utrythinkinof1
Member
:sohappy: I love my Windows. Macs are too expensive.
*Don't blast me Mac lovers* :dazzle:
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SSE - Screen Error..? (2 pics)
- Thread starter JonnyK
- Start date
*Don't blast me Mac lovers* :dazzle:
Disney and technology
As was noted before, the boot loader for Linux was seen on the screen prior to the Windows desktop coming up. Why? Hard to say for sure, but I would guess that each of the machines actually has 2 or 3 "instances". Meaning, the computer could be booted with the "production" Windows XP instance (not Vista since it requires too much to run), a testing or develop instance, and possibly another one for additional testing and development. My guess would be one (or more) are Linux.
I found that interesting.
Now, why would Disney choose Windows? Keep in mind, this is just for a display being shown to you. It's not like it is controlling the ride or anything important. My guess is that Disney has a fairly large Unix computer controlling the ride. So why choose Windows? Two reasons. First, it's fairly inexpensive and is capable of doing the job. Second, there are a plethora of programmers around for it. If it were me, they would have chosen Linux, or another embedded version of Unix. But people capable of getting the job done are harder to find, and more expensive to hire. Chances are they contracted the programming out, kind of like they did for Test Track. Remember how Test Track opened 18 months behind schedule? That was due to crappy software from the contractor they hired. The TT fiasco was a very interesting story.
Most likely the animation in SSE was from MacroMedia Flash, but who knows for sure. I would bet that the instance that runs the actual animations you see is locked down enough that throwing anything away is one step short of impossible. The right thing to have done was when the Grub screen came up, see if you can escape to the (possibly hidden) menu for boot options. Then see if you can boot to another instance.
I graduated with degrees in Electrical Engineering and also Computer Science & Engineering. When I was in college they taught us computer assembly language, C, and other more "hard core" languages capable of doing real brute force tasks. But unfortunately, as the computer market changed, and now 80% of the jobs out there are for Windows, the schools teach what the market(s) want. So many people in engineering schools are being taught to use Micro$oft tools for development. This way the people who graduate can find a job readily. But so now Disney has a harder time finding people capable of doing things "old school".
I guess it boils down to, how much money does Disney have to do the job at hand. They have a budget. They must stay within that budget. If they did things a "different" way from how they did, that would mean less entertainment value for all of us to see/enjoy.
By the way, people complain about Windows a lot. Some of the complaints are legit, while others are not. If you lock down a Windows machine sufficiently, it can be a pretty stable and secure machine. The real problem is all of the wizards, and defaults Micro$oft added. Most machines have all of the default settings left on, and "Uncle Bill" ships their machines with most things turned on so users don't have to know a thing about their machines in order to fully use them. This of course is a huge mistake. User should have to read a manual for a few hours before using their computers, even though this would mean less people buying computers.
(oops, got off track there)
OK, so now I am going to get some flames Didn't start out that way.
As was noted before, the boot loader for Linux was seen on the screen prior to the Windows desktop coming up. Why? Hard to say for sure, but I would guess that each of the machines actually has 2 or 3 "instances". Meaning, the computer could be booted with the "production" Windows XP instance (not Vista since it requires too much to run), a testing or develop instance, and possibly another one for additional testing and development. My guess would be one (or more) are Linux.
I found that interesting.
Now, why would Disney choose Windows? Keep in mind, this is just for a display being shown to you. It's not like it is controlling the ride or anything important. My guess is that Disney has a fairly large Unix computer controlling the ride. So why choose Windows? Two reasons. First, it's fairly inexpensive and is capable of doing the job. Second, there are a plethora of programmers around for it. If it were me, they would have chosen Linux, or another embedded version of Unix. But people capable of getting the job done are harder to find, and more expensive to hire. Chances are they contracted the programming out, kind of like they did for Test Track. Remember how Test Track opened 18 months behind schedule? That was due to crappy software from the contractor they hired. The TT fiasco was a very interesting story.
Most likely the animation in SSE was from MacroMedia Flash, but who knows for sure. I would bet that the instance that runs the actual animations you see is locked down enough that throwing anything away is one step short of impossible. The right thing to have done was when the Grub screen came up, see if you can escape to the (possibly hidden) menu for boot options. Then see if you can boot to another instance.
I graduated with degrees in Electrical Engineering and also Computer Science & Engineering. When I was in college they taught us computer assembly language, C, and other more "hard core" languages capable of doing real brute force tasks. But unfortunately, as the computer market changed, and now 80% of the jobs out there are for Windows, the schools teach what the market(s) want. So many people in engineering schools are being taught to use Micro$oft tools for development. This way the people who graduate can find a job readily. But so now Disney has a harder time finding people capable of doing things "old school".
I guess it boils down to, how much money does Disney have to do the job at hand. They have a budget. They must stay within that budget. If they did things a "different" way from how they did, that would mean less entertainment value for all of us to see/enjoy.
By the way, people complain about Windows a lot. Some of the complaints are legit, while others are not. If you lock down a Windows machine sufficiently, it can be a pretty stable and secure machine. The real problem is all of the wizards, and defaults Micro$oft added. Most machines have all of the default settings left on, and "Uncle Bill" ships their machines with most things turned on so users don't have to know a thing about their machines in order to fully use them. This of course is a huge mistake. User should have to read a manual for a few hours before using their computers, even though this would mean less people buying computers.
(oops, got off track there)
OK, so now I am going to get some flames Didn't start out that way.
HM999thGhost
Member
but honestly why would they use windows for this.. everyone KNOWS that PCs are unable to be on for more then 2 days without needing a reboot, although MUCH cheaper but a Mac would have been a much better way to go since they are more powerful. but as far as I can tell from what I've read even a mac wouldn't make the current ending of SSE better.
Testtrack321
Well-Known Member
Oh my god not a Mac vs. PC debate....
Use what you want, I don't care, but I'm writing this on a PowerBook G4 that is 3 years old and it's still snappy and fast. Take that for what you want.
Use what you want, I don't care, but I'm writing this on a PowerBook G4 that is 3 years old and it's still snappy and fast. Take that for what you want.
mousermerf
Account Suspended
I'd be much happier if they used the Flash animation to show Strong Bad emails.
FigmentJedi
Well-Known Member
mousermerf
Account Suspended
The Cheat handles all the technogizmos. Or, you can just throw Homestar Runner at it!
Enderikari
Well-Known Member
The Cheat is too busy in the corner throwing his lightswitch raves and ending up in the crisper drawer
WISH4EE@WDW
Member
Well first off I was going to write almost this same exact message since I noticed that it was booting GRUB and I boot Ubuntu/Debian and use GRUB as my boot loader. Also, I'm not entirely convinced it's WinXP. Windows CE (which just made it to kernel version 6, which is the same as Vista), can be skinned to look like XP or even emulate it for certain apps. But either way it's using XP run-times so I guess for all intents and purposes it's splitting hairs. :snore:
Secondly, I'm an Electrical Engineer at UCF. It's so crazy to see that there is another Electrical running around on WDWMagic. So hey! :wave: And as one final bit of thread drift. They still teach C/C++ (you have to take it as like a fresh/sophomore, it's the basis of almost all your CpE course work). Then they give you a basis in Assembly (8086), if you are a CpE then they go really in depth and there are multiple courses in both, Electrical stays more in the hardware realm (controls, power, and antenna design/implementation).
If you ever wanted to PM me or allow me to PM you. I'm always interested to pick the brain of a practicing engineer on what it's like out in industry (as I'm 3 semesters from graduating).
scpergj
Well-Known Member
Wow...
My Windows XP Professional box at work (the one I use every day) only gets rebooted when I do it, which is about once a month...I'm a Network and Systems administrator, as well as a Microsoft SQL Server DBA and developer, so my machine is running some pretty heavy software...and it gets booted no more than once a month.
Now, the desktop shown actually looked more like Windows 2000, not XP, so I almost wonder if they are running a Linux OS, Unix servers, and some sort of (Windows)terminal server logged on to at the user level running a Windows VM, as was stated before, since developers for the Windows OS are easier/cheaper to find.
Interesting pictures!
Kevin
Makes sense...but just a theory - they may boot off a network. There is plenty of WiFi running things around the park and it may be easier to boot into Linux first and then pass it along to whatever they use for production.
I have no inside info on this, but I've seen similar setups where you need a lot of terminals for public use.
Matt
Hear Hear! I completly agree and have a similar background thought im not wondering if the boot agent is more of a VM Situation XP on top of a smaller linux install... just a thought
I think the point many people have tried to make is more likely then not this is not even XP Pro, what many people dont realize is you can acutally get a custom build windows and even access to certian parts of the windows kernel with the proper agreements with microsoft. Lets put it this way I can get access to some of the kernel through my agreements with MS if I can WDI can. I am assuming though they are hard to find these days they do have some high level programmers who can handle this.
Sorry didn't mean to add the the off topic-ness but the geek in me had to add my two cents
Agreed the folks who need to reboot them all the time are the ones messing them up but that is definatly a XP style desktop with a classic start menu button check out the my computer and my network places icon...
coasterphil
Well-Known Member
I saw this happen on 2 of the 3 rides I took on SSE tonight. Obviously they still have quite a few kinks to work out with the system.
kcnole
Well-Known Member
Which only shows that you have nothing more than Mac propoganda to go off of.
Now I'm no fan of Microsoft, it has plenty of security issues, but XP is a very stable OS. The problem with reboots generally has more to do with bad drivers or poorly written software attempting to run on the OS, or a result of bad security. The only one of those which would be the fault of Microsoft would be the Security issues (and not all of those can be placed on Windows).
In a properly locked down environment with your very own custom written apps as I'm sure is happening here, Windows can be just as stable as any version of Linux or Mac (since mac is now basically just another variation of Unix).
TinkerBell9988
Well-Known Member
Ugh, its a shame this thread turned into a PC vs. Mac subject...
I hope that TPTB fix out the kinks on the screens. Although I'm not a fan of the descent, I think its neat that they used the old Prototype font... or something similar to it. :lookaroun
I hope that TPTB fix out the kinks on the screens. Although I'm not a fan of the descent, I think its neat that they used the old Prototype font... or something similar to it. :lookaroun
EpcotServo
Well-Known Member
Can't say I can argue with that.
"On this, our rich fruitopia, Spaceships Earth."
:lol:
True Knowledge
New Member
Well if Wikipedia is to be trusted, the Illuminations earth globe is running Windows 95or 98. It be cool to see that go blue screen of death.
