Editing 2221: Emulation
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{{comic | {{comic | ||
| number = 2221 | | number = 2221 | ||
− | | date = October | + | | date = October 29, 2019 |
| title = Emulation | | title = Emulation | ||
| image = emulation.png | | image = emulation.png | ||
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | + | {{incomplete|Created by an OLD SOFTWARE THAT DOESN'T KNOW IT'S BEING EMULATED. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | |
+ | The first Personal Computers in the 1970s didn't have local storage, and indeed, even when it became common practice to include storage, it was often [https://www.computerworld.com/article/2473980/data-storage-solutions-143723-storage-now-and-then.html#slide6 very limited] for the everyday user's needs [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hard_drive_capacity_over_time.svg until the 2000s]. Because of this, large programs such as games or specialized editors had much of their code reside on an external disk such as a floppy or a CD-ROM. However, the speed at which data could be loaded from such devices was {{w|List_of_interface_bit_rates#Storage|very slow}}, requiring anywhere from ten seconds to ten minutes to load a level or an advanced dialog box. Software, for this reason, had to be built around these limitations, incorporating some feedback mechanism to let the user know the program was proceeding as intended. These included animations or minigames which were sometimes timed to the exact time the loading took, since external drives were fairly consistent across manufacturers. | ||
− | + | Emulation is a method to allow programs designed form one computer to run on another. When emulating programs that assume their information is stored on external drives, the emulator requests the user to specify where the file is located (Cueball's click). However, on a modern computer with hundreds or thousands of Gigabytes of space, users of emulators often just keep those files locally, which makes them load quickly. This can lead to the feedback appearing to be comically sped up, which Cueball interprets as the program expressing surprise. | |
− | + | Programmers of the era often assumed either that conditions of the time would last longer than they did (such as {{w|Year 2000 problem|representing a year with two characters}}) or that the program wouldn't be used for long (such as a game portraying the president in the likeness of whoever was president at the time the program was made). Cueball is interpreting this as the program casually asking how President Reagan is doing, further anthropomorphisizing the program into a being that believes no time has passed since it was compiled. | |
− | + | An {{w|emulator}} is hardware or software that allows a computer system to behave like a different computer system. In some cases, emulation is used to recreate much older computing environments. In this comic, the software that is being emulated is having a conversation with Cueball, who is bemused by the fact that the software still thinks that it is the 1980s. | |
− | + | {{w|Ronald Reagan}} was the President of the United States from 1981-1989. He passed away in 2004, 15 years before the publication of the comic. Additionally, he had not been President for over 30 years. So it is bemusing and weird that the software still considers him the president of the US. | |
− | In the title text, Cueball references the {{w|Simulation hypothesis|living in a simulation}} trope, mentioning that it is not fully clear that he is actually living in 2019 | + | Additionally, the software remarks on the speed of the disk drive that Cueball is using. Computing speed has increased substantially since the 1980s, probably 100s to 1000s of times faster than the software is expecting. |
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+ | In the title text, Cueball references the {{w|Simulation hypothesis|living in a simulation}} trope, mentioning that it is not fully clear that he is actually living in 2019. | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[Cueball | + | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
− | + | ||
− | + | :[Cueball working on a laptop computer] | |
− | + | ||
− | + | * Software: Loading... please insert disk into drive A: | |
− | + | * Cueball: *click* there you go. | |
− | + | * Software: Thank you. Wow, this disk is incredibly fast! | |
+ | * Cueball: Yeah, uh, it's the new model from memorex | ||
+ | * Software: Amazing. And how is president Reagan? | ||
+ | * Cueball: He's... He's fine. | ||
:[Caption under the panel] | :[Caption under the panel] | ||
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{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
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[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | ||
[[Category:Computers]] | [[Category:Computers]] | ||
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