G+_Joe C. Hecht Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Coding 101 - Episode 19 - Lou Maresca It was great to see +Lou Maresca again, but I must take issue with his comment that modems speed where overtaking a intel 486 box. Really? When we designed the graphics engine for the first interactive game CD's (such as Disney Interactive and Warner Brothers) the specification was to deliver full screen animation on a minimal machine consisting of a intel 386/sx with 4mb of ram and a 1x CD running under Windows 3. We delivered, and went on to produce some memorable titles including Howie Mandel's Tuneland, three Monte Python titles, Disney's Timon and Pumbaa, Ace Ventura, and Battle Beast. In short, if we could deliver screen interactive animation on a 386SX-20, a intel 486 box should have no trouble keeping up with the modems of the day. Further, I have been writing windows drivers since Windows beta version 0.8, and even those machines of those days (an 8086) could (easily) keep up with a modem. Want a real story about modems of the day? In one word "Compuserve". I sorely remember my $1200 per month billing statements, and remember when 1200 baud absolutely rocked. TJoe - Code4Sale, LLC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Lee Crocker Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 The fastest modems were 14400 bps, which is about 700 usec per character. Any software that couldn't keep up with that on even an old 5 MHz processor is atrocious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Louis Maresca Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 You caught me! I just wanted a new PC...that's what I told my dad. "Dad, I would get to do things a lot faster if I just had a new PC that could keep up with this new external modem." ;) sharp as a tack you guys are. BTW Joe, the mugs you sent me are amazing! I use them everyday. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Joe C. Hecht Posted June 7, 2014 Author Share Posted June 7, 2014 Glad you like the mugs Lou! Let me know if you need more! And to be honest, the modem catch was just the intro I needed to brag about being part of making the first real PC graphics animation engines, so thanks for giving me an excuse :) FWIW, I really didn't care for the gaming side of writing graphics engines. I remember all the gaming parties my neighbor did (the DOS side of things - id software - I am originally from the Dallas area), but it was a lot of fun. I got to work with Howie Mandel, the Monte Python guys, and even David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. But with gaming comes a lot of creepy music playing in the backgound, violence, and lots of gunfire sounds and explosions coming from everyone's PC's. And then there was "Stinky", Howie Mandel, and childrens games getting cut at the same time. For me, in the long run, it was just more than I could take. I'm a document guy... rendering engines for printing and publishing is my mug :) Thanks for giving me the intro :) Did'nt you mention something shady about the early Windows days? Your not thinking smoke and mirrors for the first Win Demo s written in Turbo Pascal are you ;) TJoe - Code4Sale, LLC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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