What if you never 1337'd?

[Slevin57]

Before I start let me say this is a topic for internet addicts.

Where do you think you would be if the internet hadn't taken off like it did? (aka what if we were still on dial up doods).

I'll be honest I don't know where I would be. I first really started using the internet when I was in the 7th grade, 5 years ago. I played a strategic html based war game called Utopia. From there I discovered this new thing call Kazaa :P, and searched for simulation games. (I had an interest in being a pilot at the time). I found a star trek game, and eventually became involved in there little social stratta. I never really became a die hard trekkie, but I was around them. Eventually I got bored and started an organization dedicated to driving the trekkies nutz, and it worked pretty damn well. That was the height of my internet usage, I've since gone down. I'm kinda drifting away with college and the whole working thing starting. But I am still in the decendent of the trek organization.

I think I probbaly would have gone the book worm route if there wasn't an internet.

[Kinetix]

I probably wouldn't be as fucked up as I am now without the advent of the internet. But you know, shock sites only fuck you up so much.

[Slevin57]

That's true too....Before I used the internet I was all quiet and calm, never EVER cussed. Now I'm a fucking mess. :P

[pnemeth]

I'd be hanging out with nerds in real life, instead of the internet. Man, having to make friends must suck.

[xteriormotive]

i would probably have better social skills in real life

[Akuma Bajen]

Internet as long as I could remember...we got it when I was five, 13 years ago, which is odd considering my family was pretty redneck...

I read a lot too as a kid and still managed to get out and play with neighbors. I probably would spend my time at the library reading literature...It all went downhill once I discovered instant messaging.

[Napalm]

I would have been on my way to fame, fortune and glory.
But this is much better.

[Inactive Cargo]

I'd have a life.

[genesis[OFT]]

I'd have a life.

No you wouldn't. You'd have Halo 2 singleplayer (xbox) on repeat. Stop kidding yourself. Sheesh.

Now for me, at least Todd knows, I'd almost definately have a life, as hubs need internets to be useful. Networks - internet = not fun.

[Jebus]

genesis[OFT] would be getting rogered by his Jehova buddies on a nightly basis

Id be the same.. just have more time for going out drinking

[genesis[OFT]]

genesis[OFT] would be getting rogered by his Jehova buddies on a nightly basis

Now, that's stooping to an alltime low. Firstly, it was the Roman Catholic Church - I'm Anglican. Secondly, it was only certain members of the Roman Catholic Church. Don't go and make me find atheist child molesters. Hell, I'd be googling for hours. Not.

</end_of_threadjacking>

[Jebus]

I dont really care what religion you are, youd be getting rogered by jehovas regardless. You are 16 as per Todd :)

[genesis[OFT]]

Ah, well, actually, Todd turns 17 this year. He's only 4 months older than me though.

And again, not so keen on the rogering. With or without Jehovahs.

Now, we must stop the thread hijacking and leave this poor table of SQL data in peace.

[Jebus]

Isnt lying a sin? Mr Age: 19

[Kinetix]

genesis[OFT] would be getting rogered by his Jehova buddies on a nightly basis

Id be the same.. just have more time for going out drinking

I love the word rogered. It makes things so much more funny.

[SPASTICHOBO]

I'd have probably gotten laid by now.

[s33r]

I'd be reading right now. Or a world-class musician. The time I spend on the Internet would have gone into practicing, which, according to my teacher, is all I need to be a prodigy.

Fuck fame.

[Avarik]

Dial up is plent enough speed to play Starcraft online, and that was the first thing I really did on the net, oh so many years ago.

And besides, forums still load quick enough on 56k. Sure I'd miss the gigs and gigs of torrented stuff but hey, I'd still have 1337.com.

[Crack Monk]

I dunno about that, Avarik. I actually stopped going to 1337 very often when I had dial-up, mainly because it took so fuckin' long to load. I even had avatars and sigs turned off and was STILL getting raped.

Anyway. Without the internet, I would have invented the internet.

[crooked]

i wouldnt be eating my breakfast right now that my gf just brought me. (met her on da intrawebz)

[Shins]

I would read about things in actual books, instead of on Wikipedia.

[BuFFMb]

damn, thats hardcore, i first started surfing the web since i was like in elementry when AOL sent out the free samples on floppy drive, AOL 1.2 ftw!!!

where i would be right now? maybe at some ivy leage school getting a 4.0 gpa or i could still have a chance at being a nerd playing dnd at an ihop somewhere at 3 in the morning....who knows

[StopMakingSense]

Id be a millionaire travelling the world with my supermodel wife.

Instead im here getting flamed by napalm and crooked.

MY LIFE SUCKS.
/CUTS MY WRISTS TO MAKE THE PAIN GO AWAY.

[crooked]

when did i bother flaming you?

[Mooters]

I would be a thug gangsta, yo!
*waves random gang signs*

[low tech]

I'd still be persuing science as my career choice, instead of Computer Technician.

[StopMakingSense]

when did i bother flaming you?
i really dont know, i just had to make my response somewhat emo, so i used yoru name. you should be honored!

[BeanFire]

whod want to be honored that YOU used someones name.

I'd probaly have something of a life. Not sure though. Problay dnd at ihop with BuffMb:P .

[pnemeth]

whod want to be honored that YOU used someones name.

I would be...

[System_Zero]

I'd fine some way to be 1337, maybe steal the internet from Crack Monk.

[RaptorAlex]

Id still be playing the risk board game with my mates during the weekend and studying during the week... instead of playing games age of empires online every day and forgetting that all importand homework

[genesis[OFT]]

Isnt lying a sin? Mr Age: 19

Damn it. You found me out! Forgive me father for I have sinned and been eRogered. :(

[BuFFMb]

I'd probaly have something of a life. Not sure though. Problay dnd at ihop with BuffMb:P .

right on brotha!!

[MasterGlitch]

My life would be exactly as it is now, except all my internet time would be spent giving me more free time which I would spend the same way I do my other free time. I'd hang out with friends, play D&D, play single-player video games and the occasional split-screen game.
Yeah, I'd be mostly unchanged.

[My Internet Sucks]

By a strange series in slight differences between timing and chance, I'd probably be in Alaska selling balloons.

[Hacky]

Sans Internet, I'd probably be hanging out with a certain group of people getting stoned right about now.

I'd also probably have a 2.5 GPA*, so.... not such a good life.

*I am not saying that becuase of the marijuana I'd be stupid, so don't yell at me

[Seraphim]

I'd probably still be a SysOp of a BBS... probably one dedicated to the art or demo scene, or maybe one with massive amounts of doors, instead of underground schtuffs... Most likely, I'd still be holding on to ANSi art and keeping it alive, as opposed to moving on to 3d. I'd also be a lot better at basketball than I am now. ^_^

[pnemethy]

I would cry...

[Napoleon]

I'd be president of the USA and then assasinated for barfing in some muslims turbin.

[pnemethy]

I'd probably still be a SysOp of a BBS... probably one dedicated to the art or demo scene, or maybe one with massive amounts of doors, instead of underground schtuffs... Most likely, I'd still be holding on to ANSi art and keeping it alive, as opposed to moving on to 3d. I'd also be a lot better at basketball than I am now. ^_^

I'd be writing tiny-ass (yet still awesome) demos and putting them on your BBS.

[runestone]

I'd be writing tiny-ass (yet still awesome) demos and putting them on your BBS.

Not falling for it. Sorry.

It's obvious you've seen what another new member has written to get themselves upgraded quickly, you've created a new account, and are now trying to copy their style.

Please feel free to post some of your awesome demo work. I have a C64 emulator running in another window right now and waiting.

EDIT: I just checked your DOB. I was cutting assembly routines on a VIC-20 when your parents were still in primary school.

[pnemethy]

What? I've always liked writing software that was physically small (maybe that comes from my embedded background). If you will read through my posts as pnemeth, you will see that I even proposed a challenge of seeing who could write the most size-optimized code. I can't see why you are thinking that I am just saying that to try and get upgraded...

Got an 8088 emulator? Here's a bootsector demo (or if you want, you could make it into a DOS executable or something, but it would add to the filesize): http://www.filefactory.com/file/8c5e24/

Your experience with outdated hardware is only mildly impressive...

[runestone]

Your experience with outdated hardware is only mildly impressive...

You having only used modern systems and micros is even less impressive.

[pnemethy]

Why's that? It would be silly for me to learn about outdated platforms... I'd rather just learn more about current ones.

[dylan]

Not falling for it. Sorry.

It's obvious you've seen what another new member has written to get themselves upgraded quickly, you've created a new account, and are now trying to copy their style.

Please feel free to post some of your awesome demo work. I have a C64 emulator running in another window right now and waiting.

EDIT: I just checked your DOB. I was cutting assembly routines on a VIC-20 when your parents were still in primary school.
what's a primary school? o.O


You having only used modern systems and micros is even less impressive.
p fak'ed even though i have no idea what you are speaking of.

[runestone]

Do you consider the Z80 and 8051 families outdated?

[pnemethy]

well, i definitely would not design a new system around one of those particular controllers. I guess they still have their place in legacy support...

[runestone]

I suspected as much.

What micros do you use?

[pnemethy]

For generic control purposes, AVR and HC08. I accidentally played with a PSoC eval board once...

[Slevin57]

Shouldn't you start with the basics, and work your way up to current design to have the best appretiation of where your field is at/going/came from?

[pnemethy]

errr, Z80, 8051, AVR, and HC08 are at about the same level of basicness (pretty basic). It would just be plain silly to learn a platform that you don't intend on using, and even sillier to spend a bunch of money on development tools (which are really overpriced, believe me) for specific embedded platforms just so you can learn them for the life experience.

[runestone]

OK, well I can tell you that in the "real world" you won't have a choice. So many new chip designs out there are based around cores such as the 8051 it's not funny.

There's good reasons these cores are used. It's because:
1) They are established and fully debugged
2) They suit the task perfectly
3) The dev tools are debugged and, in many cases, free or low cost
4) The cores are either out of copyright or cheap to license
5) If there are bugs in the tools or silicon, they are well known

[Seraphim]

EDIT: I just checked your DOB. I was cutting assembly routines on a VIC-20 when your parents were still in primary school.

Ehehehe... pwnt. ^_^ .Voo


Got an 8088 emulator?

Pft, I still got my 8088. T_T Blew up my monitor though... turned a 256 VGA into a monochrome SVGA in the resultant explosion.

[pnemethy]

OK, well I can tell you that in the "real world" you won't have a choice. So many new chip designs out there are based around cores such as the 8051 it's not funny.

There's good reasons these cores are used. It's because:
1) They are established and fully debugged
2) They suit the task perfectly
3) The dev tools are debugged and, in many cases, free or low cost
4) The cores are either out of copyright or cheap to license
5) If there are bugs in the tools or silicon, they are well known

Well, most of those points are true for any popular platform that's been around for a long time. Yet newer platforms, such as AVR, have advantages such as having opcodes that provide for more code density, or a friendly instruction set for C compilers. Also, AVRs are much faster than 8051s (i.e. On average, they have a much higher MIPS/Mhz rating (and yes, the instruction sets are similar enough to make that a valid comparison)). If I can buy a microcontroller that performs the same task while using less power (due to lower clock speed, among other things), and less ROM, then that will also probably end up being more and more cost effective as more and more units are manufactured. On the other hand, if a company used an 8051 in an old product, and didn't want to port over their entire assembly code base to a different platform, then it could be more cost effective to just use a similar 8051-based controller. So yeah, i stand by my statement that I wouldn't make a new design around an 8051 or Z80 controller (not that power consumption or code size is that big of an issue for me, as a hobbiest)...

Edit: btw, what do you do for a job, and which controller platforms do you use? (now i'm curious)

[runestone]

I mostly use Motorola, Microchip, Texas Instruments and Nordic micros.

I'm a private contractor and consultant working from my home office where I produce hardware, software and firmware.

[pnemethy]

I mostly use Motorola, Microchip, Texas Instruments and Nordic micros.

I'm a private contractor and consultant working from my home office where I produce hardware, software and firmware.

Sounds fun...

[runestone]

It's always either incredibly rewarding fun, or throw-yourself-through-a-plate-glass-window stressful anguish.

There's no in-between.

[xteriormotive]

what's a primary school? o.O

its elementry school in australia

[Daedalus66]

I would have killed myself long ago. Or I would have never heard of the Wii, and killed myself subconciously for missing out on the (soon to be) Greatest Console Ever.

[Trainwreck]

i like how there was an on-going conversation, and this guy above me decided to break it.

well, i'll follow suit:


i'd never have met so many angry people all at once, it's one thing i'm glad to say i've done, i'll scratch it off my "to do" list

[Napalm3PO]

I would have killed myself long ago.
You really should have.

[Trainwreck]

You really should have.


LOL

anyway: the shark-pool moves extremely slow, this upsets me.




on a different note: i think if i never came here, people would be more mored than they are. at least now im' giving them something to talk about

[pnemethy]

LOL

anyway: the shark-pool moves extremely slow, this upsets me.


if you start a cool topic, i'll talk with you about it! go!

[Daedalus66]

i like how there was an on-going conversation, and this guy above me decided to break it.

well, i'll follow suit:


i'd never have met so many angry people all at once, it's one thing i'm glad to say i've done, i'll scratch it off my "to do" list

Yeah sorry, I was only on the first page when I clicked reply. Sorry.

[Trainwreck]

Yeah sorry, I was only on the first page when I clicked reply. Sorry.


lol, i'm not mad or anything... Hell, it's not my place to be mad, i was just stating the obvious.

I'm not sure why i posted this post though. I've already stated what i would do if i never found the site.


Well, something else i'd be doing would probably be working. Making money, that kinda stuff, but thats about it

[Riv3r]

I'd probably be even more of a nerd than I am now, Playing MTG all the time, and going to Diceheads (local "nerd store) daily. I'd still be obsessed w/ PC's though because there would still be all these awesome games out I think...