Show Notes
Dave starts by talking about how underperfoming progammers were managed at Microsoft during his time almost 20 years ago. He then answers questions from previous video comments and wanders in to Maple Syrup and some guy from Sasskatchewan who built a ship in the 1930's and tried to drag it to the ocean?.... You'll have to listen to hear THAT story!
00:00 - Intro 00:16 - When you were at MS, how did you deal with programmers who were ultimately discovered to be technically not up to snuff? 05:13 - What do you think about the uptick of the number of new windows 7 installs happening due to the end of windows 10? 06:59 - I also thought tsmc was supposed to be building fab facilities here in the USA? 07:18 - Geopolitics - Stellantis moving Jeep Compass production out of Canada to USA 07:40 - The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist 11:42 - Other coding challenges like the Tempest AI? 14:02 - What is it about Tempest that appeals to you? 15:58 - Why did Windows move to a registry from ini files? 17:20 - Aren’t there ways to type check Python. 17:38 - Have you run into any educational tools that will help teach kids the basics of coding? 19:00 - I was wondering about the history of control keys as keyboard shortcuts. 21:10 - Ideas for a MicroTik router for a 2.5GB need? 22:23 - Why not build a laptops around this chip? 23:23 - no LLM benchmarks? 24:16 - Only 120GB RAM = don’t care. You just can’t do enough with that little memory. 24:46 - Any expectations on the likely cost? 25:04 - Where does this fit between a L4OS card for $2-5k or the Jetson Orin kit for $1,599? 25:41 - But when? This was announced ages ago 26:09 - Can I game on it when I’m not using it to power my copilot beater? 26:27 - Do you need to run a model in the middle of no where? 27:53 - I want this as an oflline talking AI smart home asst’ - is that possible? 28:19 - 128GB is already limiting. Why aren’t these mini-PCs 256GB? 29:53 - Isn’t a 3090 gpu 96 times more bitrate though? 30:50 - What problem does the AI of today solve for 99 percent of people? 33:45 - Please please please do a series on programming an AI from the ground up! 34:54 - Did you ever get to attend a Grace Hopper lecture? 35:54 - A random prairie story… 37:05 - How do you talk to regular people with all that 2,3,4,5 letter abbreviation’s! 38:13 - Either Dave is showing a new flowing aspect of his personality or AI is doing more than the script here. 40:47 - You heard it here first: Dave has tiny feet. 42:13 - Dave’s 13 minute rant… 42:41 - Dave’s Attic? Dave’s Garage?… 43:00 - The Friendly Dave ending
More from Dave’s Garage: Shop Talk
What would 1996 Dave think of rebuilding Task Manager with AI? Dave and Glen celebrate 100 episodes of Shop Talk with Windows stories, retro computing, fresh viewer questions, and a look at the community behind the show.Across the first 99 episodes, our comment archive contains more than 23,000 comments. We recognize some familiar contributors, revisit the rebuilt Task Manager episode’s response, and share the most-liked comment in the archive.Then it’s back to your questions: how overlays helped programs fit into limited memory, porting Colossal Cave to a PDP-11, getting started with AI, checking AI-generated code, and using AI for business strategy.Plus: a difficult day at Microsoft, whether Spy++ deserves a modern makeover, TMOG follow-ups, missing hard-drive activity lights, and Deluxe Asteroids.Thank you to everyone who has watched, commented, and kept the conversation going.
Windows war stories meet AI-assisted retro computing in this week’s Shop Talk. Dave and Glen explore AI development on the PDP-11, how they prompt and review generated code, and what older computers can still teach us.Dave discusses improving top for BSD, compiler changes for ksh, and getting Samba running on a 16-bit machine. Viewer questions cover detailed specifications, native apps versus Electron, ownership of AI-generated code, and improving PDP Gary.We also revisit Microsoft Bob’s connection to the Windows XP disc, instant shutdown shortcuts, and a CHKDSK job that could run for days. Plus: TMOG memory usage and temperature graphs, lessons from the TRS-80, Windows 3.1 on modern hardware, and Tempest with a joystick.
PDP Gary has a personality—but how did Dave define it? This week on Shop Talk, Dave and Glen start with Gary, then explore Dave’s recent work using AI on BSD, the PDP kernel, and its peripherals.
What happens when AI stops being a useful tool and starts becoming a crutch?
Can autonomous AI agents cause serious harm without being conscious, sentient or malicious?