I/O

Halt and Catch Fire 1×1

& MacMillan: Now, tell me one thing that will be true about computers 10 years from now.
Well, fully intelligent machines will simulate the actions of neurons more closely, replicate...
    MacMillan: Okay, thanks. You.
    Cameron: Uh, computers will be connected together across one network with a standard protocol.
    MacMillan: Like phone lines.
    Cameron: Obviously phone lines.
    MacMillan: What’s your name?

& Cameron: I want to work for Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative and put missles in space.

& Cameron: Does it even matter what I want to do? God, this is an industry built on people ripping off each other’s boring-ass ideas. SCP rips off CP/M, Microsoft rips off SCP. Oh, IBM rips off everybody, right?

& MacMillan: This doesn’t mean you get the job!
    Cameron: Wow! You mean we’re not in love?

& MacMillan: You can be more. You want to be more, don’t you? The window of oppurtunity is closing. This is your chance. This is not about not losing. This is about you finally having the confidence to walk out on the ledge and know that you’re not going to fall.
    — Are we still talking about systems software here?
    — Amen, let’s get this guy another drink.
    MacMillan: I’m not going to apologize for caring about your business, even if the people who work for you don’t. I’ll ask you one more time... Are you ready to be more?

---

& MacMillan: You did a solid job explaining the software, but I need you to do me one favor.
    Gordon: Okay.
    MacMillan: Next time I move to close, this is what you do...
    Gordon: Okay, what?
    MacMillan: You... shut! up!!!

& MacMillan: You know who said that?
    Gordon: No, no, I don’t.
    MacMillan: You did. Page 36, closing paragraph. ’Computers aren’t the thing. They’re the thing that gets us to the thing.’

& Donna: Over here on the circuit board, you’ve got the ROM chip. That’s like the brain that remembers all the words... 128 kilobits worth. That is a lot of words. And then you’ve got your VFD display right here... That’s the part that shows you the words. And the speech synthesizer chip right here, that is the extra-special one they make where Mommy works.

& Gordon: Apple, IBM, they have the market sewn up. Plus, you got Commodore, Tandy, Texas Instruments... I’m sorry, but you missed it. We all did.

& Joanie: What’s a Symphonic?
    Donna: It’s a silly computer Mommy and Daddy built that didn’t work.
    Gordon: The Symphonic... was the best thing your dad ever did.

& Gordon: A personal computer, like any other computer, is just a nothing box full of electronic switches and hardware. You know, the IBM, the Altair, the Apple II... it’s all the same junk. Anyone can buy all this stuff off the shelf right now. It’s called “open architecture.” I mean, IBM, they basically don’t own anything inside the machine.
    MacMillan: Except the chip.
    Gordon: Yeah, well, except what’s on the chip. The BIOS is on one of these chips, we just don’t know which one. The ROM BIOS is the only part of the machine IBM actually designed. I mean, it is the program, it is the magic. The bad news is they copyrighted it and they own how it works. The good news is there’s a way around that, sort of.
    MacMillan: Reverse engineering.
    Gordon: Right, grab me the oscilloscope. And a pen and paper. We need to record these pin voltages.

& Gordon: We’re writing down the contents of the addresses, all right? So each group of four lights represents a hex digit.
    MacMillan: I understand hexadecimal code. How are you getting this from that?
    Gordon: This first line, that’s a B. Two on, one off, one on. Okay, second line here, E. Three on, one off...
    MacMillan: Oh, I get it, I get it. How many of these addresses do we need to transcribe?
    Gordon: 65,536.

& Gordon: The IBM PC-ROM BIOS. That’s the assembly language code.
    MacMillan: Now we do our own chip.
    Gordon: Well, I mean...
    MacMillan: I told you. It’s a treasure map.

& Cameron: You think I don’t see it? This takes off, I write my own ticket, but if it goes wrong, I’m a college dropout repairing VCRs for $3.25 an hour, so forgive me for weighing my options.

& Cameron: How much money would you give me?
    MacMillan: Junior engineer, no experience... 20 grand.
    Cameron: Double it.
    Gordon: My wife makes 15 at TI!
    Cameron: Well, then I feel sorry for her. So? What’s it gonna be, Joe?

& Bosworth: In order to reach that perfect world where we actually start selling things rather than running from the bogeyman, there will be some rules. One, no bullshit.
    Cameron: Sorry, what constitutes bull...
    Bosworth: Whatever I damn say it is! Two, hours are now from when this meeting is done until when you die. And three, I know I can’t fire any of you yet, but that also means you can’t leave, so if I need to stomp on one of y’all’s heads to feel better about my morning shave, whoa, you’re gonna have to find a way to deal with that. Do you understand?
    Cameron: So, who’s my boss or whatever?
    MacMillan & Gordon: Me.

& Gordon: Holy shit. What are you trying to prove with all this?

--
On the IMDb

Σ Good start.