Peeve Farm

g r o t t o 1 1

Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets

  Blog \Blôg\, n. [Jrg, fr. Jrg. "Web-log".
     See {Blogger, BlogSpot, LiveJournal}.]
     A stream-of-consciousness Web journal, containing
     links, commentary, and pointless drivel.

On My Blog Menu:

InstaPundit
USS Clueless
James Lileks
Little Green Footballs
As the Apple Turns
Entropicana
Cold Fury
Capitalist Lion
Red Letter Day
Eric S. Raymond
Tal G in Jerusalem
Secular Islam
Aziz Poonawalla
Corsair the Rational Pirate
.clue

« ? Blogging Brians # »

Book Plug:

Buy it and I get
money. I think.
BSD Mall

10/6/2003 -  10/8/2003
9/29/2003 -  10/5/2003
9/22/2003 -  9/28/2003
9/15/2003 -  9/21/2003
  9/8/2003 -  9/14/2003
  9/1/2003 -   9/7/2003
8/25/2003 -  8/31/2003
8/18/2003 -  8/24/2003
8/11/2003 -  8/17/2003
  8/4/2003 -  8/10/2003
7/28/2003 -   8/3/2003
7/21/2003 -  7/27/2003
7/14/2003 -  7/20/2003
  7/7/2003 -  7/13/2003
6/30/2003 -   7/6/2003
6/23/2003 -  6/29/2003
6/16/2003 -  6/22/2003
  6/9/2003 -  6/15/2003
  6/2/2003 -   6/8/2003
5/26/2003 -   6/1/2003
5/19/2003 -  5/25/2003
5/12/2003 -  5/18/2003
  5/5/2003 -  5/11/2003
4/28/2003 -   5/4/2003
4/21/2003 -  4/27/2003
4/14/2003 -  4/20/2003
  4/7/2003 -  4/13/2003
3/31/2003 -   4/6/2003
3/24/2003 -  3/30/2003
3/17/2003 -  3/23/2003
3/10/2003 -  3/16/2003
  3/3/2003 -   3/9/2003
2/24/2003 -   3/2/2003
2/17/2003 -  2/23/2003
2/10/2003 -  2/16/2003
  2/3/2003 -   2/9/2003
1/27/2003 -   2/2/2003
1/20/2003 -  1/26/2003
1/13/2003 -  1/19/2003
  1/6/2003 -  1/12/2003
12/30/2002 -   1/5/2003
12/23/2002 - 12/29/2002
12/16/2002 - 12/22/2002
12/9/2002 - 12/15/2002
12/2/2002 -  12/8/2002
11/25/2002 -  12/1/2002
11/18/2002 - 11/24/2002
11/11/2002 - 11/17/2002
11/4/2002 - 11/10/2002
10/28/2002 -  11/3/2002
10/21/2002 - 10/27/2002
10/14/2002 - 10/20/2002
10/7/2002 - 10/13/2002
9/30/2002 -  10/6/2002
9/23/2002 -  9/29/2002
9/16/2002 -  9/22/2002
  9/9/2002 -  9/15/2002
  9/2/2002 -   9/8/2002
8/26/2002 -   9/1/2002
8/19/2002 -  8/25/2002
8/12/2002 -  8/18/2002
  8/5/2002 -  8/11/2002
7/29/2002 -   8/4/2002
7/22/2002 -  7/28/2002
7/15/2002 -  7/21/2002
  7/8/2002 -  7/14/2002
  7/1/2002 -   7/7/2002
6/24/2002 -  6/30/2002
6/17/2002 -  6/23/2002
6/10/2002 -  6/16/2002
  6/3/2002 -   6/9/2002
5/27/2002 -   6/2/2002
5/20/2002 -  5/26/2002
5/13/2002 -  5/19/2002
  5/6/2002 -  5/12/2002
4/29/2002 -   5/5/2002
4/22/2002 -  4/28/2002
4/15/2002 -  4/21/2002
  4/8/2002 -  4/14/2002
  4/1/2002 -   4/7/2002
3/25/2002 -  3/31/2002
3/18/2002 -  3/24/2002
3/11/2002 -  3/17/2002
  3/4/2002 -  3/10/2002
2/25/2002 -   3/3/2002
2/18/2002 -  2/24/2002
2/11/2002 -  2/17/2002
  2/4/2002 -  2/10/2002
1/28/2002 -   2/3/2002
1/21/2002 -  1/27/2002
1/14/2002 -  1/20/2002
  1/7/2002 -  1/13/2002
12/31/2001 -   1/6/2002
12/24/2001 - 12/30/2001
12/17/2001 - 12/23/2001

Thursday, December 12, 2002
20:58 - Who said the command line can't be user-friendly?	(top)
Kris and I have always found the quaint, right-hand-doesn't-know-what-the-left-is-doing way that Windows machines handle removable disks to be vaguely ridiculous. To wit: You're trying to install a program or something; it pops up a dialog box, saying "Please insert disk 2 of 4. Press any key when ready." But that's not really what it means. It means you have to lean back, peer at the floppy drive, and wait for the little amber light to stop blinking. That means the drive has stopped reading and writing data, see; you don't want to push that chunky hardware eject button while it's busy, or else you'll wreck the disk. (That's called "standard workflow", you understand, in the PC world.) When the light goes off, you press the button, and the disk pops out. Put in the new disk. But you're not done yet; you have to press a key, or click OK, to tell the dialog box that you put the disk in. Got that? You have to tell the computer that you have put a disk into the computer. My ass has a better feedback mechanism than that. CD-ROMs complicated matters. They had the ability to auto-run; but they had to spin up. They had soft eject buttons, so you couldn't remove a disc while it was busy. But now, when a program asked you to insert disc 2, you put the disc in, then had to wait-- staring at the little amber light while the disc squeakily spun up and mounted itself-- before you clicked OK to tell the program that it's okay, the disc is in the computer and mounted now. The human is the operational link in the programmatic script. Spin up and mount inserted disc, then have the human tell me my disc is mounted. That's how they keep computers from taking over the world, you see; they have to be kept subservient somehow. Whereas for us, it was always piercingly easy. There would never have been an "I can't find the any key!" joke if all computers were Macs, because Macs never ask you to "press any key to continue". Nor did you ever have to click the OK button once you'd determined that the disk was ready to read from. The computer, miracle O miracle, somehow knew the status of its own disks, and hung its events upon them. Whether it was a floppy or a CD or a DVD, the soft eject mechanisms and OS-integrated mounting and unmounting, accessible through all levels of software, meant that the computer would simply stick out its tray at you, while a dialog prompted you as to which disc it wanted. You'd push the tray back in, and sit back as the software watched the disc spin up, took a deep breath, said "Right!" and continued with the procedure. You mean this isn't the way all computers work? Now, Windows is getting to the point where many applications can understand when you've put a disc in, and key their events off of that advanced feature so you don't have to be the caretaker of spin-up speed, waving your lightsticks only when you're sure the runway is cleared for the software to barrel its way past, its windshield painted over. Things are gradually getting better. Computers are starting to act like they have some clue about how their own hardware works. But it's been fairly commonly accepted that even worse than Windows or DOS was UNIX. Command-line utilities, designed to run across VT100 terminals and teletype machines, relied on highly trained and savvy users to input commands that were only guaranteed to work if all the details of circumstance were right, if the disks were ready, if the network was up, if virtual memory was configured. Error trapping was minimal. If the user is sufficiently capable, there's no need to hold his hand or clean up after him. So it stands to reason, doesn't it, that UNIX command-line CD-burning utilities would be horribly abstruse? You'd have to type in a myriad of obscure commands and options, and if you get any of them wrong, you'd end up with little shiny coasters and a seriously pissed-off Colonel Panic shouting at you and waving his riding crop under your chin? And so it is, as a matter of fact. In most UNIXes, that is. Not Mac OS X, though. That "Please insert a disc:" prompt blinks at you. It sticks out the CD tray. When you put the disc in, it automatically knows when the drive is ready, and it proceeds with the burn. And the icing on the cake? That progress bar of centered dots reaches 100% at the right edge of the 80-column terminal window. That's what happens when UNIX gets human-interface engineers.