The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
In a thread over the weekend someone asked the question Whats the difference between a console and a computer"
I supposed it may sound a bit silly but with the X-Box coming out with a hard drive and internet acces, and the DC can have a keyboard and mouse plugged in, the answer doesnt seem quite so straightfoward.
I've just got back from a talk about music piracy, and with the whole napster .mp3 thing computers were obviously brought into the conversation.
According to american laws a computer is something that can store more than one program in it. It has to be running one program while having acces to a number of others at the same time.
Im not quite sure what "a number of others" means exactly, im guessing just more than one. So from now on, unless console start running games from their hard drives, it should be relatively easy to distinguish between the two.
Hope that helps whoever it was.
I supposed it may sound a bit silly but with the X-Box coming out with a hard drive and internet acces, and the DC can have a keyboard and mouse plugged in, the answer doesnt seem quite so straightfoward.
I've just got back from a talk about music piracy, and with the whole napster .mp3 thing computers were obviously brought into the conversation.
According to american laws a computer is something that can store more than one program in it. It has to be running one program while having acces to a number of others at the same time.
Im not quite sure what "a number of others" means exactly, im guessing just more than one. So from now on, unless console start running games from their hard drives, it should be relatively easy to distinguish between the two.
Hope that helps whoever it was.
Page:
Your Honour: I was wondering about your name. The full question is over in the World`s longest thread - record attempt.
We've done finite state machines, all the normal digital logic, we've done some on gray scale stuff as well.
I've been told a bit about fuzzy logic, the analogy we were given was that about how tall someone was. Are they very tall, tall, medium etc and we were shown that way.
If you did it ages ago, how old are you? if you dont mind me asking :-)
I've been told a bit about fuzzy logic, the analogy we were given was that about how tall someone was. Are they very tall, tall, medium etc and we were shown that way.
If you did it ages ago, how old are you? if you dont mind me asking :-)
Your Honour wrote:
> They are still stored within the computer memory, so yes the
> computer does have acces to them, the fact that DOS does not allow
> this is irrelevant. It means that you can stop playing the game and
> start playing another without switching off and changing the CD/DVD
> whatever.
All current consoles can potentially do this... DreamCast itself had a version of Windows runing as its OS...
Also, as i said isnt DOS a program in itself, so yes it
> classed as a computer because its running DOS and has access to the
> game information which it loads up.
Unlike consoles, where if you
> want to stop playing one game and start playing another you have to
> turn off and change discs and stuff.
Most older DOS games required a reset for reloading DOS... changing disks is still commonplace (see any Baulders Gate game)...
How much do you know about
> Fuzzy Logic, i could do with some help before my lecture moves on to
> it :-)
Its been a few years since I was taught about fuzzy logic... Ive got my notes floating about somewhere...
What logic have you covered so far?
> They are still stored within the computer memory, so yes the
> computer does have acces to them, the fact that DOS does not allow
> this is irrelevant. It means that you can stop playing the game and
> start playing another without switching off and changing the CD/DVD
> whatever.
All current consoles can potentially do this... DreamCast itself had a version of Windows runing as its OS...
Also, as i said isnt DOS a program in itself, so yes it
> classed as a computer because its running DOS and has access to the
> game information which it loads up.
Unlike consoles, where if you
> want to stop playing one game and start playing another you have to
> turn off and change discs and stuff.
Most older DOS games required a reset for reloading DOS... changing disks is still commonplace (see any Baulders Gate game)...
How much do you know about
> Fuzzy Logic, i could do with some help before my lecture moves on to
> it :-)
Its been a few years since I was taught about fuzzy logic... Ive got my notes floating about somewhere...
What logic have you covered so far?
They are still stored within the computer memory, so yes the computer does have acces to them, the fact that DOS does not allow this is irrelevant. It means that you can stop playing the game and start playing another without switching off and changing the CD/DVD whatever.
Also, as i said isnt DOS a program in itself, so yes it classed as a computer because its running DOS and has access to the game information which it loads up.
Unlike consoles, where if you want to stop playing one game and start playing another you have to turn off and change discs and stuff.
How much do you know about Fuzzy Logic, i could do with some help before my lecture moves on to it :-)
Also, as i said isnt DOS a program in itself, so yes it classed as a computer because its running DOS and has access to the game information which it loads up.
Unlike consoles, where if you want to stop playing one game and start playing another you have to turn off and change discs and stuff.
How much do you know about Fuzzy Logic, i could do with some help before my lecture moves on to it :-)
Your Honour wrote:
> Also, i havent leanrt about Fuzzy logic yet :-)
Bu isnt it true
> the Japanese are building it into everything, even hoovers and
> stuff?
Aye... theve even used it to allow helicopters to fly with only one prop... which is something humans cant do...
Fuzzy Logic is kinda fun.. it'll be explained as part of a lecture... and probably not a lecture all about...
Once standard logic is covered its REALLY easy to pick up...
Actually its like one of those ideas that if you'd heard it before you found out everybody was using it, you would probably right off as a crock :)
> Also, i havent leanrt about Fuzzy logic yet :-)
Bu isnt it true
> the Japanese are building it into everything, even hoovers and
> stuff?
Aye... theve even used it to allow helicopters to fly with only one prop... which is something humans cant do...
Fuzzy Logic is kinda fun.. it'll be explained as part of a lecture... and probably not a lecture all about...
Once standard logic is covered its REALLY easy to pick up...
Actually its like one of those ideas that if you'd heard it before you found out everybody was using it, you would probably right off as a crock :)
b loody hell.. your as bad a PseudoSavent'n'New Jimmy...
OK...
thing is you said...
> a computer is something that can run one
> program whilest also having acces to other programs,
which at the
> moment consoles cant do
And when a PC runs a game from DOS it doesnt have access to any other programs... only the game?
OK...
thing is you said...
> a computer is something that can run one
> program whilest also having acces to other programs,
which at the
> moment consoles cant do
And when a PC runs a game from DOS it doesnt have access to any other programs... only the game?
Also, i havent leanrt about Fuzzy logic yet :-)
Bu isnt it true the Japanese are building it into everything, even hoovers and stuff?
Bu isnt it true the Japanese are building it into everything, even hoovers and stuff?
What
> your saying is that a PC that only runs DOS based games arnt
> computers... but PCs that run games though Windows are?
No, because they are still have access to other programs even if they cant run them at the same time.
Also isnt DOS a program in itself?
> your saying is that a PC that only runs DOS based games arnt
> computers... but PCs that run games though Windows are?
No, because they are still have access to other programs even if they cant run them at the same time.
Also isnt DOS a program in itself?
Your Honour wrote:
> As i've already said, the things you list like microwaves and
> washing machines and stuff contain micro-controllers NOT
> micro-processors, there is a difference between the two as i've
> already pointed out in this thread.
I know you said that... But they dont... Fuzzy logic based systemns are too complex to be handled by micro-controllers alone... they need a micro-processor
Going all technical the main
> difference between consoles and computers is that computers use CISC
> (Complex Instruction Set Computer) architecture in the chips and
> consoles use RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer).
Even though there are plenty of computers around with RISC chips? (e.g. Archimedes, DEC) There would have been more RISC based PC's however Intel got a little worries about its opposition to their CISC ideology, and so bought them out...
Also, as i've
> already said, by US law a computer is something that can run one
> program whilest also having acces to other programs,
which at the
> moment consoles cant do
Yes they can... muti-tasking is on the whole a software dependant activity (although didnt the AMiga have hardware assistance, which is why it was soo good at multi-tasking) ... What your saying is that a PC that only runs DOS based games arnt computers... but PCs that run games though Windows are?
as you put the DVD/CD whatever in and the
> machine has access to only the program on the disc, mainly a game.
> So unless we will have to start installing games onto our PS4's or
> whatever there is an easy(ish) guide to go by.
Equally going back to HardDrives... which are to be released for the PS2 (40GB) and come as standard on the XBox
> As i've already said, the things you list like microwaves and
> washing machines and stuff contain micro-controllers NOT
> micro-processors, there is a difference between the two as i've
> already pointed out in this thread.
I know you said that... But they dont... Fuzzy logic based systemns are too complex to be handled by micro-controllers alone... they need a micro-processor
Going all technical the main
> difference between consoles and computers is that computers use CISC
> (Complex Instruction Set Computer) architecture in the chips and
> consoles use RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer).
Even though there are plenty of computers around with RISC chips? (e.g. Archimedes, DEC) There would have been more RISC based PC's however Intel got a little worries about its opposition to their CISC ideology, and so bought them out...
Also, as i've
> already said, by US law a computer is something that can run one
> program whilest also having acces to other programs,
which at the
> moment consoles cant do
Yes they can... muti-tasking is on the whole a software dependant activity (although didnt the AMiga have hardware assistance, which is why it was soo good at multi-tasking) ... What your saying is that a PC that only runs DOS based games arnt computers... but PCs that run games though Windows are?
as you put the DVD/CD whatever in and the
> machine has access to only the program on the disc, mainly a game.
> So unless we will have to start installing games onto our PS4's or
> whatever there is an easy(ish) guide to go by.
Equally going back to HardDrives... which are to be released for the PS2 (40GB) and come as standard on the XBox
As i've already said, the things you list like microwaves and washing machines and stuff contain micro-controllers NOT micro-processors, there is a difference between the two as i've already pointed out in this thread.
Going all technical the main difference between consoles and computers is that computers use CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) architecture in the chips and consoles use RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer). Also, as i've already said, by US law a computer is something that can run one program whilest also having acces to other programs, which at the moment consoles cant do as you put the DVD/CD whatever in and the machine has access to only the program on the disc, mainly a game. So unless we will have to start installing games onto our PS4's or whatever there is an easy(ish) guide to go by.
Even if we do start installing onto our consoles (which personally I doubt we will ever have to) there will still be a way of deciding what is what in that a PC will have to have a CISC chip in it, even though they are no-where near as fast as RISC chips which is what consoles have in them.
You're probably asking why PC's will always have CISC chips if they arent as fast as RISC, and the simple reason is that CISC came along first and if Intel/AMD whatever changed and started making RISC chips most of the programs on your computer wouldnt run because they would want the CPU to carry out instructions that the RISC chip couldnt do as it has a Reduced instruction set.
Going all technical the main difference between consoles and computers is that computers use CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) architecture in the chips and consoles use RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer). Also, as i've already said, by US law a computer is something that can run one program whilest also having acces to other programs, which at the moment consoles cant do as you put the DVD/CD whatever in and the machine has access to only the program on the disc, mainly a game. So unless we will have to start installing games onto our PS4's or whatever there is an easy(ish) guide to go by.
Even if we do start installing onto our consoles (which personally I doubt we will ever have to) there will still be a way of deciding what is what in that a PC will have to have a CISC chip in it, even though they are no-where near as fast as RISC chips which is what consoles have in them.
You're probably asking why PC's will always have CISC chips if they arent as fast as RISC, and the simple reason is that CISC came along first and if Intel/AMD whatever changed and started making RISC chips most of the programs on your computer wouldnt run because they would want the CPU to carry out instructions that the RISC chip couldnt do as it has a Reduced instruction set.
Page: