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GAMER PC : IDEA

Modular, extensible hardware.
Posted in gamer | November 2, 2008 10pm

In 1982, a British company called Acorn introduced the BBC Micro, with a Mostek 6502 processor and 32k (yes, 32768 bytes!) of RAM. It also had a revolutionary feature called "The Tube", which was a high-speed bus connector designed to allow the user to plug in an external processor and memory, if you wanted to increase the power of the machine.

Nowadays, as processor manufacturers have developed multi-cored chips, and OS writers have found ways to implement multi-threading, would it not be possible to revamp the old concept to allow PC users to plug in extra processors externally, to provide a boost in capacity? I realise that the length of external cabling would introduce signal lag problems, but maybe fibre optics could be used to offset this? And of course the OS would need to be made "smarter", so that it could adapt itself to use (and properly balance) whatever processors were available.

GAMER PC : IDEA

Do not build security loopholes into the operating system.
Posted in gamer | November 2, 2008 10pm

Microsoft Windows must be the worst example of how to design a secure operating system. Examples? Why is there a setting for "hidden devices" in the device manager? Why should I not be able to see what devices/drivers are installed on my machine? (For example, the controversial StarForce copy-protection system.) And scripting languages - why does the OS not guard against scripts of all kinds being run without the users' knowledge? These kind of loopholes make it extremely simple for malicious code writers to create viruses and trojans of all kinds. Bad for users, good for enriching the security software industry. (I used to work for McAfee, so I know what I'm talking about!)

GAMER PC : IDEA

Have a stable, but upgradeable operating system.
Posted in gamer | November 2, 2008 9pm

Since 1995, PC users have had to go through Windows 95, Win 98, Win ME, Win 2000, Win XP, and now Win Vista. The PC operating system needs to be stabilised so that users don't have to scrap their hardware and 90% of their software collection every couple of years, just so that a monopolistic and greedy software company can make exorbitant profits. Make the OS flexible and upgradeable, perhaps even modular.

GAMER PC : IDEA

Simpler interface between hardware and OS.
Posted in gamer | November 2, 2008 9pm

Not sure how improvements could be implemented, but the biggest inconvenience for most people with current PCs is finding / installing / updating drivers for your hardware. Driver incompatibilities cause software to malfunction. And updating drivers on Microsoft OSs at least is a nightmare. For example, why should I have to run a "cleaner" utility to make sure my old graphics drivers are really gone, even after uninstalling them??? If the interface between the hardware and the OS was simpler, maybe this could be improved. I'm sure that one of the reasons that X-Box / Playstation / Wii and other consoles are so popular is that they don't need driver updates - everything is standardised and you know that your software will always work.