philpem

6 ms·

1.
by philpem 5mo ago
Given the push to AI/Copilot from MS I'd be impressed if they still did any testing.
2.
by philpem 5mo ago
Makes me wonder if the output is starting to get back into the training input and we're seeing the first signs of model collapse.
3.
by philpem 5mo ago
That fits with my experience. I used Claude Code to put together a pretty complex CRUD app and it worked quite well. I prompted it to write the code for the analysis worker, and it produced some quite awful code with subtle race conditions
4.
by philpem 5mo ago
Or more cynically they reach their level of competence, go one level further and stay there to keep them from ruining the productivity of the people doing the work...
5.
by philpem 2y ago
Confirmation emails are great for this. "I was wondering if you could go over the details of the resolution we discussed on DATE? I'm giving it consideration and just want to make sure I fully understand. On reflection I feel like
6.
by philpem 2y ago
Source: I was there. Person who handled this is a friend of mine. They weren't milking it for attention. At EMF - at least early on - they were deliberately downplaying it to avoid causing a panic until the risk was known. Unfortunatel
7.
by philpem 2y ago
MGR was a later one - it could run (slowly) with an unmodified machine but really needed a VIDPAL to be used best. VIDPAL was a replacement PAL which enabled user-mode access to the framebuffer.
8.
by philpem 2y ago
Ah, that's neat - it'd be nice to have it for SCO or Interactive Unix on x86. Especially Interactive, as that's the one I have to try and fix (Y2K20 issues).
9.
by philpem 2y ago
And probably the only real at-scale deployment of the Western Electric 32000 (Bellmac 32) processor. Sadly that chip wasn't very popular. As LeoPanthera said above, Bell's exchange for the ability to make PCs was a bit of a bad sw
10.
by philpem 2y ago
It's really a shame how little of that software has survived. I think I have a complete Foundation Set disk set, some others I wrote from ImageDisk images, and that's about it. UNIX software in general seems pretty thin on the gro
11.
by philpem 2y ago
The VM support was the killer feature. The 3B1 has a hardware (discrete logic!) MMU, a custom designed thing completely unlike the Motorola 68451. It's an odd beast and took a lot of work (by several people, not just myself; check the
12.
by philpem 2y ago
Nice setup! I have a 7300 and a 3B1 (7300 is single half-height hard drives, 3B1 is two HH or one full-height). One has a Combo Card (RAM and serial) and a Floppy Tape card, I can't remember what the other has, but cards have been pret
13.
by philpem 2y ago
> thought this was an emulator to run (original) AT&T Unix applications on a PC Technically it is, if you mean System V for MC68k :)
14.
by philpem 2y ago
Ah, you had a DOS-73 expansion card?
15.
by philpem 2y ago
The machine itself was made by Convergent Technologies. It's similar to the MiniFrame - and possibly also the MightyFrame. AT&T rebranded it, and there were two versions: the 7300 can take a single half-height MFM drive, and the 3B
16.
by philpem 2y ago
OP was talking about the boxes, I was saying why would you throw good boxes away?
17.
by philpem 2y ago
To clarify, I'm talking about the boxes. As in why throw good boxes away. Actionpackers are tough little brutes, and much sturdier than cardboard.
18.
by philpem 2y ago
I had no idea who this guy was but did a web search to fill myself in and all this turned up ... https://lists.vcfed.org/pipermail/vcf-midatlantic/2019-Decem... Allegedly he'd quit three times in one year: h
19.
by philpem 2y ago
Depends how many FTP sites it's mirrored on.
20.
by philpem 2y ago
Seems like we could have both.
21.
by philpem 2y ago
If they're still useful, why throw them away?
22.
by philpem 2y ago
The maximum useful resolution you can really get out of offset-printed magazines is around 200dpi. Scanners have been able to do 400dpi for many years, and have been stuck at the 1200dpi plateau for about as long. Sometimes you just don&#x2
23.
by philpem 2y ago
Whether something is a collectable depends on whether someone (ideally several someones) is willing to take it or pay for it ... apparently in this case, they weren't. Comparing a periodical to a mint shrink-wrapped MTG card isn't
24.
by philpem 2y ago
I can't imagine VCF wouldn't have done that - it's standard practice. But they've also not said their side of this (nor would I expect them to when they'd have been setting up for their yearly event yesterday). I ha
25.
by philpem 3y ago
Sounds like a great way to get yourself on a watchlist, too. Or banned from other things.
26.
by philpem 3y ago
Bingo. Even a relatively tiny company can have a huge impact on your life. Say you're interested in a niche hobby, so niche there's only one company who organises meet-ups and events around that hobby. The best friend of the chair
27.
by philpem 4y ago
I think you're pretty much hitting the nail on the head there. I don't doubt that there are museums out there which do a good job on the preservation front -- but many I've encountered act as 'black holes' where rar
28.
by philpem 4y ago
Reminds me of furries, and a lot of other fandoms actually. A: "Hey I had a problem at the con this weekend" B: "How dare you talk about that, that's DRAMA! Take your DRAMA elsewhere, LLAMA. I'll have you know the g
29.
by philpem 4y ago
Some communities (fandom is probably a better word) are more like cults of personality than actual communities. Given the fannish nature of Twitch and its audience in general, this level of almost religious fanboying and "how dare you
30.
by philpem 4y ago
The overwhelming majority of tweets are probably hot takes, food photos or arguments. While they might be interesting to sociologists in the future, looking at the tone and conversation in aggregate, some things should just be allowed to wi

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