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I was a little sad to see no mention of the Atari 400, 800, 800xl, 1200xl, etc. here. But maybe that is a good thing. I guess they aren't considered dinosaurs yet.
Nostalgia for the good old happy days from my childhood.
64Kb of RAM, tape drives and 5 1/4'' diskettes - something like a PS3 high-class, cutting edge gaming console of the 80s!
64Kb of RAM, tape drives and 5 1/4'' diskettes - something like a PS3 high-class, cutting edge gaming console of the 80s!
What happened to the Amstrad CPC range? Had the CPC464 and CPC6128, both with green screens. Then the GX4000 console.
Does no one else remember Michael Dell's original, dorm-room based company? I remember buying one of their super-fast, 80286-based machines that had been overclocked to all of 12 mHz (twice the concurrent IBM PC/AT), loading it up with a huge 1MB of RAM, and gazing in wonder at the NEC 3D monitor running Xtree, FANSI.sys, and being able to have color DOS prompts.. 
The PC Ltd machine replaced my TRS-80 which got handed down to a friend and continued to run for about another decade, as far as I remember.
The PCs Ltd cost $3,000, by the way.
The PC Ltd machine replaced my TRS-80 which got handed down to a friend and continued to run for about another decade, as far as I remember.
The PCs Ltd cost $3,000, by the way.
I remember him well, I tried to compete with him bidding for contracts to the Texas State gummint. I couldn't buy the parts wholesale from Taiwan less than Michael Dell was selling his assembled systems for. Economies of scale. Like Gates, Dell did well. I resigned myself to building high-end custom systems.
Those were included in the photos for the 1970s. They were released in 1979. The 1200 is not listed.
Anyone remember the Commodore 128?
Now there was a cool computer.
How about this one in my basement (still works):
An early 1980's vintage NCR Decision Mate 5.
This thing had DUAL processors.
That's right!!!
It contains a Z-80 for booting and running CP/M
and an Intel 8086 for booting MS-DOS.
Since I used to work at NCR, the boys in
engineering hooked me up with something unheard
of in a PC at that time.
An incredible 10Meg hard disk.
I used to think - WOW! There is NO way that can
ever get filled up.
Now there was a cool computer.
How about this one in my basement (still works):
An early 1980's vintage NCR Decision Mate 5.
This thing had DUAL processors.
That's right!!!
It contains a Z-80 for booting and running CP/M
and an Intel 8086 for booting MS-DOS.
Since I used to work at NCR, the boys in
engineering hooked me up with something unheard
of in a PC at that time.
An incredible 10Meg hard disk.
I used to think - WOW! There is NO way that can
ever get filled up.
My Dad worked for NCR and I can remember everyone was talking about the IBM machines. The Decision Mate Five Dad brought home had a color screen with way better graphics than the IBM, and dual 5.25 floppies. Way cool for the early 80's.
The color units were rare and highly sought
after.
The auctioned one off in my facility and it
went for more than a new PC (back in 1989).
after.
The auctioned one off in my facility and it
went for more than a new PC (back in 1989).
My first Desktop Computer experience was with this model. I worked for the Navy. The older men were scared of it. I had learned FORTRAN with keypunch cards and a Mainframe in college therefore I had the most computer experience in the office. So they put one on my desk, told me to figure it out and then tell everyone how to use it. I did it and was hooked. I haven't stopped working on computers ever since.
id like to inquire where the first GUI'd comp is. it isnt represented. anyone who was there would remember the LISA OS from Apple. which was released in 1983 a year before the IBM Compatable machines had theirs. I even clearly remember the Pc mag's poking fun at Apple for their introduction since before then the GUI was only on xxerox printers. And a comparrison was made to that.
But i do like to see the vintage machines. I have a few of my own. like my hp 33 w/ win 3.1 for networks just to name one. Unfortunately my own Tandy took a dump last year in a thunder storm. When the surge strip failed. Thankfully it was the only one to fall.
But i do like to see the vintage machines. I have a few of my own. like my hp 33 w/ win 3.1 for networks just to name one. Unfortunately my own Tandy took a dump last year in a thunder storm. When the surge strip failed. Thankfully it was the only one to fall.
I know this is an old article, but I just ran across it, isn't it interesting how the design of the Kaypro 2000(when closed) is somewhat mimicked by the PS3's own design? I mean besides the obvious blocky-ness of the 80's and the smooth design of the PS3, it seems Sony took some inspiration from the Kaypro 2000 for it's design. Just my opinion...check the pics--hxxp://www.micromania.fr/special/ps3/index.php
One has obviously got to be old enough to have used personal computers before 1984 to remember using the first glass screens which replaced those teletypewriter (ttys) and onwards to behold a Xerox desktop publishing GUI in 1975 with it's WIMP interface.
In 1984, heavyweights like Apollo, Indy and SUN produced wonderful fast desktop 32 bit machines based on the Xerox GUI standard with 19" 1 million pixel portrait monitors, 3 button optical mouses, pop up menus, icons used for application elements, Ethernet TCP/IP networking, maths co-processors, 4 page frame buffer graphics engines and of course a multi-tasking multi-user operating system.
All the rest has been a great leap backwards since then.
The Cell architecture will hopefully get the industry back to the future and bury the under productive Wintel/MAC marketing driven anomalies into the grave pit of history along with the rest of the dinosaurs.
In 1984, heavyweights like Apollo, Indy and SUN produced wonderful fast desktop 32 bit machines based on the Xerox GUI standard with 19" 1 million pixel portrait monitors, 3 button optical mouses, pop up menus, icons used for application elements, Ethernet TCP/IP networking, maths co-processors, 4 page frame buffer graphics engines and of course a multi-tasking multi-user operating system.
All the rest has been a great leap backwards since then.
The Cell architecture will hopefully get the industry back to the future and bury the under productive Wintel/MAC marketing driven anomalies into the grave pit of history along with the rest of the dinosaurs.
I found a copy of the book "The Soul of the New Machine" by Tracy Kidder at Goodwill, and it was a fascinating and illuminating read. Conventional lore tells us that 32-bit computing didn't exist until Windows NT, but that isn't true. In this book, the company is designing 32-bit systems from the ground up. Remember, this is pre-1981 when these events are happening. The personal computer really was a step backward.
What cracks me up now about reading this book is that I knew of some of the key players in the book. My dad was a hardware guy at Digital. The book is about Data General Corporation, who had hardware guys who used to work at Digital. They were names I had heard around the house.
If you can find it, I recommend this book on several levels! It has drama, its very "geek," plus it gives great examples of project management and problem solving.
What cracks me up now about reading this book is that I knew of some of the key players in the book. My dad was a hardware guy at Digital. The book is about Data General Corporation, who had hardware guys who used to work at Digital. They were names I had heard around the house.
If you can find it, I recommend this book on several levels! It has drama, its very "geek," plus it gives great examples of project management and problem solving.
Christ where have you been!! The book is over 30 years old. I read it right after college. DG of course had a battle to the death with DEC over practical mass market
32 bit minis and guess what Dec won -- only to be taken down itself by the micro revolution. As much as you mock early micro tech inferiority to the likes of DG and DEC you could never have afforded a Vax until perhaps 1988/9 (Vax/Vaxstation 2000). Dec's foray's into the PC arena were generally marketting failures which is largely what brought it down.
32 bit minis and guess what Dec won -- only to be taken down itself by the micro revolution. As much as you mock early micro tech inferiority to the likes of DG and DEC you could never have afforded a Vax until perhaps 1988/9 (Vax/Vaxstation 2000). Dec's foray's into the PC arena were generally marketting failures which is largely what brought it down.
Thanks for your post here; you are one of the very few who realize it was Xerox and not Apple who invented the GUI!! I once talked with a Xerox employee who told me he remembered the secretary who won the in-house contest to name the pointing device we now all call a ?mouse?.
I still have my Z-80 Heathkit (somewhere) that I put together too many years ago?I also still remember some of machine code when I was cutting my teeth on the Motorola 6800 (no it?s not a typo; it was before the 68000).
Microsoft may not have the best OS available but Apple takes the prize for the most misleading marketing and over-hyped product on the planet!!! People can throw all the statistics they want out there but the FACT of the matter is MAC OS has major security flaws and compatibility problems and the major difference between Apple and Microsoft is Microsoft is much faster at patching their product than Apple! Of course I?m sure that?s because Microsoft has so much bad publicity; but none the less they at least admit to the problem (after much ado). Apple takes the little boy, with frosting all over his face, approach of ?I didn?t touch the cake; I was nowhere near the cake. It was all Billy?s fault?!!!
I still have my Z-80 Heathkit (somewhere) that I put together too many years ago?I also still remember some of machine code when I was cutting my teeth on the Motorola 6800 (no it?s not a typo; it was before the 68000).
Microsoft may not have the best OS available but Apple takes the prize for the most misleading marketing and over-hyped product on the planet!!! People can throw all the statistics they want out there but the FACT of the matter is MAC OS has major security flaws and compatibility problems and the major difference between Apple and Microsoft is Microsoft is much faster at patching their product than Apple! Of course I?m sure that?s because Microsoft has so much bad publicity; but none the less they at least admit to the problem (after much ado). Apple takes the little boy, with frosting all over his face, approach of ?I didn?t touch the cake; I was nowhere near the cake. It was all Billy?s fault?!!!
I agree - what about the fantastic Apollo and early Suns and that strange thing from ICL. Its true but as soon as IBM (and Microsoft) got involved, everythign took a big step back.
From what I think I have heard, the 286SX (a name many have forgotten or never heard of) was actually slower than the first 286. A lot of hype made us think that this was better, but it was not. I still have a working Compaq 286 "portable" brick in my office (but not used for about five years), running WordPerfect 5.0.
I was forced to buy the IBM convertible back in '85 because the Zenith and Toshibas were being sucked up by the IRS and none were available. IBM or "Bill" wrote a GUI for the covertible called Appsell for "application selector". This simple interface was way ahead of even Windows 3.1 in my opinion. Sure Apple was way ahead of this but they were only interested in supporting Machintosh and that was way out of my pocket book. So it was difficult to get support to realize graphic and printing possiblilities from my area of the country. Apples didn't match well with US government equipment or anything else in the industry at the time.
Also I wasn't aware of WIMP type of Xerox technology and their sales people didn't have a clue so I wedded the IBM to the Xerox 640C to come up with something that could be used for military supply application. The Xerox people were astounded at what their own equipment could do. Too bad corporate didn't trickle down the information to representatives in the field, because the left hand didn't seem to know what the right hand was doing.
I eventually resigned my position and declared that the machine had replaced me - and I was no longer needed. HA! Besides I wanted to go to school anyway.
Also I wasn't aware of WIMP type of Xerox technology and their sales people didn't have a clue so I wedded the IBM to the Xerox 640C to come up with something that could be used for military supply application. The Xerox people were astounded at what their own equipment could do. Too bad corporate didn't trickle down the information to representatives in the field, because the left hand didn't seem to know what the right hand was doing.
I eventually resigned my position and declared that the machine had replaced me - and I was no longer needed. HA! Besides I wanted to go to school anyway.
The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was my first crack at stand alone computing running basic with 16mb ram [not included]. In addition you needed a cassette tape machine to kick off operations as well as a television for superior graphics [sic].
Those were the days...Bill was still one of us.
Those were the days...Bill was still one of us.
How did we make a program run in the original on board RAM, I have my heavily modded machine in the garage, but have not tunred it on for quite a while!!
I think 16K of RAM might be the correct amount, I don't know if the Crays were even running 16Meg
The Spectrum was actually launched in Q1'83, and so this thread should really belong to the previous, wonderful gallery, together with the ZX-81.
And of course it was 16Kb in the base system. Although some of us were lucky enough to buy the one with 48Kb RAM.
And yes, we keep wondering how did you manage to code anything under 16Kb of RAM... until we remember that their whole OS was running within 16Kb of ROM.
And of course it was 16Kb in the base system. Although some of us were lucky enough to buy the one with 48Kb RAM.
And yes, we keep wondering how did you manage to code anything under 16Kb of RAM... until we remember that their whole OS was running within 16Kb of ROM.
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