On: The 6502 CPU's overflow flag explained at the silicon level

[meaty]

Yet it's a shame that we seem to piss that extra performance away instantly in software.

Things felt faster in the 80's than they did now, even doing the same tasks.

[mikeash → meaty]

I recall waiting a couple of minutes for my computer to just boot in the 80s. When I want to use my phone, it becomes usable in well under a second.

Waiting a few seconds every time I hit save was fun. Didn't stop me from developing a ferocious ^S reflex. Fortunately, save is fast enough not to be noticeable these days, to the extent that it usually happens automatically now.

Watching a WYSIWYG font menu draw each individual entry was fun. We certainly don't get that pleasure now.

But yes, things certainly felt faster in the 80s.... /s

[meaty → mikeash]

I don't know what you were using but I was booted and operational in under 3-4 seconds on everything I used in the 80s (BBC Master, Acorn A310)

[mikeash → meaty]

My Apple IIGS could be "operational" pretty fast if all you were after was a BASIC prompt with no disk access. If you wanted a BASIC prompt with disk access, that took some seconds. If you want to actually load useful software, it took quite a while.