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Try out MECHANICAL keyboards. Those old IBM keyboards weighed a few pounds because they were mechanical. I have a Cherry keyboard and it is great. Just google "mechanical keyboard guide" and it'll help you decide which keyboard to get. I'd suggest a Ducky or DASkeyboard.
I've used the old IBM and Gateway Omni keyboards, and recently bought a DasKeyboard. I highly recommend it if you want a quality product with a great touch. Also, Logitech makes some really quality mice with a good feel and excellent features. Both Logitech products and DasKeyboard are not inexpensive, but as much as I use them they are well wroth the money to me.
I still use one of the old IBM keyboards. This one was manufactured 24 years ago and still works great. It is HEAVY and the keys have a satisfying >click when you type. How many computers have I gone through since 1988?
I have had new employees come into my office just to look at it. I worry that someday the connector will be obsolete and I'll have to use the Made-in-China junk that passes for keyboards today.
I have had new employees come into my office just to look at it. I worry that someday the connector will be obsolete and I'll have to use the Made-in-China junk that passes for keyboards today.
I still use my early 80's Model M as well. The feedback is excellent and they will last pretty much forever. There's no 'windows' key of course, but ctrl-esc does the same thing and it also doubles as a home defense weapon (it really is that heavy and solid)
Are you using the old 5 pin keyboard connector that preceded the PS/2 connector? WOW!
Let's see: An IBM keyboard plugged into a 5 pin to PS/2 adapter plugged into a PS/2 to USB connector, plugged into the USB port on the back of the computer. Hmmmm... It seems you wouldn't have to worry about air flow behind the system. Plugging in that IBM keyboard will keep it about 4 or 5 inches away from the wall!
Let's see: An IBM keyboard plugged into a 5 pin to PS/2 adapter plugged into a PS/2 to USB connector, plugged into the USB port on the back of the computer. Hmmmm... It seems you wouldn't have to worry about air flow behind the system. Plugging in that IBM keyboard will keep it about 4 or 5 inches away from the wall!
Good Grief - I made that mistake once very long ago and was the a job to get everthing back together again - I did but had a lot more respect for it thereafter!
Yeah, the old keyboards were pretty complicated inside, but at least you could clean them without everything mushing together into a blob.
The old keyboards had real plastic and metal parts instead of little capacitive cushions inside cheap plastic blocks.
Whe I was a tech, we'd take the keyboard, remove the keycaps and immerse the whole mechanism into a cleaner. Of course this stuff was probably deadly, but that was back in the 1980s when no one thought about stuff like that. With new keyboards, the plastic stuff melts into a sticky blob that smells like airplane glue.
The old keyboards had real plastic and metal parts instead of little capacitive cushions inside cheap plastic blocks.
Whe I was a tech, we'd take the keyboard, remove the keycaps and immerse the whole mechanism into a cleaner. Of course this stuff was probably deadly, but that was back in the 1980s when no one thought about stuff like that. With new keyboards, the plastic stuff melts into a sticky blob that smells like airplane glue.
That and a can of silicone spray could make one easy to type on and blinding fast!
Way back when in my college years I worked repairing keyboards and shipping them back out. At that time keyboards weren't considered disposable like they are now and were expensive enough to justify sending them out for repair rather than running down to Radio Shack for a quick replacement.
It's a real keyboard LOL. But it makes such a racket, probably because I've a heavy hitter, that it drives the office mates nuts. Can't use it at home, drives the wife nuts. So sometimes at lunch, when everyone is gone, I take it out and bang on it a little. It that weird or what?
I was using a public-access at the library the other day, and every time I started to type a reply to a comment, the lady next to me (who left her headphones on the table so loud you douldn't not hear them) would growl at me to "stop banging on the damn keyboard!" these things can't be more than 3-4 years old. Thing is, people think plastic is quieter than metal. It's not. If you don't believe me, come to my kitchen ijn the theater and I'll let you hear the difference between our older (metal) faucet and the newer (plastic insides) one.
DEC LK201. They put the control key to the left of caps lock (where it belongs). Everything felt "just right". Words and pictures cannot adequately describe this "keyboard of the Gods".
UNICOMP bought the patents from IBM and still cranks them out from a little factory in Kentucky. They sell the classic Model M, variants, and also a monster 122-key thing. An extra 20 custom keys might be nice. http://pckeyboard.com/page/category/PC122
I have a Model M13 (M + Trackpoint) I bought from a thrift store as a teenager and cleaned up, but right now I'm on a Das Keyboard Ultimate S, which is much quieter and easier on my roommates. I still prefer the actual M feel, though.
I have a Model M13 (M + Trackpoint) I bought from a thrift store as a teenager and cleaned up, but right now I'm on a Das Keyboard Ultimate S, which is much quieter and easier on my roommates. I still prefer the actual M feel, though.
I went to the website you mentioned, and it says: Shipping Weight: 6 pounds!!! That's about right.. You could use it as a weapon if you wanted...
...Assembly plant, and he told me how they tested the keyboars, they ran through a vibrating conveyor belt, that shook the heck out of them. They then were tested thouroughly. They had a god reputation for quality control. I remember I had one at home, and had to get rid of it after several years. It outlasted several others.
At work I remember back then keyboards were expensive, I used to canabalize the keys, or save them for parts. I replaced several cords that were broken, or had bent pins when users "tried" to plug them the wrong way. The call usually started with "My keyboard does not work anymore". 9 times out of 10 it was the bent pins.
At work I remember back then keyboards were expensive, I used to canabalize the keys, or save them for parts. I replaced several cords that were broken, or had bent pins when users "tried" to plug them the wrong way. The call usually started with "My keyboard does not work anymore". 9 times out of 10 it was the bent pins.
First of all computer stores still do exist, so if one is too lazy to get out of the armchair no wonder one does not find one.
Secondly immersive gaming still does exist - it is called a console running on a home theatre, just does as is described in the article.
Thirdly installable software still exists, it's called MobileApps. It may cause a corporate LSA an enormous headache though.
Fourth : I am writing this comment on a DELL Desktop from 2010 (which is tucked away under the desk though)
Fifthly : the helpdesk technician still drops in for Hardware related stuff you just simply can not fix by remote desk-topping.
Nothing should stop the author from having a BBS like close knit community on fb or G+, just lock the group down and that would be it.
So out of the 10 mementos, 6 do still exist at first glance.
What i do miss from the 80ies are well researched articles though. I really do.
Secondly immersive gaming still does exist - it is called a console running on a home theatre, just does as is described in the article.
Thirdly installable software still exists, it's called MobileApps. It may cause a corporate LSA an enormous headache though.
Fourth : I am writing this comment on a DELL Desktop from 2010 (which is tucked away under the desk though)
Fifthly : the helpdesk technician still drops in for Hardware related stuff you just simply can not fix by remote desk-topping.
Nothing should stop the author from having a BBS like close knit community on fb or G+, just lock the group down and that would be it.
So out of the 10 mementos, 6 do still exist at first glance.
What i do miss from the 80ies are well researched articles though. I really do.
Really? Real "computer stores" still exist? Perhaps where *you* live (let me guess, Silicon Valley), but here, nothing that constitutes a *useful* location. Sure, there are the storefront shops that are little more than places to drop-off your virus-laden Windows machines to be scrubbed; they might have a handful of overpriced and/or non-useful video cards, perhaps an anemic hard drive or two (usually priced 3x what they're worth). And forget WorstBuy or RadioSlack; one never *was* intended to be much more than an appliance store, and the other has turned into little more than a crappy cellphone store (ANY parts, computer or non-computer, have been pretty much abandoned).
When you had proper computer stores, it was easy to quickly find parts to fix somebody's home or small-office computer; just pick up a part on your way home from work, it could be done right away. Not even a matter of "instant gratification", more a matter of fast repair and getting someone back up and running sooner. So much for the hype of "Just-in-Time" supply. And perhaps you'd rather use cash rather than running up your credit card debt. Nope, can't have that either.
When you had proper computer stores, it was easy to quickly find parts to fix somebody's home or small-office computer; just pick up a part on your way home from work, it could be done right away. Not even a matter of "instant gratification", more a matter of fast repair and getting someone back up and running sooner. So much for the hype of "Just-in-Time" supply. And perhaps you'd rather use cash rather than running up your credit card debt. Nope, can't have that either.
They might not be everywhere, but there are plenty physical computer stores around me. In person stores never competed with the great deals you could get from NewEgg, TigerDirect, and Amazon if you could cool your heals for a couple days.
In Dallas, we've got Fry's, Microcenter, the original CompUSA (I believe is still here), and a mom and pop place or 2.
In Dallas, we've got Fry's, Microcenter, the original CompUSA (I believe is still here), and a mom and pop place or 2.
in austin, kind of for commercial places more than anything, but it is where i get most of the stuff for our school. they are in san antonio too. fry's is not bad as well, but they are more big box now
Head over to South east Asia anytime and you can feast your eyes on all parts imaginable.
When I was first getting started I used to go down to two or three stores here in the NJ metro area and get all the parts I needed to build the machines i was using, not to mention the two USED parts stores where I would stand there and drool over the USED 100 MHz Evergreen chips that would take my 50 MHz 486 and turn it into a Pentium MoBo, WOW!!!
We never had a Fry's here but we did have CompUSA, and when almost all those stores (except for a few) went belly-up I LITERALLY CRIED!!! That was where I would stop by during the work day (I was driving for a living then) and spend 15 or 20 minutes just basking in the electron fields and recharging my soul, then I could go back and finish the day of driving crabby little old ladies & gents to their Dr. appointments, AHHHHH!!!
We never had a Fry's here but we did have CompUSA, and when almost all those stores (except for a few) went belly-up I LITERALLY CRIED!!! That was where I would stop by during the work day (I was driving for a living then) and spend 15 or 20 minutes just basking in the electron fields and recharging my soul, then I could go back and finish the day of driving crabby little old ladies & gents to their Dr. appointments, AHHHHH!!!
I suppose it's part of the problem with living in an economically depressed area (lower Hudson valley) of an economically depressed state. Once IBM went belly-up the already critical economy died. Once a major chain goes bankrupt, none of the others can make enough money by filling the void.
Here in the suburbs of Chicago, we are fortunate to have CompUSA, Micro Center, Fry's, and CDW. I guess that is the benefit of living near a big city: You can find pretty much everything you want nearby!
Rick
Rick
a physcial location, that would be awesome. i get a lot through them, but through a sales rep
We've got...umm...well...uhhh...Fry's in Atlanta, CompUSA in Raleigh, and not much else. Any local computer store lasts, at most, two to three years, and they all have abysmal selections.
Although there is 4 Ts computers in Augusta. Their selection stinks, but they stay in business selling Dell & IBM refurbs.
Although there is 4 Ts computers in Augusta. Their selection stinks, but they stay in business selling Dell & IBM refurbs.
I'm fortunate enough to live 10 minutes from a Microcenter, & there's a Stone's computer store in the same shopping complex. Also a Computer Builder's Warehouse across the road, but I don't find much that suits me there. What I like especially about the MicroCenter is the Tech Manager, who is always happy to talk shop.
"Computer Builder's Warehouse!" Yeah! That's a name for a computer store. I'll buy that for a dollar.
We have a Microcenter in NORTH Jersey (somewhere) I think. Computer Builders Warehouse, NOW THAT's THE KIND OF STORE I COULD LIVE AT!!! Where DO you live I want to move there!!!!! New Egg is GREAT, HOWEVER, it doesn't feed the soul, if you understand, then you are the kind of person who can read C code like a Mag, if you don't understand then, well I feel sorry for you!
The few that have good selections, are in the part of the city that is mostly furniture stores. The wrong type of crowd, and its heavy traffic and a run down area, so people don't like to stop there or go there. They would do much better on the east side of the city where many of the big and small stores are.
Kind of a difference between the old way, where stores were lined up down a street, and the new way, where entire city blocks are dedicated to shopping and parking lots.
Kind of a difference between the old way, where stores were lined up down a street, and the new way, where entire city blocks are dedicated to shopping and parking lots.
I do kinda miss the "computer store". First it was a real store. Then, like when we lived in Houston, it was a guy with a mini-storage warehouse. He pulled up the door on Saturday morning - like Storage Wars - and we commenced to shopping. Cases over here, power supplies in that pile, stacks of mother boards, etc.
Maybe this will work - an ancient Doonesbury comic that shows how it was back then at the Computer Store. And to some extent, it's still like this.
http://raceabilene.com/misc/comics/Liveware.jpg
Maybe this will work - an ancient Doonesbury comic that shows how it was back then at the Computer Store. And to some extent, it's still like this.
http://raceabilene.com/misc/comics/Liveware.jpg
Yes, the emphasis is on _little_ but I went into my local Ratshack a couple months ago (and I live in a very low population area) and they actually had up-to-date Arduinos and some Propeller kit. It was slightly more expensive than on the interwebs, but the instant gratification of buying my first Arduino and an Ethernet shield and walk out of the store was well worth it!
Sadly, I haven't had enough free time to tinker too much with it yet, but I have tinkered with the dev platform a bit on my Linux workstation at home, and it seems to work great! I built a small 1/10 second timer with it - my output was some 40-year-old HP LED buffered displays... Next up will be interfacing an LCD display from a 20-year-old Fujitsu desk phone...
Sadly, I haven't had enough free time to tinker too much with it yet, but I have tinkered with the dev platform a bit on my Linux workstation at home, and it seems to work great! I built a small 1/10 second timer with it - my output was some 40-year-old HP LED buffered displays... Next up will be interfacing an LCD display from a 20-year-old Fujitsu desk phone...
TigerDirect, CompUSA. BestBuy still has lots of goodies. While Radio Shack is still useful to the hardcore hardware guy. There are also these mom-pop's that sell refurbished rackmounts and switches to small businesses.
Of course, this only applies if you don't live out in the sticks. (The money you saved on a new home was eventually lost on your commute.)
PS: Kapersky and Microsoft Security Essentials, both free. There should be no reason a PC is "virus-laden" these days. Get a Mac if you're going to be frequenting "those" sites.
Of course, this only applies if you don't live out in the sticks. (The money you saved on a new home was eventually lost on your commute.)
PS: Kapersky and Microsoft Security Essentials, both free. There should be no reason a PC is "virus-laden" these days. Get a Mac if you're going to be frequenting "those" sites.
Around here, we call it Radio Control Shack, because about all you can get there is RC gear and telephones.
God, I miss Allied...
God, I miss Allied...
I can recall as a Chinese tourist visited a Canadian Radio Shack and my being despised by a shop staff who verbally assumed me was not buying or could not afford anything from them.
Because of one person's behavior?
How very American...
How very American...
The man despised me should be of management grade and could sufficiently represent the company.
The way you were treated in that store is more about the franchisee than about Radio Shack itself.
Home Depot and Lowes sells network devices and supplies now. Also surge protectors and audio/video equipment. So maybe the Shack has outlived its niche.
... that they could NOT keep an inventory. If they had 20 or 30 hard drives on hand for example, and they did not sell them fast enough, a couple of months later, the manufacturers came up with a faster, bigger and cheaper hard drive. The store had to either sell them at a loss, or keep very low inventory. Loss of profit, loss of customers, loss of business... The End.
1. Yes, they're there, but very hard to find as over 99% of them no longer exist due to people buying vendor systems like Dell and HP from Walmart and the like.
2. Most consoles require you tie up the television now, while a good game is on your monitor. Also some of us don't like the way they do some of the console game controllers, we prefer joysticks or mice. Not all that many come available for both due to vendor lock in set ups.
3. Mobile apps are dinky things for phones not for me to use at my computer, but they install on your system or play over the Internet. I gathered what he was talking about was the games you played off the CD, so you could play them on any computer instead of having to buy another copy to take on holidays or pay a fortune in Internet access fees - we pay by the MB in most of the world.
4. Yeah, dell has a few towers that can sit on the desk on their side, but their few real desktops are thin style and won't take full size expansion cards. But his complaint isn't that good as you can buy decent desktop cases from a few suppliers, but only on-line.
2. Most consoles require you tie up the television now, while a good game is on your monitor. Also some of us don't like the way they do some of the console game controllers, we prefer joysticks or mice. Not all that many come available for both due to vendor lock in set ups.
3. Mobile apps are dinky things for phones not for me to use at my computer, but they install on your system or play over the Internet. I gathered what he was talking about was the games you played off the CD, so you could play them on any computer instead of having to buy another copy to take on holidays or pay a fortune in Internet access fees - we pay by the MB in most of the world.
4. Yeah, dell has a few towers that can sit on the desk on their side, but their few real desktops are thin style and won't take full size expansion cards. But his complaint isn't that good as you can buy decent desktop cases from a few suppliers, but only on-line.
It took ages to load a program from a CD to run, and it wasn't responsive. Hard drives are so cheap, the situation is better today. Install OS on a small SSD, buy a gigantic HDD for cheap, and install every program you can think of to it.
Really? Try 5-1/4" Floppy, or even 8".
the point is you didn't have to install the software so it didn't mess up other software on a system. It just ran, it didn't hose your configuration, or mess up 10 programs that worked fine before you installed the new software. Worse yet you uninstall software and it breaks 10 other pieces of software.
the point is you didn't have to install the software so it didn't mess up other software on a system. It just ran, it didn't hose your configuration, or mess up 10 programs that worked fine before you installed the new software. Worse yet you uninstall software and it breaks 10 other pieces of software.
I call BS on this one - when was the last time you installed/ran a program that messed up another one? Modern OSes and programs are way better than Windows 3.1 or DOS and deal with this problem really well. I honestly don't remember the last time the install of one program interefered with another (not counting malware, of course).
a major installation of the client on your system and it then has compatibility issues with the system or hardware for a variety of issues.
Many programs, not only games, require .NET framework to be installed. Many others, particularly games, may require Open GL to be enabled, or Direct Graphics, etc. Any of these can refuse to "play nice" with your other programs....
Could virtual machines be created to run games or would this slow things down? How about dual boot setups?
The last time I installed a program that messed up another one was today. Granted, it's not a game, but any program that uses Java will not play well with other programs that use Java if they require different versions.
Another product that does not play well is an Oracle database. It's a nightmare if you require two different apps that use Oracle databases and they use different versions.
Another product that does not play well is an Oracle database. It's a nightmare if you require two different apps that use Oracle databases and they use different versions.
Yesterday I installed UltraVNC on a Windows 2008 server and after it was done the display was hosed. All the fonts in every program were fuzzy and unreadable, unless the resolution is set to 800 x 600.
Wow, I could give lists of program compatibility problem. The reasons are simple. Shared Libraries (and then one program changes that library). Every program put hooks into the registry that often break file associations. Programs set new defaults that break other software. Microsoft has even broken installed software (just the last update cycle).
By burning the contents of the program files/game name folder to the CD. A surprising number of games had no trouble with this, as this was the days when you could choose the install type (usually, full, normal and compact, compact usually just made shortcuts and configuration files and not much else)
This was for a proprietary imagesetter RIP that required Windows 3.1. The end-user couldn't justify spending the $9,000 upgrade for the imagesetter that he uses only occasionally. The original system was an EISA-based '486 with a 500GB hard drive. One day the hard drive was acting weird so we pulled the hard drive and burned everything, including the program installation, to a CD-ROM. I then copied the complete install back to a newer, newly formatted hard drive and viola we were up and running. Considering the system was using the same hard drive since 1992, the user was very lucky nothing happened before that.
Megs, I don't think Win 3.1 could handle that size hard drive, unless you had a ton of partitions, or a dynamic loader or something. Me thinks...
not needing to install the application. Running the program from the media, like SysInternals apps are, sometimes without an installer.
YES! Thanks. Your comment could have saved me a strongly worded comment of my own had the system not hidden it because the old keyboard brigade gave you [undeserved] negative votes.
I ran an RBBS for five years BEFORE there was an internet and enjoyed it immensly. I sure do miss those days! It was alot of fun modifying the site to make it different from all the others.
He ran a RBBS before there was a public accessible internet. I used to hang out on these and you dialed directely into a modem attached to the BBS computer. I even installed a small BBS for a group in our office. No internet connection and no TCP/IP were used.
A BBS was a phone line connection (the kind with cords) between your computer and someone else via modems. It had nothing to do with the internets.
and for the joke type del *.* with the idea to backspace quickly and he, in a panic, presses "Enter" 
Changing all those ISO colors? or putting special menus? You were one of the "cool" ones... I salute you!
I really do miss the internet the way it looked in the mid 90s. It felt like a kid's bedroom. Now it feels more and more like you're entering an interior design store.
glad you can afford the costs related to the waste - in money and time.
of sites I don't visit now because they're a crappy design that's all flash and huge downloads.
when *real* web designers never put more than 50K worth of images on one page?
Hey, I STILL develop my new sites to optimize speed and emphasize simplicity. I've got a few hundred folks on one of those simple pet clicking games, and the pages fully load over dial-up in less than five seconds on almost every page.
I hate massive images on flashy sites that bog down the browser on a computer that's a few years old. Thank goodness we still have mobile sites that sometimes work with typical desktops.
If anyone's curious about it, this is the clicking game:
http://adopt.victoryroad.net/
I hate massive images on flashy sites that bog down the browser on a computer that's a few years old. Thank goodness we still have mobile sites that sometimes work with typical desktops.
If anyone's curious about it, this is the clicking game:
http://adopt.victoryroad.net/
The fact that you learned to build sites when fast meant dial-up at 56K probably means that your sites focus more on delivering user experience than on using all the latest WOW tools. I bet they are much more useable. I got my start in desktop publishing on a 386 PC and 24 pin dot-matrix printer. The software I used required you to pre-load every font, and I mean each size style combination or each font you wanted to use, and could take 20 minutes to start. Then I had to output the masters on a dot-matrix because I couldn't afford a laser printer. The result was that I learned about copy-writing, typography, white-space, and design such that my work was commercially sellable even when people with high-end equipment were getting turned down because they were too focused on what they COULD do rather than what they SHOULD do.
Too many people have forgotten (or never understood) that just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you should do it.
web DESIGNERS always did bad load time sites.
what you are talking about are sites done by web DEVELOPERS.
[ they look at performance and security, designers only care about appearances ]
what you are talking about are sites done by web DEVELOPERS.
[ they look at performance and security, designers only care about appearances ]
yet some of us are both (i just run my own little design/develop) i would say i am naughty with some sites taking long loads, but that is usually due to customer demands, no matter how many times i yell at them they still want what they want.
Remember optimized code for the compiler - 32K versus a 64K?
When I was taking early programming classes, we learned to choose our compiler carefully.
In between my tech jobs, I worked as a typesetter using a proprietary typesetting system from Varityper. The code for the Epics 20/20 system was similar to HTML. Many years later, I took an HTML coding class and I felt like I was reliving my typesetter days. Some things change but still really are the same.
When I was taking early programming classes, we learned to choose our compiler carefully.
In between my tech jobs, I worked as a typesetter using a proprietary typesetting system from Varityper. The code for the Epics 20/20 system was similar to HTML. Many years later, I took an HTML coding class and I felt like I was reliving my typesetter days. Some things change but still really are the same.
I use Firefox, (in spite of the obvious issues with FF,) with adblock plus and adblock element hiding helper. Without the ads, and being able to pick and choose other items to block on pages I frequently visit, the web is much faster and less annoying.
surprising how many web pages don't work because I also kill ALL third party cookies and third party script calls - except for a few I know are OK
I don't. Hated them. What I do miss from the 90s is that amount of information you could find through the search engine. Now you get commercial sites and ads for the first 100 result pages. Then, if you're lucky, the obscure pages get listed. Or, in most cases, you get no results at all - even though there are still sites out there with the info you're looking for.
The "Source", then it was bought out by "Compuserve", there goes the neighbroughood... Then I signed up with "Prodigy" for $9.95/month, It was great!!! Until they changed to $12.95. I could no longer afford it... ...(what a difference $3 makes!)
...(what a difference $3 makes!) 
In the early days I used wait for weeks for a scheduled flea market where you could go and buy a new motherboard, memory, etc..., and older hardware. I used to build many machines for relatives and friends from trips to theses events. I'm not sure I miss them as they become more shady in the later days and the convenience of online ordering makes getting what you want much easier, but there was a time when going to a computer flea market was like Christmas morning.
I stil go to computer shows whenever they are in my area. Usually once a month on the weekends. It is produced by MarketProShows.com.
Dealers from all over the east coast arrive with their wares and setup tables at a local College or Convention Center.
I am like a kid in a candy store. I can find almost any type of adapter, cable, monitors, used computers, new computers, printers, etc.
They also have a spot where youu can bring a defective computer and they will test and repair it right there in front of you.
Dealers from all over the east coast arrive with their wares and setup tables at a local College or Convention Center.
I am like a kid in a candy store. I can find almost any type of adapter, cable, monitors, used computers, new computers, printers, etc.
They also have a spot where youu can bring a defective computer and they will test and repair it right there in front of you.
They all seem to have disappeared from New England. We used to get them around here at least 3 times a year. Now there are none at all.
You just brought back some memories for me.
I spent more money and time at these flea markets finding all kinds of useful and useless items. If it weren't for these things, I never would have built many systems myself for relatives.
Remember the software dealers? These guys had both legit and not so legit copies of programs. These I think disappeared first before the internet drove the rest of the guys out of business.
I spent more money and time at these flea markets finding all kinds of useful and useless items. If it weren't for these things, I never would have built many systems myself for relatives.
Remember the software dealers? These guys had both legit and not so legit copies of programs. These I think disappeared first before the internet drove the rest of the guys out of business.
I get nostalgic for my Atari 800 system a couple times a year. I even bough another one on eBay recently. I use to run a BBS called "Hart City" on my 800 and later on my IBM clone. I'm an IT manager now and I love new technology but I have to say things were a lot more fun in the BBS days. I also sold some of my programs through the shareware channel. I remember how exciting it was having someone half a world away log in to my BBS or send me a check for $10. I also remember how much fun it was pouring over the AMIS BBS code looking for ways to customize my BBS so it would offer features other BBS's didn't have.
Glad to know I'm not alone. Thanks for the memories!
Glad to know I'm not alone. Thanks for the memories!
I agree. I ran a BBS for many years. I learned a lot and had great fun with it. Remember EchoMail?
I learned how to program by copying code from magazines then making changes to see what would happen. Ah, the good ole days!
I learned how to program by copying code from magazines then making changes to see what would happen. Ah, the good ole days!
except the code comes from the Internet. I just cut and paste, then experiment. Sounds like a better way to me!
Coding from magazines.... In fact, that's how I learned how to program (other than the school homework) in BASIC, PASCAL, Assembly, etc. It was great to look at an article, and see the listing that was made for a PET, or an ALTAIR, or Commodore and try to make it work for a TRS-80, and then later Apple ][. I would spend HOURS typing, testing, and retyping. I found the hard way that I had to SAVE before testing, when there was a POKE statement that was machine specific, and it would kill the computer(freeze) or restart it... Live and learn.
The original IBM PC was sold with 32 KiB (maybe 16 KiB) of RAM. It could be ordered with 64 KiB RAM. The design could support 640 KiB RAM. Who could possibly ever need more than 640 KiB RAM?
Then came EMMS.
Then came EMMS.
And what about the noise of the modem connecting with the beautiful speed of 9600 baud... I miss that time when connecting to the "outside world" was anything but quick and easy. You were listening anxiously to the "negociation" crapy sound, ending with the speed you could get based on the line quality... Yeah, today I get 4800 !
My brother brought me my first "acoustic coupled" 300 baud modem and introduced me to BBS's. I remember when my wife saw our first, and last, phone bill of $300. Funny now but scary then.
..wow, you started with 9600 bauds? I still have a 300 bauds accoustic coupler modem which I used to connect to my 10kg carphone or Hotel room phone to send and receive Telexes (!) from my office via the first Compaq Laptop....
I got a late start. I do remember the 150 baud (i think) modem in high school. The head of the math dept would dial up the university in the next county and as soon as she heard the squawking, she would mash the phone handset into a set of suction cups designed to hold it to connect it to the terminals. It was high tech back then...
Terminals, In a dumpster or somewhere, and I took it home, and connected the handset. I used it as a terminal for a while, but it was too noisy, and use a lot of paper. I think it was an old teletype.
How about hollering at your sister when she picked up the phone and disconnected your 2 hr download and 1.5 hrs in? Best Christmas present a second phone line and it cost mom and dad and extra $25 a month
for some reason got me rofl. I remember being the one that picked it up as well, to get my damn brother off his ibm
I always used Gozilla. If you got disconnected, it would restart where you left off.
I remember those well too. I also used to prank my sister because we had two phone lines.
I'd open up a terminal window and type in the "AT" commands to make the modem dial the other number. She'd always run for the phone because it was "always" her calls coming. "Screech, whabble whabble beep!" LOL.
I'd open up a terminal window and type in the "AT" commands to make the modem dial the other number. She'd always run for the phone because it was "always" her calls coming. "Screech, whabble whabble beep!" LOL.
Some credit card terminals still give you a few seconds of connection squeal as they dial up the big iron. Ah, just like the "old" smell of longtime shops with wooden floors.
That's bringing back a few memory cells from the past.
What's funny is I used to actually work for Infinet (Intertel) that made the big modems for the banks and credit card companies oh so many years ago.
What's funny is I used to actually work for Infinet (Intertel) that made the big modems for the banks and credit card companies oh so many years ago.
...when they make some movies... I guess some people won't "believe" it is a computer "thinking" without the "modem" noise!!! Go figure....
still get it by having your fax dial your phone.
To remember it, I have it as my ringtone!! but even here in Ecuador there are young engineers who have never heard that noise in their homes!!
On a cold winter's night it was nice to curl up with a warm 8088 at 4.77 Mhz.
pervert? or IT Tech...?
No judgement just a bit of fun...
In my case it was a 6502... then a motorola 680000000000000
ahhhhh those were the days.
No judgement just a bit of fun...
In my case it was a 6502... then a motorola 680000000000000
ahhhhh those were the days.
Learnt machine language and assembler on the 6502, WAY back in the day!
APPLE II Forever, LOL!
APPLE II Forever, LOL!
My Visual V-1083 (Commuter Computer) is still operational. It's a portable and weighs in at 26 lbs with the full-sized LCD (25-line) display. This was my IBM compatible PC for the longest time.
Before that I had a Visual 1050. This was a Z80-based system that came with 128K of RAM that was bank-switched. It ran CP/M-Plus (CP/M 3.0). The system also had two floppy drives with one for boot and programs, and the other for data. Talk about a floppy swap! There was a 5MB optional hard disk available if you wanted one, but I couldn't it. The system actually came with 2 processors. The Z80 was used for the main system and a 6502 was used to drive the graphics. There was a whole 32K of graphics RAM on the board.
About the same time, I took a Z80 assembler class and learned how to access the graphics side of the system. My professor had one and wrote a program to display foreign characters on the display.
This was my IBM compatible PC for the longest time.Before that I had a Visual 1050. This was a Z80-based system that came with 128K of RAM that was bank-switched. It ran CP/M-Plus (CP/M 3.0). The system also had two floppy drives with one for boot and programs, and the other for data. Talk about a floppy swap! There was a 5MB optional hard disk available if you wanted one, but I couldn't it. The system actually came with 2 processors. The Z80 was used for the main system and a 6502 was used to drive the graphics. There was a whole 32K of graphics RAM on the board.
About the same time, I took a Z80 assembler class and learned how to access the graphics side of the system. My professor had one and wrote a program to display foreign characters on the display.
Cromemco was expected to be a high flyer in the market. They were building market share and were debt free.
...huge nostalgia and flashbacks for me. My mom worked there, and I used to go there between 3rd and 5th grades and hangout and learn firsthand from the employees. Pretty sure that could be something listed as something I miss. Our current employee handbooks where I work now clearly state that having your kids on site is prohibited.
... In a Cromemco.. When I told people that the Operating system was called "CROMIX", they were skeptical.... But at the time they were the #1 supplier for the Armed forces, I think, not to mention the weather maps on TV stations. They used 8" floppies. I remember one instance when I was making a .bat file to perform a back-up, I wrote: "Please insert the Floppy labeled 'A' into my Floppy slot and press enter(or return?)" after the program checked for the right label it would say: "Thank you... that felt great!!!" Everyone thought it was hillarious, but I got in trouble with my boss. I had to change it.
You could load the scenery from MS Flight Sim 1.0 into F-16 fighting Falcon? and fly an F-16 around Chicago, even land at Megs Field. or on Lakeshore drive.
Also with Chuck Yeager Advanced flight sim (on 5 1/4 floppy) , could make a supersonic P-51 or make the SR-71 go REALLY HIGH!!
Also with Chuck Yeager Advanced flight sim (on 5 1/4 floppy) , could make a supersonic P-51 or make the SR-71 go REALLY HIGH!!
Yeah, just sad. The only place you can find Meigs Field anymore is on old Flight Sims. I'm guessing the new ones don't have it anymore. (Unless they have 'nostalgic' mode or something.)
In my corporate pilot days on the east coast, Chicago was one of our more frequent destinations. We'd always shoot for Meigs first, and end up at midway when the weather was too low.
I remember being stunned by Daley's move. How bold is it to bulldoze a federally funded facility!? The ATC tower folk called center and asked what (TF) they were supposed to do... center told them to man the tower anyway, which I believe they did for some time after the runway was destroyed.
One of the lowest points in all aviation history. It also meant no more walking downtown for lunch, or to hit the museums or the aquarium. Chicago sucked as a destination after that. Add to that the ATC reservation (for IFR) system and you could get stuck at O'Hare a looong time if your passengers were late and you missed your window. (which they were 90% of the time for some reason)
I remember being stunned by Daley's move. How bold is it to bulldoze a federally funded facility!? The ATC tower folk called center and asked what (TF) they were supposed to do... center told them to man the tower anyway, which I believe they did for some time after the runway was destroyed.
One of the lowest points in all aviation history. It also meant no more walking downtown for lunch, or to hit the museums or the aquarium. Chicago sucked as a destination after that. Add to that the ATC reservation (for IFR) system and you could get stuck at O'Hare a looong time if your passengers were late and you missed your window. (which they were 90% of the time for some reason)
2, 3 4 and 6(mostly), are all ridiculously false.
2: Fry's and Microcenter are still out there, at least in the US, and between the two are spread over a decent amount of the USA. Even BestBuy usually has a decent selection of videocards, though I'd never buy a full computer from them. And I cannot tell you how many small almost mom-and-pop computer repair stores there are in the area that have all the parts you mention. Right now, I live in Dallas, TX, but there's decent stores for all of it around and outside of it. I used to live outside of Boston, MA... Same thing. Get out, open your eyes and drive around a little, or use google.. or even a phonebook if you remember what one of those were.
3: Again. Fry's and Microcenter sell these for build your own, and many of the pre-made manufacturers like Dell and HP have the 'small form factor' that can be 'true' desktop PC's.
4: This one perhaps not so much, IMO companies make things for them to be broken. But even with as much as I am on the computer, I rarely replace a kb or mouse (or in my case trackball) more than once every 2-5 years. There IS a LOT of crap out there. Pay for quality if you want quality
6: This one.. a bit less because there are so many console games. However, it depends on the gamer. Not a one of my gamer friends uses a laptop as their primary game platform, and they'd probably be laughed at if they did. I go between my 360 and my pc (quad-core athlon II, win 7, 64 bit, 8gb ram) and decent speakers, though I tend to play with headphones instead and I've got steel series for that. I've never been a high-end stereo equipment kind of guy. But I know those who do. And it's easier than ever to hook your pc in to your stereo if you have a lick of knowledge. And my pc is actually next to my tv, so if I want the big-screen feel, all I have to do is swap to the HDMI input and I'm good. As for size of speakers.. they're not that big anymore, because they don't need to be. Smaller speakers can put out as good sound. If you want big speakers go to Guitar Center or a music shop. I've never gone looking for full-speakers in a computer store, not even 'back in the day'
2: Fry's and Microcenter are still out there, at least in the US, and between the two are spread over a decent amount of the USA. Even BestBuy usually has a decent selection of videocards, though I'd never buy a full computer from them. And I cannot tell you how many small almost mom-and-pop computer repair stores there are in the area that have all the parts you mention. Right now, I live in Dallas, TX, but there's decent stores for all of it around and outside of it. I used to live outside of Boston, MA... Same thing. Get out, open your eyes and drive around a little, or use google.. or even a phonebook if you remember what one of those were.
3: Again. Fry's and Microcenter sell these for build your own, and many of the pre-made manufacturers like Dell and HP have the 'small form factor' that can be 'true' desktop PC's.
4: This one perhaps not so much, IMO companies make things for them to be broken. But even with as much as I am on the computer, I rarely replace a kb or mouse (or in my case trackball) more than once every 2-5 years. There IS a LOT of crap out there. Pay for quality if you want quality
6: This one.. a bit less because there are so many console games. However, it depends on the gamer. Not a one of my gamer friends uses a laptop as their primary game platform, and they'd probably be laughed at if they did. I go between my 360 and my pc (quad-core athlon II, win 7, 64 bit, 8gb ram) and decent speakers, though I tend to play with headphones instead and I've got steel series for that. I've never been a high-end stereo equipment kind of guy. But I know those who do. And it's easier than ever to hook your pc in to your stereo if you have a lick of knowledge. And my pc is actually next to my tv, so if I want the big-screen feel, all I have to do is swap to the HDMI input and I'm good. As for size of speakers.. they're not that big anymore, because they don't need to be. Smaller speakers can put out as good sound. If you want big speakers go to Guitar Center or a music shop. I've never gone looking for full-speakers in a computer store, not even 'back in the day'
Either emulated or physical. DEC VT series, Tektronix 4xxx with color gfx capability... Ahh the days of typing in commands versus point-n-click GUI.
VT131 was my workhorse for a good few years, I still miss the simplicity of it sometimes.
Not enough to give up my core-i5 laptop with twin monitor setup though!
Nostalgia is lovely but it's mostly a result of not having to live with those things any more
Not enough to give up my core-i5 laptop with twin monitor setup though!
Nostalgia is lovely but it's mostly a result of not having to live with those things any more
for Visual Technology. They made DEC and Tektronix 4xxxx-series compatible terminals. Their terminals emulated various companies and their V-4xx series were their color graphics line. These had two Z80 processors in them; one each to support either the color graphics side or the text-side of the terminal. Their V-550s were graphics and text, but only had one processor.
The hardware was fun to work on and I learned a lot about digital logic, RAM, and cpus by working on these boards.
The hardware was fun to work on and I learned a lot about digital logic, RAM, and cpus by working on these boards.
I always liked setting up new computers and trying to work the interrupts and I/O ports so that they wouldn't conflict. That always meant flipping toggle switches on the boards or using a manufacturers bootable setup disk, editing the the config.sys and autoexec.bat files. First get the high-end video card running, then the SCSI card working so you can have drives, then get the nic working for the network, then the second SCSI card or a scanner Kofax card, a serial mouse (9-pin). It was good challenge and I felt quite satisfied once the system was all configured, up and running, with no issues. Then move to the next hardware system and discover it has different add-on cards so it becomes a whole different setup. Time for a refill on my coffee......
Were so much fun when we spent half the time getting the LAN settings/drivers configured in everyone's config.sys and autoexec.bat. That and hauling the big monitors and heavy PC cases to each friend's house who was hosting it for that evening. But it was worth it once we became immersed in a death match or capture the flag round.
is playing xbox 360, which I still prefer everyone to come to one physical location to play.
with serial cables running around the room between the PCs. Eventually when we did have a LAN setup, we'd have all kinds of machines setup to run Doom and Duke Nuke 'em. With this we had Macintosh computers setup to and we'd play until either the beer ran out, or the sun came up.
That was where I started in computing. Also configuring the config.sys and autoexec.bat so it would load with as much ram available as I could get and run Seven Cities of Gold.
And thus began the argument of the superiority Macintosh over the PC
The Macintosh had built in SCSI that worked (if you remembered the terminators) and Appletalk networking built in (that again worked only if you remembered the terminators).
Hey look! I've just started a flame war
The Macintosh had built in SCSI that worked (if you remembered the terminators) and Appletalk networking built in (that again worked only if you remembered the terminators).
Hey look! I've just started a flame war
That was the fun part. Disk terminators those were those things that managed to disappear when you really needed them, but you'd have a ton of them around for ages before that.
My early workstation PCs were SCSI based because the older MFM and IDE drives were too slow for rendering.
My early workstation PCs were SCSI based because the older MFM and IDE drives were too slow for rendering.
Back then, those drives were workhorses, noisy, but eficient. It would take a very long time to kill them. Very, very expensive, but worth it. Whenever I set up a Server, I would recommend a SCSI drive or set of. My opinion was met with reluctance, until I mentioned the service efficiency. Most of the time they listened.
Sometime I would dasy chain SCSI drives, with CD readers, tape drives, etc. Fun, Fun, Fun...
Sometime I would dasy chain SCSI drives, with CD readers, tape drives, etc. Fun, Fun, Fun...
I miss this and the satisfaction when getting the system up and running. What I don't miss is the gouges and scratches on my hands when trying to fiddle with the jumpers.
(1) Computer magazines with source code? Yes, I remember them, and I remember hours of typing, then debugging, just to find out the next month that there was a "typo" that caused the whole program to fail. Or better yet, typing in pages of Octal or Hex.
Much better to have a good article with a pointer to a web site, or perhaps a CD or DVD included in the magazine filled with source code that you can compile (and that hopefully the author has compiled at least once).
(2) Computer stores - they still exist, it is just you have to look for them. The problem is that the price of computers has dropped to the point that margins for anything other than high-end systems is razor thin, so if the customer asks even one question of a educated, competent, trained person, the store loses money. Oh, and those people are hiding in the back of the store doing "real work" such as integration, which pays a much higher profit margin.
(3) Good desktop cases...towers are find for me....you just need a better desk.
(4) Durable keyboards and mice - agree with chatch on mechanical keyboards, with real tactile feedback. Add in engraved key caps...so the legends on the keys will not wear off after 400 hours of use. Good thing I am a touch typist...
(5) In-person help desk visits - you have to be kidding. That went out with the dodo and managers who knew that the people using the computers were more valuable than the computers themselves.
When I started in computers, you typically had a masters or PhD in "computer black magic". When you had a question, you asked the people next to you, and you could work it out.
Then the "support" moved downstairs, then to the manufacturers, then to remote "help centers".
Now you spend eight hours on the phone with someone who starts off by asking if you are holding your mouse right, or if your keyboard is plugged in.
1.5 billion computers times 10 minutes of time wasted every day trying to use them they way they are supposed to work is 7.5 billion dollars a day we lose as a world economy because we can't get the help we need quickly.
(6) Immersive gaming - You are simply too old and have lost touch with "real gaming". You do not know the gamers I know.
(7) BBS - too many people using computers today? Maybe it is because they do not cost 2.5 million dollars (and in 1969 a million dollars was a lot of money) for a machine that has 1/8 megabytes of memory and ran a million instructions a second.
(8) Shareware subscriptions - see the comment on magazines above. Or go out to sourceforge.net and look for "new projects".
(9) Software that does not have to be installed - look for "Live CDs". And in is interesting that Microsoft is allowing Windows 8 to be put on a thumbdrive....how do you sign up for the license? GNU/Linux has been doing both "Live CDs" and live thumbdrives for YEARS....and no charges for the software.
(10) Easily modifiable code - Look to the Arduino or Raspberry Pi projects for this. Not only "easily modifiable code", but electronics projects that you can follow and build.
Or just join the Free Software community.....the code may not be the easiest to modify, but you are free to do it.
Warmest regards,
maddog
Much better to have a good article with a pointer to a web site, or perhaps a CD or DVD included in the magazine filled with source code that you can compile (and that hopefully the author has compiled at least once).
(2) Computer stores - they still exist, it is just you have to look for them. The problem is that the price of computers has dropped to the point that margins for anything other than high-end systems is razor thin, so if the customer asks even one question of a educated, competent, trained person, the store loses money. Oh, and those people are hiding in the back of the store doing "real work" such as integration, which pays a much higher profit margin.
(3) Good desktop cases...towers are find for me....you just need a better desk.
(4) Durable keyboards and mice - agree with chatch on mechanical keyboards, with real tactile feedback. Add in engraved key caps...so the legends on the keys will not wear off after 400 hours of use. Good thing I am a touch typist...
(5) In-person help desk visits - you have to be kidding. That went out with the dodo and managers who knew that the people using the computers were more valuable than the computers themselves.
When I started in computers, you typically had a masters or PhD in "computer black magic". When you had a question, you asked the people next to you, and you could work it out.
Then the "support" moved downstairs, then to the manufacturers, then to remote "help centers".
Now you spend eight hours on the phone with someone who starts off by asking if you are holding your mouse right, or if your keyboard is plugged in.
1.5 billion computers times 10 minutes of time wasted every day trying to use them they way they are supposed to work is 7.5 billion dollars a day we lose as a world economy because we can't get the help we need quickly.
(6) Immersive gaming - You are simply too old and have lost touch with "real gaming". You do not know the gamers I know.
(7) BBS - too many people using computers today? Maybe it is because they do not cost 2.5 million dollars (and in 1969 a million dollars was a lot of money) for a machine that has 1/8 megabytes of memory and ran a million instructions a second.
(8) Shareware subscriptions - see the comment on magazines above. Or go out to sourceforge.net and look for "new projects".
(9) Software that does not have to be installed - look for "Live CDs". And in is interesting that Microsoft is allowing Windows 8 to be put on a thumbdrive....how do you sign up for the license? GNU/Linux has been doing both "Live CDs" and live thumbdrives for YEARS....and no charges for the software.
(10) Easily modifiable code - Look to the Arduino or Raspberry Pi projects for this. Not only "easily modifiable code", but electronics projects that you can follow and build.
Or just join the Free Software community.....the code may not be the easiest to modify, but you are free to do it.
Warmest regards,
maddog
You forgot about "personal digital assistants", or PDAs. You know, that handheld device you could OWN outright for around $100, could synchronize with your *LOCAL* data with a simple USB cable (rather than sending your data to a server half-way around the world just to send it back to a device 3 feet away from the source device). No having to sign yourself up for years of indentured servitude with the cellphone company for exorbitant data plans. Not that a so-called "smartphone" can reach even 1/4 the functionality you had with PDAs. Somehow, this is more of a regression rather than progress.
Love my Dell Axim X50v. It must be 8-9 years old. It syncs with my outlook everyday and still works perfectly. I just have to carry a small $20 phone with me. No need for a smartphone yet.
I actually saw one Wednesday night! The guy had a flip phone on his belt with a holster behind it that carried the PDA. He took it out and showed me. Said he still used it.
I remember taking college programming courses with languages like PL1 and using key punch machines to create my program on punch cards which I then had to take to a card reader to submit my batch job to the old IBM System 360. And once dropped my deck of 200+ cards on the floor.
Been there, done that. Worse, it was a windy day! For others, the cards had to be in order and re-sorting could be a real pain in the back end.
At our University 360, students had to submit their pack of cards and then collect it a day later where it was sorted into pigeon holes to check what mistakes were in their code.
"We" duplicated stacks of cards with comment nearly invisible in the first column and then followed by some message such as " ******** The Intelligence of this program is in question!" or something not so conspicuous.
Then when the student came to collect his/her results, the first thing they did was to look down the left side of the printout for the "******* ERROR ******" lines and it was great to see their faces drop expecting a perfect result.
OK, so we got banned from the computer centre for a while!.....
"We" duplicated stacks of cards with comment nearly invisible in the first column and then followed by some message such as " ******** The Intelligence of this program is in question!" or something not so conspicuous.
Then when the student came to collect his/her results, the first thing they did was to look down the left side of the printout for the "******* ERROR ******" lines and it was great to see their faces drop expecting a perfect result.
OK, so we got banned from the computer centre for a while!.....
Ran it all the way the hall to prevent it from snagging while being read by the TT33! Varian had 16k of Core Memory with 9k left once Basic was loaded - Did my thesis on (fitting) Polynomial (to) various racing camshafts and then move through the buildings to Applied Maths where they had a Massive HP Desktop Computer ((with small magnetic cards) and a Colour Plotter to plot out dx (Lift), dx2 (Velocity), dx3(Acceleration and dx4(Shock) - great and exciting for an Mech Eng in 1974!
The Core memory allowed you to switch off the "computer" at any time and switch on the power again later and the program will continue where it stopped.
So a lecturer tried to pull rank on us and dominate the system over lunchtimes - so - Write a short routine to "wait 5000" and then loop ringing the bell with no exist on the Teletype. Start the program and drop the power at the wall.
Lecturer rocks up, settles in, finds the power off and then loses control with the bell ringing incessantly only stoppable by switching the power off again, A few times and then we had the Varian back for our own use over lunch.
So a lecturer tried to pull rank on us and dominate the system over lunchtimes - so - Write a short routine to "wait 5000" and then loop ringing the bell with no exist on the Teletype. Start the program and drop the power at the wall.
Lecturer rocks up, settles in, finds the power off and then loses control with the bell ringing incessantly only stoppable by switching the power off again, A few times and then we had the Varian back for our own use over lunch.
Oh yeah and a stack of cards blowing across the campus on a rainy day. I still have one or two around somewhere. I should dig them out and show them to my nephews. They're only 10 and 12 and have never seen anything like it.
those were fun days - luckily, we had a card sorter, so as long as you were punching a card number in the last 8 columns (I was doing FORTRAN at the time), it would sort the cards for you (although it took a few passes if you had lots of cards...).
The good old days!
The good old days!
12 boxes of cards for the program and eight for the data. Every time we had a change in one of the major data sets, it took several runs of the system to get the downstream stuff come out right - and I usually had to recalculate and punch about another box full of cards to sort it all out.
I was using a 35k memory writer to fill out punch card sheets so the operator at state headquarters could manually input the order. Talk about ironic! The memory writer was light years ahead of the stupid punch card machine they were still using! But then, the Army always was slow as molasses to upgrade tech in those days.
and Programming on them in COBOL, and RPG2. Then running the data cards through a card reader or mounting a tape reel.
Raised floors and special access to get into the computer room... reading out registers.... Those were the good old days.
Raised floors and special access to get into the computer room... reading out registers.... Those were the good old days.
We had a sysop in college who would occasionally decide he didn't want to run any more jobs that night. Just to make his point, he would drop whole boxes of cards, at 1000 to the box.
Handing in your pack/box of cards only to have the reader spit them out in a huge arc all over the floor!!! Next to flying type from the steel-belt line printer, this was not fun! The fun came in writing programs so the line printer would "sing" Mary Had a LIttle Lamb" or maybe getting back 2 boxes of cards from 20 card input. Oh, the good ole days, eh? When computers were in glass rooms and run by men in white coats. And the only thing you got was printouts. Then you filled in form fields so the experts could punch them in on consoles larger than Apollo craft boards. Where did Fortran and Cobol go?
COBOL is still around, check it out on Dice.com. They may not teach it any more, but the code never dies.
As for punch cards, I kept a few stacks. They are really quite useful when doing a system conversion from mainframe to web. Ah, there is nothing like seeing a project manager turn grey when I say, "I found the original source code," while holding up a deck of cards. Good fun!
As for punch cards, I kept a few stacks. They are really quite useful when doing a system conversion from mainframe to web. Ah, there is nothing like seeing a project manager turn grey when I say, "I found the original source code," while holding up a deck of cards. Good fun!
As a way to present programs in magazines but bipass the tedious typing, a company came out with a device that scanned a type of bar code that could store the binary program file. The scanner was stored in a plastic tube-like device and ran along a track to scan the image. It worked very well but while the image stored more than a source code listing, program sizes grew exponentially and the device had poor demand.
I remember that device and was wracking my brain for what it was called.
(slowly backs away from the keyboard with the sudden realization 'damnit, when did I get old?!')
(slowly backs away from the keyboard with the sudden realization 'damnit, when did I get old?!')
I agree with you, the keyboard that came with my HP desktop last year, actually a mini-tower, was so flimsy I refused to use it. Some of the others, like BBSes and shareware subscriptions, the reason they are not available anymore is because you and all of the rest of us abandoned them and if someone tried to bring one back you would abandon it again very quickly. I think what you really long for is the simpler time of the early days when the world was young and so were you.
I still use my 1982 IBM keyboard (stamped on the bottom). It's bullet-proof. 30 years and still working fine. I got a PS2-USB adapter so I can continue using it with my laptop (when I'm at my desk only -- too heavy to travel with). No Windows key, though, and the Putty color shows the grime
Remove the keyboard's electronics and place the keyboard top and bottom in a dish washer with the dryer turn off. Wait a day or two for keyboard to dry. Replace the circuit board. I have clean many keyboards with cake on grease. The keyboard looks like new. Don't try this method with decal keys, they will get wash off.
She went away for a few weeks, so I took her old 25 Mhz 386 desktop apart and upgraded it to a Pentium 166 Mhz system for her because she was complaining how slow it was. Simple job, take out boards, put in new motherboard with decent on-board graphics, new hard drive as boot drive and keep the old one as a data drive, reload DOS and Win 3.11 as she didn't want Win 98 SE at the time. Check everything out and it works perfectly, just quicker and looks better - - - except I forgot to check out her favourite game and very Early version of Tetris.
She comes home late at night and decides to relax in front of the computer playing Tetris for a a while before going to bed. Household gets woken up by the sound of her shout of "What the F**k!"
Later investigation showed the Tetris was the old one that was locked into the system clock, so a whole game now played out in about 1.5 seconds due to her lack of player input. Game starts, colours flash down screen, game ends with low score.
I laughed for weeks over that, and all unintentional.
But yeah, to be able to use USB devices I have to the the bloody tower sitting up on the corner of the desk as my back don't let me crawl under the desk umpteen times a day, and as for DVDs and CD - forget it when it's under the desk. Only thing worse than a tower, the micro thin desktops some of the vendors use, can't put decent expansion cards in at all.
She comes home late at night and decides to relax in front of the computer playing Tetris for a a while before going to bed. Household gets woken up by the sound of her shout of "What the F**k!"
Later investigation showed the Tetris was the old one that was locked into the system clock, so a whole game now played out in about 1.5 seconds due to her lack of player input. Game starts, colours flash down screen, game ends with low score.
I laughed for weeks over that, and all unintentional.
But yeah, to be able to use USB devices I have to the the bloody tower sitting up on the corner of the desk as my back don't let me crawl under the desk umpteen times a day, and as for DVDs and CD - forget it when it's under the desk. Only thing worse than a tower, the micro thin desktops some of the vendors use, can't put decent expansion cards in at all.
Same thing happened with this game after we upgraded our Compaq 386 with a Compaq P4000 at work. Could never get it to slow down enough to enjoy the different bombs and projectiles you could choose from. It was over in the blink of an eye.
I loved that game! Funky bombs, rollers, napalm for the win! This game united my family through devilish competition. I was around 10 and my college age sister wouldn't pay a bit of attention to me... until I pulled up this game. Then it was ON!
On 3.5" floppy. I'll have to pull it out and see if the disk still reads. If it does...there's another reason to love DOSBox!
I lament having relinquished my compuserve email account... my house is in the very first test market for internet over cable, I was spoiled with speed early on. It was ever upward, history be damned, and I abandoned compuserve when I discovered better weather services available on the internets.
a free Compuserve subscription came with some software I got, and I was very excited at the thought of getting all that data over a 1-800 number! I couldn't wait to throw away all my encyclopedias! HA! That and bill board services were the true beginning of the internet in my opinion.
It evolved a bit very quickly from the outset, and ended up a smorgasboard of services that somewhat resembled the internet that followed.
I remember unwrapping my brand new Tandy 286 laptop and thinking the same thing: all the libraries of the world are now obsolete! The universe of knowledge at my fingertips! And that's become true, so long as your universe revolves around cats.
I remember unwrapping my brand new Tandy 286 laptop and thinking the same thing: all the libraries of the world are now obsolete! The universe of knowledge at my fingertips! And that's become true, so long as your universe revolves around cats.
I was on Compuserve as well back in the mid-1980s and used that account until AOL purchased them and killed it.
Do you remember those shrink-wrapped mags with included a CD loaded with freeware, shareware and demos? With internet, I haven't been to any magazine shop for decades.
Used to love getting that mag (I don't remember what it was called before they changed the name) but there was some pretty sweet demos I had fun trying out. But most of it was coaster-ware.
I miss the manuals in three ring binders. DOS and Lotus came in cloth covered binders with dust jackets. It explained how to do things, it was a ready reference to such things as a list of every command with all the switches for each command. Now, if you want to find how to do something in Windows 7, you have to have access to the Internet. Does not work well when you are having an Internet problem. Now a $300 software package comes with a 20 page pamphlet. BTW, I still have the cloth dust covers; I use them to store the pamphlets.
prepared to pay for them. I got copies of most stuff hanging around somewhere.
HP-UX units came 1 box for the System and 2 boxes with all the manuals.
Never really opened them but they were great if one needed to move a rack or a UPS and you needed a pivot point for a plank or crowbar- the manuals nicely vacuum sealed gave one endless height adjustment!
Never really opened them but they were great if one needed to move a rack or a UPS and you needed a pivot point for a plank or crowbar- the manuals nicely vacuum sealed gave one endless height adjustment!
It lifts the monitor to a more engonomical position. A lot of people are using manuals or whatever to try and lif their monitors to an acceptable height.
It also seems that more and more flat monitors are not height adjustable anymore - as if we have desktop cases.
It also seems that more and more flat monitors are not height adjustable anymore - as if we have desktop cases.
or even reams of (500 sheets) printing paper for that (Nice buffer stock as well!)
Oh jeez, where do I start?
- 80 column Hollerith cards (punch cards, fed into an 029 card reader
to load source code etc. into the computer - circa early 70s)
- 5 1/4 inch floppy disks (140K capacity), which preceded the 3 1/2 inch
disks containing all of 1.2MB
- a 16K memory upgrade that cost $50 to add to my Apple II
- two IBM 360s powering a large international banks applications
- 80 column Hollerith cards (punch cards, fed into an 029 card reader
to load source code etc. into the computer - circa early 70s)
- 5 1/4 inch floppy disks (140K capacity), which preceded the 3 1/2 inch
disks containing all of 1.2MB
- a 16K memory upgrade that cost $50 to add to my Apple II
- two IBM 360s powering a large international banks applications
Yeah, I miss the days when booting your computer took 15 seconds, and the C prompt was ready and waiting for your commands before you could take a sip of coffee.
People used to think you were a genius just for getting them printing, if you had memorized a few Worperfect tricks or Lotus1-2-3 formulas nowadays user's expectations are so high and they are so hard to impress . . .
I still make local visits. The users really are appreciative of the time spent with them. We do use remote desktop services for those software issues that don't requre a look.
When you used to get a real manuals that actually had usefull information.
Find any regular keyboard made these days that lasts almost 10-years, much less 20......
I love the sound of the Buckling-Spring keys (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_M_keyboard). Sure it is noisy, but it is solid, reliable (doesn't have that annoying Windows key).
I love the sound of the Buckling-Spring keys (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_M_keyboard). Sure it is noisy, but it is solid, reliable (doesn't have that annoying Windows key).
I use the same on my main desktop unit. Love the sound, and you know if the character typed or not from the feel and sound. I'm not sure the vintage of mine, I've had it since at least 1997.
I still use an IBM keyboard, without the Windows keys! But it is noisy, every time I use a letter, special characters or numbers can be heard from the other room. But I can clean and remove every single button and put it back, once cleaned. I can use alcohol or other kinds of detergents without fear to damage it. The spiralled cable, very long, terminates with PS2, so I can use with pc that still use it. In the near future they will use USB, and I hope they will provide some adapter as they used for AT connections. I am not interested in gaming, buit I cannot find another keyboard that can match with my old IBM for speed and precision!
The keyboard maker started with North???. It claim to fame was the functions keys across the top and other double row of function keys off to the left with number key. The left function keys were handy with WordPerfect 5.1. No windows key, Windows was other 8 years down the row. I use this keyboard with my 286 & home build 486 (first build computer for me). I use Windows 1 on 286, it was free copy for testing the system for my company.
You were close! The old Norhgate computers came with the extra function keys which were programmable. I think the actual keyboard was made by Keytronics.
I know for a while there, you had to be careful to pronounce either name carefully and slowly so the sale guy or tech would know exactly what you wanted.
I remember as a kid, using a hex editor to alter C64 games.
Not sure if the term, 'hacker' was invented then but you sure felt like you were doing something cool!
Not sure if the term, 'hacker' was invented then but you sure felt like you were doing something cool!
Also repaired corrupted files on Amiga floppies by manually editing the sector pointers. Such a task would be impossible today.
Back in the day, monitors were expensive thin clients, so companies would set up rooms with a pool of shared monitors where you would go to work on your software if one was available. If not, you had to sign up for a time slot and wait for a free monitor. I remember the day when I thought I was in heaven - each software engineer got a monitor (Digital VT100) installed at their desk. You kids don't know how good you have it today!
Remember the ...
Green (or amber, or white) Phosphorus screen...
Dumb Terminals
300 baud (that's 300 bits/sec, or about) modem. You could actually what each line of text 'type' across the screen. You had to math Data bits, Parity bits, Stop bits. 8N1 (8 data bits, No Parity and 1 Stop Bit.) or 7E. Loved to 'hack' the old BBS and tease the operator... Good Times.
Ascii Art - Something else I miss. Today it is much harder to do Ascii Art what with variable space fonts...
Dot Matrix Printers - Those were the good old days. Printing Ascii Art, Banners ... They are still around, but not in the home much, mostly in special business settings.
Those were the good old days of computing.
Green (or amber, or white) Phosphorus screen...
Dumb Terminals
300 baud (that's 300 bits/sec, or about) modem. You could actually what each line of text 'type' across the screen. You had to math Data bits, Parity bits, Stop bits. 8N1 (8 data bits, No Parity and 1 Stop Bit.) or 7E. Loved to 'hack' the old BBS and tease the operator... Good Times.
Ascii Art - Something else I miss. Today it is much harder to do Ascii Art what with variable space fonts...
Dot Matrix Printers - Those were the good old days. Printing Ascii Art, Banners ... They are still around, but not in the home much, mostly in special business settings.
Those were the good old days of computing.
and it was a lot of fun, really! Using the old meter and oscilloscope along with the schematics was like being a doctor or detective to solve the problem.
It's too bad we can't do that today, but with smaller parts, surface mounted components, and lack of documentation, it's impossible. In the old days even without the prints, I could still find a cold solder joint or a bent pin, but today even that's impossible with most of the parts the size of an ant's footprint.
It's too bad we can't do that today, but with smaller parts, surface mounted components, and lack of documentation, it's impossible. In the old days even without the prints, I could still find a cold solder joint or a bent pin, but today even that's impossible with most of the parts the size of an ant's footprint.
The Dot Matrix ribbon, by twisting it and let it run upside down, the printer would "use" the bottom portion of the ribbon. After awhile, you had to open the ribbon case and spray it with wd-40 and it would print for a while longer. After awhile, the ribbon fabric would just perforate and become shreds! By then it was time to buy another one. Come to think of it, they were just as expensive as buying liquid ink today.
For my printer at home EPSON FX-80 I deviced a way to use the drill to turn the ribbon, while I was squeezing a tube of ink pad ink, that came in a "roll on" type dispenser. This worked great!! the ink was the darkest I have ever seen before. Great memories!!
For my printer at home EPSON FX-80 I deviced a way to use the drill to turn the ribbon, while I was squeezing a tube of ink pad ink, that came in a "roll on" type dispenser. This worked great!! the ink was the darkest I have ever seen before. Great memories!!
Of course they happen to be the ones containing my source code.
Am I the only one who remembers 300 baud?
Am I the only one who remembers 300 baud?
I miss QDOS for file manipulation and backup of specific programs. It had a hex editor built in. It fit on a floppy easily. It was not useful with long filenames which are now woven into the fabric of everyday computing. I for one would be overjoyed to find QDOS for todays OS's.
The clicky IBM Model M is still available. I have an original on my machine but have sold a few of the new ones to my clients.
http://www.pckeyboard.com/
This Unicomp who bought the patents on the Model M and buckling spring switch that makes it so nice to type on. It's still very popular with writers and programmers and old-school types like myself.
BTW, my fond memories of tech extend back into the deep dark 70's.....
http://www.pckeyboard.com/
This Unicomp who bought the patents on the Model M and buckling spring switch that makes it so nice to type on. It's still very popular with writers and programmers and old-school types like myself.
BTW, my fond memories of tech extend back into the deep dark 70's.....
Hopefully they'll still be making them in another 15-20 years when this 80's relic finally wears out.
The one I'm typing on is vintage '87, and that's all I use (5 are in active use between household and work) but I have several from '84 to '94 stored as well, so if there comes a day when I can't repair one of my keyboards in current use, I have 5 full spare keyboards plus *lots* of spare parts... I don't plan on ever being without a Model 'M'.
[[ Edit for linguistic clarity... ]]
[[ Edit for linguistic clarity... ]]
I don't get it. If there's a demand for such keyboards why not contact current keyboard manufacturers and have these added to the product line? Forget e-mail, too. I mean send a printed letter, hand-signed, through the postal service to each manufacturer. They rarely ignore requests on paper.
... Just not a *huge* demand. Most general "computer users" don't give a flip about their keyboard, and would rather get a freebie from Dell [1] when they get a new PC or a $10 Walmart cheapie than pay the $80-$120 for a new keyboard that doesn't suck.
[1] and Dell isn't going to bundle a freebie $80 keyboard...
http://www.clickykeyboards.com/ (For refurb/NOS keyboards)
http://www.pckeyboard.com/ (For newly made keyboards)
I bought several for $5 each @ the local university 'garage sale' almost 15 years ago; I have yet to have one fail.
[1] and Dell isn't going to bundle a freebie $80 keyboard...
http://www.clickykeyboards.com/ (For refurb/NOS keyboards)
http://www.pckeyboard.com/ (For newly made keyboards)
I bought several for $5 each @ the local university 'garage sale' almost 15 years ago; I have yet to have one fail.
At 60 I remember all those things! Well maybe not the immersive gaming experience, not being much of a gamer.
I miss the computer shows that would be held at a local convention center, fairgrounds or some other large venue where vendors could set up their tables and hawk their wares. I built many computers from parts that I purchased by going from vendor to vendor to get "just the right" case, CPU, mainboard, and hard drive. Back in the day one could save quite a bit of money over a commercially built computer, and ensure that they were getting exactly the components they wanted.
I got some good deals of video cards, modems and such, but also got ripped off when the memory I thought I was buying was 8 MB, and turned out to be 2 MB. Turns out the vendor was ripping off others as well. Could never reach them - when I called a number they had listed, it was their mother's house and she didn't know where they were. Live and learn.
for the same reason. I got so much good stuff there as well and some really bad stuff too.
A Windows installation had just two directories, C:\Windows and it's sub directory, C:\Windows\System. Programs installed into their own directory and used INI files instead of the registry. You could remove a program by simply deleting it's directory. No freaking "permissions" to clutter things up. A reboot took 15 seconds. Yada, yada, yada...
On the other hand, I don't miss IRQ's, interrupts, and the constant crashes.
On the other hand, I don't miss IRQ's, interrupts, and the constant crashes.
I loved my Coco... my freinds laughed at me calling it a toy, but it did everything I wanted at the time and I had a lot of fun with it.
We proved that the CoCo was 2 x faster than the IBM PC 64 on a general benchmark!!
Only one other person has mentioned Compuserve. I did have fun with the magazines full of code and trying to coax my CoCo II to work smarter, the one huge thing I miss is CompuServe. It was expensive, but man, was it good. So many brainy people who wanted to share their knowledge. Google is great but nothing was better than logging on and finding an answer in a forum to your specific problem directly from the programmer from Adobe or Microsoft.
In fact, I was a "Sourcer" which I thought it was beter than Compuserve, until it got bought by Compuserve. I remember... Appple ][ with a Cat modem 300 baud watching text "race" on the screen. My main Hobby: Looking for codes to copy software with "LockSmith".
I was just talking with a co-worker on this topic the other day. Computing today is very canned and utilitarian. In other words, boring. Back in the day it was adventurous and exciting. You didn't need a development environment and hundreds of libraries to write some code. Heck, your were highly advanced if you even needed a compiler. The closest you can get these days is Linux. You can do your own hacking there, but it's a lot harder than it was on a C64 or CoCo.
For the detractors of this article, you just need to get off my lawn because you obviously don't get it. This is about nostalgia, a longing for how things were, not how much better you think they are now. Better technology is not equal to more fun. Think of it this way. Fishing with a big boat and trawler net is a great way to catch a lot of fish, but it isn't nearly as much fun as standing on the bank and throwing your own worm and hook in the water. The latter is a lot more primitive, but also a heck of a lot more fun.
For the detractors of this article, you just need to get off my lawn because you obviously don't get it. This is about nostalgia, a longing for how things were, not how much better you think they are now. Better technology is not equal to more fun. Think of it this way. Fishing with a big boat and trawler net is a great way to catch a lot of fish, but it isn't nearly as much fun as standing on the bank and throwing your own worm and hook in the water. The latter is a lot more primitive, but also a heck of a lot more fun.
Not having to connect to The Internet in order to use software, which inherently does NOT need the Internet--except for the anti-piracy checkering feature.
I guess that really makes me miss the days when companies didn't treat their customers as if we were all pirates out to steal everyone's IP. For example: I have a program which got confused when I moved My Documents to a NAS, and I had to re-register it. Apparently My Documents didn't completely transfer all the real folders (Windows lies) and I had to do it again. I didn't even move that program's data the second time, and it once more failed its piracy check. I stopped using that version of the software (went back to previous serial-numbered version) and I'm not going to buy an upgrade unless I see evidence that I can use it with confidence that it will not fail me again. The data it keeps is too important.
I guess that really makes me miss the days when companies didn't treat their customers as if we were all pirates out to steal everyone's IP. For example: I have a program which got confused when I moved My Documents to a NAS, and I had to re-register it. Apparently My Documents didn't completely transfer all the real folders (Windows lies) and I had to do it again. I didn't even move that program's data the second time, and it once more failed its piracy check. I stopped using that version of the software (went back to previous serial-numbered version) and I'm not going to buy an upgrade unless I see evidence that I can use it with confidence that it will not fail me again. The data it keeps is too important.
Thanks for the list. It was a pleasant and nostalgic read.
All your points ring true amongst the hobbyists that enthusiastically embraced technology.
Then and now.
All your points ring true amongst the hobbyists that enthusiastically embraced technology.
Then and now.
Oh yes, I remember those days. I used to run a BBS with Telegard software. It was easily configurable, had tons of games and "rooms" for folks to go. I ran it with two 14,400 modems and used to think that was lightening fast. The only drawback was if it crashed when I wasn't home, it stayed that way until I returned. Don't miss having to verify the adult apps for that section of the board though.
The Radio Shack Color Computer, affectionately known as CoCo to its fans and the Rainbow magazine, with its hundreds of pages of BASIC code. I found any excuse to go over to my Uncle's house to work on his Color Computer 1 and then worked all the following summer mowing neighborhood lawns and pulling weeds to earn enough to buy my first Color Computer 2. I would spend upwards of 8 hours a day, as a 10 year old, typing in and debugging the code from the magazine. Then I had to save all that hard work to a cassette tape. I would often walk away with a horrible headache from intently staring at the TV all day from 18 inches or less away. Ah... Good memories.
I'm familiar with all these things, having started my computer life shortly after the Atari 800 became available. I went through several Atari ST variations before getting my first PC, which was a used 386SX 25Mhz. Blah blah blah... you've heard it all before. Many years later (decades even) and countless computers later, and I have to say that I don't really miss any of the stuff on this list.
1.) Mags with source code. Not missed. Some computer magazines came with free games in this manner and that's all I ever did. Never any utilities or productivity code. (Boooring!) But as much as I love games, even this was a chore. It helped if I could have my best computer friend come over and read the lines of code while I typed, which made it faster, but it was never exciting enough for me to miss it today.
2.) Computer stores. Not really missed. I remember a couple of large, privately owned, computer stores in a 50 mile radius from the small Indiana town that I grew up in, and it was always a treat to go visit them, but it was mostly to oggle at all the cool new stuff that I couldn't afford. I was still into Atari ST computers then, so there weren't any internal "upgrades" to speak of. I did buy quite a few of my ST games from those stores though. Although I initially fought the idea of digital delivery (and it's still seriously flawed), being able to buy a game through Steam and download it while I'm at the office or asleep is actually more convenient than driving anywhere.
3.) True desktop cases. Not missed. Period.
4.) Durable keyboards and mice. Err...? While it's true that the market today is flooded with Chinese-made crap that can be bought by the truck load for about the cost of a decent meal at Denny's, there ARE still quality keyboards and mice to be found, and quite easily. I have a Logitech G-series gaming keyboard that has served me extremely well for over 5 years now and shows no signs of giving in any time soon. I also have a Logitech MX1000 wireless laser mouse which is going strong after 7 years, and I'm a hardcore gamer, so you know both my keyboard and mouse are getting a daily workout.
5.) In-person help desk visits. Um, nothing to miss? This is what I do for a living now.
6.) Immersive gaming. Nothing to miss. Today's games on a 24 inch monitor are far more immersive than the old days simply due to better graphics engines and sound. Hooking up to a large screen TV is certainly a boost, especially with high-end racing games but it's not like that was the norm at any time in the past and certainly not enough to be missing anything. My computer already has a 5.1 surround system, so I get plenty of "boom" at my desk. (I've had the neighbors in my apartment building knock on my door and complain about the sound of gunfire more than once.)
7.) BBSs. Not missed at all. Slow, clunky, problematic, boring. I remember the frustration of BBSs that had user limits and you couldn't log in until someone else logged out! Gah! Definitely happy to have moved on to bigger and better things.
8.) Shareware subscriptions. Can't say I miss this because I don't remember signing up for any. I did have a subscription to an Atari ST mag that came with a floppy disk full of free stuff, but otherwise... nada.
9.) Software that didn't have to be installed. I do kinda miss this, but hey... times change. Atari ST software didn't require installation, and I do remember that being very convenient. I guess what I miss are SMALL programs that you could easily put onto a floppy or a CD. Nowadays, it's not unusual to download a game that weighs in at about 6 or 7 gigabytes. And that's just the install package... the fully extracted version is larger still. Even productivity software like Adobe Photoshop or 3D Studio Max has a large footprint.
10.) Easily modifiable code. Not really missed because I never cared to try. However, many of today's games are allowing players to "mod" the game with add-ins of their own. Flight Simulator X is a prime example and there's virtually nothing you can't do with it on your own with a little research. It's true though that it's nearly impossible for the average person to make direct modifications to the actual game (or program) code. I'm not a programmer, so I can't say that I have a strong desire to have this ability anyway. (Unless I could learn to create my own cheat codes.)
I honestly can't say that there's anything I miss about the "old days" of computing. Everything back then was slower, lower resolution, fewer colors, smaller screens, heavier equipment, PITA drivers, manual IRQ configs, mobos covered with jumpers, and everything was expensive. Ugh.
1.) Mags with source code. Not missed. Some computer magazines came with free games in this manner and that's all I ever did. Never any utilities or productivity code. (Boooring!) But as much as I love games, even this was a chore. It helped if I could have my best computer friend come over and read the lines of code while I typed, which made it faster, but it was never exciting enough for me to miss it today.
2.) Computer stores. Not really missed. I remember a couple of large, privately owned, computer stores in a 50 mile radius from the small Indiana town that I grew up in, and it was always a treat to go visit them, but it was mostly to oggle at all the cool new stuff that I couldn't afford. I was still into Atari ST computers then, so there weren't any internal "upgrades" to speak of. I did buy quite a few of my ST games from those stores though. Although I initially fought the idea of digital delivery (and it's still seriously flawed), being able to buy a game through Steam and download it while I'm at the office or asleep is actually more convenient than driving anywhere.
3.) True desktop cases. Not missed. Period.
4.) Durable keyboards and mice. Err...? While it's true that the market today is flooded with Chinese-made crap that can be bought by the truck load for about the cost of a decent meal at Denny's, there ARE still quality keyboards and mice to be found, and quite easily. I have a Logitech G-series gaming keyboard that has served me extremely well for over 5 years now and shows no signs of giving in any time soon. I also have a Logitech MX1000 wireless laser mouse which is going strong after 7 years, and I'm a hardcore gamer, so you know both my keyboard and mouse are getting a daily workout.
5.) In-person help desk visits. Um, nothing to miss? This is what I do for a living now.
6.) Immersive gaming. Nothing to miss. Today's games on a 24 inch monitor are far more immersive than the old days simply due to better graphics engines and sound. Hooking up to a large screen TV is certainly a boost, especially with high-end racing games but it's not like that was the norm at any time in the past and certainly not enough to be missing anything. My computer already has a 5.1 surround system, so I get plenty of "boom" at my desk. (I've had the neighbors in my apartment building knock on my door and complain about the sound of gunfire more than once.)
7.) BBSs. Not missed at all. Slow, clunky, problematic, boring. I remember the frustration of BBSs that had user limits and you couldn't log in until someone else logged out! Gah! Definitely happy to have moved on to bigger and better things.
8.) Shareware subscriptions. Can't say I miss this because I don't remember signing up for any. I did have a subscription to an Atari ST mag that came with a floppy disk full of free stuff, but otherwise... nada.
9.) Software that didn't have to be installed. I do kinda miss this, but hey... times change. Atari ST software didn't require installation, and I do remember that being very convenient. I guess what I miss are SMALL programs that you could easily put onto a floppy or a CD. Nowadays, it's not unusual to download a game that weighs in at about 6 or 7 gigabytes. And that's just the install package... the fully extracted version is larger still. Even productivity software like Adobe Photoshop or 3D Studio Max has a large footprint.
10.) Easily modifiable code. Not really missed because I never cared to try. However, many of today's games are allowing players to "mod" the game with add-ins of their own. Flight Simulator X is a prime example and there's virtually nothing you can't do with it on your own with a little research. It's true though that it's nearly impossible for the average person to make direct modifications to the actual game (or program) code. I'm not a programmer, so I can't say that I have a strong desire to have this ability anyway. (Unless I could learn to create my own cheat codes.)
I honestly can't say that there's anything I miss about the "old days" of computing. Everything back then was slower, lower resolution, fewer colors, smaller screens, heavier equipment, PITA drivers, manual IRQ configs, mobos covered with jumpers, and everything was expensive. Ugh.
When I was at college a lot of my research on 'the web' or whatever it was called back then was done using gopher (think text menu driven internet).
At the time it seemed almost magical that I could search for and get hold of documents from half way around the world in real time. The text interface had a simplicity that was quite beautiful.
I've taken a quick look and it seems gopher is still out there for those who are feeling nostalgic.
You can even give it a go on the floodgap Gopher proxy at http://gopher.floodgap.com/gopher/gw
At the time it seemed almost magical that I could search for and get hold of documents from half way around the world in real time. The text interface had a simplicity that was quite beautiful.
I've taken a quick look and it seems gopher is still out there for those who are feeling nostalgic.
You can even give it a go on the floodgap Gopher proxy at http://gopher.floodgap.com/gopher/gw
But Archie... Then they came with Veronica... You're right, great way to get stuff!
Those keyboards are still out there. On my main computer at work I'm using a 1989 vintage IBM Model M keyboard, works great and looks like new. You can also get active PS/2 to USB converters so you can use these on modern machines.
A lot of us HTPC folks know about "big speakers", I've got mine hooked up to a big Pioneer AV receiver, with Dolby 5.1 and a 46" screen, works GREAT for games!
A lot of us HTPC folks know about "big speakers", I've got mine hooked up to a big Pioneer AV receiver, with Dolby 5.1 and a 46" screen, works GREAT for games!
1. My ATARI 1040 STF with GFA Basic and STOS BASIC
2. My Timex Sinclair 2000 (Sinclair ZX 81)
3. My TI 89c and HP 41 CV calculators
4. Compute! Magazine, Byte Magazine, Science et Vie Micro (french), Mi Computer (Spanish), Computers in Physics (IoP)
5. Dot matrix printer music (some would call it noise)
6. My dreams on things that i couldn??t ever buy: a 10 MB external hard disk, a pen screen, ATARI FALCON or TT Transputer, A MAC
7. Game cartridges for Atari 800 XL
8. My audio recorder to store programs
9. Blas Cabrera??s Physics simulations for classic MAC
10. My physics undergraduate thesis: inside an atom simulations
2. My Timex Sinclair 2000 (Sinclair ZX 81)
3. My TI 89c and HP 41 CV calculators
4. Compute! Magazine, Byte Magazine, Science et Vie Micro (french), Mi Computer (Spanish), Computers in Physics (IoP)
5. Dot matrix printer music (some would call it noise)
6. My dreams on things that i couldn??t ever buy: a 10 MB external hard disk, a pen screen, ATARI FALCON or TT Transputer, A MAC
7. Game cartridges for Atari 800 XL
8. My audio recorder to store programs
9. Blas Cabrera??s Physics simulations for classic MAC
10. My physics undergraduate thesis: inside an atom simulations
For all of you talking about your first computers and loving the 5.4" floppy disks and such, I programmed "computers" that used paper tape to control their actions, and others that had plug-boards and wires to control the steps the arithmetic logic unit (ALU) was supposed to follow....no "storing your program in memory" in these beasties.
It was a heady time, and I am glad I went through it, but I am also glad to be in the 22nd century.
But I do admit to loving a keyboard with engraved keycaps and tactile feedback. And if you really would like to capture some of that fun, you can get an Arduino or a Raspberry Pi, some TTL logic, a breadboard and some wires and help a young person get the joy of really programming a computer.
It was a heady time, and I am glad I went through it, but I am also glad to be in the 22nd century.
But I do admit to loving a keyboard with engraved keycaps and tactile feedback. And if you really would like to capture some of that fun, you can get an Arduino or a Raspberry Pi, some TTL logic, a breadboard and some wires and help a young person get the joy of really programming a computer.
While I didn't operate a personal computer in this manner, I did work in a steel fabrication facility and I ran a computer-controlled turret press that was programmed using paper punch tape! The different press patterns were stored on separate rolls and catalogued in a set of air-tight containers. Wow, I had almost forgotten about that! LOL
Maddoghall, I hope you are happy living somewhere in the 22nd century with Marty McFly...or did you mean the 21st century?
First computer I had a chance to play with was in a Geometry class at our small high school, 1969. Input and output was a teletype machine with a paper tape reader. Didn't program anything really useful but it was an introduction. What a step up years later when I bought my Sinclair ZX 81! Who could ever need more power than that?
Audio cassettes, 8 inch floppies, 5 1/4 inch floppies, 3 1/2 inch floppies, ZIP disks, JAZ disks, removable platters, round tapes and square tapes. Did I miss anything?
I'll never understand where their bad reputation came from. In my experience, it was BS. We used those for several years without a problem that I can remember; that's more than I can say for our forays into ZIP drives.
As a former hardware technician that worked on early computers, video terminals, modems, hard drive controllers, and other cards and peripherals, I honestly can say I have a far better understanding and appreciation of what goes into making the computers work.
As a technician, I learned to write a memory test program so I could make RAM bits stay high or low so I could troubleshoot for bad RAM ICs. We'd also used speical diagnostics software to open and close I/O ports and run screen tests. As the tests would run, we'd follow the signals on the circuit boards with a 'scope. It was not just a matter of fixing the boards, but a real learning experience as well to actually see ASCII characters not just on the screen but in binary code as well.
As a technician, I learned to write a memory test program so I could make RAM bits stay high or low so I could troubleshoot for bad RAM ICs. We'd also used speical diagnostics software to open and close I/O ports and run screen tests. As the tests would run, we'd follow the signals on the circuit boards with a 'scope. It was not just a matter of fixing the boards, but a real learning experience as well to actually see ASCII characters not just on the screen but in binary code as well.
and I then built many more afterwards with two floppy drives (usually one 5-1/4" and one 3-1/2" drive). I actually felt funny when the drive was no longer needed.
Oh yeah, those old Commodore games were great! running off of 5-1/4 TRUE floppy disks... load "*.*" or something like that? can't remember now...
Totally Twisted Screensavers, Flying Toasters, a simplified WorldWide Web, GNN, Webcrawler, and my personal favorite, the Magellan Internet Search Engine running off the early version of Netscape Navigator.
Anyone remember the feelings of elation, triumph and success when you could get connected at higher baud rates with your dial up modems? never quite the full 33.6k or 56k, but soooo close sometimes. as if you had any control over it... haha
Totally Twisted Screensavers, Flying Toasters, a simplified WorldWide Web, GNN, Webcrawler, and my personal favorite, the Magellan Internet Search Engine running off the early version of Netscape Navigator.
Anyone remember the feelings of elation, triumph and success when you could get connected at higher baud rates with your dial up modems? never quite the full 33.6k or 56k, but soooo close sometimes. as if you had any control over it... haha
I absolutely concur with the nostalgia for the rugged keyboards. In fact, with today's shoddy models, I uSUALLY eND uP wITH tHE cAPS lOCK oN wITHOUT nOTICING uNTIL tHE nEXT yEAR oR sO1
... a gaming keyboard. Even if you're not a gamer, gaming keyboards are usually engineered to take more abuse. I have had excellent experience with Logitech gaming keyboards. You could also try the Rosewill mechanical gaming keyboard, which they say is built like a tank. (Search Newegg, you'll find it.) Yeah, you'll pay more, but it will pay for itself in the long run.
Those of us "of a certain age," certainly remember all of them. I have experienced most of them, and do miss some of them and don't miss others. (Setting DMAs and IRQs was never any fun.)
Surely you don't want to go back to mice with balls!
And keyboards, well, I can remember when new ones were about $100 and you had to replace them about as often as the current $20 ones.
I'm typing this message on a 7-year old Dell keyboard and a Logitech Optical mouse that indicates a manufacturing date of April 2001.
And keyboards, well, I can remember when new ones were about $100 and you had to replace them about as often as the current $20 ones.
I'm typing this message on a 7-year old Dell keyboard and a Logitech Optical mouse that indicates a manufacturing date of April 2001.
It's funny reading this article today, because some of us at work were talking about this subject last week. I was one of those who started learning Basic by punching code out of Rainbow magazine every month for my CoCo 2, and saving it on my cassette tapes. But the thing I miss the most are BBS's. There is no need for them today, but I miss the excitement I felt when my 300 baud dumb modem would connect to one of the many I would connect to. Just about every university had one and most of them would freely give out the information. Plus tech BBS's and gaming BBS's, it was so much fun.
It was the excitement of those days that led me into the IT field that I am in today. Thanks for the trip down memory lane
It was the excitement of those days that led me into the IT field that I am in today. Thanks for the trip down memory lane
The Interenet did not spell the end of the BBS. Many are still up and running, with web interfaces and telnet access. One of the nice things about them is that you still have the feeling of being a part of a community where you know each other, which is something that is often lacking in forums and on NNTP feeds.
Thanks for that info, I was unaware that they were still around. I will have to look some up.
and BASIC. i learned so much plugging that little board into my tv and using the Radio Shack manual that had corny little cartoons in it that showed you how to type pages of code that just made the screen change colors
and the cassette tapes it used for memory instead of floppies, man that was messed up
Although some items on the list are nice to remember. I don' t agree with your personal view. It almost seems disconnected with many things that go on nowadays.
For example, your personal idea of the gaming setup. In stead of bulky visible setups, a lot of gaming setups immerse you even deeper into the game than ever possible. (Think of those racing cars chairs that actually tilt backwards to simulate the acceleration feeling.)
Perhaps nice to look at a thread on neogaf forum called, " Show me your gaming setup" for ideas.
I do fully agree with your first point on the list but have to state that these magazines have been replaced by blogs. For example, apple apps programming by Ray Wenderlich is a really good example.
One thing I miss the most by far..... A physical reset button! Where did that thing go...
For example, your personal idea of the gaming setup. In stead of bulky visible setups, a lot of gaming setups immerse you even deeper into the game than ever possible. (Think of those racing cars chairs that actually tilt backwards to simulate the acceleration feeling.)
Perhaps nice to look at a thread on neogaf forum called, " Show me your gaming setup" for ideas.
I do fully agree with your first point on the list but have to state that these magazines have been replaced by blogs. For example, apple apps programming by Ray Wenderlich is a really good example.
One thing I miss the most by far..... A physical reset button! Where did that thing go...
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