From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_ADSP_CUSTOM_MED, DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED,FREEMAIL_FROM,MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 14546 invoked from network); 2 Oct 2023 13:37:40 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (50.116.15.146) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 2 Oct 2023 13:37:40 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 71E8940258; Mon, 2 Oct 2023 23:37:38 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-lj1-x22f.google.com (mail-lj1-x22f.google.com [IPv6:2a00:1450:4864:20::22f]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 6F82940120 for ; Mon, 2 Oct 2023 23:37:33 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-lj1-x22f.google.com with SMTP id 38308e7fff4ca-2c2907ff9fcso26777231fa.1 for ; Mon, 02 Oct 2023 06:37:33 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20230601; t=1696253851; x=1696858651; darn=tuhs.org; h=content-transfer-encoding:cc:to:subject:message-id:date:from :in-reply-to:references:mime-version:from:to:cc:subject:date :message-id:reply-to; bh=jAVMlcK8z1eeHYnagxlspDSAfXC8DvhcaWcR/hMS21A=; b=HTHSV2NrGY3v8EqLkkdMx3RnRy+Wo/LAlDas+kJoTJHXNKshZ8uhp2yLmw6Raw7ra4 GMFw0UWEaUhy1LaOxRtHLNAk0fwkTk2uoSf4sFTVu7Ayov7HSY4+LHjdpMLpb/H5Ix6o lTest8Q1jbMviIz5Yd2SlQ9xAhu/IHR11D34moK4hiTZ3+dOtRwadq5m9dKVeELO5oyx QjieffeRbwGCTP7Tjqm4BkoEsSGR9QEPyBzN0lgNznD61BVNn4lJt2qxucayP2VbYCe8 1SuvNCXfyCURVNlwfueHLdx/J+YiFAL8h/TMPFDbhwkb5VwQRKfAF4Z2QafjmsApL3/b AZdw== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20230601; t=1696253851; x=1696858651; h=content-transfer-encoding:cc:to:subject:message-id:date:from :in-reply-to:references:mime-version:x-gm-message-state:from:to:cc :subject:date:message-id:reply-to; bh=jAVMlcK8z1eeHYnagxlspDSAfXC8DvhcaWcR/hMS21A=; b=GsSDpScIiCgBD52/UA8vHyc2PYaUyO0fhMolJ5wSJQDP/qxii1A60GSTMtC5a6PsX6 NTCv04PogFyc6YTj8Gy65Ok/muCCMAIraCbkJ76/yqSqRHiFA9ch717Wc9vhAS2Bkk8u g3VUu2su60ZawAnUVjDORWVjhroVS6vT8S7Zm1GixdfJTsv5rEWXHo92jEQDCUdJU2cS qtVbe8Pp1mfdR/5914wZ0i9dk5oKI2bFOKGZZZSHfn9y8E6m40YxPWymg4Gvp5sfYz+v kc3Bwz22JqlQgDe7QXHFV1PMVsC9lFbr6ign/IH5GBpcseoagyiBAtHxKvJtQqoHh1rV O34A== X-Gm-Message-State: AOJu0YzBMVXAi99Ido4KMAa99tDu3Oo6KIS6PlSP/ZyNJ9c4RzOOXkGK 5xGkLTslEdaKfXcpN6cz3PomiF2J9MOjxYJdwLEaKKqfWb8= X-Google-Smtp-Source: AGHT+IER0swWhHVBct1iQ93D18sh56jc3C1VD3P/Jn9DeMjhIFfZ5cO5aOWrKCveDHTUlngwjymtnwodzNl8V83nOnI= X-Received: by 2002:a2e:b0c4:0:b0:2c0:240:b574 with SMTP id g4-20020a2eb0c4000000b002c00240b574mr10421093ljl.31.1696253851234; Mon, 02 Oct 2023 06:37:31 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <20231002130819.571ED18C09F@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> In-Reply-To: <20231002130819.571ED18C09F@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> From: Dan Cross Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2023 09:36:54 -0400 Message-ID: To: Noel Chiappa Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-ID-Hash: CA6E5EHQBRZJJDGMUSHPZCW5VCIUHBC2 X-Message-ID-Hash: CA6E5EHQBRZJJDGMUSHPZCW5VCIUHBC2 X-MailFrom: crossd@gmail.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header CC: COFF X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [COFF] Re: "Hot Spot" High Performing Centres in Computing List-Id: Computer Old Farts Forum Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: On Mon, Oct 2, 2023 at 9:08=E2=80=AFAM Noel Chiappa wrote: > > From: Larry McVoy > > > And the mouse unless my boomer memory fails me. > > I think it might have; I'm pretty sure the first mice were done by > Engelbart's group at ARC (but I'm too lazy to check). ISTR that they were > used in the MOAD. They were and they were, but they were clunky, wooden things. He did refer to it as a "mouse" in the MOAD, but he also referred to the cursor as a "bug", which did not catch on. > PARC's contribution to mice was the first decent mouse. I saw an ARC mous= e at > MIT (before we got our Altos), and it was both large, and not smooth to u= se; > it was a medium-sized box (still one hand, though) with two large wheels > (with axes 90 degrees apart), so moving it sideways, you had to drag the > up/down sheel sideways (and vice versa). > > PARC'S design (the inventor is known; I've forgetten his name) with the l= arge > ball bearing, rotation of which was detected by two sensore, was _much_ > better, and remained the standard until the invention of the optical mous= e > (which was superior because the ball mouse picked up dirt, and had to be > cleaned out regularly). Invented by Ronald Rider, developed by Bill English? > PARC's other big contribution was the whole network-centric computing mod= el, > with servers and workstations (the Alto). Hints of both of those existed > before, but PARC's unified implementation of both (and in a way that made > them cheap enough to deploy them widely) was a huge jump forward. > > Although 'personal computers' had a long (if now poorly remembered) histo= ry > at that point (including the LINC, and ARC's station), the Alto showed wh= at > could be done when you added a bit-mapped display to which the CPU had di= rect > access, and deployed a group of them in a network/server environment; hav= ing > so much computing power available, on an individual basis, that you could > 'light your cigar with computes' radcally changed everything. This is long, but very interesting: https://spectrum.ieee.org/xerox-parc Markov's book, "What the Dormouse Said" (which I heard recommended by Tom Lyon) goes into great detail about the interplay between Engelbart's group at SRI and PARC. It's a very interesting read; highly recommended. Engelbart comes off as a somewhat tragic figure. - Dan C.