Daswulf Posted June 5, 2023 Share Posted June 5, 2023 Still have my commodore 64. Didn't get it with its monitor tho. My parents got me a small color tv to use. At most I used it for some games. I was younger. Kind of afraid it might fry if I plug it in tho. It did spend some many years in my parents garage attic. Doubt I'd even remember how to boot it up lol. Nice robot Scott. Reminds me a little of the one from return to OZ. Tho it is a bit different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Bullet Posted June 5, 2023 Share Posted June 5, 2023 Frosty - I apologize for the nit pick. I'm sure most folks think of any kind of online access as "The Internet" from today's perspective. I'm just cranky 'cause I haven't been to the shop in a month and I still have three weeks before I get my cast off my ankle (got it fused). I've actually avoided the forum because seeing all the nice work gets me really frustrated that I can't get out there and try it. I'm so bored I was actually contemplating doing some code smithing to write an app for our church music group. My first computer was a 4K TRS-80 that used a cassette tape for storage, but I tried the C-64, Apple II, Atari 400 (membrane keyboard - I built a waterproof case and used it on deck for entering pipeline inspection data on dive jobs). The CP/M machine was a Sanyo, but then I went with the IBM luggable and the several DOS machines before Windows and then I started building my own. When I developed the TV program for our church I had to get an Apple to edit and have had a couple of others since, but I tend to gravitate to the PC as well. Just reread my post. 4K back then had nothing to do with screen resolution. That was how much RAM it had! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 5, 2023 Share Posted June 5, 2023 Don't apologize, I was reaching for memories from a long time ago and drifted into the twilight zone. I'm still hobbling around on my 3 months laying around weak and flabby legs and kind of crabby myself. I remember the TRS (trash) 80, not that I ever used one but I knew people who did two were bank book keepers. Oh yeah, just think how powerful I felt with 64k or ram! I had the tape memory but bought the floppy, what an upgrade that was but it was a bunch of storage! The Commodore 64 died when the drive gear to the disk stripped. If it still worked it'd be worth quite a bit as a collectable. You might want to see about what yours is worth Das, last I saw one went for something like 8k. That's dollars, not ram. An early Macintosh went for something like 20k or was it 50, I don't remember but it was a bunch. Good memories. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 if it helps any, my first modem was 300 baud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Bullet Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Steve - Acoustic coupled? Mine too. It was pure luxury when I got my first Hayes 1200. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 A week or so ago I was reading an article about AI being developed by and for the military. I don't remember where but probably linked from Yahoo. It concerned weaponry that is motorized like a small tank with automatic machine guns. The weapon operates without any human intervention and can decide friend or foe and engage the target. Now that's scary. The use of aerial drones in the Ukrainian conflict is getting very close. They even have one that will wander around the battlefield and attack a target when it finds one. Of course that one still requires a go-no go from a human operator. I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails. ~ Semper Paratus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvil Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 20 hours ago, Shainarue said: You paid using a credit card over the internet in 1968? Erm... Lol, you named it. And what you said above that is what I meant. The same as the bad boyz on the streets using early "smart" phones to conduct business and not get wire tapped and busted via landline,,, the "grandfather" of our smartphones of the day. Sorry, Frosty, but back in'68, you could go to a junkyard looking for a part and they would search for it. Then you paid the junkyard for the part. Hardly the same as some "hottie" selling time bought with a credit card so you could watch her at home on your old dos 6.22 or earlier machine,,, or worse! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzkill Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 What could go wrong? Several decades ago when I was in the Army I was told about an attempt at automating "friend or foe" vehicle recognition. They had numerous photos of different vehicles which they "fed" to the program to train it. After a while the program was 100% accurate with the training photos. However, once they moved beyond that it was wildly inaccurate. Long story short, the training photos for one set of vehicles were all taken on sunny days and the other set was taken on overcast days. Rather than the subtleties of vehicle shapes, the program keyed in on the weather conditions. Technically there was nothing wrong with the program. It found the most reliable information to determine friend or foe. The problem was the input. The outcome of these types of systems are still largely dependent on how we design them and what we "feed" them. This will probably remain true until/unless an AI can rewrite its own source code. Then we open a whole new can of worms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Didn't live in LA did you Anvil? I'll cede the credit card as unlikely and certainly not for 16 yro Frosty. I have no idea what wrecking yards were like in less automotive oriented areas. In 1972 Anchorage AK. yards were linked via wire, the only searching they did in the yard was to locate the specific shelf or bin. I admit it was my bad thinking my experiences held any parallel elsewhere. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 22 hours ago, Buzzkill said: Technically there was nothing wrong with the program. [...] The problem was the input I'm reminded of something an old boss of mine used to say: A computer will answer whatever you ask it, so you have to be very, very careful about how you phrase the question. On 6/5/2023 at 9:37 PM, Steve Sells said: if it helps any, my first modem was 300 baud My sophomore year in college, my roommate caused a minor stir when he hard-wired a modem into the wall phone* in our room** so that he could access the computers in the NIMH lab where he'd interned the previous summer. *I was going to say "landline phone", but although mobile phones existed then, they still had not broken out of the luxury-item/status-symbol category. **By senior year, the college had added modular jacks next to the phones, and all of us had plugged in modems and/or answering machines. Oh, the technological sophistication. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 Our first mobile phone was one of those bulky "bag" phones, we thought we were in tall cotton back in '82. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvil Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 Lol, you got it, Frosty. I had far more sense than to ever want to live in LA! Still do, for that matter. And to be clear, even in the rube burg called Colorado Springs, back then, the junk yards were connected to a data base that they could search by phone, or however, and not just search the yard for parts which is what I meant. But I always paid the man in person and with cash. This is not internet commerce. So Im not sure what your point is. 22 hours ago, JHCC said: luxury-item/status-symbol category Yea, the primary users back then were the bad boyz on the streets so their illegal transactions couldn't be traced. And look where its led!!! I think the bad boyz of our day just aren't on the streets, they control the phones, wear fancy suits, and live in Silicon Valley. It's very scary that minutes after doing a google search for something that the adds on my phone are places to buy what I searched for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted June 7, 2023 Author Share Posted June 7, 2023 They probaly know more about you than just what you want to buy.... Today is national VCR day. It reminds me of the old black and white antennea set we had growing up. We'd be watching a program and it would slowly start to scroll and my father would jump up and slap both sides of the tv and it would resume a normal picture. He used to swear at it from time to time. I wonder what he would think about todays 8' screens and surround sound. Everybody wandering around with virtual reality helmets on, tripping on things and bumping into walls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 Before our first color TV, Star Trek was still showing first runs, I was elected to adjust both vertical and horizontal holds I had the touch. It was almost like I could see the screen from behind the console! Made me feel pretty special so I didn't tell anybody I was looking at the reflection in a window. I got elected to adjust the color balance later on. We didn't have to slap our TV to get it to behave, Dad bought a "booster" antenna for the rabbit ears. Later we bought a place with an antenna on the house. HAPPY VCR Day everybody! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 I've had a couple of TV'S that required percussive maintenance. I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails. ~ Semper Paratus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Bullet Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 Remember yanking tubes out and hauling them down to the drug store to test them to find the one you needed to replace? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 Well yeah. Remember the pop when you turned it on and hum it made while the tubes warmed up? Dad handled testing and replacing tubes I only got to go with once or twice but he distracted me by telling me to pick out a popsicle. I remember the Drumsticks but . . . Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted June 8, 2023 Author Share Posted June 8, 2023 https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/06/nazca-geoglyphs-discovered-used-ai-deep-learning/147532 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 I'll have to get back to that link Scott, it's amazing all the super science the NAZCA folk used. Last night on the news they were reporting on . . . AI farm equipment. Yeah, I know farmers have been used computer run GPS located "CNC" equipment for years. This was another example of a sophisticated computer control system being labeled AI for a little WOW on the news. Anyway, I'm mentioning it here because it was a really cool rig. An unmanned tractor with a large rectangular box crossways on the lift bar. What it did was slowly drive the rows of crops and zap weeds with lasers. It was accurate enough to zap a weed growing up through a sprout without damaging the sprout. There were other examples of cool CNC farm equipment but the laser weed zapper was my favorite. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 I saw that news story also. It was very informative and amazing at the same time. All those lasers underneath zapping just the weeds, poof weed be gone. I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails. ~ Semper Paratus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 Thanks for that link Scott, I didn't already have too many crazy interesting sites to read, listen to and watch. I wish they'd explain what AI deep learning is but the articles in the menu got me. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted June 12, 2023 Author Share Posted June 12, 2023 I haven't looked up the weed zapper yet, but it sounds like it could be adapted to pest control. It could have settings for ants, cockroaches, mice, and depending on where you live, rats. There's copperheads and cottonmouths around here. I saw a smashed one in the road getting the mail yesterday. Snake be gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzkill Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 Oh come on now. How can a smashed snake get the mail? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted June 12, 2023 Author Share Posted June 12, 2023 I have amazing powers of persuasion.... comes from being bone lazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzkill Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 I thought perhaps he was smashed on some potent corn squeezins. That would certainly explain the serpentine pattern of locomotion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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