March, 2022 | Find the soul

2022-Mar-14

A brief tour of the PDP-11, the most influential minicomputer of all time

The history of computing could arguably be divided into three eras: that of mainframes, minicomputers, and microcomputers. Minicomputers provided an important bridge between the first mainframes and the ubiquitous micros of today. This is the story of the PDP-11, the most influential and successful minicomputer ever.

In their moment, minicomputers were used in a variety of applications. They served as communications controllers, instrument controllers, large system pre-processors, desk calculators, and real-time data acquisition handlers. But they also laid the foundation for significant hardware architecture advances and contributed greatly to modern operating systems, programming languages, and interactive computing as we know them today.

In today’s world of computing, in which every computer runs some variant of Windows, Mac, or Linux, it’s hard to distinguish between the CPUs underneath the operating system. But there was a time when differences in CPU architecture were a big deal. The PDP-11 helps explain why that was the case.

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2022-Mar-14

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin review — strange, ugly, fun

I thought I would hate Stranger of Paradise, which comes out on March 18. But I don’t. I actually like it.Read More

2022-Mar-14

Check out the first five minutes of Showtime’s Man Who Fell to Earth

Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as an alien who comes to Earth in hopes of saving the people on his home planet in Showtime’s new series The Man Who Fell to Earth.

SXSW attendees this weekend were treated to the world premiere of Showtime’s new sci-fi series, The Man Who Fell to Earth, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as an alien who comes to Earth in hopes of saving the people on his home planet. The network followed up that premiere by releasing a sneak peek at the pilot episode’s first five minutes.

As we reported previously, the new TV series is based on the classic 1963 novel by Walter Tevis, which already spawned an iconic 1976 film adaptation featuring rock star David Bowie as the titular alien. Developed and written by Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, it began as a project for Hulu before moving to CBS All Access (which has since been absorbed into Paramount+). Showtime will air the series in the US, with Paramount+ carrying it internationally. Per the official logline, “The Man Who Fell to Earth will follow a new alien character (Ejiofor) who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must confront his own past to determine our future.”

The TV adaptation introduces some clear deviations from the source material, starting with Ejiofor’s character, an alien named Faraday. Bill Nighy plays Thomas Jerome Newton, the character Bowie played. (He even sports a similar dashing hat.) Naomie Harris co-stars as Justin Falls, described as “a brilliant scientist and engineer who must conquer her own demons in the race to save two worlds.” She has a young son who bonds with Faraday. The cast also includes Westworld‘s Jimmi Simpson as Spencer Clay; Rob Delaney as Hatch Flood; Sonya Cassidy as Edie Flood; Joana Ribeiro as Lisa Dominguez; Annelle Olaleye as Molly Falls; Josh Herdman as Terry; and Kate Mulgrew as Drew Finch.

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