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My personal favourite computer is ...

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by jardinier

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a 486 DX 100 with 48 MB RAM, running Windows 95 B with a 33.6 Kbps external modem. I paid $AU 20 for the computer, and upgraded it in various ways.

So we have crossed the 3 GHz barrier; anything less than 256 MB RAM would obviously be useless, and if you can find a HDD smaller than 60 GB, it would be in a second-hand shop.

From earlier discussions, it is obvious that most TR regulars have a personal favourite computer, for their own use, and which does the job and to which there is a sentimental attachment.

So let's hear about your personal "pride of the fleet." Incidentally I do most of my work on the above described machine, including running three websites. AOL hate me because I am using version 4.0 (which is very stable) but it is supposed to be extinct, and all good little AOL members are expected to use version 7.

7 replies

by guruofdos

You poor old 'Strines! You are 'meant' to be using AOL 7.0, have stuck with 4.0, and the rest of the world is now on 8.0!!! Oh, and I'm Beta testing 9!!!

Sorry mate, but you have to go a bloody long way to beat 3.0i for stability! That really pisses them off, especially running it under Windows 3.11 and Dos 6.22 on a 425SLC (cut down 25Mhz SX 486 without the co-processor...basically a souped up 386!) on a 43Mb hard disk and 2Mb of ram! I do connect via TCP/IP on a 2Mb/sec connection though, which REALLY upsets them! I don't even think the processor and ram can shift data at 2Mb/sec!

I keep this machine for one reason only....quoting my specs to AOL technical support to hear the dumbfounded silence at the other end of the phone line!!!!

My favourite PC of all time? The Commodore Amiga A2000HD. 7.14MHz 68000 cpu, 40Mb hdd, 3Mb RAM and SCSI controller with IBM AT bridgeboard, Rendale 8802 Genlock and JCL ColorPic digitiser. Still more fun than a barrow load of monkeys and nothing touches it for video pre and post production using analogue media!!!

by oldefar

Well, Guru, you might have put a limit for others with your "..favourite PC of all time" statement. However, I didn't see Julian make that constraint.

My favorite is an analog flight simulator built back in the 1960's and retired only in the early 1980's. Almost 100 square meters of computing power in 1.5 meter double depth cabinets, not counting I/O. That was housed in a room of its own and included the actual cockpit.

This was a computer you could really get into, also on to. Noise that vibrated your bones as the relays chattered, the servos spun, and the A/C driven by 15 50cm squirrel cage blowers blasted air.

We are talking hairy chested, tech killing, base dimming, ear shattering computing here! Fiber glass toed safety shoesrequired. Drop that module and you may crush your foot. If you are going to get hurt, get killed, or I will kill you for giving me all that paperwork to do!

by guruofdos

Ok....I see where you are coming from. I meant 'pc' in lower case, not PC as in 'IBM clone' :-)

Analogue computing....ah, heady days! I cut my teeth on them babies! What I couldn't do with a uA741 op-amp wasn't worth knowing! My O and A Level Electronics systems courses revolved around analogue electronics, and we just touched on digital electronics. Of course, 'electronics' was my hobby since the age of seven so I knew most of that side of things anyway and in fact, went on after college toteach my old electronics lecturer some 'new' digital methods!

Differentiators, integrators, transfer functions, Laplace Transforms, sum and difference, 4 quadrant multipliers,....

My friend, you have brought a little nostalgic tear to my eyes and I shall now have to go and lie down in a darkened room and reminisce!!

by jardinier

While we are on the subject I object strongly to the fact that PC (which I presume is an acronym for Personal Computer) has become the default industry name for IBM Clones.

Please correct me if I am wrong aout the derivation of the term "PC," butuntil I learn otherwise, the above is my undestanding.

Apple also make Personal Computers.

by guruofdos

Mention the acronym 'pc' (or even capitalised, 'PC') to a politician or anyone in the media and the LAST thing they think of is computers!

To them, PC means 'Politically Correct'!

It annoys me too that the term 'PC' has come to signify, rightly or wrongly, a 'computing device' that follows the 'Wintel' specification.

Mind you, back in the 80's the term 'Wintel' (Windows/Intel) hadn't been coined...instead we had something known as LIM-IT (Lotus/Intel/Microsoft - Information Technology) and 286/386 computers (clones) all had to comply with the 'LIMIT' standards for things like memory expansion etc. Funny how considering IBM launched the term 'PC', they were not included in the LIMIT steering group!

Personally, I try as often aspossible to refer to computers as 'computers' and avoid the term 'PC' as I do work in a very varied environment, with PC's, Macs, Amigas and even PDP8/11's. I often fail, but I do try!

And...before the PC, when we had a smattering of Commodores, Sinclairs, Acorn BBCs and Ataris, they were always referred to as 'home computers', as opposed to those damn great big 'industrial' things we used to have in offices and factories.

To me 'personal computer' implies something which belongs to me personally and I use exclusively. The various items we have lounging around on desks at work are 'computers'...end of story!

by jardinier

Thanks for a thorough clarification of my question. Increasingly I find that the term "IBM Compatible" -- which was the common term for quite a few years -- is now all too often greeted with a blank look of bewilderment.

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