Monday, March 30, 2009

Movie overload...

This week (well, actually starting on March 26 and going through April 6th) is the Philadelphia Film Festival. Time to overload on movies!

So far, I've seen 5 movies (Moon,
I Sell the Dead, Before the Fall, 20th Century Boys, and 20th Century Boys Chapter Two), and my wife has seen 7 (the above, plus Hunger and The Other One).

So far, we're actually a bit disappointed. We would not have seen 20th Century Boys (and Chapter Two) if we had known that it is the start of a trilogy and the 3rd movie has not been released yet, and after seeing the first two I'm not sure it's worth the time to see the third (my wife definately thinks this).

Moon was technically good with great visuals, but my opinion is that just because an idea is new to you doesn't mean that it's a new idea.

I Sell the Dead was OK, and had a sense of humor about itself.

Before the fall could not decide if it was an "end of the world" picture or a "psycho killer" picture. I understand how these two ideas are supposed to play off each other in the movie, but it left things unfocused. Grim and gritty, I liked it but my wife found it was so grim that she couldn't decide if she liked it or not.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Retro Old School Hardware

Back in "the day", computers were expensive. So people worked hard to come up with cheap computers to experiment with. Like the COSMAC ELF.

Powered by an 1802 (still manufactured by Intersil) (which, interestingly, was often used in spacecraft -- the large geometry and silicon on sapphire construction of the chip makes it relatively immune to radiation), the ELF
used (in it's basic configuration) 7-segment LEDs and toggle switches for display and input.

If you want to play with one, you can use a simulator (there are several available), or even buy/build a modern ELF.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

They don't make them like they used to...

...or do they?

Movies, that is.

Last night, my wife and I saw a preview of Alien Tresspass, which specifically tries to be a 1950's "B movie".

They succeeded.

It's a cute little movie. It doesn't try to be anything more. I've read that it's supposed to be a spoof of a B movie, it's not. It's an homage, that tries to bring back the matinee popcorn movie.

Personally, I think they did a good job.

The one thing that didn't work for me was the flying saucer in flight. On the ground, the physical saucer was fine. But the CGI of it flying was too good. They needed to use a model so it was as cheap and cheezie (though obviously done on a 2008 budget) as the rest of the production.

*** (out of 4)

Monday, March 23, 2009

Watch the skies...

...but not for anything to worry about.

Want to see what's (way) over your head? Check out this real-time, 3-d projection of (some) satellites in orbit.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Gone in a FLASH...

In my job, I work with microcontroller based industrial controllers. The products are increasing FLASH based program memory.

This can be a bad thing. People don't often think of it, but FLASH memory is not permanent storage (in fact, just about anything other than MASKED ROM is not permanent storage, but I'm going to keep refering to FLASH as it is the most common storage these days). That's why the startup code in the controllers contains a checksum routine. If the checksum fails, we try to tell the user and don't run the controller. That way, we will not do the wrong thing.

The FLASH lifetime can vary from long to short (see this paper from Texas Insturments, page 5 figure 1. While it is talking about a specific processor, it is similiar for all processors.) About 100 years (at room temperature, 25C) is pretty good. About 4.6 years (at max operating temperature, 70C) is not. (Note that this is under one set of conditions. Under a different set, the rention times are 1315 years and 61 years. Much better, but will everyone, especially "cheap" parts, take the extra time/effort?)

What that means is that, at some point, the product will fail, even though all the components are still "good." What then?

Well, if the manufacturer (us, or someone else) is still in business, they can be "repaired" by re-flashing them. Providing that the code is still around...
If the manufacturer is gone, so is the repair. And no replacements, either. Even a pre-purchased replacement could be useless, unless it was stored under cool conditions.

And what does this mean for consumer electronics? Well, take just one example: computer motherboards.

The BIOS on modern motherboards is FLASH based, not ROM based. That is why it is field upgradeable. But computers tend to run a bit warm. So the FLASH retention lifetime is reduced. And when the FLASH forgets, the BIOS and system bootability is gone. You can't even re-flash it, there is no way to bring up the system to run the FLASH utility, and there is no on-board connector.

So, as you look around your house or work, think of all the intelligent devices. Your clock/radio. Your DVD player. Your toaster. Your programmable thermostat. Your kid's flashing sneakers. All of them waiting to forget their function, and become useless even without any actual failure...

Monday, March 16, 2009

Retro hardware...

Along with old bits, one often needs hold hardware to use them.

While VMware and MAME can help, sometimes you really do need old hardware. But old hardware can be hard to find, and even harder to find in working condition.

Fortunately, some people are creating "new" old hardware. Want to run an APPLE I? Briel Computers can let you do it....

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Vanishing applications...

I've talked before about the weakness in the web.

It's happened again.

Microchip, the manufactures of PIC microcontrollers, has acquired Hi-Tech Software, who used to produce, among other things a C compiler for PICs. And a freeware compiler for DOS/Windows. An 8051 C compiler. A TI MSP430 compiler. A Cypress PSOC compiler.

But, it's not in Microchip's interest to support competing microcontrollers.

So, all the compilers except for Microchip PIC C have vanished from their webstite. They will support their customers until the end of their contract, but I would not expect much. Nor can anyone download the trial version just to experiment with the chip.

More software has vanished into the "bit bucket..."

Monday, March 9, 2009

Old bits...

I've mentioned before that I save "old bits".

Why? Well, a lot of hard work went into them by someone. There is a lot of good software and wisdom encoded in them.

And I'm not the only one.

Back "in the day", the BBS ruled the roost. Fidonet allowed the interchange of files between computers before the internet became easily accessable.

And the BBS' had files. Lots of them. Some good, many bad, and all of them the apple of someone's eye.

Fortunately, they are not all lost. Places like keep the old stuff alive. And even archive the CD's full of files that were published in the 90's.

Are they what you're looking for for your new PC? Probably not. But there is wisdom deep in the piles of bits...

Friday, March 6, 2009

Man and Superman...

The Watchmen movie is coming out. I'm looking forward to it.

There have been good comic book movies before, but if they did it right (and early reviews are good), this should be great.

But the Watchmen are a far cry from the origin of the superhero. Check out Action Comics #1, and then more early Superman arcana.

And, while you are watching the movie, you may want to keep an eye out for some easter eggs.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Another Insane kitty...

You may remember insane kitty from before. You might even remember that there were two insane cats, not just one.

The sister of insane kitty is Hocus Pocus (so named because she had a habit of vanishing as a kitten). She also had gingivitis problems, though not as bad.

Well, she went to the vet yesterday, and is coming home today (since she needs to be tranquilized to be caught, she can't be given anesthetic when she comes in, so she needs to go a day early). She has lost 4 teeth (poor baby), and so I'll be dealing with an insane kitty in a playpen. Sigh...

(Add this to the other two cats that went to the vet yesterday for dental problems, and I'm the one feeling the pain...)