yazdzik
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-26
Honesdale, PA
 ·New York Connect
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| I am old(OT)
Dear Friends,
My father, in an attempt to create some order in his home, decided it was time to trash old magazines.
Readers Digest, 1994,
There sits a $1600 personal computer(PC) - a Leading Edge 486DX....
Many of us dropt plates onto spindles(admit it). What shocked me was not the sentence, not that I knew such beasts well, and not even that the current linux kernel probably has drivers for the chip. Rather, that it took me about three or four seconds to realise how old the article must be. That hurts
Digitalis, anyone?
Best,
M
--
"Basically, any malware written is going to need to be statically linked..." - ferricOxide |
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usa2k
Please PRAY for Rebekah
Premium,MVM
join:2003-01-26
Canton, MI
clubs:
 ·VOIPo
·WOW Internet and C..
·Broadvox Direct
|  Re: I am old(OT)
8.5 inch floppy drives ...
Reel-reel backup tape ...
$3000 Amiga 1000 with floppy drive and RAM ...
Computer days of old were not that long ago.
Perhaps people who worked with wire-wrap electrical connections 
--
Jim -- USA2K, VoIP since 12/2002, VOIPo in Beta since 2/7/2007
former Vonage and Packet8 . . .
FAH-Tool Monitor . . . Whales |
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nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA | reply to yazdzik
Re: I am old(OT)
Just remember that the "Y2K Problem" was 8 years ago... |
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No_Strings
Premium,Mod
join:2001-11-22
The OC | reply to yazdzik
I sold "the power of a mainframe in a pizza box." I was young and handsome then. Sigh. |
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Steve
I'm a PC, so shut up
Consultant
join:2001-03-10
Yorba Linda, CA
| reply to usa2k
Re: I am old(OT)
said by usa2k  :8.5 inch floppy drives ... Just like a guy to claim an extra half inch he doesn't really have...
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dave
Premium,MVM
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio | reply to usa2k
(Oh good, an old-fart thread)
Wire-wrap? That's some new-fangled technique, right?
I've used (and not in some museum setting, either) a computer made with actual one-per-can transistors. |
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No_Strings
Premium,Mod
join:2001-11-22
The OC
Host:
Wireless Networking
All Things Unix
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Efficient
| I repaired those. Normally, repairs consisted of swapping a board containing a half-dozen or so transistors. In a pinch. you took it down to the component. Wire-wrap was indeed a step up from that. Well, except for the one where someone had dropped their gum into the wires. Mice, as evidenced by the droppings, had eaten most of the gum and some of the wires. (Did I mention this was in West Virginia?) Since the wiring didn't exactly match the revision of prints I had, I started by connecting the loose ends which were still suspended in mid-air then made some logical deductions until all the wires were replaced. Labor was cheap back then (roughly 1977). |
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deblin
Dark Side of the Moon
Premium,MVM
join:2001-09-01
Middletown, DE
| reply to yazdzik
Re: I am old(OT)
I remember writing BASIC programs on my Atari with the BASIC cartridge. I still have the book somewhere with programming examples...I guess I used the word "program" loosely here - most of the time I just copied them from the book and entered them in to see what they did. At least at first.
--
perl -le 'print $i=pack(c5,(8**2+3**2),42-10,sqrt(3600),oct(63),(unpack(c, "&")-6)),pack(c7, (70,114,101,101,66,83,68))' |
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antiserious
The Future ain't what it used to be
Premium
join:2001-12-12
Scranton, PA
| reply to yazdzik
I remember having to WALK to The Internet, 6 miles, in the snow, uphill BOTH ways. 
Not really, but I couldn't resist. I don't go back all that far, computer-wise. Other-wise, I go back WAY too far. I had a couple 78's. 
--
"My goal in life is to become the kind of problem that people throw money at".
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03 | There is nothing, I repeat NOTHING wrong with vinyl... so long as you amplify it with vacuum tubes. None of that solid state transistor crap. |
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kleeman
Australian Expat
join:2000-07-29
Nyack, NY | reply to yazdzik
I remember salivating over a desktop calculator aged 15. Man were log tables a pain in the ass. Slide rules were kind of cool though....(mechanical log tables).
--
"Linux is evolution, not intelligent design." - Linus Torvalds |
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adsldude
always learning
Premium,Ex-Mod 2003-9
join:2000-11-10
Colorado | reply to yazdzik
Brings back memories of my Bowmar Brain calculator! |
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HFB1217
The Wizard
Premium,ExMod 2000-01
join:2000-06-26
Camelot
clubs: 
1 edit | reply to yazdzik
While working for Western Electric I had the privilege to see and remove the last remaining 40 operator's Central phone plug exchange center.
Also the last original first automated dialing center called step by step which consisted of relays and 6 foot long brass strips punched with holes and moved upward one notch for each pulse of your dial phones rotation pulses. Both were in use in lower Manhattan's Wall street area and were originally called the Chelsae exchange.
--
****aka The WIZARD **** A Founding member Seti BBR Team Starfire**** |
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CylonRed
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County | reply to kleeman
My father still has his wood slide ruler from the 1950's... He did put it to a LOT of good use. |
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Bill_MI
Bill In Michigan
Premium,MVM
join:2001-01-03
Royal Oak, MI
·Comcast
| said by CylonRed :My father still has his wood slide ruler from the 1950's... He did put it to a LOT of good use. Thanks for making me feel young. My college slide rule was plastic. |
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No_Strings
Premium,Mod
join:2001-11-22
The OC | reply to HFB1217
It so rare to see the "last original first" of anything. |
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EchoPapa
@sbcglobal.net
| reply to yazdzik
I have a brand new, laser disk player from the year 1984. It plays 12 inch laser disks and was the magical device of its day. I only bought 2 of those laser disks at the cost of about $50 each. I have the Empire Strikes Back and also Grolier's Knowledge Disk, advertised as the world's first videodisc enclopedia. That price tag is still perfectly preserved, $89.95 for a single 12 inch platter.
One thing about these laser disks, they are full, exceptionally high resolution images. When I single-frame the Empire Strikes Back, I can clearly see the film base of the tie fighters as they were moved a frame at a time past the death star. |
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JohnInSJ
Premium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
·Comcast
| reply to yazdzik
said by yazdzik : There sits a $1600 personal computer(PC) - a Leading Edge 486DX.... Wow, that's a good $200 less then the first computer I personally purchased. An Osbourne I, for $1795, in '81.
»oldcomputers.net/osborne.html
Those dual 90k floppies and the 5" screen kicked ass. Yeah, I bought the double density upgrade when it came out. Installed it myself.
I was the talk of the CS department... I was also one of the only undegrads with their own PC, portable or otherwise.
Wow, the good old days. |
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Steve
I'm a PC, so shut up
Consultant
join:2001-03-10
Yorba Linda, CA
| said by JohnInSJ :I was the talk of the CS department... I was also one of the only undegrads with their own PC, portable or otherwise. I had a VAX
Well, I acted like it was mine |
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dave
Premium,MVM
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio
·Verizon Online DSL
 ·Verizon FIOS
| I had a VAX under my desk (it started as a uVAX-II but eventually turned into a KA655, I forget what they called those in the real world, probably a VAXstation 3100).
I did in fact at the time wonder why anyone would want a PC when they could have a VAX. Of course, I wasn't paying the hardware bills... |
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