe be overclocked.
It might be a different experience if I were gaming which is one of the features of the Ryzen 9 7940hs processor, because it has the graphics cores built into it. There is no need for a separate graphics card, which makes the computer cheaper, but it will not be as good as a $1200 to $1500 gaming computer.
I saved $60 by ordering it from Ali Express (in China), but then I had to wait five weeks for it to get here. Now the manufacturer has a Halloween sale with $60 off, but the company is also in China. However, Amazon also has it listed for $60 off.
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