Cumulative 48-hour Computer Trivia

[starlifter]

General "rules"

0. This is a fun trivia game....

1. Cumulative Trivia is different from Cumulative Quizzes. The main areas of difference are set off in a quote block for clarity:

(1). The objective: Trivia, info, and tidbits related to the world of computers.

(2). This is a fast-moving thread: 48 hours (max) from question post to the next question is the limit.

(3). Research IS allowed... online, books, friends, etc. The one caveat is if you don't know the info from your own knowledge, simply state the specific reference (& hyperlink, if internet-based). This is not a battle of individual "smarts" or memory retention, but an exchange of info and trivia.

(4). Current questioner: visit at least daily (preferably a few times a day while your question is active) to check replies; you can give hints if you like. If the question is not aswered to your satisfaction within 48 hours (maximum) of your first post of your question, then state the answer (and reference, if you used one) and either ask a new question or pass the question to another participant.

(5). Respondants: Check back by that 48 hours after you post your reply, because the original author will have confirmed or rejected your reply by then. You are expected to post your new question by the end of the 48 hour limit from the previous question...

(6). The basic idea is that anyone, even computer neophytes and non-native English speakers, can effectively participate You need only be able to locate or research info... databases and reference books are cool .

2. All questions need to be related to computers, software, computer history, historical people in computing, etc.

3. If the question ages 48 hours form the original post time/date with no correct reply (as acknowledged by the author), then the 1st one who posted the "right" answer gets the next question; if that is ambigious, then the person who replied immediately after the author's original question can go next & keep the quiz back on track.

4. Naturally, question makers should know the exact answer to their question before posting, LOL....

5. Again, research is OK, both for questions and for answers. But try and choose questions that are of at least marginal interest to "average" people.... the kind of general trivia that CFC people might enjoy discussing in real life.

6. Note: researching questions, esp. with internet search engines and reference books will likely add to (or refreshen) your general knowledge for the Cumulative Computer Quiz thread.


rev 1.00, 09Jul02... .

[starlifter]

Question 1:

Easy....

What was the name of the first PC hard drive defragmentation program, and what was the name of the program's author?

Hint#1: Try looking for terms such as "defrag" and "fragmentation" and "198" (the program came out in the 1980's).

Another hint will follow in a few hours if no answer.

[sumthinelse]

This is not the answer, but I thought this metaphor was weird enough to quote:

"DEFRAG reorganises the hard drive of the industry by taking the lost files of silliness and displaying them on the screen saver of ridicule, while working in gratuitous references to professional wrestling wherever possible. Defrag has never won a Walkley, but Linus Torvalds suggested Kerrie Murphy was on drugs after she theorised the Linux penguin would lose a deathmatch against the BSD Deamon."

http://australianit.news.com.au/topi...defrag,00.html

[ainwood]

I'm going to try this without researching. I believe it was the Norton Disk Doctor.

[starlifter]

Well, the search engine did not seem to help out too much (too hard to extract the exact info) when I tried to use it to see what ya'll might locate.

So I'll state the references and answer, and choose to pass the question to the closest answer.

References:
- My original box & manuals of Norton Utilities 4.5 (1988).
- Using the original program Spinrite in 1988-89.
- 1991 Microsoft DOS 5.0, manual page 207-08.
- http://grc.com/

Answer:

Steve Gibson wrote a program calle "Spinrite" in 1988 that could do a lot of things, including the now-commmon defrag. Others followed shortly. My Norton Utilities 4.5 from 1988 does not have Speedisk (Peter Norton's defrag program).... but NU jumped right on it, and even MS eventually followed suite. Originally, defragging was even touted (mainly by Gibson) to extend the life of a dard drive because the heads and servos did not have to move around as much (HD crashes were more common back in 1988).

"Spinrite" (much changed!) is still in existance today, and currently in version 5. It no longer defrags, changes sector interleaves, or supports MFM and RLL drives... but it does do an excellent job of predicting, detecting, and fixing hard drive errors and recovering from certain kinds of data loss. The program is $89, however, and is not really the best value for home users with modern (reliable) hard drives.


As a historical note, here is Microsoft's original method, on page 207-08 of their MS DOS 5.0 manual (I still have mine) to compete with Gibson's Spinrite. I sh!t you not:

"If your system is reading and writing information more slowly than usual, the files on your disk might be fragmented. If you don't have a disk-compaction program ... you might want to compact your disk by reformatting"



The "Microsoft Solution!!" Reformat your drive! Why not take out a hammer and bash your machine to bits? No more "disk compaction" worries, right?!

But Microsoft, ever the master of the obvious, went on to thoughfully warn: "... the FORMAT command deletes all files on your hard disk." Hmmm... yup, with no files, fragmentation should not be an issue for the average user .

Micro$oft actually listed this as the third of the 3 "advantages" (as MS saw it) of wiping out your hard drive:

"- Doesn't require you to purchase additional software."

Gee M$, how thoughtful!!!!

No need for us to support innovative software authors and companies like Gibson and Norton!! But a year or so later, MS put the true innovators out of business with the release of MS DOS 6.xx.

M$ stole the utility and included the DOS command, "DEFRAG", as a command prompt defragger for the first time. This effectively ended profitable independent innovation in this area.



Ainwood's reply of "Norton Disk Doctor" (aka NDD) is actually not a defragmenter.... NU's Speedisk is the defragmenter.

But.... since ainwood was the closest, I'll pass the next question to Ainwood....

So it's your question, Ainwood!


EDIT: Add more info.

[ainwood]

Well, I guess you could always have backed-up to another hard-disk (or even a whole bunch of 5 1/4" floppies ) before the reformatting!

My question: When was the first spreadsheeting program developed, what company developed it, and what was it called?

[sumthinelse]

"If your system is reading and writing information more slowly than usual, the files on your disk might be fragmented. If you don't have a disk-compaction program ... you might want to compact your disk by reformatting"



The "Microsoft Solution!!" Reformat your drive! Why not take out a hammer and bash your machine to bits? No more "disk compaction" worries, right?!

But Microsoft, ever the master of the obvious, went on to thoughfully warn: "... the FORMAT command deletes all files on your hard disk." Hmmm... yup, with no files, fragmentation should not be an issue for the average user .

Micro$oft actually listed this as the third of the 3 "advantages" (as MS saw it) of wiping out your hard drive:

"- Doesn't require you to purchase additional software."

L OOOO L
L O O L
L O O L
LLLL OOOO LLLL

[sumthinelse]

Originally posted by ainwood
Well, I guess you could always have backed-up to another hard-disk (or even a whole bunch of 5 1/4" floppies ) before the reformatting!

My question: When was the first spreadsheeting program developed, what company developed it, and what was it called?

The earliest one I can think of is EZ something. Then they got a bunch of money and became EZCORP but I think they didn't do well after they got bigger.

[ainwood]

Not the one I was after.

[sumthinelse]

Now I'm starting to remember more. EZ-Calc was a clone of VisiCalc. Is that the one?

[starlifter]

This is also the "killer app" that was responsible for really fueling the massive growth of the PC!!! And I remember it well, drooling over it, but unable to afford either it or a PC as a college student .

The spreadsheet was VisiCalc, and I know for a fact it ran on the TRS-80, The Apple II, and the IBM PC, and maybe even more PCs of the era. I know 1983, and I think also 1982, were years of the Spreadsheet. So I'll say it came out in 1982. I believe the company name was VisiCalc, as well as their flagship product.

[sumthinelse]

OK, I think VisiCalc changed its name to VisiCorp when it got bigger.

(Not intended as an answer: There was a later company that tried to compete with VisiCalc. That company's name was Visi-On. Don't you love these cute 1980s company names?)

[ainwood]

It was visicalc. It came out in 1979.

I'll pass it to sumthinelse.

[starlifter]

Wow! 1979! They really had the world by the horns, but fumbled the football....

[starlifter]

Hey sumthinelse, it's your question

[sumthinelse]

Sorry about that. I was out in the monsoons, literally.

For Intel processors 8086, 286, 386, 486, Pentium you can buy an "ICE" machine from Intel. What does "ICE" stand for and what does it do?

Yes, I know the answer is easy to find but it's educational....

[ainwood]

Well, seeing as research is allowed, I had a look. I presume you weren't after "Indiana Computing Educators".

Rather than put the answer I found, could you expand the question to also include an explanation of the term?

[Lucky]

No need to research that one.

ICE stands for "in-circuit emulation".
An ICE device acts as a "normal" CPU but is controlled by the actual CPU. It monitors the bus for certain events to set a breakpoint for the CPU. Once this happens, the CPU gets into ICE mode and can perform certain functions specified in the instruction set.

In-circuit emulation is a hardware emulation method not only used by Intel, but for Intel processors it fulfills certain task like breakpoint handling. It considerable speeds up the CPU.

[sumthinelse]

Explain the term? Er, that's what you are supposed to do -- tell me what an intel "ICE" machine is.

The three letters are the starting letters of an intel product.

I would search for "486 ice" "pentium ice" etc.

[sumthinelse]

Originally posted by Lucky
No need to research that one.

ICE stands for "in-circuit emulation".
An ICE device acts as a "normal" CPU but is controlled by the actual CPU. It monitors the bus for certain events to set a breakpoint for the CPU. Once this happens, the CPU gets into ICE mode and can perform certain functions specified in the instruction set.

Correct. We called it "In Circuit Emulator." really the same thing.

When your machine has a hard-to debug bug (how the **** did it do that???), for example, you can get a trace of the instructions and other cycles that led up to the error. Expensive but useful. You have to take out the pentium (or 486 or whatever) chip and replace it with the ICE probe. Be careful not to bend those pins!

Lucky, you are up!