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[News] Olaf Barthel InterviewANN.lu
Posted on 10-Jun-2002 09:11 GMT by Rodney McDonell56 comments
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Finaly i have finished my interview with Olaf Barthel. At near 6000 words, its not a bad read, and probably one of my best interviews yet. Get to know a great man, read it now!
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 1 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by w00t on 10-Jun-2002 07:54 GMT
Wow. A dyslexic being taught the basics of operating systems, networking, hardware, AmigaOS and Amigas. Kudos to Olaf for caring to elaborate his replies instead of just ignoring the weirdo, now there were some moderately interesting tidbits after all.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 2 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Rodney McDonell on 10-Jun-2002 08:31 GMT
In reply to Comment 1 (w00t):
I did point out that it was mostly for my benifit. Would you rather me not sure you anymore?
Btw - i thought it was obvious, but i knew some of the questions were a bit lame, i just wanted to hear him give the answeres. (E.g multimedia update, of course i knew it was out of date and why!!!)
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 3 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Rodney McDonell on 10-Jun-2002 08:51 GMT
In reply to Comment 2 (Rodney McDonell):
rather me not SHOW you any more... dag nam it!!!
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 4 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Robert Wilson on 10-Jun-2002 08:56 GMT
In reply to Comment 2 (Rodney McDonell):
Take no notice.
I enjoy these little bits of information.
Thank you Rodney.
Robert
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 5 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Rodney McDonell on 10-Jun-2002 09:01 GMT
In reply to Comment 4 (Robert Wilson):
Thanx Rob, i enjoy writing them. Although, its comments like the above that remind me why i shouldnt bother with ANN. You try to something constructive, and they shoot ya down for it... Not that i care. Water of a ducks back.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 6 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Mike Bouma on 10-Jun-2002 10:02 GMT
In reply to Comment 5 (Rodney McDonell):
Good work Rodney! IMO a very interesting interview, ignore the people who are whining about every positive effort. Keep up the good work!
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 7 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Seehund on 10-Jun-2002 10:06 GMT
In reply to Comment 5 (Rodney McDonell):
That's the right attitude. Don't allow cretins to put you down. Thanks for the interview.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 8 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by MrZammler on 10-Jun-2002 10:45 GMT
Those "questions" at the end of the interview, spoiled the whole thing. Shouldnt be there. I cant believe that there are people who would ask that kind of stuff.
Trully depresing.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 9 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Jack Me on 10-Jun-2002 10:56 GMT
In reply to Comment 8 (MrZammler):
I agree. Good interview but the questions at the end were very embarrassing and cringe worthy.:\
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 10 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Eva on 10-Jun-2002 11:07 GMT
Thx To Olaf to be one of the wisest m8s in the Amiga world.
Good luck!
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 11 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Björn Hagström on 10-Jun-2002 11:23 GMT
Thanks for the interview! (Just skip those under the belt things the next time :)
/Björn
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 12 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Rodney McDonell on 10-Jun-2002 12:07 GMT
In reply to Comment 11 (Björn Hagström):
I agree, those questions were a little risky, however, i think he handled them ok and didnt at all seemed distrubed. After all, if he was, he only had to not include them in the reply at all. But he did, so... :).
BTW - For anyone that wants a German Translate, it'll be up in a while. I think Amigatopcool is doing it? Is that a germal site... i cant remember who but its something like that.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 13 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Troels Ersking on 10-Jun-2002 13:57 GMT
Nice interview Rodney, thanks for spending the time on it.
Also BIG thanks to Olaf for helping keeping our little platform alive!
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 14 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by coldfire on 10-Jun-2002 14:13 GMT
Such a nice interview. He has an excellent sense of humor and answers questions straight forward and plainly. Too bad about the idiocy at the end. Did you have to do that?
coldfire
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 15 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 10-Jun-2002 15:35 GMT
I must admit, I didn't realise Envoy was an IPC solution
in addition to everything else.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 16 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Joe on 10-Jun-2002 16:01 GMT
OB is great.
It is unfortunate that he has no PPC OS on his system yet !
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 17 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Alkis Tsapanidis on 10-Jun-2002 16:28 GMT
In reply to Comment 1 (w00t):
You do know that dyslectics have a higher IQ than ordinary people, don't you?
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 18 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by TimeWillTell on 10-Jun-2002 18:28 GMT
Thanks Rodney
Interviews like that go a long way assure the community (or at least me) that
there are truly capable and conscientious people continuing their work on the
Amiga, and that they are involved with the development of OS4.
Way cool Tom
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 19 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by kjetil on 10-Jun-2002 18:34 GMT
In reply to Comment 17 (Alkis Tsapanidis):
I do develop programs, my friends do not, they are not dyslectics, how ever I'm.
And I know one thing I'm allot vise then the one posted comment number one, as I have had to deal
with being miss understood, miss interpreted and under mined on all written tests.
And to achieve watt I have, I need to be fighter, and being turn down more then once.
So if any one believe we are lazy then you better think twice, if you work hard you achieve allot of knowledge,
knowledge is not IQ, it's just knowledge. To be creative you need to be pragmatic,
being able to compare things that are abstract is IQ. being able to socialize is IQ,
being able to have social consent is IQ to one degree I believe it's allow wisdom.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 20 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Johan Rönnblom on 10-Jun-2002 20:18 GMT
I like the questions at the end. The rest was imho rather moderately interesting. :)
(I really get tired of all these comments, NN shouldn't be writing this, XX shouldn't talk publicly about that, XYZ shouldn't be mentioned openly.. what's all this secrecy going to be good for? What's wrong with being a little silly? Doesn't that too teach us something? Wouldn't life be quite boring if everybody wore a grey suite and only answered proper questions at the proper time, very properly?)
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 21 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by coldfire on 10-Jun-2002 21:04 GMT
In reply to Comment 20 (Johan Rönnblom):
There is a difference between being silly and being insultingly offensive. No need for grey suits but no need to go naked either. :)
coldfire
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 22 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by sutro on 10-Jun-2002 21:16 GMT
Legend of Faerghail !!!!
Didn't know that this game was written by him. Used to play it lots of years ago.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 23 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 10-Jun-2002 22:30 GMT
In reply to Comment 19 (kjetil):
Please get a literate person to edit your dyslexic posts before inflicting them on all of us.
Re. the interview: pity the interviewer was such a lamer. There were hundreds of people who could have answered those questions. Eg. "What is SANA-II"? Or he could have even found out from the ADCD and not had to ask anyone. And the "questions" at the end were utterly shameful. "Do you like large breasted or small breasted women", crap about soccer, etc. how is this relevant to the Amiga?
Why waste the time of one of the Amiga community's most important programmers!? The interview was a good idea, but the questions asked were generally either (a) newbie-questions; or (b) non-Amiga.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 24 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 10-Jun-2002 22:32 GMT
In reply to Comment 22 (sutro):
Interesting...will have to see how compatible this is with OS3.9. If it has been written to Olaf's usual impeccable standards it should run flawlessly.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 25 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Alkis Tsapanidis on 10-Jun-2002 22:35 GMT
In reply to Comment 19 (kjetil):
I'm dyslectic too... Luckilly my only problem is that I can't write propertly.
(I can type fine though).
Actually the IQ thing is a bit of a myth afaik... It's just that when you
have a difficultly, you have to try harder...
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 26 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by _Steve_ on 10-Jun-2002 23:22 GMT
In reply to Comment 23 (Anonymous):
It's that kind of comment that we can do without. Being dyslexic alters their perceptions of words, making various words appear jumbled. The fact that the posters writing may not be perfect doesn't mean you have to blatently tell them they need to have their texts monitored by someone who isn't dyslexic.
I am sure there are many non-dyslexics here who are equally bad at spelling and who have no excuse for it.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 27 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Amigan Software on 11-Jun-2002 00:04 GMT
With all respect to Mr. Barthel, we must correct one minor thing from the interview...
The IFF registry is alive and well at its interim home of http://www.users.bigpond.com/james.jacobs/reg/iff.html
We are willing to also maintain the SANA-II registry on a similar basis, if anyone thinks this is worthwhile?
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 28 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Rodney McDonell on 11-Jun-2002 00:09 GMT
In reply to Comment 20 (Johan Rönnblom):
I Agree, and thats the only reason why i put them there. Since Olaf did return the email with replys to the questions, i assumed he didnt mind them and included them in the interview. BTW - i think he showed a sence of humor, which lets us get to know him a little more. Thats what this interview was all about.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 29 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 11-Jun-2002 01:48 GMT
In reply to Comment 28 (Rodney McDonell):
He seemed uncomfortable with some of the questions. Which was understandable. Anyone else wants to interview Mr. Barthel, please don't ask such lame and/or offensive questions.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 30 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Joe "Floid" Kanowitz on 11-Jun-2002 02:09 GMT
I'm not going to rag on the jokes, I'm just going to say they work better when the interviewee is in on them. :)
Olaf is deeper in the innards of the system than likely anyone posting in this thread. He obviously has good knowledge of exactly what it lacks. Still, I'm a bit nervous about the second-system syndrome brewing; much of the OS is outdated, but on the same token, it's the only thing left that everyone can agree is "Amigan." Further, we already have a second-system in the works- the DE.
Where Olaf is seeing cruft, I'm still seeing possibilities- it helps that I'm just some UI nut, who's barely used the OS. If Workbench can't handle regular gadgets, why not take advantage of the simple consistency the menu system lends, and work up a system that leverages that to provide different UIs? (This is, in fact, what seems to be happening, with the popup menus and presumably other extensibility.) If reading many tiny .info files to get at icons is a pain, why not have the filesystem reserve space for them and optimize their position in some way? Streaming media- others have made some great arguments for leveraging Datatypes, even as I'm pretty clueless, never having gotten off OS2.1.
I'm sure he recognizes the same things (heck, for all I know, he was one of those whapping me for failing to realize Datatypes existed!), but actually dealing with the poor mangled code must be a fair headache, and there are always those times that scrapping it and starting over seems like it couldn't possibly be any worse.
I know *I'd* like to see a Workbench replacement (though done with a set of UI problems in mind, not just for the sake of replacing Workbench), but for it to become default, there has to be some sort of connection with the past. Since there's only time for evolutionary development anyway, it's time to stop asking, "What can we replace ___ with?" and start asking, "How can we make ____ better?" That's what the developers, Olaf included, have been trying to keep in mind all along (even as the urge to drag it to the trash and replace it with a whiz-bang buzzword-compliant does-it-all-and-irons-your-pants-too Second System(TM) wells), and it's time to give them credit for it.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 31 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by kjetil on 11-Jun-2002 04:29 GMT
In reply to Comment 23 (Anonymous):
I was expecting an comment like this.
Don’t think you ever bother with posting if you needed to run spell checker on all you’re posts. And tell my watt is so grate about you, that you have the right judge me or any one else on the trend, that are dyslexic as you say. Watt have you achieved in you’re life?
Have you ever bin tolled you should give up by any one? If so then you shoed now watt I am taking about, The only problem with giving up that you do not get any where in you’re life,
To being able to read and write is the basic skill any one needs in modern society, to give up that is like giving up every thing, all wisdom is based on education true life and book and speech and being able to have an social mind,
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 32 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Alkis Tsapanidis on 11-Jun-2002 05:20 GMT
And of course I'm kidding in all IQ etc. stuff... :)
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 33 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by kjetil on 11-Jun-2002 05:48 GMT
In reply to Comment 30 (Joe "Floid" Kanowitz):
About that Icon database system he is talking about, I was thinking about the Icon system of Windows31 when he was talking about this, Icons shoed be able to copied with the program, how ever there is an Icon database in workbench is called the def icons. There is an “.info” file they contains the position of icons when put on the desktop, The one thing that is missing is snapping files with out an icon to an fixed point in the window. So you not need to snap icons every time you open an window.
Cache up icons in memory just take up ram, you gain speed , putting the cache on disk will make the load time equally long, translating plainer to chunky and chasing it up may increases speed how ever, putting the cache in large swap file can increase speed, by not having to deal with file system, filename table.
I have an idea:
How about small swap files for every directory, every icon has it’s own checksum number right when info files are copied in to the directory the planer data is garbed from the file translated to chunky and stored in the swap file, the chksum number make shore that the icons is not stored twice in the swapfile, this should all be handled by the system it self not the workbench to make shore that the filesystem looks the same, there is the otter possibility is to rewrite every AmigaDos command to support this cache system or handled by the workbench in an Application way. This requires that chace is compered with icons in the directories this make it slower or at least, it’s need to be refreshed manually or by interval, or if the filesystem report changes to the directory to the workbench can be an option, having an system based on reporting by an otter system requires that the workbech can differ between the changes made by an otter program and by it self, or else the system may hang in refresh loops.
About the pull down menus, there is an replacement for this, you can se them in OS4.0 preview pictures,
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 34 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by DaveMcK on 11-Jun-2002 06:23 GMT
In reply to Comment 23 (Anonymous):
You insulting b*stard. The amiga community does not need members like you.
Good interview, though I agree about the off-topic questions.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 35 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Don Cox on 11-Jun-2002 06:57 GMT
In reply to Comment 18 (TimeWillTell):
"Interviews like that go a long way assure the community (or at least me) that
there are truly capable and conscientious people continuing their work on the
Amiga, and that they are involved with the development of OS4. "
It is also the answer to all those people who said OS3.5 and 3.9 were
no more than a few programs off Aminet.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 36 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Don Cox on 11-Jun-2002 07:02 GMT
In reply to Comment 27 (Amigan Software):
It would definitely be worth while to maintain a Sana II registry, now
that the Amiga is expanding out to a wider range of
hardware.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 37 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by nOw2 on 11-Jun-2002 08:01 GMT
In reply to Comment 27 (Amigan Software):
SANA2 is a device driver standard. It's not something that particularly needs a registry. What it needs is a competent team to take it on and extend it for a future OS.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 38 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by kjetil on 11-Jun-2002 08:41 GMT
In reply to Comment 37 (nOw2):
I’m not shore about the concept of SANA2 is it an API between the hardware and the Network core?
If this is how I can understand it, then I think there is allot more that can be added to network core as well like support for routing, IP masquerading and IP alias, firewall support, ftp trace, basically every option in the Linux kernel for networking.
There will be nice to have an dynamically working network core so you can add and remove filters and other options, there can be an idea to have core that allows priority of different firewall / TCP / UDP / IPX filters in the priority best optimised for the traffic, or some sort of load balance structure.
Ex. If an raw network package is mostly UDP then UDP filter comes first, butt if TCP is most common protocol the TCP filter comes first.
I’m just come with ideas I do not know watt is missing on SANA2 if there is some kind communication missing to for DMA or flush, memory handling.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 39 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 11-Jun-2002 08:57 GMT
Rodney didnt have to include the silly questions or the silly answers in his interview - those questions were not asked direct by those people but put in IIRC to the thread of "what questions would you like asked" for a bit of light relief on the thread - not to Olaf.
But, it was Rodneys choice to include them, it was his interview. If some of you cringe at the questions perhaps you might consider cringing at the behavior exhibited on here rather more.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 40 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Cluke on 11-Jun-2002 09:00 GMT
In reply to Comment 39 (Anonymous):
So, what you are saying is "Never complain about anything because someone else has always done something worse"?
Interesting philosophy! ;-)
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 41 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 11-Jun-2002 09:02 GMT
In reply to Comment 40 (Cluke):
No. Just double standards.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 42 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Leki on 11-Jun-2002 09:37 GMT
anyone know if that Legend of Faerghail is a good game and if its now freeware?
might give it a look at :)
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 43 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by nobby on 11-Jun-2002 09:42 GMT
In reply to Comment 23 (Anonymous):
If we got rid of all posts that were badly spelt, mis-typed, and used poor gammer, what would be left on ANN.LU ;^)
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 44 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by kjetil on 11-Jun-2002 09:49 GMT
In reply to Comment 43 (nobby):
There will only be language professors left, and the topics wooed be like
MorphOS “is not” or “are not ” an Amiga.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 45 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Bill Hoggett on 11-Jun-2002 09:55 GMT
In reply to Comment 42 (Leki):
I liked Legend of Faerghail a lot. It's very similar in gameplay to the Bard's Tale series. I haven't seen anything about it being freeware yet.
It's a shame no one suggested making LoF part of the interview, but then the trouble with interviews like this one is that they are going to be necessarily tame. Rodney was not willing to ask anything too controversial, and to be fair Olaf would probably have been unable to answer due to contractual obligations. However, it's the stuff that wasn't mentioned that would make a really interesting interview with Olaf. Maybe sometime later...
I do agree with most other people about the silly stuff. It shouldn't have been included in the main interview transcript. If Rodney felt he had to publish that part of his interview, it should have come later as a humorous aside, assuming anybody actually finds that kind of thing humorous.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 46 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Rodney McDonell on 11-Jun-2002 10:46 GMT
In reply to Comment 39 (Anonymous):
Your right. Now one needs to worry about this. If Olaf was even a little bit unsettled by the questions, he wouldnt have given such humorous replys. Then, in that case, i wouldnt have included them in the final run.
However, he answered them without hesitation and i made it clear from the start he didnt have to, but he did.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 47 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Olaf Barthel on 11-Jun-2002 11:08 GMT
In reply to Comment 9 (Jack Me):
> I agree. Good interview but the questions at the end were very embarrassing
> and cringe worthy.:\
Everybody has the right to be lampooned. Unfortunately, this right is exercised
so rarely that people seem to forget about it entirely. Anyway, I'm not that easily
embarrassed. I was surprised to see how many people actually took offence to the
questions -- rather than to the answers ;)
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 48 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Robert Wilson on 11-Jun-2002 11:16 GMT
In reply to Comment 47 (Olaf Barthel):
Hi Olaf,
> Everybody has the right to be lampooned. Unfortunately, this right
> is exercised so rarely that people seem to forget about it entirely.
Wise words.
> Anyway, I'm not that easily embarrassed.
Thank you, Olaf.
Hopefully they'll find something with a bit more substance to talk about now..
=D
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 49 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Olaf Barthel on 11-Jun-2002 11:20 GMT
In reply to Comment 42 (Leki):
> anyone know if that Legend of Faerghail is a good game and
> if its now freeware?
>
> might give it a look at :)
By yesterday's standards it was a decent game. Not exactly brilliant in
design or novel. If you'd compare it to the all time champions, such as
"Ultima IV", "Dungeon Master" or the later parts of the "Wizardry" series
(which the "Bard's Tale" series mined for good ideas), I wouldn't be so
sure if we managed to come up with something that could compete with them.
As far as I know the program is not freeware. Some of the "abandonware"
sites on the web carry it, but this doesn't mean that it was ever released
into the public domain. We'll probably have to wait another 140 years for
that to happen ;) I don't even know who the current owner of the property
is. It's probably the company that bought out Rainbow Arts/Softgold/Funsoft.
My best guess is that it might be Bertelsmann.
Olaf Barthel Interview : Comment 50 of 56ANN.lu
Posted by Rodney McDonell on 11-Jun-2002 12:15 GMT
In reply to Comment 47 (Olaf Barthel):
Thanx for clearing that up Olaf :).
My opinion one one topic poked at during the interview is that they cant be too big, but they cant be flat. About the size of a deseart bowl. When you think about it, they're very similar.
Im of course talking about bouncy socca balls. :)
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