Ahh....reminiscing

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07-22-2011
AndrewHunter

Ahh....reminiscing

So this was on yahoo today and it made me think of the good times in computing:

Things your kid will never know about
18.Wires. OK, so they’re not gone yet, but it won’t be long.
19.The scream of a modem connecting.
20.The buzz of a dot-matrix printer.
21.5- and 3-inch floppies, Zip Discs and countless other forms of data storage.
22.Using jumpers to set IRQs.
23.DOS.
24.Terminals accessing the mainframe.
25.Screens being just green (or orange) on black.
26.Tweaking the volume setting on your tape deck to get a computer game to load, and waiting ages for it to actually do it.
27.Daisy chaining your SCSI devices and making sure they’ve all got a different ID.
28.Counting in kilobytes.
29.Wondering if you can afford to buy a RAM upgrade.
30.Blowing the dust out of a NES cartridge in the hopes that it’ll load this time.
31.Turning a PlayStation on its end to try and get a game to load.
32.Joysticks.
33.Having to delete something to make room on your hard drive.
34.Booting your computer off of a floppy disk.
35.Recording a song in a studio.

I am sure we could add somethings to this list....
07-22-2011
Mario F.

>> 18.Wires. OK, so they’re not gone yet, but it won’t be long.

I think they will stay still for a long while... But we shall see.

>> 19.The scream of a modem connecting.

It hasn't been that long ago, hehe. My eldest was already born.

>> 22.Using jumpers to set IRQs.

Not really setting IRQs, but I will soon be getting my hands on those tiny little dip switches all over again, when I buy this beauty.

>> 24.Terminals accessing the mainframe.

My very first job. Doing backups of a IBM ES9000 mainframe on 10.5 inch reel tapes, on Alcatel-Portugal.

>> 26.Tweaking the volume setting on your tape deck to get a computer game to load, and waiting ages for it to actually do it.

My kids actually had a lot of that a couple of years ago as I went through a nostalgia phase... ZXSpetcrum.

>> 27.Daisy chaining your SCSI devices and making sure they’ve all got a different ID.

Never actually owned a SCSI drive.

>> 33.Having to delete something to make room on your hard drive.

Or, not being able to fill a 20 Mb hard drive with software, even if you tried.

>> I am sure we could add somethings to this list....

Sure... Token Rings
07-22-2011
Matticus

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mario F.

Sure... Token Rings

Tolkien are good books for everyone - screw the limited films!

Though it shouldn't be on the list (though it apparently is), I'll name:

- Pay phones! Remember those things? They peaked at the popularity of the "beepers." lol. (I had one...)
07-22-2011
AndrewHunter

Ahh...pay phones, Capt. Crunch, and 2600. Those were the days....
07-22-2011
Matticus

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewHunter

Ahh...pay phones, Capt. Crunch, and 2600. Those were the days....

Yeah, try explaining that to a teenager (besides quzah). "Back in my day, we put coin money into big phones on the street. Then we played our video games ... pacman was a hoot. You were a semi-circle eating dots and avoiding ghosts! You kids don't know what you missed!"
07-22-2011
quzah

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mario F.

>> 18.Wires. OK, so they’re not gone yet, but it won’t be long.

I think they will stay still for a long while... But we shall see.

I'm not a fan of wireless stuff. Why waste money on batteries when I can run a cord? Wired remotes anyone?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mario F.

>> 27.Daisy chaining your SCSI devices and making sure they’ve all got a different ID.

Never actually owned a SCSI drive.

Apple used to have keyboards with a port in the upper left and right of each side. Because all the ports were the same, you could plug a mouse into one side, and run the other side to the back to plug them both in (daisy-chaining them). You could also plug another keyboard into that port, because no one paid attention to what was actually plugged in, and type while someone else was trying to say, write a report. Or so the story goes.

I suppose you could do that today with USB.
07-22-2011
CommonTater

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewHunter

So this was on yahoo today and it made me think of the good times in computing:

Things your kid will never know about
18.Wires. OK, so they’re not gone yet, but it won’t be long.
19.The scream of a modem connecting.
20.The buzz of a dot-matrix printer.
21.5- and 3-inch floppies, Zip Discs and countless other forms of data storage.
22.Using jumpers to set IRQs.
23.DOS.
24.Terminals accessing the mainframe.
25.Screens being just green (or orange) on black.
26.Tweaking the volume setting on your tape deck to get a computer game to load, and waiting ages for it to actually do it.
27.Daisy chaining your SCSI devices and making sure they’ve all got a different ID.
28.Counting in kilobytes.
29.Wondering if you can afford to buy a RAM upgrade.
30.Blowing the dust out of a NES cartridge in the hopes that it’ll load this time.
31.Turning a PlayStation on its end to try and get a game to load.
32.Joysticks.
33.Having to delete something to make room on your hard drive.
34.Booting your computer off of a floppy disk.
35.Recording a song in a studio.

I am sure we could add somethings to this list....

36. Wire Wrapping a motherboard
37. Component level electronic service
38. Vinyl recordings
39. 12" hard disks with a whole 100mb of storage
40. Punch tape
41. Punch cards
42. KSR 33
43. Telegrams
44. Morse Code
07-23-2011
quzah

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewHunter

21.5- and 3-inch floppies, Zip Discs and countless other forms of data storage.

8 inch floppies. WORM drives.
Lunchbox computers.

Quzah.
07-23-2011
Salem

1 Attachment(s)

Entering boot code using front panel switches
Or at least enough for it to start reading a paper tape containing the rest of the boot code.

Or this - memories...
Attachment 10735
07-23-2011
CommonTater

Quote:

Originally Posted by quzah

Lunchbox computers.
Quzah.

In truth they may know that better than we do...

ASRock > Products > Mini PC Series

Small is good.
07-23-2011
jimblumberg

1 Attachment(s)

How about:
Attachment 10740

Jim
07-23-2011
grumpy

At one time, being described as gay had nothing to do with sex.

When 64K of RAM was a lot.

Having to partition a 40 Meg hard drive if you wanted access to all of the storage space it had.

People with readable hand writing.

Space invaders!
07-23-2011
jimblumberg

1 Attachment(s)

Quote:

Having to partition a 40 Meg hard drive if you wanted access to all of the storage space it had.

I remember thinking when I got my first 20 Meg drive about how huge (storage space in addition to physical size) it was.

Attachment 10742

Jim
07-23-2011
idelovski

My first 20 Meg drive ... ah. I had to go to another country and smuggle one back in a washing powder box because they were 3 times cheaper there. That other country was Austria. I was in Yugoslavia back then (today in Croatia) and the year was 1988.
07-23-2011
quzah

Quote:

Originally Posted by CommonTater

Small is good.

Keep telling yourself that! :D ;)

edit - I must confess though, I am a bit disappointed that the old sci-fi shows all lied to me. I never had a wall sized computer with lots and lots of blinking lights. I feel cheated.

Quzah.
07-23-2011
AndrewHunter

Quote:

Originally Posted by quzah

Keep telling yourself that! :D ;)
Quzah.

Well, he is Canadian........:rolleyes::tongue:
07-23-2011
grumpy

Hmmm .... one other thing I'm reminiscing about is ladies who appreciate manners or chivalry.

I remember one time, a few years ago now, when I held open a door for a lady in my company. She gave me the deadly feminine glare, notably after going through the door, and said "You don't have to hold doors open for me just because I'm a lady". I responded with "Actually, I held the door open because I'm a gentleman". Things were a little chilly after that and, despite some strong encouragement from a couple of matchmaking friends, I never invited her out again.
07-23-2011
Mario F.

The fact she even used the word lady to refer to herself is shocking enough these days.

Woman is all the rage. Guess there are few ladies about. Makes us wonder if it is indeed that strange gentleman are a dying breed. Of course, real women want us dead. Because of a notable stretch of reasoning, we symbolize machismo and all that is wicked and unfair about treating the female kind.
07-23-2011
grumpy

She was Generation X lol

The context in which she did it made it quite clear she was using the word "lady" to make her point, even if I had been too slow to pick up her other cues.
07-23-2011
Mario F.

Ah gotcha. Not content with being a biatch, she was also being a smartass. I don't blame you one bit you didn't cave in to your friend preassure.
07-24-2011
AndrewHunter

Wow.... talk about taking this thread going to its grave early...

I remember when Peter Norton's guide to IBM PC's and Compatibles was around before 'Symantic' existed.

Telnet

BBS

...
07-25-2011
jdragyn

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewHunter

Telnet

BBS

...

I remember the 16-color text welcome screens to my local BBS's being prettier than many of the 4-color CGA graphics of the games I played. My external 2400 baud BRICK*cough*modem pulling the screens in a line at a time from the WWIV boards with "Klingon language" menus and playing Tradewars MANUALLY against other actual humans doing the same.
07-25-2011
quzah

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdragyn

I remember the 16-color text welcome screens to my local BBS's being prettier than many of the 4-color CGA graphics of the games I played.

You mean four colors looked worse than 16? No way!

Quzah.
07-25-2011
Matticus

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdragyn

I remember the 16-color text welcome screens to my local BBS's being prettier than many of the 4-color CGA graphics of the games I played. My external 2400 baud BRICK*cough*modem pulling the screens in a line at a time from the WWIV boards with "Klingon language" menus and playing Tradewars MANUALLY against other actual humans doing the same.

You've just brought me back to the days of MajorMUD. Ah, calling my phone line from a pay phone in front of my high school to see if my script had hung. Busy signal = good.
07-25-2011
quzah

MajorMUD was such a poser. Real muds or GTFO.

Quzah.
07-25-2011
CommonTater

1 Attachment(s)

More for the list...

FidoNet & Points
QBBS
ATDT5551212
Wire mods
BetaMax
14" Video Disc
and...My first computer...

Attachment 10750
07-25-2011
Matticus

Quote:

Originally Posted by quzah

MajorMUD was such a poser. Real muds or GTFO.

Quzah.

The sass is strong with this one tonight!
07-26-2011
VirtualAce

Wireless is not all that new. My first IBM computer had a wireless keyboard. It was called the PCjr chiclet keyboard and before you ask...yes it sucked big time. It used IR and as such had to be so close to the system at all times that you might as well have had a coord.

Just recently I bought a wireless Logitech...and then plugged the charger in for good and left it wired. It has an internal battery but it does not last all that long and so I just keep it charged.

Quote:

Peter Norton's guide to IBM PC's and Compatibles

I remember purchasing this book as well as thumbing through the 3 ring huge binders back in the day that were the manuals for DOS 2.10. I also remember waiting to open FS Flight Sim way back in the day when it was 4 color CGA for PC XT/AT and 16 color for the PCjr and when Sublogic coded it instead of Microsoft.

Really the only thing good about those days is that they are gone. We have come a long way and have a long way yet to go.