Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: [OT] Operating Environment Survey
/On 26/07/2015 14:50, Erik Jan wrote:// / /To tell you the truth: I still use my slide rule, very easy and useful for calculations that need only to be about 95% accurate with the correct order of magnitude. I even once corrected errors in an Excel spreadsheet with the help of my log tables in 7 decimals from the year 1867. The author promised a "Louis d'Or" for each error in the tables! / In my life at work, (from 60s to early 70s), in Laboratories I used Slide Rules all the time!! I had the 'Standard' type as well as a Circular one but eventually got a Tubular Slide Rule. It was aprox 3 to 4 cm in Diameter and closed up was about 10cm Tall (long), but because of its spiral design was the equivalent to a Standard 55" Slide Rule so very much more accurate. In fact I still have two of these - the Standard one and the Tubular one!! (The Circular one has gone missing over the years.) In one job I had in Bulawayo, (Rhodesia), in the late 60s I had to go down to the factory floor in the late afternoon to look after the production so used to keep all my calculation work for this period. The Production Manager's Desk was elevated over the Production Floor and the African Workers thought that it was a kind of "Calculating Microphone" I was using that I spoke the calculations into and it gave me the answers!! The floor was very noisy so that could only see me working the Slide Rule and then writing down the answers!!! Only later on did we get the first 'Facit", hand operated "Calculating Machine' - you had to work out the position of the decimal point yourself, it just gave you a string of numbers!! Later we got electric ones!!! I believe the mechanics of the original Facit Calculators was developed somewhere in Scandinavia and working it all out drove the Inventor crazy. Having opened one up at one time I can understand why!! Great times!!! I also remember later desperately trying to buy a "Four Function" Hand Calculator in Sanction Plagued Rhodesia for a ridicules price!! But later got a friend in America to get the first of several 'Texas Instruments' Calculators, (could never get the hang of Reverse Polish Notation as used by HP!!), and sending it to me!!! Hard now to believe all these steps in development isn't it And let's not forget about Visi Calc!! IanW Pretoria RSA -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
[libreoffice-users] Re: [OT] Operating Environment Survey
James Knott schreef op 25-07-15 om 20:54: On 07/25/2015 09:35 AM, Graham P Davis wrote: We only had log tables; standard slide rules weren't allowed as they were too inaccurate. Drifting a bit more OT, ball-point pens weren't allowed either, only fountain pens. To put this in some sort of perspective, I left school in 1962 aged 18. Did they have slide rules way back then? ;-) We used them in physics and electricity & electronics classes. To tell you the truth: I still use my slide rule, very easy and useful for calculations that need only to be about 95% accurate with the correct order of magnitude. I even once corrected errors in an Excel spreadsheet with the help of my log tables in 7 decimals from the year 1867. The author promised a "Louis d'Or" for each error in the tables! Greetings, Erik. -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: [OT] Operating Environment Survey
yes, we had to actually know the various formulas to use when; and be able to calculate accurately. BTW - we could only use pencils in our classes; except for essay papers which could either be printed with a fountain pen or typed without errors. From: Graham P Davis Date: Sat, Jul 25, 2015 at 8:35 AM Subject: [libreoffice-users] Re: [OT] Operating Environment Survey To: users@global.libreoffice.org On Thu, 23 Jul 2015 11:45:08 + (UTC) Gary Collins wrote: > > > > On 23/07/15 09:40, Gary Collins wrote: > > We didn't have computers at all at school, > neither did welog tables and slide rule! > We only had log tables; standard slide rules weren't allowed as they were too inaccurate. Drifting a bit more OT, ball-point pens weren't allowed either, only fountain pens. To put this in some sort of perspective, I left school in 1962 aged 18. -- Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks. OS: Linux: openSUSE 13.2 (64-bit); KDE 4.14.9; Kernel: 4.1.3 -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: [OT] Operating Environment Survey
On 26/07/15 05:58, Felmon Davis wrote: On Sat, 25 Jul 2015, Harvey Nimmo wrote: On Sat, 2015-07-25 at 14:54 -0400, James Knott wrote: On 07/25/2015 09:35 AM, Graham P Davis wrote: > We only had log tables; standard slide rules weren't allowed as they > were too inaccurate. Drifting a bit more OT, ball-point pens weren't allowed either, only fountain pens. > > To put this in some sort of perspective, I left school in 1962 aged 18. Did they have slide rules way back then? ;-) We used them in physics and electricity & electronics classes. Yes, that was shortly after they finally ditched the abacus and thus ends this excursus into archaic calculation devices. (though I do wonder when people learned to use fingers or digits to count) f. This seems to be degenerating into the the Four Yorkshiremen -luxury! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo -- God bless you Keith Bates 4 Mooloobar St Narrabri NSW Ph 02 67924890 Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: [OT] Operating Environment Survey
On Sat, 25 Jul 2015, Harvey Nimmo wrote: On Sat, 2015-07-25 at 14:54 -0400, James Knott wrote: On 07/25/2015 09:35 AM, Graham P Davis wrote: > We only had log tables; standard slide rules weren't allowed as they > were too inaccurate. Drifting a bit more OT, ball-point pens weren't allowed either, only fountain pens. > > To put this in some sort of perspective, I left school in 1962 aged 18. Did they have slide rules way back then? ;-) We used them in physics and electricity & electronics classes. Yes, that was shortly after they finally ditched the abacus and thus ends this excursus into archaic calculation devices. (though I do wonder when people learned to use fingers or digits to count) f. -- Felmon Davis A stitch in time saves nine. -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: [OT] Operating Environment Survey
On Sat, 2015-07-25 at 14:54 -0400, James Knott wrote: > On 07/25/2015 09:35 AM, Graham P Davis wrote: > > We only had log tables; standard slide rules weren't allowed as they > > were too inaccurate. Drifting a bit more OT, ball-point pens weren't > > allowed either, only fountain pens. > > > > To put this in some sort of perspective, I left school in 1962 aged 18. > > Did they have slide rules way back then? ;-) > > We used them in physics and electricity & electronics classes. > > Yes, that was shortly after they finally ditched the abacus -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: [OT] Operating Environment Survey
On 07/25/2015 09:35 AM, Graham P Davis wrote: > We only had log tables; standard slide rules weren't allowed as they > were too inaccurate. Drifting a bit more OT, ball-point pens weren't allowed > either, only fountain pens. > > To put this in some sort of perspective, I left school in 1962 aged 18. Did they have slide rules way back then? ;-) We used them in physics and electricity & electronics classes. -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
[libreoffice-users] Re: [OT] Operating Environment Survey
On Thu, 23 Jul 2015 11:45:08 + (UTC) Gary Collins wrote: > Yes, I remember those (this is getting a bit like "The Three > Yorkshire Men!) From: Gordon Burgess-Parker > To: users@global.libreoffice.org > Sent: Thursday, 23 July 2015, 12:37 > Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] [OT] Operating Environment Survey > > > > On 23/07/15 09:40, Gary Collins wrote: > > We didn't have computers at all at school, > neither did welog tables and slide rule! > We only had log tables; standard slide rules weren't allowed as they were too inaccurate. Drifting a bit more OT, ball-point pens weren't allowed either, only fountain pens. To put this in some sort of perspective, I left school in 1962 aged 18. -- Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks. OS: Linux: openSUSE 13.2 (64-bit); KDE 4.14.9; Kernel: 4.1.3 -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
[libreoffice-users] Re: [OT] Operating Environment Survey
Linux user since 2002. No smart phones, no "social" net. At work we are forced to struggle with Windows 7 and 2008 Server. Nice topic demonstrating how much desktop computing, "productivity suites" and mailing lists have become subject to old farts. -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
[libreoffice-users] Re: [OT] Operating Environment Survey [Kubuntu Linux]
On Wed, 22 Jul 2015 18:28:39 -0500 anne-ology wrote: >I thoroughly enjoyed the way these massive machines were > portrayed in the movies - > filling an entire room, whirrin' with lights > a-flashin' ;-) My PC, though quite large, doesn't quite fill the room but it's whirring away at the moment with some pretty blue lights a-flashin'. ;-) https://www.nzxt.com/product/detail/34-phantom.html -- Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks. OS: Linux: openSUSE 13.2 (64-bit); KDE 4.14.9; Kernel: 4.1.2 -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
[libreoffice-users] Re: [OT] Operating Environment Survey
James E Lang schrieb am Sonntag, 19. Juli 2015 03:25: > The big discussion of Linux over the past 24+ hours has me wondering: What > operating environment(s) do other members of this list use at home and at > work? What factors influence the choice? I also want to contribute to your topic: At home and at job I work with and administrate several linux machines with opensuse. For a few (in number) tasks at work we have some dedicated windows machines or virtual machines. I favor KDE as desktop environment and LibreOffice integrates well with it under opensuse. I didn't find this with other linux distributions so far. My computer experience began in the eigthies with a TI-99 home computer. At university I met the first IBM compatibles XTs,ATs in the times of MS-DOS 3.3 programming in gw-basic, turbo-pascal, dbase and using some standard software. At this times I really admired MS software that I got e.g. DOS, Word 5, Flight Simulator... For my first own PC I chose DR-DOS as operating system, because it was far better as MS-DOS. (Most important was to save memory to be able to play wing commander...). I got a copy of GEM later as my first sight to a GUI. At my first job in the early nineties I was responsible for all the (few) DOS PCs. At this time I supposedly had been one of the first users of StarWriter 2.0 the very predecessor of StarOffice/OpenOffice/LibreOffice not against MS Word but to replace WordStar. Firstly the rise of Windows 3.0 did not concern me very much. It promised so much but it failed so often. Then came OS/2 Warp, that had been technically far superior to Windows, that was able to perform real multitasking and even included windows. I used it mainly to develop a DOS database application for multiuser environment. At my later job (up to now) I found contemporary windows 3.0 machines using standard software mainly of the lotus universe (AmiPro, 123, Approach,...). With the first network I fit them up with Novell DOS 7, because MS-DOS and Windows weren't able to do this easily at this times. Unhappily DR-DOS, Novell-DOS and OS/2 died away - not least by unfair sabotage actions by Microsoft. Since then I felt uncomfortable with them. But Windows 95 and further versions weren't avoidable, I worked many years with them as main system. Again unhappily Lotus was sold to IBM, the tough Lotus Smartsuite Applications became a dead end too. In private life I re-explored OpenOffice Version 1 12 years ago. At job I gradually replaced Lotus SmartSuite with OpenOffice and now LibreOffice. At the same time I discovered Linux as a valid alternative to this unfair managed and virussucking MS universe. I also gradually replaced Windows with Linux desktops at job featuring LibreOffice of course. I stick to SuSE/opensuse since then, because it featured KDE, excellent german localization, YaST, ... and maybe Ubuntu was not on the way yet. In my private life I willingly help friends in computer concerns, if ... they willingly start out into the world of FOSS. Stefan -- system: opensuse 13.2 -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted