"There's no such thing as the perfect computer, and never has been. But in the personal computer's long and varied history, some computers have been decidedly less perfect than others. Many early PCs shipped with major design flaws that either sunk platforms outright or considerably slowed down their adoption by the public. Decades later, we can still learn from these multi-million dollar mistakes. By no means is the following list exhaustive; one could probably write about the flaws of every PC ever released. But when considering past design mistakes, these examples spring to my mind."
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Member since:
2009-05-20
Member since:
2005-07-06
I am surprised they left out the Atari ST's use of a ROM slot instead of an expansion slot.
It was one of my main reason's for buying an Amiga instead (multi-tasking being the other).
At a time when PC/ATs, Apple IIs, Mac IIs, Amigas and others all had some way to expand memory/hardware options on thier machines Atari still thought of computers as *ONLY* game machines when they designed it.
Member since:
2005-07-06
Member since:
2008-08-25
Member since:2006-10-08
You didn't use a robotron KC-87. :-) Look at the strange keyboard:
http://www.robotrontechnik.de/index.htm?/html/computer/kc_dresden.h...
Member since:
2006-01-27
I think the biggest flaw in the Mattel Aquarius was the sorry software selection. Although the keyboard certainly sucked too.
The string of attachments photographed on the TI99/4a may have been overstated; I doubt many people purchased all of those. And the alternative wasn't much better, the two-ton Expansion Box. One other gripe about the TI99/4a was the difficult On-Off switch. That was fixed with the white later edition.
Member since:
2006-05-19
Member since:2008-07-15
That had to be a joke, I hope. PS/2 pins can bend just by pulling the connector out of the port too quickly. I've never had a USB cable break under normal conditions--ok, I did sit on one at one point and it bent pretty bad, but I'd hardly call that a normal condition and I know exactly what would've happened to a ps/2 connector and, more importantly, the ps/2 port if that's what it had been instead of a USB. At least with the USB port the cable bent, which was quick and simple to replace in contrast to the PS/2 port needing replacement from bits of pins getting stuck in it.
Member since:
2007-07-23
My very very first computer ever... (Indulges in sentimental nostalgic thoughts)
Man, you have no clue how much fun I had with that computer. Slow? Yeah perhaps, but what did I know? Crap Basic? Sure, but it was the only thing I was familiar with at the time. Silly sidecar expansion? Absolutely, but I didn't have the money to buy any of those fancy expansion units anyway. That Extended Basic module was more than expensive enough for me back then... :-))
Member since:
2009-06-16
The article about poor keyboard designs in the beginning of the 80's led me to reflect about the keyboard that is under my fingers right now.
Num-Lock : Why do we still have the Num-Lock from the PC/XT on full-size keyboards? IBM should have left the Num-Lock key out of the AT-keyboard. In that era, the IBM-me-too clone-makers cloned everything, including poor design...
Scroll-Lock : I suppose that there are Excel "power-users" out there who know that with the Scroll-Lock on, you can scroll the spreadsheet with the arrow keys without moving the selected cell, but who else knows a good use for this key?
Caps-Lock : Very useful to write insults, isn't it? From primary school on, we know what capitals are for; definately not for entire sentences.
Another problem with this key is that sometimes it is Caps-Lock, sometimes it is Shift-Lock. Great for confusion and mis-typing password... With a little bit of encouragement, couldn't everybody do without this key?
Keyboard drivers : Why do we need a keyboard driver that tells the OS that the AZERTY keys on our keyboards are AZERTY and not QWERTY? If there is a letter "A" printed on a key, the keyboard should generate an "A" and not depend on software to translate a "Q" into an "A". Even the cheapest keyboard has a 8051-style microprocessor built-in that could do this.
Yes, I know, "compatibility", "industry-standard"...
Member since:2006-10-08
On UNIX systems, this key is used on the text mode consoles (virtual terminals) to scroll back text that leaved to the upper margin while scrolling. You press ScrL, the cursor disappears, and you can use the up / down and page up / page down keys to scroll back. While in ScrL mode, you can still press keys, but they aren't echoed until you switch off ScrL. The disappearing cursor indicates this, as well as the corresponding ScrL LED.
This is widely known among UNIX users, but of course no common knowledge in the PC world. DOS didn't use that key, and everything that came after that didn't, too.
Still useful when writing JCL, at least when it's Caps Lock, not Shift Lock. :-)
Member since:2008-07-15
True, but you don't need scroll lock for this. Ctrl-s and ctrl-q perform the function just as nicely. As for me, I've found a use for scroll lock under gnome, keyboard layout switch. It was the only key on my keyboard that I didn't use at all and wouldn't get in my way.
Member since:
2005-07-15
The greatest design mistake of nowadays is the awkward placement of Fn key on many laptop (and -gasp!- desktop) keyboards.
Well done, It's a Great Idea to push ctrl further away from a comfortable position, and place a very seldom used Fn key in its place.
This follows on the great mistake of swapping ctrl and "caps lock" about a few decades ago. I am too young to remember keyboards with control in place of caps lock; but I am very grateful that X has an option to swap them.
Member since:2005-07-08
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2009-06-16
Fn-End to jump to the end of the line.
Shift-Fn-End to select from the cursor till the end of the line.
Ctrl-Fn-End to jump to the end of the document.
Ctrl-Shift-Fn-End to select from the cursor till the end of the document.
Annoying indeed, especially if there is no external mouse...
