member? 3dfx, early graphics, MoaD 1968


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Just some interviews with 3DFX employees about how their crazy startup succeeded

oo.. found another coolness.. early interactive 3d graphics (while others were using punchcard computers)

OMGOMGOMG! The Mother of All Demos (1968)
"The Mother of All Demos is a name given retrospectively to Douglas Engelbart's December 9, 1968, demonstration of experimental computer technologies that are now commonplace. The live demonstration featured the introduction of the computer mouse, video conferencing, teleconferencing, hypertext, word processing, hypermedia, object addressing and dynamic file linking, bootstrapping, and a collaborative real-time editor."
 
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I am very impressed with the MoaD... nice to see that we still work similarly, with two hands, and the mouse does the gestures, but the Copy and paste is done through the other hand.
Now that I think about it, I do miss "obvious keys" in modern keyboards: Why don't we have a copy/paste button? It is a most used function.

Sure, INS key does have the function, but it is so difficult to get to for right-handed people, that alternatives were developed:
Ctrl+C = Select then Ctrl+Ins to copy.
Ctrl+V = Shift+Ins to paste.
Ctrl+X = Select then Shift+Del to cut the selection.
Ctrl+Z = Undo (some non PC keyboards have Undo)

Which is a good hand placement... if you are right-handed.

The COPY button could have "if words are selected then copy, if nothing is selected, paste at cursor position". Or the right-windows/meta key can do that... or make the capslock take that function, while shift+capslock takes the original capslock function.
Of course, in Linux this already works with the center-button of the mouse, even dragging a selection works, so no extra keys are needed.

I even discovered the "5" in the keypad does not have a function.. maybe we can relegate that function to that button... (very handy for left-handed people)

iu
 
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To be honest, I didn't really grok all of what they're talking about in the MoaD - a lot of terminology specific to their system. Some of what they do seems unnecessarily complicated. But it's simply amazing on so many levels... considering the technology available in 1968.

[EDIT] Some detail on how they did it:
[EDIT] He's much more than an innovator of computer UI concepts, but I don't understand his more abstract ideas about 'augmenting human capabilities'.
 
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I am very impressed with the MoaD... nice to see that we still work similarly, with two hands, and the mouse does the gestures, but the Copy and paste is done through the other hand.
Now that I think about it, I do miss "obvious keys" in modern keyboards: Why don't we have a copy/paste button? It is a most used function.

Sure, INS key does have the function, but it is so difficult to get to for right-handed people, that alternatives were developed:
Ctrl+C = Select then Ctrl+Ins to copy.
Ctrl+V = Shift+Ins to paste.
Ctrl+X = Select then Shift+Del to cut the selection.
Ctrl+Z = Undo (some non PC keyboards have Undo)

Which is a good hand placement... if you are right-handed.

I have a G15 keyboard (you can see the screen of it on my Avatar picture), and I have programmed some of the programmable keys for just that. G13 is Copy, G14 is Cut and G16 is Paste. I'm now used of that, and thoses keys are missing when I use a regular keyboard (at work for example)!

Undo... Yeah, I could add that to G10, Redo to G11, thanks for the suggestion.
 
G10, Redo to G11
hmm... I did NOT recognize it in your avatar picture.... all I saw is the Pandora.
iu

He's much more than an innovator of computer UI concepts
wow... he tested a gamut of different systems around pointer devices... and selected the best.... mouse. Also liked your video from 45:00 and onwards.
 
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I have a G15 keyboard (you can see the screen of it on my Avatar picture), and I have programmed some of the programmable keys for just that. G13 is Copy, G14 is Cut and G16 is Paste. I'm now used of that, and thoses keys are missing when I use a regular keyboard (at work for example)!

Undo... Yeah, I could add that to G10, Redo to G11, thanks for the suggestion.
The first company to implement some of Englebart's ideas in production hardware was Xerox with the Star. Here is their keyboard with dedicated function keys for delete/copy/move and more:
 
I am very impressed with the MoaD... nice to see that we still work similarly, with two hands, and the mouse does the gestures, but the Copy and paste is done through the other hand.
Now that I think about it, I do miss "obvious keys" in modern keyboards: Why don't we have a copy/paste button? It is a most used function.

Sure, INS key does have the function, but it is so difficult to get to for right-handed people, that alternatives were developed:
Ctrl+C = Select then Ctrl+Ins to copy.
Ctrl+V = Shift+Ins to paste.
Ctrl+X = Select then Shift+Del to cut the selection.
Ctrl+Z = Undo (some non PC keyboards have Undo)

Which is a good hand placement... if you are right-handed.

The COPY button could have "if words are selected then copy, if nothing is selected, paste at cursor position". Or the right-windows/meta key can do that... or make the capslock take that function, while shift+capslock takes the original capslock function.
Of course, in Linux this already works with the center-button of the mouse, even dragging a selection works, so no extra keys are needed.

I even discovered the "5" in the keypad does not have a function.. maybe we can relegate that function to that button... (very handy for left-handed people)

iu

actually i have it on my keyboard, and i hate it... because it substitutes num-lock and i never use it anyway...
 
oo.. found another coolness.. early interactive 3d graphics (while others were using punchcard computers)
Ah, I thought that noise was the noise of a cine projector until they zoomed out. I guess that's the punched card reader we're hearing.

The MoaD is an important historical artifact I've seen before, but thanks for bringing it to a wider audience. Helps prove it didn't all start with Windows 95, or even RISC OS or Lisa.

What surprises me is that famous demos from the 80s and early 90s aren't all available on youtube these days. Even relatively important ones like Locomotion (deformable polygons) or Evolution (just awesome sci-fi visions) can't be found, at least using any search terms I've thought of.
 
What surprises me is that famous demos from the 80s and early 90s aren't all available on youtube these days. Even relatively important ones like Locomotion (deformable polygons) or Evolution (just awesome sci-fi visions) can't be found, at least using any search terms I've thought of.

I was around then - never heard of those demos. Were these demos in the sense of 'scene demos' running on computers, or demonstrations in front of live audiences?

Youtube is an incredible trove for human history/culture.

It's kinda weird to me Pyra doesn't have more pre-orders - I guess there aren't so many of us.

But it's always uphill isn't it. Here's Steve Jobs trying to get his new company together (NeXT) 1985
 
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No, those demos were academic or hardware demonstrators, as far as I know. Locomotion was put out by graphics researchers, I think. I'm less sure about Evolution. Mostly run on Silicon Graphics workstations or similar.
 
This guy had a terminal to a 250-ton computer. And he invented the internet.
[edit] that was trollish - he didn't invent it - but he was one of the key players - watch it!
[doublepost=1486608069,1486600522][/doublepost]Oh yeah, before the internet, there was PLATO. I used it for a summer in 1981. These guys were doing interactive computing in 1963. 1 9 6 3....
"The ten-year olds were crawling in through the windows to work."
 
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