Xing Baohua is most skilled at slimming down programs.
In his past life, he worked in this field. The key to creating a smooth-running system with low-cost, low-configuration hardware is to streamline the system, disable unnecessary features, and limit the number of programs running simultaneously.
Without programming tools at hand, I can only manually delete some unused system programs to free up hard drive space.
When Xing Baohua was making counterfeit mobile phones and tablets, he had to make the system extremely streamlined, ensuring that even with limited hardware, the devices wouldn't lag temporarily upon startup.
Some phones are even being sold on Pinduoduo with inflated RAM and storage specifications. A phone that should have 3GB RAM + 64GB storage is being sold as 8GB RAM + 128GB storage or even 12GB RAM + 256GB storage for only 500-600 yuan. This is a scam targeting bargain hunters, especially students. They think that a cheaper price and higher specs mean smoother gameplay. What a load of rubbish! It'll lag terribly.
After receiving many complaints, they switched to overseas channels and started selling through India, where it became very popular.
When Zhang Xuebao saw Xing Baohua deleting system files, he thought to himself, "This kid really dares to delete things!"
He wasn't afraid of the system crashing from the deletion, and he wanted to stop him but didn't want to. He wanted to see Xing Baohua's skills thoroughly.
Of course, even if the system crashes, the system floppy disk he brought can be used to restore it.
From the moment he started typing away on the keyboard, you could tell this kid had a good foundation; his skills were decent, at least he wasn't messing around.
After deleting a few files in a very short time, he only freed up a little over 0.7MB. He dared not streamline it any further, or the system would truly crash. He didn't have a system disk or any backups, so he could only rely on his technical skills to force it.
A release of 0.7M is already quite large. The entire system is only so big!
"Aren't you afraid the system will crash, or you won't be able to find the file when you need it?" Zhang Xuebao asked.
"It depends on who uses this stuff. If I use it, I'll keep deleting to free up more space. But if she has it, honestly, this stuff is enough for her."
"If the computer is used by researchers, its configuration is very low. At the very least, the hard drive is insufficient, requiring the addition of many hard drives to expand space, and even increasing the RAM. Because more files are occupied, it becomes slow and lags. In that case, the only solution is to upgrade the hardware to keep the computer running smoothly," Xing Baohua replied.
"By squeezing out this little bit of space, I can directly install the localized version of the office software on the computer's hard drive. Every time I turn on the computer, I can open the software by entering a command. Printing documents is also convenient, and I can even save them on a blank floppy disk. Large amounts of documents can also be stored and printed," Xing Baohua continued.
After a moment's thought, Zhang Xuebao understood Xing Baohua's meaning, nodded, and asked, "If it's a Chinese-language version of the system, can you streamline it?"
“Sure! You need to use professional programming software; the one that comes with the computer won’t work. A single hard drive limits the system’s space. A single floppy disk isn’t enough either. The only way is to find several 10MB hard drives, connect them in series, and then use them to program the system,” Xing Baohua said.
"It's a bit unrealistic! Theoretically, it should be possible to connect hard drives in series. In reality, CPU multi-threaded addressing can't do it. We tried this method before, but the experiment failed," Zhang Xuebao said without hesitation.
"Your experiment failed, but that doesn't mean multiple hard drives can't be used in series, right? Is there any software specifically designed for multiple hard drives in series, or a multi-disk controller?"
"No," Zhang Xuebao said, shaking his head slightly.
"A hard drive is like a floppy disk. The core is the disk itself, which is divided into sectors, one after another. The advantage of this multi-disk device is that it combines all the sectors together to form a single disk."
When using it, you use specially designed partitioning software to separate the drives, thus enabling multiple drives to be used. The advantage is that once the system is set up, you can quickly install the system on multiple hard drives,” Xing Baohua said.
These words made Zhang Xuebao's eyes light up, as if a door had been opened for him. With a look of surprise on his face, he asked Xing Baohua, "Are you really a temporary worker?"
“It’s true, the real deal. What’s wrong?” Xing Baohua asked, sitting sideways in her chair.
“Come with me to the provincial capital. I’ll take care of your job,” Zhang Xuebao said.
"No, I'm just an appliance repairman. I'm no use to you guys. Besides, your place is full of elites. With my mediocre skills, I'd be a laughingstock," Xing Baohua said modestly, though he was secretly pleased that the man from the provincial computer company had taken the bait. Now he could start his plan to make his first fortune by presenting a few proposals to sell.
"Comrade Xing, are you perhaps a little unfamiliar with our company? That's alright, let me give you a brief introduction. Last year, our company independently developed the first personal computer in China. Although it's not as advanced as this one, the technology is entirely in our own hands," Zhang Xuebao said.
Xing Baohua stroked his chin and asked, "Independent research and development! That's impressive. Was the CPU manufactured in-house or sourced from abroad? What about the memory and hard drive?"
"The CPU is a Z80, and the memory is also from overseas. There's no hard drive, so we can only use two system floppy disks to drive it." Zhang Xuebao's voice wasn't as loud as before; it gradually softened. He even scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"It's a copy of the previous model of this computer, isn't it! Don't keep saying you developed it independently. I believe you bought the parts and mastered the assembly technology."
"Independent research and development? Ha! The core components are all from others. What can we even manufacture? The crucial CPU—can we even make it? Even if we could, it would be far too bulky, unsuitable for a personal computer."
“We are indeed lagging behind at present. The development of high-tech industries will take many years to catch up. Take chips for example, our country still has a long way to go.” Zhang Xuebao was speechless after Xing Baohua said this.
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