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Bill[_37_] Bill[_37_] is offline
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Default O/T: computer question

J. Clarke wrote:
In aweb.com,
says...

On 3/11/2012 9:03 PM, Swingman wrote:
On 3/11/2012 9:22 PM, Keith Nuttle wrote:

My first computer was also a TI99/4a with a total of 16kb of ram. I
wrote my first basic program on a TI-99/4a. It was a very basic
spreadsheet that filled up the memory the first time I ran it. I
purchased a spreadsheet for it and used it to develop my departments
budget. It was better that a paper spreadsheet.

My second computer was a 99/4A. It was actually a 16 bit processor
beast, IIRC.

I used a GE cassette deck for a "hard drive". I wrote an oil and gas
lease records program on it, in TI basic, and actually sold a few copies
to clients at the time, who were tickled to get their lease records onto
something besides paper. I also started learning TI assembly language on
it ... that was a tough learn in those times, as there was not much
documentation.

That thing seemed like cutting edge at the time, at least if you
couldn't afford an IBM 360. Our company CPA actually used one for his
business at one point.

My oldest daughter, as a youngster, used to play on it using the
"Turtle" logo programming language.

The very first computer game I ever played (and may have been the last,
except Pong in a bar), "Pirate", was on the 99/4A. Totally text based,
and any "graphics" were totally and solely the result of your own
imagination.

Can you imagine that today?


Began programming computers for a living on an IBM 360 mod 40 in October
1967. 128K of RAM, two 2311 disk drives, 3.96 MB capacity per drive,
removable disks, 4 tape drives... those were the days. After a Vic 20
then Vic 64 at home, I had a Heath 8086 machine for a while, 1228K RAM,
20MB hard drive - faster and more powerful than that 360 I started on!
Things have sure changed over the years... LOL


I remember being told in 1974 or thereabouts that microprocessors would
always be toys--they had to use MOS and MOS would never achieve clock
speeds higher than a few MHz and that no micro would ever be as fast as
Illiac IV. I just ran Whestone on my 600 buck Gateway. THIRTEEN
GIGAFLOPS.


With credit to the web site:
http://www.rinkworks.com/said/predictions.shtml

We have the following (bad) predictions:
(Enjoy!)

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." -- Thomas
Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.

"Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes
and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum
tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons." -- Popular Mechanics, 1949

"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with
the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that
won't last out the year." -- The editor in charge of business books for
Prentice Hall, 1957.

"But what...is it good for?" -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing
Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken
Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.