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DJGrenola
2017-07-19 03:04:23 pm
they're just cables with a load of wires in parallel so you can send parallel signals down lots of wires at the same time

I'm just using a couple of hacked up old IDE cables so I can send a 19-bit binary number to the RAM's address bus ("give me the contents of the memory cell at address 127637")

they're less common nowadays because parallel buses have fallen out of favour and serial buses are more fashionable, where you send the bits one after the other in packets synchronised to a clock (USB being the prime example)
DJGrenola
2017-07-19 03:08:01 pm
I mean if you're asking why they have that flat form factor ... one reason is because it allows you to ground every other wire

so I'm using 40-wire cables, but only 20 of the wires actually carry signals -- every other wire in the cable is grounded at both ends which is kind of wasteful but the point is that it dramatically reduces crosstalk and interference between the individual wires
DJGrenola
2017-07-19 03:09:03 pm
so the wires go

A0 / GND / A1 / GND / A2 / GND ...

instead of just A0 / A1 / A2 / A3 etc
DJGrenola
2017-07-19 03:10:03 pm
enables you to run things reliably at higher speeds basically
DJGrenola
2017-07-19 03:17:47 pm
my earlier prototypes just had a bundle of freeform wires and I had a lot of trouble getting them to run glitchlessly
Opium
2017-07-19 04:04:29 pm
omg my company bought this company in Louisiana and I'm assisting all of these bayou rejects with the transition.  These people don't even speak a dialect of English that anyone outside of their area can understand, and they think a fax machine is state-of-the-art technology.  So frustrating.  They won't use the fancy internet machine either.  UGH
Opium
2017-07-19 04:07:30 pm
My phone has been ringing off the hook because apparently email is too fancy as well
Opium
2017-07-19 04:11:48 pm
Yesterday one of them told me that they were going to lose all of their customers if they have to tell them all to start ordering online.  I told them that this was their opportunity to bring them into the 21st century.  He told me that I don't understand, that there's no way to convince these people to change anything.  This is coming from someone with the title of Sales Executive.  That's right - a Sales Executive stating that there's no way to convince a customer.  I think they need a new job.
/rant
arkarian
2017-07-19 06:00:26 pm
red chamber dream
Quote from DJGrenola:
I mean if you're asking why they have that flat form factor ... one reason is because it allows you to ground every other wire

ah yeah, that's more what i was wondering. makes sense
DJGrenola
2017-07-19 06:14:07 pm
I would guess there are probably two other reasons which are a) that they're easy to manufacture like that and b) that it's easy to do the mathematical analysis for something that's that shape

the point is that when you start cranking the frequency up, wires stop behaving like wires and start behaving like things called transmission lines instead, and you need to be able to predict their properties, flat cables with alternately grounded wires probably submit to that kind of analysis quite well

although nowadays I imagine you can computer model any kind of cable shape and get the numbers for it, but that wasn't the case when these things were invented
DJGrenola
2017-07-19 06:19:39 pm
the same applies to coaxial cable, it's easy to manufacture and easy to analyse, we had to do the proof for that one at university in fact
arkarian
2017-07-20 06:13:09 pm
red chamber dream
holy shit chester bennington (linkin park's singer) killed himself

guess he was one step too close to the edge and about to break ...
DJGrenola
2017-07-20 06:17:05 pm
boom tisk

in other news, dave just booked the band I've been playing in for like 2 weeks to play a gig in 2 months' time

fucker
arkarian
2017-07-20 07:13:58 pm
red chamber dream
lol it's a good opportunity!
DJGrenola
2017-07-20 11:06:29 pm
I have so much goddamned work to do now lol
Opium
2017-07-25 11:38:56 pm
congrats :)
ryu
2017-08-03 11:00:07 am
rotfl

arkarian
2017-08-03 12:35:25 pm
red chamber dream
heh now that's the kind of speed runner i could hang out with
tomatobob
2017-08-03 04:23:30 pm
One shall stand, one shall ball.
*Runs directly into a dude* What? Bullshit!

I do agree, though, that speed running is bad.
DJGrenola
2017-08-04 01:21:18 am
"... the most degenerate act man has ever come up with."

not a ringing endorsement
arkarian
2017-08-06 01:24:05 pm
red chamber dream
i've never seen the show but this is pretty sweet

DJGrenola
2017-08-10 04:53:17 am
Quote from arkarian:
i've never seen the show but this is pretty sweet


I wonder how they made that, I'd love to think it's all done with timelapse but I bet it's just CGI :(

and yeah I've never seen GBBO either but it's huge here atm
arkarian
2017-08-10 10:17:19 am
red chamber dream
i think you're right that it's all cgi
Opium
2017-08-10 12:21:41 pm
Doing still-motion or whatever it's called is so much more expensive than doing CGI today.  That shit is just for purists in 2017.