Show me the way to the previous data bar!

[Petri]

Don't ask me why,

don't ask me why!

After 30 minutes of exploring VW 2008:

Where's the Data Bar? I need an x-coordinate! And a y-coordinate! And the moon of Alabama, too! Otherwise, we have to say goodbye.

I definitely display my head down.

[Guest]

The data display bar is now integrated in the Heads Up display. Press tab to get this to pop up at any time (using default settings)

You can change this to a long description by clicking on the arrow in the former Mode Bar (now the Data bar) and change the settings. You have a lot of options to choose from.

[panthony]

Tisk...tisk.

Where art thou superior intelligent life form?

It's a floater there buddy.

And works pretty good, however it takes some getting used to. Check out the help system...they have some very usefull info there.

The nice thing about the new coordinate entry is that all you need to do is pull the cursor in the direction you need (making sure you have the smart cursor on) and then enter the length of the data you want. Gertrudes your auntie.

To find the datum do as you used to...place the cursor over a point, hit the "G" key and tab. The tab will open the floating data bar at the cursor location. A second tab will enter the "X" coordinate and so on...make sure (and this is the one you need to know) that you tab out of the coordinate that you need otherwise the system drops out and you are back to square one.

McPete

[G_Hannigan]

"The nice thing about the new coordinate entry is that all you need to do is pull the cursor in the direction you need (making sure you have the smart cursor on) and then enter the length of the data you want."

This feature has been a part of "the Cad program we all hate" for many years.

[jan15]

Don't ask me why,

don't ask me why!

It's "Oh, don't ask why," you senile old hippie (just kidding).

[wezelboy]

Maybe something's lost in the translation from the original German.

Edit: Nevermind. Even when performed in the original German, the song was still sung in english.

Edited September 20, 2007 by wezelboy

[Cris with no H]

It is still possible to have your data fields in the old place. In the upper right corner of your screen, you'll see two right-arrow triangles. Click the lower one and you'll have choices as to where the data display appears. I urge you to try the new heads-up-display style - it is pretty slick and a lot of effort has been put into making it work well and work intuitively.

Cris Dopher

[Petri]

Don't ask me why,

don't ask me why!

It's "Oh, don't ask why," you senile old hippie (just kidding).

That might be the pop music version? Lost in translation (and if so, in which?)

Whatever: so, we have more modes... Heads down, indeed.

[Archeus]

This is such a vile thread...

[wezelboy]

That might be the pop music version? Lost in translation (and if so, in which?)

Whatever: so, we have more modes... Heads down, indeed.

The "whiskey bar" song was written by Bertoldt Brecht and Kurt Weill in 1927, but popularized in the US by Jim Morrison and the Doors in the 60's

[panthony]

Teeewaaangggg thump bumpa bump dooowha didy dot.

[Petri]

OK. Got rid of the stupid "heads up display", thanks to Mikem Oz. Phew!

Who on earth draws in such a way that requires some silly coordinates all the time?

That might be the pop music version? Lost in translation (and if so, in which?)

Whatever: so, we have more modes... Heads down, indeed.

The "whiskey bar" song was written by Bertoldt Brecht and Kurt Weill in 1927, but popularized in the US by Jim Morrison and the Doors in the 60's

Indeed. Doors, Windows - whatever.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aufstieg_und_Fall_der_Stadt_Mahagonny

Mahagonny ist nach Kurt Weill die Geschichte von Sodom und Gomorrha. ?hnlich wie die biblische Vorlage soll die Stadt untergehen mit allen ?Gerechten und Ungerechten?, wie die Witwe Begbick ?u?ert.

Exactly! That'd been my fate, too, weren't I able to get back to the Data Bar.

[gScott]

"The nice thing about the new coordinate entry is that all you need to do is pull the cursor in the direction you need (making sure you have the smart cursor on) and then enter the length of the data you want."

this was one of the features in DOS based ROBOCAD in 1989!

you could enter feet, inches, mm, cm, km, X+Y or vectors

from the co-ordinate bar...

[Guest]

That reminds me of a project I did in school where we had to create a snowman using coordinates in some DOS software. We even had to make his buttons blink. At the time, I remember thinking, "Who on earth wants to work with computers ?! It's too much work!" HA!

Life goes full circle sometimes ...

[jan15]

At the time, I remember thinking, "Who on earth wants to work with computers ?! It's too much work!"

I still feel that way. It's just that now we don't have any choice.

[David Bertrand]

At the time, I remember thinking, "Who on earth wants to work with computers ?! It's too much work!"

I've always liked working with computers; it challenges my organizational talents.

But I don't think they've done anything for our quality of life. I just like to play with them.

[Guest]

Well, prior to the "blinking snowman", which I think I got a B or C on, I had a Commadore 64 and an Apple I and II. Those suited my entertainment needs just fine. I couldn't figure out why people wanted to draw shapes, and make things blink, then add music. This was all in DOS, mind you. It was my first exposure to a "PC" and it was this ginormous hunk of metal that sat on our desks, barely enough room for us to sit side by side. I remember asking why it was called a PC, and how on earth that thing was portable. My little mac was still big, but it was certainly lighter and smaller.

I still have my commadore 64 which has a keyboard that weighs more than a desktop PC now, and the 5 inch floppy, of which the whole OS was stored and booted off of.

I went into Math out of high school, and kept telling myself, "I'm never going to need to remember the quadratic formula" or "what does geometry have to do with what *I* am going to do.."

A few stunts as a bartender, network engineer, and standard receptionist (not in that order), I end up in computers, using geometry, PCs, Macs, and the quadratic formula!

[Guest]

I like the perspective of "challenging organizational talents" - I might have to use that one.

[jan15]

The P in PC was for 'personal' (at least in the IBM model name). It meant that you didn't have to share it with other people as you did with main-frames and minis. The first one I remember calling itself 'portable' was the original Compaq, which folded up into a package about the size and weight of a carry-on suitcase filled with books.

Returning for a moment to the original topic, here's a pre-Doors 1955 recording of Lotte Lenya and a chorus singing "Oh, don't ask why" in 'Alabama-Song' in English. There are also clips of two other songs from Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, both in German, and a bunch of other clips.

[David Bertrand]

I had a Commadore 64 and an Apple I and II.

You must be really old, Katie.

On a Commodore 64, the keyboard IS the computer.

[Guest]

I'm not that old!

My cousin was creating programs on his, while I was playing spelling and math games on mine.

I don't think I even had a "monitor" - I think it was an old black and white TV that I'm sure my dad or grandfather picked up from the dump to repair and use. They had a way at turning trash into working treasures.

And do you remember the cartridges some programs came on with the Commadore? I remember switching from the big 'ol floppy to the cartridge and thought it was so cool. Almost like going from a 45 to a cassette tape....

[bc]

Actually Katie, I don't know. If you're old enough to remember 45's......hmmm.

But the aging hippie in me seems to remember the sequence as: 78's>45's>LP's/Reel-to-reel>4 Track tapes>8 Track tapes>cassettes>CD's>iPods. The funny part about it is I never knew the Commadore, the floppy's or the cartridge or anything over 4 yrs old.

[jan15]

Remembering 45 rpm records doesn't necessarily make her old. They still sell them at the thrift shop. And she's already told us her Commodore monitor came from the dump.

[bc]

I was just kidding around.

Katie, I didn't expect anyone would take my comments seriously.

[Guest]

I understand what you were/are saying, BC.