Developing a PLC trainer/simulation/game for 12-14 yr olds

[Rube]

On the shelf right next to the 8-track head cleaners.

 

[Sliver]

Keyboards

Can anyone confirm that the 'QWERTY' keyboard was designed to limit the typing speed on early typewriters because the keys kept jamming?

 

[elevmike]

As I understand it there is a more effieient keyboard layout however the keys would jamb when typing at high speeds. The QWERTY key board was designed to LIMIT typing speeds.

 

[chriswarrn]

According to this web site QWERTY:

In 1872, Remington produced the first mechanical typewriter, patented by C. Latham Sholes. Soon typists were going so fast that they were able to jam the keys which flew up to hit the typewriter ribbon. In the late 1870's: the "improved" Qwerty layout was designed to slow down typing, so those pesky keys would not jam anymore.

 

[elevmike]

When I was in high school I was the only one I knew who didnt have and 8 track. As a contrarian I purchased a casset player for my old pontiac GP. The pontiac's long gone but I still have the same casset player in one of my pickups. It took a while but I have been vindicated!

 

[Sliver]

thanks Mike and Chris

I guess the 'QWERTY' situation shows the parodox about standardization. Once the masses have converted to a standard no matter how inneffective, it takes a quantum leap in design to break out. 8-tracks were a quantum leap behind when they were introduced, so they didn't survive long. I bet CDs will be around for my lifetime (30 or 40 years left I hope) They may hold more data and call themselves something else (like DVDs) but the size is not too small to lose easily yet they are very portable.How many formats for data/music storage have there been? Starting from Edison tubular records, 78, 45, 33, reel to reel, cassette, 8-track, beta-max, VHS, laser disc..... Please can we keep CDs for a while.

 

[gbradley]

Please can we keep CDs for a while.

You can't stand in the way of progress.
The 3.5" Floppy is just about gone.

Those Jump drives are becoming quite popular

 

[Eric Nelson]

Trivia Time...

What is this?...

[attachment]

And Mike, you can get discwasher fluid HERE...

beerchug

-Eric

 

[cnrservices]

Eric,

What is this?...

Isn't that a Left-Handed Miz for playing the original (smaller) black CD's on the original (full-size-only) external CD players back in the 1960's?

What is the subject

Subject-Ignoring!

 

[Eric Nelson]

Isn't that a Left-Handed Miz for playing the original (smaller) black CD's on the original (full-size-only) external CD players back in the 1960's?

You almost got it right, Greg... If you look closely though, you'll see that it's actually a Right-Handed version...

beerchug

-Eric

 

[elevmike]

Hey Eric,

I have a whole box of 45s but no adapter. Thanks for the post on the Dishkwasher fluid. I'll have to bookmark that one! My daughter asked me to play an LP. I told her I have no stylest. She said that was obivious since I only have one suit, and one pair of dress shoes, and usually wear a Micky Mouse tie to weddings and funerals alike....She asked me why one of my old Beetles LPs is white. She figured it faded with time.

 

[Rube]

I have a whole box of 45s but no adapter... I told her I have no stylus.

Mike, go to the gun store and get a different type of .45s. Then, go to the woods or gun range, hang your 45s on a tree or board, load your new box of .45s and have at 'em. Then you won't need an adapter or stylus.

 

[msinclair]

I guess the 'QWERTY' situation shows the parodox about standardization. Once the masses have converted to a standard no matter how inneffective, it takes a quantum leap in design to break out.

If you look at a Dvorak keyboard, you'll see the "faster" version. I've never tried one though - like everyone else, I learned on "QWERTY", and do all right with it. I don't know if I could "unwire" my brain and make it use the Dvorak version!


By the way, one of the classic arguments on standardization was the VHS. Beta was significantly better, but VHS won the day on standardization (much to the chagrin of Sony who developed both).

The original IBM PC's were another classic example (DEC and Wang were probably much better), and I think Microsoft has used that philosophy as well (I never liked Excel - I thought 123 and Quattro were better, hands-down).


Marc

 

[testsubject]

Thanks for the Dvorak Site.

I have been aware of the Dvorak keyboard for about 20 years. Never did learn to type with it though.

 

[akreel]

I wonder if the younger generation perceives time of day the same as those of us who learned 'pre-digital'. For example, when I read 8:15 on a digital clock, I still 'picture' it as a quarter past the hour as if it were an analog clock.

Do they 'convert' analog clocks to digital in their heads?...

Yes, we do. It sometimes takes me a little while to "decipher" an analog clock. Especially later in the hour, whent the hour hand creeps up on the next number. Fortunately, I grew up in the suburbs, and they still teach that stuff in elementary school! In fact, I adopted military time at a very young age, because I thought it looked cool. I know without much afterthought that 19:00 is dinner time and 23:00 means my girlfriend lied about coming home on time.

I wonder what they'd do with a rotary-dial phone?...

I used rotary phones when I was growing up. I think my parents still have the yellow one (watch "That 70's Show," sometime). But, the first time I tried to dial it (age 4 or 5) I had to be shown how. I didn't know what the little metal bar across the dial was for, so I used my other hand to keep rotating the dial beyond the stop. I guess I was thinking of it as a kind of wind-up toy.


Someone once tried to get me to dial 1-800-ZOO-PASS, or something once. The gag failed because they actually do put the Q and the Z on the dial now! Why would the old phones have an X, and not a Q?

AK