Computers... Then and NOW

[Scott231]

Who ran Windows 3.1?

Before that I had a copy of Windows 286 and before that Windows 2.0 (so there must have been a Windows 1.0, but I never saw it). The 2.0 version ran under DOS and basically used extended ASCII characters to make things look "graphical". All I remember about the "286" version is that after loading in all the floppies...the PC locked up.

Does anyone remember moving the little applet windows using the Alt-Minus keystroke, selecting Move, and then using the arrow keys to move the window?

 

[troj]

Castle Wolfenstein started out in the Apple ][

No 3D card required

 

[bjphoenix]

My first programming was in 1972- writing Fortran programs on punch cards to run on a CDC 6600 mainframe. I also looked at assembly language programming to help a friend with his homework. In about 1976 in college we used CRT terminals to write Fortran programs for another CDC mainframe. At about this time the MITS, IMSAI and Commodore PET computers were announced. I wanted a MITS machine, not to build and so forth but I wanted one that was running so I could write programs on it. I went to work for a company with an old IBM 1130 minicomputer, writing programs for it in Fortran on punch cards. I bought a Commodore 64 and wrote some programs for it in Basic, then I got one of the first IBM PC's and programmed on it in Fortran, Basic and Turbo Pascal. In the late 1980's we got AutoCAD and I worked with it on my IBM PC. I never owned a 286 but then owned various 386 and 486 machines. I never owned a Pentium but by then there were other chips out and I owned some machines with Cyrix chips, and later AMD chips. From the early 1990's until present I built and modified my own machines, and typically I would put my cast-off parts into full machines and sell them to friends. About 3 years ago I built a new machine with an Intel quad core Q9400 and this was my step into contemporary computers. I've run IBM and Microsoft OS's from PC DOS 2.1 up through MS-DOS 6 or so, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, 98SE, XP, Vista and 7. I've programmed in Basic, Fortran, Turbo Pascal, C, Objective C, Borland Delphi, Autodesk AutoLISP. I've owned computers with MFM, RLL, ESDI, IDE, SATA drives. Right now I own 3 PC desktops, 2 PC laptops, 1 Mac desktop. My previous employer got into Unix minicomputers so I was system administrator for that system, and programmed it in C and Fortran. My current company has a Linux server so I've been system administrator for it whenever I couldn't get out of it. I really don't have a lot of nostalgia for older computer stuff, I tend to remember the bad more than the good.

 

[dixontj93060]

Fortran card deck on IBM mainframe (computer science in college -1978)
PDP-8 assembly language (first computer work assignment - 1980)

 

[powderburner]

Fortran card deck on IBM mainframe (computer science in college -1978)
PDP-8 assembly language (first computer work assignment - 1980)

Wow, I remember those---

We used fortran cards while in high school, back in the 60s. We punched them at our school, then a teacher carried them over to a local jr college to run them.

And PDP.....I remember those yellow paper tapes....with many bad memories.

These kids today just don't understand how good they have it. Why, when I was young....... [self snipped]

 

[CPUTommy]

ZORK !!!

 

[dixontj93060]

These kids today just don't understand how good they have it. Why, when I was young....... [self snipped]

I had to walk 20 miles uphill both ways to submit my deck to the input counter in the CS dept. at Indiana University... Then during a blizzard...

 

[o1d_dude]

"You are eaten by a grue."

 

[WAC_Hal]

My first computer was a single-board "Super Elf II" which I assembled from a kit. It had a whopping 256 bytes of memory. (Note, that's "256 bytes," not "256 KB" or "256 MB!") It had a hex keypad and display. It also hooked up to a TV to display something like 64 x 32 pixel graphics (the entire memory was mapped to the screen, so you saw the program and it's data as random-looking blocks on the top of the display).

Along the way I had several TRS-80s, including one of the early hand-assembled-in-Texas, Model Is, and wrote several articles for 80 Micro, Hot Coco, and other computer magazines.

My first PC had 64K of memory and two floppy drives. I later spent $1200 to add a 20M hard drive to it.

My current desktop computer has 16GB of RAM (about 64 million times my first computer's memory) and 1TB of hard drive space.

Many years ago I saw a 1 terabyte (TB) memory storage system. It consisted of an array of thousands of magnetic cartridges which were selected one-at-a-time and used like records in a big jukebox. The system literally filled a warehouse.

I still have a TRS-80 Model III, a Model 4P, and a Color Computer ... somewhere.

-- Roger

I had a COSMAC ELF I bought as a kit from an article in Popular Electronics in '76 or '77. Mine only had 256 BITS of RAM, but it could render a very blocky looking USS Enterprise across my TV screen.

 

[terryg]

A Z80 CPU on a "Big Board" from an upgrade to a Xerox Computer (remember the Brother Dominic commercials?). 64k of ram, running CPM with an 8" floppy drive.

 

[CPUTommy]

"You are eaten by a grue."

LOVE IT !!!!

 

[caveduck]

"You are eaten by a grue."

"Nothing happens here"

 

[spacecadet]

"Shucks, I've burnt the height again."

 

[GDJ]

Just mentioning cassette tapes made me shudder.

I've used the cassette tapes for audio use back in the day. Believe it or not, the audio quality from the computer grade cassettes was very good. As good as Type IV metals for about 2/3 the price.

 

[Huxter]

Then:
Apple II+ - programming in apple basic (this started me down the path as a programmer later in life.) What a GLORIOUS day it was when I got a second 5" floppy drive - wahoo! 300 baud modem to connect to BBS. Remember POKE commands? You could Poke a memory address and could hear a certain tone. I remember the Star Wars theame song (done in Poke commands) making the rounds (started me down the geek path!).

Now:
HP Laptop w Vista, 64-bit, 4GB RAM.... I gave up my desktop a few years ago and haven't looked back. I wonder if tablets will totally replace my laptop someday?

Pat

 

[jadebox]

I had a COSMAC ELF I bought as a kit from an article in Popular Electronics in '76 or '77. Mine only had 256 BITS of RAM, but it could render a very blocky looking USS Enterprise across my TV screen.

My Super Elf II was a commercial kit version of that design. Both had 256 bytes of memory and an amazing 32 bytes of ROM! I had to solder about a billion connections (a slight exageration) to build the kit. I messed up something and the hex keypad didn't work. So, I re-built the keypad on a seperate perfboard and connected it to main board with a ribbon cable. I recall writing a program to display a train engine that scrolled across the bottom of the screen. Exciting stuff!

Not long after I built the Elf, the TRS-80 came out. I spent afternoons after school in the local Radio Shack (and vacuum repair store!) using the computer which was on display. It sat in the store for about six months until, sometime in December, it disappeared. Mel, the owner of the store, explained that it had been sold.

You may have figured out where this story is going ....

I received the computer as a Christmas present. I suspect my parents paid more for it than the combined cost of all the presents they had ever bought for me over the previous 14 years. I couldn't even have dreamed that I would own my own TRS-80 Model I computer. I missed a lot of sleep staying up all night working with it. I quickly learned that Level 1 Basic couldn't do much, so I started programming it in machine code. It didn't have enough memory to run an assember, so I manually wrote and entered the machine code in hexadecimal. I typed the following sequence so often that I still remember it:

21003C
11013C
3620
01FF03
EDBO

That was the code to clear the screen by writing an ASCII space into each byte of the video memory.

-- Roger

 

[bytesiz]

I started off with a Commodore VIC-20. Had the tape drive and that funny little thermal printer too.

I remember spending many hours typing in BASIC programs from the magazine "Family Computing". It was a great way to learn code and how to debug.

I upgraded to a Commodore 64 with a 5.25" floppy drive eventually. Hads lot of fun with that machine as well.

I then moved on the the Apple Lisa and then an Apple III.

In college, I got back into the PC world with a no-name 486. Been stuck in the PC world since.

 

[FastCargo]

I gave up my desktop a few years ago and haven't looked back. I wonder if tablets will totally replace my laptop someday?

I think it really depends on what you do with your laptop. I gave up a desktop about 6+ years ago and haven't missed it at all. Tablets on the other hand (we have an iPad2 and several HP Touchpads) I can't see replacing my laptop. And it's not because power or tech or anything like that.

Simply put, your finger isn't precise enough and the screen isn't large enough. There are a lot of things I do on this laptop that require the full 15 inches of real estate (in fact, sometimes that's a bit crowded), and almost pixel by pixel precision. If you build a tablet that large, you basically have a laptop at that point anyway. Tablets are a good, causal content consumption device....good for light work at best and for taking it on the go. But there isn't anyway it'll replace my laptop (or future laptop type device).

FC

 

[nealkas]

How about my computing dates to when the guys at Barbey and Radio Shack actually knew electronics.

Guys who could tell you something like: "Nah, you don't want the XR85Y-3's with the ferrattastat where you are running it.
Use the 6Y-2's in series and throw in a ZC-24R amp and then you'll fly."

 

[Serpico]

I started off with a Commodore VIC-20. Had the tape drive and that funny little thermal printer too.

I remember spending many hours typing in BASIC programs from the magazine "Family Computing"....

I upgraded to a Commodore 64 with a 5.25" floppy drive eventually. Hads lot of fun with that machine as well...

Read this, and only had to go as far as my office closet to pull these old gems out! Check out the Ad page :jaw:! Remember sitting there for HOURS typing in the DATA lines... only to fat finger something and have to spend HOURS going over them char by char UUGGHH!! :surprised:

 

[jeff_in_AZ]

I had a COSMAC ELF I bought as a kit from an article in Popular Electronics in '76 or '77. Mine only had 256 BITS of RAM, but it could render a very blocky looking USS Enterprise across my TV screen.

BTW there's still a following for the Cosmac ELF (and
many other antique computers) online. Here is a link to
a few discussion groups on the Cosmac Elf if you're curious:

https://www.cosmacelf.com/
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/cosmacelf/

There is also a guy who sells a modern version of
the Cosmac Elf in kit form if you always wanted to build one.

https://www.sparetimegizmos.com/Hardware/Elf2K.htm

And, finally, here is a link to a Java based Cosmac Elf emulator:

https://www.donnelly-house.net/programming/cdp1802/simelf/

With the emulator, you can have the experience of hand assembling
a program by flipping the switches and entering it byte by byte.
An example program you could enter is in the original Popular
Electronics article from August, 1976, which is reprinted here:

https://incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r/elf/html/elf-1-33.htm

Hand assembling a program of any length is a real lesson in
patience. You can see why people quickly looked for a better way to
store and load a program with paper tape, cassettes, and
floppy disks.

 

[Zack Lau]

I got to play with a TRS 80 model 1 at the local Radio Shack store--it had an autographed instruction manual.

I made radio confirmation cards or QSLs out of punch cards from the two Fortran courses I took--a required course for EEs--next year the new Dean was upset about the antique equipment... I learned Assembly on a PDP-11 and 8-1/2 inch floppies. The computer hardware course was so tough my partner vanished--I spent Spring Break debugging 8085 hardware/software in the same room where the Eniac was "stored." I recall picking up a small module and talking to a fellow student about it... My roommate let me use his Apple II--he was premed and spent most of the morning sleeping.

First computer I actually owned was an IBM Portable PC--it had an amber monitor. When I upgraded the RAM I got a copy of Windows 1.0 but didn't do anything useful with it.

Netscape--didn't everyone use it back then?

 

[luke strawwalker]

I for one liked Netscape... worked very well and was pretty intuitive... seems most everybody ended up basically "copying" it...

Whatever happened to Netscape??

later! OL JR

 

[rstaff3]

Wow, had to throw my 2-cents in on this one. In college, computers used punch cards and a modem that you had to stick a phone handset in (110baud?). First professional software went like: we wrote code on paper forms, a tech punched a card deck, we compiled it on a PDP, output was paper tape which we loaded into an in-circuit emulator. Patches were made with JUMP statements and keyed in on a Teletype. It was so fun when you went back to the master set of code and found you couldn't get the compiler to do what you did manually. LOL

First PC was a Radio Shack and used an audio cassette.

 

[bytesiz]

That photo right there brings back a lot of memories!

 

[FastCargo]

Whatever happened to Netscape??

In your favorite superhero voice: "To the internet!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape

A new version of the Netscape browser, Netscape Navigator 9, based on Firefox 2, was released in October 2007. It featured a sleek green and grey interface. In November 2007, IE had 77.4% of the browser market, Firefox 16.0% and Netscape 0.6%, according to Net Applications, an Internet metrics firm.[29] On December 28, 2007, AOL announced that on February 1, 2008 it would drop support for the Netscape web browser and would no longer develop new releases. The date was later extended to March 1[30] to allow a major security update and to add a tool to assist users in migrating to other browsers. These additional features were included in the final version of Netscape Navigator 9 (version 9.0.0.6), released on February 20, 2008.

The story is quite a bit more complicated than the quote above, but this shows the final result and release of what was Netscape.

FC

 

[gpoehlein]

Seems that everything old is new again. Check this out:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/

Kind of reminds me of the Sinclair in its day. But even cheaper! (And a lot more powerful!)

 

[eugenefl]

This is a neat experiment in Windows Upgrades:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPnehDhGa14

Frankly, this thread is depressing. I find little value in the advancement of technology. My basis for this statement is purely on the observation that there has been no overall quality of life improvement as a result. The erosion of family values, community ethics, and a country's sense of pride appears to be gone in the form of thin tablets, data accessibility almost anywhere, and the loss of real interactions. Phew...I know, Debbie Downer moment and I'm only 33 years old. I've been called an "old soul" before.

That being said, I chose a career in technology.

 

[gdjsky01]

My history

TRS-80 model 1 level 1
TRS-80 model 1 level 2
TRS-80 model 3 level 2
LNW-80
Atari 800
Columbia PC
Various PC clones I built
Mindset PC (80186)
Amiga 1000
Atari ST
Various 386, 486, and Pentium Clones I built

Modern stuff

Finally home and happy on a 27" iMac i7 quad core.

 

[kruland]

Wow o1d_dude, you are like a legend! I could keep up with most of these pups with acoustic couple modems, paper tape, Apple II, etc - but programming with switches! That is stuff I've only read about. I want to shake your hand and hear some tales.

Can you still do it? I mean code and solder?

Been there, done that.

Entered COBOL decks on a KSR-33. "Working-Hyphen-Storage" and all that.

Had an IMSAI computer at work that you programmed by flipping toggle switches.

Thereafter a procession of Trash 80's, Apples, Atari's with cassette, floppy, and ultimately hard drives. Yes, an Atari 800 with 256K of RAM and an external hard drive. I like to tinker and I know how to solder. Wrote software, too: BBS applications like the first online "cuss" filter, video grafitti which has come to be known as "Shout Box" on many forums, and some transfer protocols. NO MONETARY COMPENSATION! Steal from the best, right? That reminds me, I met Bill Gates, too.

BTW, Lee Felsenstein was my college roommate. Google him. He WAS monetarily compensated.