On Tuesday, July 16, 2002, at 11:20 , [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Curious, do you feel comfortable using the terminal?
Personally, I don't, but could probably learn to use it with reasonable ease. I've always wanted to Although I don't know UNIX, I am a child of the Commodore 64 generation, so I'm no stranger to the command line concept per se. Problem is, the command like *I* know best is Commodore 64 Basic V2. :) OTOH, the Commodore 64's command line required some pretty cryptic commands for some things. In UNIX, at least commands like "fsck" and so on at least RESEMBLE what they're supposed to do... "fsck" is, of course, short for "File System ChecK," so it's easier to remember. Even DOS's commands are a little more intuitive. For example, you want a listing (a "catalog") of the files on a disk? Just type "CATALOG" at the command prompt. How do you do it on a 64? LOAD"$",8 The 64 responds: SEARCHING FOR $ LOADING READY. That loads the disk catalog into memory, but doesn't DISPLAY it. For that, you need to perform an extra step: LIST Suppose you had to perform a "file system check" (known as a "Validation" in Commodore 1541 disk drive parlance) on a floppy on the 64. That command is even MORE cryptic: OPEN15,8,15,"V0" Then, once the drive was done validating the disk, you'd have to remember to: CLOSE15 And heaven help you if you have more than one disk drive... A UNIX or DOS user with no experience with the 64 would be helpless in front of one... :) Anyone looking at that who didn't know anything about the Commodore 64's DOS commands would have NO way to guess what these commands do just by looking at them. *I* only know because I was using the Commodore 64 for so long and did disk operations like this on a regular basis. I learned everything I know about the 64 by reading the Commodore 64 Programmer's Reference Guide, plus any manuals that came with the computer and its various peripherals. So, if I can make sense of the Commodore 64's command line, I should be able to figure out the basics of UNIX if I could get my hands on an instruction manual. :) > Also, I reccommend > expanding the RAM ASAP. OS X likes a Lot of RAM and I think 768 Mb > should be > the minimum. Why? I find performance on the Flat Panel G4 to be exceptionally good with only 256 megs of RAM (granted, this is a G4 based system, though). You know, I've been doing a little research on older computer systems, especially the IBM 360 series, since reading Thomas J. Ryan's novel The Adolescence of P-1. Set in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it concerns a "virus" that spreads from computer to computer over telephone lines, and somehow ends up "alive." The "intelligence" of this virus is supposedly spread out into pieces contained in computers throughout the United States and Canada, all linked together through phone lines. In total, the day "P-1" tracked down his "creator" for the first time, "he" had control of space in 20195 computer systems. His total allocation: 5805 megs. Roughly 5.7 gigs. By contrast, the hard drive on this computer I'm using right now has an ultimate capacity of *40* gigs. In other words, if he actually existed, ALL of "P-1" could EASILY fit inside this single computer only 10.7" wide on my desk, yet in order to store him only 30 years ago, he required space in over *20,000* computer systems, each the size of a small fridge... It's scary sometimes when I stop and think of how fast computer storage has advanced. The biggest and most powerful of the IBM 360 series in the 1970s had 512 KILOBYES of RAM. That was considered fantastically powerful. Yet, here we are talking about 512 MEGABYTES of RAM being a MINIMUM to run an operating system smoothly. In other words, memory requirements of today's computers has increased by 1024 TIMES what it was only three decades ago... I'm 30 years old. This was all only within my own lifetime... It makes me wonder what computers will be able to do by the time I'm 60... John A. Ardelli Owner/Moderator BIFIDA-L: The Original Spina Bifida Discussion List The Crystal Corner - The Original Dark Crystal Discussion List -- The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
