Discussion on:

10 IT relics I really miss

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.

now i will not be installing ultravnc on my server 2008... thanks for the tip

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).

play at another location.

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...

. . . . What's a CD?

Funnier would be: "What's a CD Caddy??"... :-))

not needing to install the application. Running the program from the media, like SysInternals apps are, sometimes without an installer.

Then don't read the articles here!

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.

almost said same thing, net v web v direct connect all very different

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"

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.

aren't you?

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/

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.

NT

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 ]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

except the code comes from the Internet. I just cut and paste, then experiment. Sounds like a better way to me!

Times change...

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.

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....