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Zwölf is currently being expanded to version 0.2. Version 0.1 was a simple thing that did not have many obstacles that would not allow a higher clock frequency. Now I'm running the little old processor at 8 MHz (Vcc = Vdd = 5V). That's 160% of the specified maximum clock frequency and 450% of my old Elf. It's still running cool and stable. Not even passive cooling is needed. I guess, the next try will be with 9 MHz.
Version 0.3 is going to be all aboutmy DIY MMU and slightly expanding the RAM. That's why my first mass storage device is included in this version. I'm going to use a Compact Flash memory card as SSD. Let's hope that it can keep up with a 40 years older processor on steroids. In the long run sooner or later some I/O device must come along that can't keep up with the bus timing at that speed, so I probably will have to throw in wait states into the I/O bus cycles anyway. And if not, I can still squeeze a few more kilobytes per second over the bus by using DMA. Coolest thing of all: The processor does not stop processing instructions for DMA. The program keeps running while we load more data over the bus than it could shovel in a program loop.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Do you have any documentation that can help one to re-create your work, and create a clone of the Zwölf to play with?
“Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.”
― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
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You can have the schematics and my assembly code for version 0.1. You can easily replicate it on a breadboard and I can point you in the right directions to find useful tools like an assembler and an emulator. Zwölf 0.1 is very bare bones, so that the emulator can still be reconfigured to the few changes to the old Elf. That is really helpful to get you started. Unfortunately the emulator will become useless once I get more of the Zwölfy features working, but I'm already in contact with the author who wants to make the emulator more versatile anyway. Still, the processor is very different from the other 8 bit processors of the time and the emulator will probably be a great help to get you more familiar with it.
Later, we will be on our own. Zwöf is a departure from the old Elf concept and therefore most old software and tools will not be very helpful anymore. We are mostly on our own, but that's part of the fun.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Not seen but heard by the potter, Giles. (11)
An easy one to end the week.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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I see what you did there!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I only heard what he did ...
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POLTERGEIST
Anagram of potter Giles
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Spot on. You get Monday's CCC, but Rich gets my
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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2Pac - Changes[^]
Heard this one on the radio a while back.
I listen to the radio about five minutes a week, on my way to the grocery store, so that's a bit of a coincidence.
I used to listen to 2Pac when I was about 13/14 years old.
To be honest, I totally forgot about this one, but after hearing it once I had to hear it again and again and again...
Sadly, he's mostly right and nothing has changed since this was recorded in 1992, or came out in 1998.
Although the USA did get their first black president, so I guess he was at least somewhat wrong about that.
For those who don't know 2Pac, he's considered one of the most influential rappers ever, he was also an actor, he's a best-selling artist with more than 75 million records sold worldwide, he was shot during a drivy-by at 25 in 1996 (this song was released after his death).
If you're thinking this song sounds familiar, but you've never listened to 2Pac before, it's sampled from Bruce Hornsby and the Range's 1986 hit, The Way It Is.
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Around our house it is common when ever something is available in a 2-pack my wife or I will say to the other, 2-pack for sure! and in the cart it goes.
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What if We Paid for Bugs? – George Stocker[^]
It ends with Quote: Take this a bit further, and imagine that in our world that that state of affairs has always existed and exists now. What software would be better in this brave new world? What software would be worse?
Well ... the first thing that springs to mind is that Corel would have been bankrupt for decades.
I can see it as a good idea, myself: I strive for reliable, robust software with as few bugs as possible (none by preference, but ...)
However, a heck of a lot of the source code I see seems to be assembled from a kit of parts (most of which weren't intended to do that job) and hammered together with little or no testing. Would a "pay by the problem" approach improve that? Or just scare the "easy money coder" away from the industry?
What do you think?
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I love that. Wally finally found motivation to work.
Kelly Herald
Software Developer
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OriginalGriff wrote: Well ... the first thing that springs to mind is that Corel would have been bankrupt for decades.
Your comment reminds me of the old joke about Corel 2000 - it was nothing to do with the millennium, just the number of programs in the package.
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Yeah, their development strategy always seemed to be "Add bugs and complicate" ...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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OriginalGriff wrote: Would a "pay by the problem" approach improve that? Or just scare the "easy money coder" away from the industry?
IMO, this would give lots of employment to the legal profession - is the client's request an enhancement or a bug report?
One problem is that many software projects don't have a proper specification, so legitimate disagreements can arise about the scope of work.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Which could lead to better specifications as well ...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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"Specifications"? You make it sound as if you grew up in a waterfall. We are agile today, and the source code is the specification.
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If we paid hackers to find AND FIX the holes in security software it could eliminate zero day stuff.
Or, they would figure out they'd be coding themselves out of a job and stop.
I hate it when I follow my logic to the end.
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
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I usually strong-arm users into helping test the product; so, my "bugs" are usually requirements that were not previously identified or acknowledged.
I know some (office) political types want to call all omissions "bugs", but that's simply not the case.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
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Would you like to upgrade to Windows 2023 for the low low price of $11,999,999.99?
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
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I'll wait for the BOGOF
>64
Some days the dragon wins. Suck it up.
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Being a solo developer and handling frontline support for the software I develop and sell, I'm already paying for bugs or poor design with my time. My goal is to keep the support line from ringing, or when it does, to be able to react quickly to minimize support time. After all, time == money.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
"Hope is contagious"
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I'm sure I read something a while back about the archaeologists who offered to pay for each additional fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which lead the herdsmen who found them to rip up any pages they found so they could get paid for more fragments.
And based on past experience, every new feature request or change to the specification would suddenly be classed as a "bug" by the customer.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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