Good read. Who's anonymous?

Story: Ohio LinuxFest report: "Forty Years of Unix"Total Replies: 14
Author Content
Sander_Marechal

Sep 28, 2009
4:52 PM EDT
This is a good read, thanks for posting it Carla. One question: Who is the anonymous writer and contributor? Or is he/she anonymous on purpose?

Anyway, it sounded like the OLF was a success. Too bad there are only very few such events near where I live.
tuxchick

Sep 28, 2009
5:19 PM EDT
I submitted it on behalf of a fine Lxerer who wishes to remain anonymous. Yes, I laundered the article through my LXer account!
Sander_Marechal

Sep 28, 2009
5:45 PM EDT
Laundering articles, laundering money. What's next? Laundering clothes? Oh wait....
Scott_Ruecker

Sep 28, 2009
6:28 PM EDT
LOL, you took the words right out of my mouth Sander..;-)
gus3

Sep 28, 2009
6:29 PM EDT
It's either that, or we all run around naked.

So, laundering clothes it is.
tuxchick

Sep 28, 2009
6:54 PM EDT
Good. I always think of the Far Side classic, the bears spying on the nudist camp: "I just totally lost my appetite"
Steven_Rosenber

Sep 29, 2009
4:13 PM EDT
If there's an open-source washer/dryer out there, I expect one of us to find it.
jdixon

Sep 29, 2009
4:31 PM EDT
> If there's an open-source washer/dryer out there, I expect one of us to find it.

It wouldn't surprise me at all to find one of the more recent models running embedded Linux. I haven't seen any which do though.
Sander_Marechal

Sep 29, 2009
5:33 PM EDT
I doubt it. Even the most complicated washing programs and sensor monitoring would be cheaper to implement in a simple microcontroller than in Linux running on some kind of embedded ARM or RISC. Perhaps you can find something more sophisticated in those big, professional, programmable washers?
Bob_Robertson

Sep 30, 2009
6:22 PM EDT
Sander, as an old hand at taking things apart, although "back together again" is something I still find challenging :^), I have always been simply _astounded_ at the mechanical complexity of washing machines.

Long before microcontrollers, the bundle of wires that came out of the single seemingly-simple knob of a clothes washer was frightening in its complexity and function.

Electronics I understand. Some of those mechanical things ()Antikythera Mechanism or self-winding wrist watch) are completely befuddling.
alc

Sep 30, 2009
6:45 PM EDT
"Sander, as an old hand at taking things apart, although "back together again" is something I still find challenging :^), I have always been simply _astounded_ at the mechanical complexity of washing machines."

I once took a washing machine apart and put it back together with only 5 pieces left over.My best effort yet. :)
Bob_Robertson

Sep 30, 2009
7:05 PM EDT
> I once took a washing machine apart and put it back together with only 5 pieces left over.My best effort yet. :)

Remember the original Compaq computers, that looked like sewing machines in their cases, keyboard on the bottom and built-in screens and floppy drives?

http://oldcomputers.net/compaqii.html

No matter how careful I was, I always _always_ had screws left over after putting them back together. (I was doing PCs at an independent shop in Berkeley around 1986. I miss Blondie's Pizza)
softwarejanitor

Sep 30, 2009
8:46 PM EDT
@Bob_Robertson Those luggables were so over-constructed you could have left out twice as many screws as you likely did without much danger of any structural compromise. Heavy SOBs those were... Sometimes progress is a good thing!
Steven_Rosenber

Oct 01, 2009
3:24 PM EDT
Quoting:I doubt it. Even the most complicated washing programs and sensor monitoring would be cheaper to implement in a simple microcontroller than in Linux running on some kind of embedded ARM or RISC. Perhaps you can find something more sophisticated in those big, professional, programmable washers?


I guess all the "real" clothes washers use NetBSD ...

$ ls | grep missing_sock
Steven_Rosenber

Oct 01, 2009
3:27 PM EDT
Quoting:I miss Blondie's Pizza


Love Blondie's ... Cafe Intermezzo http://www.yelp.com/biz/cafe-intermezzo-berkeley is my favorite on Telegraph ...

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