Off topic but I hope you don't mind this bit of interesting news before you all leap into the new year, blazing a trail with new network accounts and other burning issues at your schools.<br><br>
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonmeister/125736756/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/39/125736756_4bac305840_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);">
</a> <br> <span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><div align="center"><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonmeister/125736756/">dsky</a> - Flickr photograph by
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/moonmeister/">moonmeister</a>. </span></div></div>Here is a good story that has done the rounds over the past few weeks.
It was about the NASA Apollo lander module, size of the computer and 64
kb of memory! Both the <a href="http://david-mcmahon.blogspot.com/2007/01/thats-one-small-computer-for-man.html">blog entry by David McMahon</a> and the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/science/moon/computer.htm">full story by the ABC Science Unit
</a> are worth reading.<br> <br>
Although the computer was slow, the MIT team developed a robust,
real-time multi-tasking operating system (long before Linux). The
system worked, but almost caused the first moon landing to be aborted
in the final minutes before the touchdown. <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">For
recognising the error code and >making the critical decision to
continue, the mission control expert back on Earth later received the
US Medal of Freedom along with the three Apollo astronauts. It is a
true story of some hard core programmers and technicians </font>on a voyage of discovery.<br><br>Apollo 11 Astronaut Niel Armstrong gave a conference speech on the <a href="http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1000000308,39285620,00.htm?r=8">
role technology played in the race to the Moon</a>.
In it he described the tiny computer that he used for the Gemini
missions. "Changing orbits, rendezvousing with another spacecraft,
returning to earth to a pre-determined landing spot, all with a
primitive, little, 4K machine."<br><br>.. beats holding up your thumb or taking a squiz out of your little spacecraft window.<br><br>Regards Roland<br><br>PS: Could anybody interested in hosting a meeting for the N2N group (formerly PCEDUG) in 2007 please drop Ian Clark or myself a line?
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College<br><a href="http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au">http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au</a><br><br>"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead