Earliest PC's
May 20th, 2014 at 7:05:41 PM
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Quote: thecesspit
...
All web applications, and only 16Gb internal storage (enough for some personal stuff but not masses). Great for travel and your standard email/write short docs/browse web stuff/read books. Though there are some online development environments now, so you could even do heavy lifting of code on one for some application development.
Oh, God, I just aged into decrepitude reading this. I started building computers in 1991, (In 1984, I bought a ready-made Commodore 64, with the deluxe tape drive for "really dense" programs, but I moved on) buying chips and components from Tiger Electronics catalogs (RAM at $160/Mb!!!) and snapping them into motherboards, buying empty tower cases and wiring up hard drives and floppy disks, fiddling with jumper switches, and tearing my hair out over maddening IRQ conflicts. The entire program, whether game, word processor, whatever, had to fit on the first 1Mb of RAM or you were not going to be able to run it, because it was kept on a 5 1/4" floppy, and that's all it held.
It was a BIG deal when Maxxtor (or maybe Seagate?) figured out how to get past the magic 576Mb partition barrier. Windows was not available (I was playing with something called Geo which was an early WYSIWYG shell, and writing most of my filed stuff in edlin on MS-DOS), and nobody had a mouse; the best you could do was a trackball, which was a step up from a joystick. My first laptop was an Acer C4, and it weighed about 12 lbs and just barely did anything, but you could CARRY it!
Couldn't keep up with the technology after I got married, and gave up around 2002. It's all spaghetti and silicon to me now.
16Gb. "only". Where did I leave my teeth, Norman? CRS these days...<mumble>
If the House lost every hand, they wouldn't deal the game.
May 20th, 2014 at 11:36:02 PM
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My Dad's first PC had a 20Mb hard drive and a 386 processor. Lots of software only ran in the first 640kb at that time, though some started to use the extended memory and could work in the full 1Mb of memory the machine had. It ran Windows 3.1, and I recall playing Civilization on it.
My first PDA (and now you don't see them anymore) had more processing power and memory than that. But I am not sure everything has improved.
So yeah 'only' 16Gb... that's not enough for a lot of video, music and images (though enough of the latter for most travel cases), plenty enough for tonnes of text documents to read and write.
My first PDA (and now you don't see them anymore) had more processing power and memory than that. But I am not sure everything has improved.
So yeah 'only' 16Gb... that's not enough for a lot of video, music and images (though enough of the latter for most travel cases), plenty enough for tonnes of text documents to read and write.
"Then you can admire the real gambler, who has neither eaten, slept, thought nor lived, he has so smarted under the scourge of his martingale, so suffered on the rack of his desire for a coup at trente-et-quarante" - Honore de Balzac, 1829
May 21st, 2014 at 4:02:30 AM
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Quote: thecesspitMy Dad's first PC had a 20Mb hard drive and a 386 processor. Lots of software only ran in the first 640kb at that time, though some started to use the extended memory and could work in the full 1Mb of memory the machine had. It ran Windows 3.1, and I recall playing Civilization on it.
My first PDA (and now you don't see them anymore) had more processing power and memory than that. But I am not sure everything has improved.
So yeah 'only' 16Gb... that's not enough for a lot of video, music and images (though enough of the latter for most travel cases), plenty enough for tonnes of text documents to read and write.
LOL!! Only 20mb hard drive and a 386. This is what I started on and it had 32k memory and used punch cards to enter the program.
At my age, a "Life In Prison" sentence is not much of a deterrent.
May 21st, 2014 at 6:42:51 AM
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Quote: DRichLOL!! Only 20mb hard drive and a 386. This is what I started on and it had 32k memory and used punch cards to enter the program.
I was going to bring up my 286, 1 MB RAM, 20 MB HD, but I'll concede defeat for this round.
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
May 21st, 2014 at 7:51:21 AM
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8088 w/128K system memory.
We have a winna!
We have a winna!
May 21st, 2014 at 8:08:47 AM
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Slower is my take on it given the systems mentioned...
May 21st, 2014 at 8:08:58 AM
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I should say when I got my first PC I thought of 20 MB as being so large it might as well be infinite. Today my cut-rate corporate phone with 850 MB (why not 1 GB??) internal storage runs out of RAM often.
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
May 21st, 2014 at 8:12:09 AM
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I think it was Jim Lovell who said in an interview a few years back on a documentary channel like History, "The computer on the lunar module had 640K memory and we thought we could never write enough code to fill it."
May 21st, 2014 at 9:22:27 AM
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Here's the first computer I spent more than $2,000 on. I think every computer since then has cost me $2,000 as well, but they do get better over time.
My first computer was a Commodore-64, but I think that came in at under $1,000 with 1541 disk drive and got hooked up with a "TV-Game" switch in the back (antennae input).
My first 486 PC was a 66Mhz PC with a 220MB HD, and was specifically to install Linux, and I was already programming in Unix (SGI Irix) for Texas Instruments by then. I had to modify the driver for the ethernet card to get networking to work Linux was so new at that time.
My first computer was a Commodore-64, but I think that came in at under $1,000 with 1541 disk drive and got hooked up with a "TV-Game" switch in the back (antennae input).
My first 486 PC was a 66Mhz PC with a 220MB HD, and was specifically to install Linux, and I was already programming in Unix (SGI Irix) for Texas Instruments by then. I had to modify the driver for the ethernet card to get networking to work Linux was so new at that time.
aahigh.com
May 21st, 2014 at 9:46:20 AM
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Quote: AhighHere's the first computer I spent more than $2,000 on. I think every computer since then has cost me $2,000 as well, but they do get better over time.
My first computer was a Commodore-64, but I think that came in at under $1,000 with 1541 disk drive and got hooked up with a "TV-Game" switch in the back (antennae input).
My first 486 PC was a 66Mhz PC with a 220MB HD, and was specifically to install Linux, and I was already programming in Unix (SGI Irix) for Texas Instruments by then. I had to modify the driver for the ethernet card to get networking to work Linux was so new at that time.
Mods you should split this computer discussion to another thread. I think we could all tell stories about the good ole days.
Ahigh, that is amazing that you still have that.
I know some of you are older and have memories of punch cards and such but I remember when I was in 8th grade in 1994. We had just gotten our first home computer and it was one with all of the bells and whistles. We have a 28.8 modem, 2X CD Rom, sound card, speakers, 16MB, and a DX66. This was a top of the line computer at close to 3k.
My dad also let me buy a game that day and I chose the 7th Guest. I played that game for years.
Fast forward a few years and I started going to computer shows and building PCs. My best friend in high school taught me everything I knew because he had already had a computer for a year. We used to log into message boards. Remember before people had internet you had to log into individual servers for "craigslist", forums, and games.
We had a dream back then of owning a Terabyte hard drive. This was when hard drives were 80MB. The terabyte was a pipe dream. Of course after high school we drifted apart. Many years later the Terabyte HD was finally released. As soon as it came out I tracked down my friend and we talked about the good ole days and how it was amazing that the terabyte was now out. Unfortunately we were 2 different people now and we didn't stay in touch.
Expect the worst and you will never be disappointed.
I AM NOT PART OF GWAE RADIO SHOW
May 21st, 2014 at 9:47:32 AM
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Quote: AhighHere's the first computer I spent more than $2,000 on.
Interesting. First off there's some irony that a computer seller uses a generic, pre-printed invoice, personalized with a dot matrix printer and then fille dout by hand.
Also notice the $45 for a box of DD 3.5" floppies. That's, if memorey serves, just about 7 MB total. Comapre that to a modern 8 GB thumb drive. The difference is ludicrous.
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
May 21st, 2014 at 9:57:35 AM
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Quote: NareedInteresting. First off there's some irony that a computer seller uses a generic, pre-printed invoice, personalized with a dot matrix printer and then fille dout by hand.
Also notice the $45 for a box of DD 3.5" floppies. That's, if memorey serves, just about 7 MB total. Comapre that to a modern 8 GB thumb drive. The difference is ludicrous.
I have a zip drive hooked up to my work computer for fun.
My favorite camera of all time was my Sony Mavica.
Expect the worst and you will never be disappointed.
I AM NOT PART OF GWAE RADIO SHOW
May 21st, 2014 at 5:31:57 PM
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My first computer was bought solely to play Starcraft. Oh and to do "homework", usually spotting fake nude pics of Britney Spears for my biology class.
"Man Babes" #AxelFabulous
May 21st, 2014 at 7:47:40 PM
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The first server when I introduced computers to my business was 256Kb and I had 5 'dumb' terminals on the LAN connected to it. I had some staff that worked night shift and graveyard that weren't that busy. They would back up the total system every night on 5 1/4" floppies. The hardware and software package (which included ACC PAC) was about $15K.
I thought the price was great because 18 months earlier IBM wanted $25K to provide me something equivalent. I can't remember the model number of their small business system then but it wasn't a PC.
I thought the price was great because 18 months earlier IBM wanted $25K to provide me something equivalent. I can't remember the model number of their small business system then but it wasn't a PC.
Be careful when you follow the masses, the M is sometimes silent.
May 21st, 2014 at 8:04:05 PM
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My first computer was an IBM PCjr, 128K RAM, 5 1/4 floppy drive, BASIC program was on a cartridge. You could add a 128K memory sidecar to get to 256K. Later on, I found instructions to remove, IIRC, 8 memory modules from the board, and solder in newer chips, to create a total of 640K memory. About a year later, I found more instructions to add a PC XT hard drive adapter card to a PC Jr, by building a bus interface on the sidecar. So I added a 10M hard drive.
Now to put some perspective on this, I was a large systems customer engineer for IBM at the time.The mid range computer system was the 4381, ran around $30,000 to $70,000 I think. The base model had 16K, while a higher end model had 64K. This was around 1987. And the 4381 was about 5' wide, 3' deep, and 7' tall. My cell phone today is 4" wide, 7" long, and 1/2" deep. And it has 32G of RAM.
It is amazing what technology has done in the past 20 years with computer memory, processing power, and size reduction.
Now to put some perspective on this, I was a large systems customer engineer for IBM at the time.The mid range computer system was the 4381, ran around $30,000 to $70,000 I think. The base model had 16K, while a higher end model had 64K. This was around 1987. And the 4381 was about 5' wide, 3' deep, and 7' tall. My cell phone today is 4" wide, 7" long, and 1/2" deep. And it has 32G of RAM.
It is amazing what technology has done in the past 20 years with computer memory, processing power, and size reduction.
Always borrow money from a pessimist; They don't expect to get paid back !
Be yourself and speak your thoughts. Those who matter won't mind, and those that mind, don't matter!
May 21st, 2014 at 8:38:55 PM
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Quote: djatcMy first computer was bought solely to play Starcraft. Oh and to do "homework", usually spotting fake nude pics of Britney Spears for my biology class.
Wow, I doubt Britney Spears was even born when I started programming.
At my age, a "Life In Prison" sentence is not much of a deterrent.
May 21st, 2014 at 8:42:13 PM
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Quote: chickenman8088 w/128K system memory.
We have a winna!
Just barely. In 1985, when working as a mainframe systems ALGOL60 programmer (on a Burrough's B7700), I bought a 640k(!!) IBM PC with dual floppy drives for $2,500 - again, this was 1985. I still remember the "er-er-OP" boot-up sound.
Prior to that, I had a Commodore-64 with floppy drive (which was actually a remarkably advanced 64K design with graphic sprites, Basic in ROM and a huge and capable controller interface). many outfits actually used the C64 for industrial control applications using a PROLOG compiler.
In January 1982, this little thing was as powerful as many office mini-computers at the time when provided with an 80-character screen adapter, a floppy and a modem, if you overlook the lack of business applications for it. For its time, it WAS a little beast. Commodore sold 400,000 units a month for several years via electronic outlets, outselling Apple and the PC for a while. It was compared to the model T Ford in terms of providing technology to the middle class.
Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes - Henry David Thoreau. Like Dealers' uniforms - Dan.
May 21st, 2014 at 8:56:36 PM
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Quote: PaigowdanPrior to that, I had a Commodore-64 with floppy drive (which was actually a remarkably advanced 64K design with graphic sprites, Basic in ROM and a huge and capable controller interface). many outfits actually used the C64 for industrial control applications using a PROLOG compiler.
I got started on an AppleII+ (48k+16k language card) that my dad had bought to try and automate our chickenhouse. Needless to say, it never made it's way to the chickenhouse. I was, however stuck with "shape tables"... a little jealous of C64 sprites when I eventually learned about them.
May 21st, 2014 at 9:38:43 PM
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I'll join the parade...my family's first computer was an IBM PS/2, 386/SX processor and 6MB of RAM. Looked exactly like this. Who knows how much hard drive space...maybe a few hundred MB? This was 1994 or so, I was in 4th or 5th grade. Ran IBM DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.0 (later upgraded to 3.1). I remember that it booted into DOS and you had to type 'win' at the command prompt to launch Windows.
Ah, the salad days...played lots of Wolfenstein 3D and The Lost Vikings on that system...
Ah, the salad days...played lots of Wolfenstein 3D and The Lost Vikings on that system...
"So drink gamble eat f***, because one day you will be dust." -ontariodealer
May 21st, 2014 at 9:42:34 PM
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The first computer we had was a Lynx. I think about 4 people brought one, as the company that made them folded not long after Dad came whom with it. But still, I cut my teeth programming Basic and a tiny bit of Machine Code on it. 48kb and a Z80 processor.
We got a Amstrad CPC6128 a few years later, which was a decent machine with floppy drive, in built monitor and CPM as a alternative operating system. Work well enough for years and a lot of my high school reports were written in ProText, the word processor which I still kinda of miss for it's simplicity and the way it was easy to mark up sections, numberings and the like.
We got a Amstrad CPC6128 a few years later, which was a decent machine with floppy drive, in built monitor and CPM as a alternative operating system. Work well enough for years and a lot of my high school reports were written in ProText, the word processor which I still kinda of miss for it's simplicity and the way it was easy to mark up sections, numberings and the like.
"Then you can admire the real gambler, who has neither eaten, slept, thought nor lived, he has so smarted under the scourge of his martingale, so suffered on the rack of his desire for a coup at trente-et-quarante" - Honore de Balzac, 1829
May 22nd, 2014 at 1:16:40 AM
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My first was a Sinclair ZX81 purchased in 1981, they were branded Timex in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81
It cost me the best part of a weeks pay at £70
No colour, no hi res graphics or sound and it plugged into a TV to produce a eye straining monochrome picture.
The operating system was burned on to a 8k rom and could not be altered.
It came with a paltry 1k of memory, this 1,024 bytes had to hold everything, the program, data, system variables and the screen file.
The result being about six lines of basic before the "out of memory" message appeared.
A 16k add on memory pack was quickly purchased for £50 and a music cassette player to store programs on.
The membrane keyboard was a nightmare as it had virtually no tactile feedback.
I still have it but haven't booted it up for many a year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81
It cost me the best part of a weeks pay at £70
No colour, no hi res graphics or sound and it plugged into a TV to produce a eye straining monochrome picture.
The operating system was burned on to a 8k rom and could not be altered.
It came with a paltry 1k of memory, this 1,024 bytes had to hold everything, the program, data, system variables and the screen file.
The result being about six lines of basic before the "out of memory" message appeared.
A 16k add on memory pack was quickly purchased for £50 and a music cassette player to store programs on.
The membrane keyboard was a nightmare as it had virtually no tactile feedback.
I still have it but haven't booted it up for many a year.
A photon without any luggage checks into a hotel, he's travelling light.
May 22nd, 2014 at 2:22:20 AM
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I didn't buy a PC until probably 1998. But I worked with computers since 1984. I was a computer operator on a bunch of different systems but my main interest was a VAX 11/780 with 5 mini-refrigerator sized drives holding 14" platters giving you 300MB of storage (1.5GB total for the 5 drives). As someone else said my cell phone now has 32GB. It blows me away.
I remember installing Hercules graphics cards in PCs to be able to display graphics instead of just characters. Monitors that were either orange or green screens. Networking computers using "vampire taps" on thick-wire Ethernet and thinking that thin-wire Ethernet was a HUGE advance. My first modem was 300 baud (I didn't own a PC but had a terminal from work). Typing in ATDT and the rest of the Hayes commands. Thinking 19200 was AMAZINGLY fast. I got really good at tweaking config.sys and himem.sys to be able to support network drivers and still have some memory left over. Having 2MB of RAM and using the 2nd MB as a RAM drive. 8 inch floppies. Lots of lots of magnetic tapes. Thinking a terabyte of data was an incredible amount.
The last 30 years has been kind of crazy really. As someone that's been involved in network support for over 25 years it amazes me that I can get 10Mb/s speeds on my cell phone. In 2000 I was supporting a global network linking 28 cities in 8 countries and most links were 64Kb/s. My 4G LTE data speeds are better than my first cable modem speed.
I remember installing Hercules graphics cards in PCs to be able to display graphics instead of just characters. Monitors that were either orange or green screens. Networking computers using "vampire taps" on thick-wire Ethernet and thinking that thin-wire Ethernet was a HUGE advance. My first modem was 300 baud (I didn't own a PC but had a terminal from work). Typing in ATDT and the rest of the Hayes commands. Thinking 19200 was AMAZINGLY fast. I got really good at tweaking config.sys and himem.sys to be able to support network drivers and still have some memory left over. Having 2MB of RAM and using the 2nd MB as a RAM drive. 8 inch floppies. Lots of lots of magnetic tapes. Thinking a terabyte of data was an incredible amount.
The last 30 years has been kind of crazy really. As someone that's been involved in network support for over 25 years it amazes me that I can get 10Mb/s speeds on my cell phone. In 2000 I was supporting a global network linking 28 cities in 8 countries and most links were 64Kb/s. My 4G LTE data speeds are better than my first cable modem speed.
May 22nd, 2014 at 4:45:59 AM
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Here is a pic of my first computer. Leading Edge Wintower
Expect the worst and you will never be disappointed.
I AM NOT PART OF GWAE RADIO SHOW
May 22nd, 2014 at 4:53:11 AM
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In the early 90s we had a PC that really all u could do was type and print
In around 96 or 97 we got a compaq with windows 95, it was so slow
Another compaq when windows 98 came out.
Man I miss the days of aol 3.0, chat rooms, and playing the Sims
Early websites were great
In around 96 or 97 we got a compaq with windows 95, it was so slow
Another compaq when windows 98 came out.
Man I miss the days of aol 3.0, chat rooms, and playing the Sims
Early websites were great
An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government. – Ron Paul
May 22nd, 2014 at 4:54:43 AM
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Quote: richbailey86In the early 90s we had a PC that really all u could do was type and print
In around 96 or 97 we got a compaq with windows 95, it was so slow
Another compaq when windows 98 came out.
Then for Christmas one year I think 97 I opened a box and all it had was a phone number inside. Dial up line lol
Man I miss the days of aol 3.0, chat rooms, and playing the Sims
Early websites were great
An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government. – Ron Paul
May 22nd, 2014 at 5:47:33 AM
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My Dad got an Atari 800 (not to be confused with the Atari 2600 gmaing console) for the family for Christmas 1982. It had 48k memory, and a cassette tape drive -- we couldn't afford the $500 extra for a 5.25" floppy drive at the time! Although, we did eventually get it.
It had cartridges for BASIC and other programs (games, mostly). The memory consisted of three 16k RAM cartridges (a different type & location than the program cartridges) you could pop out without going "inside" the computer. We actually had to replace a bad one a few years later.
In 1989, we finally "arrived" when we replaced the Atari with a 286 with a 12 MHz processor. Crazy fast!! :)
It had cartridges for BASIC and other programs (games, mostly). The memory consisted of three 16k RAM cartridges (a different type & location than the program cartridges) you could pop out without going "inside" the computer. We actually had to replace a bad one a few years later.
In 1989, we finally "arrived" when we replaced the Atari with a 286 with a 12 MHz processor. Crazy fast!! :)
"Dealer has 'rock'... Pay 'paper!'"
May 22nd, 2014 at 6:58:41 AM
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Quote: PaigowdanPrior to that, I had a Commodore-64 with floppy drive (which was actually a remarkably advanced 64K design with graphic sprites, Basic in ROM and a huge and capable controller interface).
The Commodore 64 was the best home computer of its era. A friend at school had one. We must ahve spent hundreds of hours at his house playing Summer Games and Jumpman while pretending to do homework (we did some homework, too).
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
May 22nd, 2014 at 7:03:59 AM
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Quote: JoemanMy Dad got an Atari 800 (not to be confused with the Atari 2600 gmaing console) for the family for Christmas 1982.
Funny you should put it like that.
Back then the 800 was an amazing product. The tape drive coudl be used for audio, actually played through the TV's speakers, as well as storing programs and data. For usersthat wasn't much use, unless you got a program that used the audio. One such was a series released by Atari called "An Invitation to programming." It taught Basic, and used the audio trick effectively to deliver instruction, while the screen illustrated it. And it "just worked."
When my aprents agreed to buy a computer, that was the one I wanted. They wouldn't, though, because in their minds Atari meant videogames only. We wound up with a Tandy Color Computer.
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
May 22nd, 2014 at 7:19:57 AM
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In 1976 I learned BASIC language on an IBM 360 mainframe coonnected by 20ma loop (RS-232) to other terminals in the Computer room. The Keyboard was solenoid acutation and was the size of a table. It weighed at least 150 lbs and quite buzzy. The hi-tech feature was an optical paper-tape reader that readi columns of O O O O as a 4-bit binary (hexadecimal) character (8 per word). The output was on roll paper 6" wide. Just tear-off length. The memory system comprised of taking that paper-tape and rolling it up on a paper-towel core. Then break open a coat hanger and slide each end into the coat hanger and store in a closet. You could get 7 or 8 programs stored this way. My closet had three of these. In spite of other "facts" what we call emoticons (smilies) were actually developed and already in use at this time. My contribution to this end is ~<(:o) the Party. There were porn-e-motes also, due to the rules, I'll leave this to your fertile imaginations.
Seven years later my first "home computer" was a Sinclair Research ZX-81. It did everything the beast did using cassette-tape as storage. I ordered a 64K module. Cost was less than $200. Add a used 9" B/W TV and there you are... home computing. Size of the ZX-81 was about 6"x9" (smaller than an Asus EEE). My favorite program was 7+Dealer Blackjack. It needed a special 6-card rule... Player 6-card hand does not lose, same for Dealer, and if both its a push. Spit once, DAS, DA2, LS, SorH17 by flag. After reading Revere, I adopted the 5's count to Ace-5 for S17. And the rest is History. I played a lot of 21 on that machine and its successor the "QL"... and in COLOR !
Now then came the internet in the early 90's and I figured it would break via maliciousness. It did break in '95 IIRC. THEN I decided to invest heavily into what we would call "modern social-networking" in '97. That box was a MMX200, 12x CD-R, 64Mb, Diimond Steaalth 2000 (4Mb video), and a 13" CRT (LCD in 2000). and cost a whopping $3200. I built my own replacements thereafter (Athlon 1700, then 3200 Barton). OS's were 95/2 and 98/2 exclusive. By 2004 I had Ace-5 nailed down and proven using CVData 3.0.xx 20Billion hands.
Side-Note to my own 21 History... before laying out the $200+ on CV-Data, I purchased a disk entitlled "Blackjack 6-7-8 2003 edition". It ran a bit slow and I got about 5x100Million hands out of it. The $40 spent on this indicated a go for the CV-Data with many thanks to our esteemed Wizard.
Seven years later my first "home computer" was a Sinclair Research ZX-81. It did everything the beast did using cassette-tape as storage. I ordered a 64K module. Cost was less than $200. Add a used 9" B/W TV and there you are... home computing. Size of the ZX-81 was about 6"x9" (smaller than an Asus EEE). My favorite program was 7+Dealer Blackjack. It needed a special 6-card rule... Player 6-card hand does not lose, same for Dealer, and if both its a push. Spit once, DAS, DA2, LS, SorH17 by flag. After reading Revere, I adopted the 5's count to Ace-5 for S17. And the rest is History. I played a lot of 21 on that machine and its successor the "QL"... and in COLOR !
Now then came the internet in the early 90's and I figured it would break via maliciousness. It did break in '95 IIRC. THEN I decided to invest heavily into what we would call "modern social-networking" in '97. That box was a MMX200, 12x CD-R, 64Mb, Diimond Steaalth 2000 (4Mb video), and a 13" CRT (LCD in 2000). and cost a whopping $3200. I built my own replacements thereafter (Athlon 1700, then 3200 Barton). OS's were 95/2 and 98/2 exclusive. By 2004 I had Ace-5 nailed down and proven using CVData 3.0.xx 20Billion hands.
Side-Note to my own 21 History... before laying out the $200+ on CV-Data, I purchased a disk entitlled "Blackjack 6-7-8 2003 edition". It ran a bit slow and I got about 5x100Million hands out of it. The $40 spent on this indicated a go for the CV-Data with many thanks to our esteemed Wizard.
Some people need to reimagine their thinking.
May 22nd, 2014 at 7:40:47 AM
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Quote: GWAEI have a zip drive hooked up to my work computer for fun.
My favorite camera of all time was my Sony Mavica.
I still own an FD-73 with a few 1.44Mb Floppies for it. It has Li-Ion batteries (1999). 640x480 rez. As someone else said the progress is ludicrous. UhOh, I think we've gone to plaid!
Some people need to reimagine their thinking.
May 22nd, 2014 at 7:50:53 AM
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Yes, we have had this discussion before -- almost four years ago in a thread started by Nareed. My nostalgic entry about the first two computers I owned myself was posted right here.
Now the very first computer that I was paid to program and operate was an IBM 1401 mainframe that was the primary computer at a Navy facility I was working at in the summer of 1965. It used punch cards for input/output, a "high-speed" line printer, and had absolutely zero hard drive storage capacity -- the boxes/trays of punched cards were supposed to take care of that need. System RAM was a grand total of 4k. Mathematical capability was quite limited -- it could add and subtract, but in order to multiply, we had to load a repetitive-addition subroutine in with our program deck of cards. I don't think anyone even bothered trying to do division. Yes, you read right -- that was the sole mainframe computer for a U.S. Navy facility.
Now the very first computer that I was paid to program and operate was an IBM 1401 mainframe that was the primary computer at a Navy facility I was working at in the summer of 1965. It used punch cards for input/output, a "high-speed" line printer, and had absolutely zero hard drive storage capacity -- the boxes/trays of punched cards were supposed to take care of that need. System RAM was a grand total of 4k. Mathematical capability was quite limited -- it could add and subtract, but in order to multiply, we had to load a repetitive-addition subroutine in with our program deck of cards. I don't think anyone even bothered trying to do division. Yes, you read right -- that was the sole mainframe computer for a U.S. Navy facility.
May 22nd, 2014 at 7:55:24 AM
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Quote: DocYes, you read right -- that was the sole mainframe computer for a U.S. Navy facility.
Reading this I understand why SF stories in the 50s and 60s still had characters manipulating slide-rules.
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
May 22nd, 2014 at 8:02:50 AM
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I still have two, six-inch slide rules in my desk drawer. One is a fully-functional, 23-scale, Frederick Post model that I used in grad school. The other is a simple 9-scale Lafayette model that my father-in-law used at his factory job. They don't get much use these days.
May 22nd, 2014 at 8:22:12 AM
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My big day was when I got a math coprocessor! That was a good day I could do 3D CADD.
May 22nd, 2014 at 8:27:25 AM
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Quote: NareedOne such was a series released by Atari called "An Invitation to programming." It taught Basic, and used the audio trick effectively to deliver instruction, while the screen illustrated it.
Wow! We had these tapes... that's how I learned BASIC! :) I'm not a developer or anything, but I'll still whip up some VBA code in Excel every now & then.
Quote: NareedWhen my parents agreed to buy a computer, that was the one I wanted. They wouldn't, though, because in their minds Atari meant video games only.
Exactly! Whenever I told anyone that I had an Atari 800, they would roll their eyes and say, "Oh, I thought you said you had a computer."
It did have some cool games, though! :)
"Dealer has 'rock'... Pay 'paper!'"
May 22nd, 2014 at 8:45:00 AM
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Quote: DocI still have two, six-inch slide rules in my desk drawer. One is a fully-functional, 23-scale, Frederick Post model that I used in grad school. The other is a simple 9-scale Lafayette model that my father-in-law used at his factory job. They don't get much use these days.
Would you like to sell?
I've never even used one, but I'd like to have one as, no offense, a science fiction antique. That is, because they're mentioned in classic SF so much.
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
May 22nd, 2014 at 8:52:46 AM
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Quote: JoemanWow! We had these tapes... that's how I learned BASIC! :)
Same here :)
Since then I forgot most of it. But that just means I never got into programming of any kind.
Quote:Exactly! Whenever I told anyone that I had an Atari 800, they would roll their eyes and say, "Oh, I thought you said you had a computer."
It's a shame. The 800, and to a lesser degree the 400, were excelent computers for their time. perfect as home computers, too, right up there with the Commodore 64.
Perhaps if they'd been sold under a different name...
Quote:It did have some cool games, though! :)
Oh, indeed. I don't recall whether it could take the cartridges from the videogame system, but I saw plenty of neat, deep games. It was one of the early favorites to play Flight Simulator, too. I played some games with a friend who had one in his office. he ran A BBS through it, too.
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
May 22nd, 2014 at 9:43:28 AM
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Quote: Nareed
The Commodore 64 was the best home computer of its era. A friend at school had one. We must ahve spent hundreds of hours at his house playing Summer Games and Jumpman while pretending to do homework (we did some homework, too).
When I was in college I ran across a Commodore 16 at a garage sale. I had never heard of it before and don't even know if it was ever released for general sale. I assume they decided they needed more memory and it became the Commodore 64. I wish I would have bought that.
At my age, a "Life In Prison" sentence is not much of a deterrent.
May 22nd, 2014 at 11:26:35 AM
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Quote: DRichWhen I was in college I ran across a Commodore 16 at a garage sale. I had never heard of it before and don't even know if it was ever released for general sale. I assume they decided they needed more memory and it became the Commodore 64. I wish I would have bought that.
There were other machines by that company at the time. I recall hearing of the Vic-20. Since you mentioned the C-16 it rings a bell now, but I'm not sure. I'm quite certain there was a less capable version, or predecessor, of the C-64.
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
May 22nd, 2014 at 12:15:59 PM
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I think the predecessor to the C16 and the VIC20 was the Commodore PET. One of the earlier popular setups was a TI 99/4. And of course there the Trash-80 (TRS-80) by Tandy (RadioShack). These are all pre-1980.
Some people need to reimagine their thinking.
May 22nd, 2014 at 12:22:12 PM
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Quote: 98ClubsI think the predecessor to the C16 and the VIC20 was the Commodore PET. One of the earlier popular setups was a TI 99/4. And of course there the Trash-80 (TRS-80) by Tandy (RadioShack). These are all pre-1980.
TRS-80 Model 1 was the first PC I learned to program. At that time I had only been programming in Fortran and I had to learn Basic on the TRS.
At my age, a "Life In Prison" sentence is not much of a deterrent.
May 22nd, 2014 at 12:49:53 PM
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I learned Cobol, Fortran77, and RPG on the mainframe via submitted punch cards. Very much the same way my mom did it in the 50's on a Sperry-Univac for JCPenny (NYC).
Some people need to reimagine their thinking.
May 22nd, 2014 at 1:10:43 PM
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Quote: DocMathematical capability was quite limited -- it could add and subtract, but in order to multiply, we had to load a repetitive-addition subroutine in with our program deck of cards. I don't think anyone even bothered trying to do division. Yes, you read right -- that was the sole mainframe computer for a U.S. Navy facility.
Was the computer routinely used to do useful things? Or was it more of an early experiment on the part of the Navy?
May 22nd, 2014 at 1:21:02 PM
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The facility had been using electronic accounting machinery -- key punch, card sorters, interpreters, collators, etc. -- for quite a while, mainly for inventory tracking. (This was a Polaris/Poseidon missile assembly and loading facility.) They were in the process of acquiring an IBM 360 computer and having it custom programmed to serve their expanding needs. That 360 was to go into the room where all of the EAM machines had been located. As an interim step, they got the 1401 and put it in a small room across the hall. We programmed it to handle all of the current jobs that the EAM equipment had been doing. Then they removed the superfluous EAM equipment and installed the 360. Took about two years to make the transition, and I had summer jobs there for several years while in college.
May 22nd, 2014 at 1:28:56 PM
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Quote: NareedWould you like to sell?Quote: DocI still have two, six-inch slide rules in my desk drawer. One is a fully-functional, 23-scale, Frederick Post model that I used in grad school. The other is a simple 9-scale Lafayette model that my father-in-law used at his factory job. They don't get much use these days.
I've never even used one, but I'd like to have one as, no offense, a science fiction antique. That is, because they're mentioned in classic SF so much.
Well, I guess I'm a bit of a science reality antique myself, so I keep a few such items around.
No, I don't think these little items are up for sale. There are (perhaps) sentimental issues associated with the Post model. On the other hand, neither my wife nor I have particular ties to the Lafayette model. Tell you what: If we see each other on your next birthday (same time, same city, next year), I'll give that one to you as a gift. Of course, you'll have to remind me as we approach the 2015 Spring Fling.
May 22nd, 2014 at 3:34:05 PM
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Quote: DocOn the other hand, neither my wife nor I have particular ties to the Lafayette model. Tell you what: If we see each other on your next birthday (same time, same city, next year), I'll give that one to you as a gift.
That's very generous of you. I really appreciate it.
I don't know whether I'll be able to get away in time for my birthday. This year was kind of a fluke in some ways.
Quote:Of course, you'll have to remind me as we approach the 2015 Spring Fling.
Certainly. You'll just have to remind me to remind you ;)
I wonder if I can schedule Gmail to email a reminder by early April...
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
May 22nd, 2014 at 4:40:37 PM
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The first computer I owned was a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I. It had no hard drive. Hell, it hardly had any memory at all: 16K of ram.
That's not a typo. It had all of 16,384 bytes of usable ram. And no hard drive. Hell, it didn't even have a floppy drive! Floppy drives were introduced about a year later.
I loved that system so much that a couple years later I went to work at a Radio Shack Computer Center.
I recall that we used to sell hard drive units for the Model II for $2,000. It had a capacity of 2 meg. Yeah. two MEG. And it was in a relatively big box. I'd say about 14" x 16" x 3".
It amazes me to think about that 2 meg monster for $2K, compared to a 10¢ CD-ROM with it's 700 meg capacity, compared to the usb flash drives with their multiple gig capacity which are cheap enough to use as advertising giveaways!
That's not a typo. It had all of 16,384 bytes of usable ram. And no hard drive. Hell, it didn't even have a floppy drive! Floppy drives were introduced about a year later.
I loved that system so much that a couple years later I went to work at a Radio Shack Computer Center.
I recall that we used to sell hard drive units for the Model II for $2,000. It had a capacity of 2 meg. Yeah. two MEG. And it was in a relatively big box. I'd say about 14" x 16" x 3".
It amazes me to think about that 2 meg monster for $2K, compared to a 10¢ CD-ROM with it's 700 meg capacity, compared to the usb flash drives with their multiple gig capacity which are cheap enough to use as advertising giveaways!
I invented a few casino games. Info:
http://www.DaveMillerGaming.com/ —————————————————————————————————————
Superstitions are silly, childish, irrational rituals, born out of fear of the unknown. But how much does it cost to knock on wood? 😁
May 23rd, 2014 at 11:16:34 AM
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In my business, a partner and I had to get an IBM 36 computer with two keyboards, 2 monitors and a dot matrix printer. This was 1988. No internet, no graphics, no color. $17,000. And for that we got access to the company's data. Oh, and we had to rent a cable for $400 a month to boot.
May 23rd, 2014 at 12:30:42 PM
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The first computer I ever used was a TRS-80 Model III.
The first computer I ever owned was a Commodore 64 - you connected it to your TV and used a cassette tape to store your programs.
In 1984 or so my mother was selling Apple computers and she bought us a Mac Plus - the first personal computer with 1MB RAM in the default configuration. It also had a 20MB HD which was incomprehensibly huge for a home PC at the time.
The first computer I ever owned was a Commodore 64 - you connected it to your TV and used a cassette tape to store your programs.
In 1984 or so my mother was selling Apple computers and she bought us a Mac Plus - the first personal computer with 1MB RAM in the default configuration. It also had a 20MB HD which was incomprehensibly huge for a home PC at the time.
May 23rd, 2014 at 12:52:07 PM
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I wrote my first "video Poker" game in 1985 on a Prime mini-computer. The two issues I had were that I had never seen a video poker game before, and the computer only had dumb terminals with no graphics. I do remember that I paid more for a flush than a full house because they seemed to happen less often.
This is kind of what it looked like:
> Ac 3s 9h 9c 7d
Discard> 1 2 5
> Th Ks 9h 9c Td
>Two pair. You win 2
Play again?>
This is kind of what it looked like:
> Ac 3s 9h 9c 7d
Discard> 1 2 5
> Th Ks 9h 9c Td
>Two pair. You win 2
Play again?>
At my age, a "Life In Prison" sentence is not much of a deterrent.
