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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!
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