Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 06:18:36 -0500,
wrote:


It seems to me that most participants here are interested in price. A new
computer costs, well, a lot and often you're paying for the newest
technology that's not really necessary.


Necessary to some. A guy at work is specing out a new computer. He
is in the $1800 range with a fancy graphics card, Quad processor, lots
of memory, etc. He needs it to store some music and pictures and his
wife can check here Facebook page.

Not to mention that he is also looking for the absolute lowest price,
no matter the quality of the components.

When I selected the parts for my last computer I spec'ed it out with
regard to lowest *sound* (i.e. the quietest)! I have to share an office
with the thing and those "fancy graphics cards" can be loud. For
instance, my graphics card uses ambient cooling (with a big heat sink).
The power supply was also hand-selected. Price and speed aren't
everything; there is a non-trivial premium to be paid for quiet! : )

On 3/11/2012 1:42 PM, Bill wrote:
Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 06:18:36 -0500,
wrote:


It seems to me that most participants here are interested in price. A
new
computer costs, well, a lot and often you're paying for the newest
technology that's not really necessary.


Necessary to some. A guy at work is specing out a new computer. He
is in the $1800 range with a fancy graphics card, Quad processor, lots
of memory, etc. He needs it to store some music and pictures and his
wife can check here Facebook page.

Not to mention that he is also looking for the absolute lowest price,
no matter the quality of the components.

When I selected the parts for my last computer I spec'ed it out with
regard to lowest *sound* (i.e. the quietest)! I have to share an office
with the thing and those "fancy graphics cards" can be loud. For
instance, my graphics card uses ambient cooling (with a big heat sink).
The power supply was also hand-selected. Price and speed aren't
everything; there is a non-trivial premium to be paid for quiet! : )

Oddly my 1 year old desk top had 5 fans, power supply, CPU, video card
and 2 extra cooling fans. Really not loud at all. I know that some are
quite noisy but this one really does not draw attention.

Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote in news:P-
:


Oddly my 1 year old desk top had 5 fans, power supply, CPU, video card
and 2 extra cooling fans. Really not loud at all. I know that some are
quite noisy but this one really does not draw attention.


Many have fan speed controllers that really quiet things down. They'll run
at full speed for a few seconds at power up and then settle down or turn
off completely. Most of the life of a computer is spent not doing
anything.

Puckdropper
--
Make it to fit, don't make it fit.

Larry Jaques wrote in
:


Yeah, just trade in that old house you're living in for one, complete
with internal dust collection and Festool green LEDs.

My computers collect dust internally just fine. I'll need the CT22 or
whatever model vac to clean them out!

Puckdropper
--
Make it to fit, don't make it fit.

J. Clarke wrote:


He's looking for a status symbol. A quad core machine with 8 gig
ram, a terabyte of disk, and a reasonably fancy video board can be
had from Best Buy for about 800 bucks.

I know that we're all aware of this, but sometimes it still amazes me at how
the prices of computer hardware have plumetted so much. I remember when I
was with EMC back in the mid-90s and a terabyte of storage was a million
dollar investment. Granted - that was more than just a terabyte of disk,
but still...

--

-Mike-

Leon wrote:


NOT ME! I am just itching for Festool to come out with a computer. ;~)

Don't hold your breath Leon. Rumor has it no supplier is willing to paint a
perfectly good cabinet that "green" color.

They say it makes it look too much like a... sander.

--

-Mike-

Larry Jaques wrote:


Yeah, just trade in that old house you're living in for one, complete
with internal dust collection and Festool green LEDs.

Shoot - my PC's all have internal dust collection. Didn't even need the
Festool green... Oh yeah - the dust collection is very silent, and it makes
computing so much more fun!

--

-Mike-

Puckdropper wrote:

My computers collect dust internally just fine. I'll need the CT22 or
whatever model vac to clean them out!


Perfect timing - Dave just advertised a compressor for sale. Probably
overkill for your computers. Maybe he just ought to send it to me for
proper disposal.

--

-Mike-

Bill wrote:


Thanks for explaining. When I purchase, I stay at least a year behind
the newest models--and I use the stuff until I have decent reason to
replace it. I have found the strategy a good one for cars too!


Preach it Bill! Since I don't care at all about snob factor, I'm perfectly
fine with this strategy in my little corner of the world too.

BTW - you gotta learn to snip a bit in your replies.

--

-Mike-

Leon wrote:
On 3/11/2012 6:18 AM, HeyBub wrote:

It seems to me that most participants here are interested in price. A new
computer costs, well, a lot and often you're paying for the newest
technology that's not really necessary.


NOT ME! I am just itching for Festool to come out with a computer. ;~)


LOL!

Leon wrote:
On 3/11/2012 1:42 PM, Bill wrote:
Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 06:18:36 -0500,
wrote:


It seems to me that most participants here are interested in price. A
new
computer costs, well, a lot and often you're paying for the newest
technology that's not really necessary.


Necessary to some. A guy at work is specing out a new computer. He
is in the $1800 range with a fancy graphics card, Quad processor, lots
of memory, etc. He needs it to store some music and pictures and his
wife can check here Facebook page.

Not to mention that he is also looking for the absolute lowest price,
no matter the quality of the components.

When I selected the parts for my last computer I spec'ed it out with
regard to lowest *sound* (i.e. the quietest)! I have to share an office
with the thing and those "fancy graphics cards" can be loud. For
instance, my graphics card uses ambient cooling (with a big heat sink).
The power supply was also hand-selected. Price and speed aren't
everything; there is a non-trivial premium to be paid for quiet! : )

Oddly my 1 year old desk top had 5 fans, power supply, CPU, video card
and 2 extra cooling fans. Really not loud at all. I know that some are
quite noisy but this one really does not draw attention.

Maybe a little louder when you "rev it up"?

Mike Marlow wrote:
J. Clarke wrote:


He's looking for a status symbol. A quad core machine with 8 gig
ram, a terabyte of disk, and a reasonably fancy video board can be
had from Best Buy for about 800 bucks.

I know that we're all aware of this, but sometimes it still amazes me at how
the prices of computer hardware have plumetted so much. I remember when I
was with EMC back in the mid-90s and a terabyte of storage was a million
dollar investment. Granted - that was more than just a terabyte of disk,
but still...


Yes, I agree that my recollection of prices that I have paid for stuff
in the past makes it easier to buy new hardware. I haven't jointed the
Apple I-gang, however. I just made that term up. Let me know if,
somehow, a definition is needed.

Swingman wrote in
:

On 3/11/2012 2:08 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
J. Clarke wrote:


He's looking for a status symbol. A quad core machine with 8 gig
ram, a terabyte of disk, and a reasonably fancy video board can be
had from Best Buy for about 800 bucks.

I know that we're all aware of this, but sometimes it still amazes me
at how the prices of computer hardware have plumetted so much. I
remember when I was with EMC back in the mid-90s and a terabyte of
storage was a million dollar investment. Granted - that was more
than just a terabyte of disk, but still...

I once paid $800 for 8MB of memory. Remember thinking it was like
money in the bank.

But boy did that sucker scream in the studio.

I fogot what I paid for my Apple //e 128kB memory expansion card ...

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

Bill wrote:


Yes, I agree that my recollection of prices that I have paid for stuff
in the past makes it easier to buy new hardware. I haven't jointed
the Apple I-gang, however. I just made that term up. Let me know if,
somehow, a definition is needed.

Like you - I have not joined the dark side. I do own an iPod, but beyond
that, I'm not an Apple culture person.

BTW Bill - snip your posts.

--

-Mike-

On 3/11/2012 1:35 PM, Leon wrote:
On 3/11/2012 11:47 AM, Swingman wrote:

That said, Dell is not putting the quality in their laptops that they
once did. Although the last one, just a few months back, an XPS 15 502x,
does not have the fit and finish that the older ones exhibited, but it
still runs like hell with it's 64bit OS and Core i7 processor, and
hooked to a 24" monitor and SpaceNavigator, makes a helluva general
office and SketchUp machine.


This might be a better built XPS and apparent brand new.

http://www.dell.com/html/global/xps1...=us&l=en&s=dhs

Not enough ports for office use, no optical drive, and too new for the
Outlet Store. Besides, I already have an iPad.

--
www.eWoodShop.com
Last update: 4/15/2010
KarlCaillouet@ (the obvious)
http://gplus.to/eWoodShop

On 11 Mar 2012 19:05:22 GMT, Puckdropper
My computers collect dust internally just fine. I'll need the CT22 or
whatever model vac to clean them out!

Reminds me of the time I was vacuuming out the dust from a case with a
486 in it. I actually sucked the bios chip off the motherboard. Made
quite the mess digging it out of the vacuum bag.

On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 15:08:04 -0400, "Mike Marlow"
I know that we're all aware of this, but sometimes it still amazes me at how
the prices of computer hardware have plumetted so much. I remember when I
was with EMC back in the mid-90s and a terabyte of storage was a million
dollar investment. Granted - that was more than just a terabyte of disk,
but still...

Shows you how spoiled we are these days. My first computer was a
386-16. The 80 meg hard drive in it cost me over $800 just for the
drive itself.

At one point, I upgraded the 1 meg of ram to 4 megs. Cost me a
whopping $500 for that ram.

On 3/11/2012 2:08 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
J. Clarke wrote:


He's looking for a status symbol. A quad core machine with 8 gig
ram, a terabyte of disk, and a reasonably fancy video board can be
had from Best Buy for about 800 bucks.

I know that we're all aware of this, but sometimes it still amazes me at how
the prices of computer hardware have plumetted so much. I remember when I
was with EMC back in the mid-90s and a terabyte of storage was a million
dollar investment. Granted - that was more than just a terabyte of disk,
but still...

I once paid $800 for 8MB of memory. Remember thinking it was like money
in the bank.

But boy did that sucker scream in the studio.

--
www.eWoodShop.com
Last update: 4/15/2010
KarlCaillouet@ (the obvious)
http://gplus.to/eWoodShop

Mike Marlow wrote:

BTW Bill - snip your posts.


I do. Thank you for the reminder.

On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 16:07:53 -0400, Dave wrote:




Shows you how spoiled we are these days. My first computer was a
386-16. The 80 meg hard drive in it cost me over $800 just for the
drive itself.

At one point, I upgraded the 1 meg of ram to 4 megs. Cost me a
whopping $500 for that ram.

My first computer was an 8088 with two 5 1/4" floppies. Eventually
added a 30MB HD for about $300 and that was in the 1980's. Another
upgrade was the 24 pin printer over the 9 pin.

My Pentium 90 was about $3500, but I did spend the extra $300 for the
17" monitor. That was over the cost of the 14" base model.

On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 11:50:15 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 3/11/2012 10:24 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 10:20:23 -0500, Leonlcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 3/11/2012 6:18 AM, HeyBub wrote:
Bill wrote:
HeyBub wrote:
whit3rd wrote:
On Tuesday, March 6, 2012 9:45:14 PM UTC-8, wrote:
I just got a new laptop, delivered today. One big problem; the
box was crushed.

I am looking for a program like the old "Burn In" and "PC Test"
that we used to use ...

Why? You didn't buy the box, you bought the computer. And, if
it isn't visibly physically damaged, and has normal
disk/screen/keyboard functions, why would you want to test things
(like memory)
that AREN'T particularly likely to take stress/shock damage?

Discard the packaging and enjoy the computer; life's too short to
agonize over imaginary problems.


He bought the computer at retail from Tiger Direct.
People who do that do not think like most of us.

Please help me translate that last sentence.


Uh, okay. Sorry for the "whoosh" factor.

It seems to me that most participants here are interested in price. A new
computer costs, well, a lot and often you're paying for the newest
technology that's not really necessary.


NOT ME! I am just itching for Festool to come out with a computer. ;~)

Yeah, just trade in that old house you're living in for one, complete
with internal dust collection and Festool green LEDs.


The old house I am living in is 1 year old last Christmas.

Yes, I know that. Them Festools ain't cheap, son.

--
Inside every older person is a younger person wondering WTF happened.

On 3/11/2012 3:07 PM, Dave wrote:
On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 15:08:04 -0400, "Mike Marlow"
I know that we're all aware of this, but sometimes it still amazes me at how
the prices of computer hardware have plumetted so much. I remember when I
was with EMC back in the mid-90s and a terabyte of storage was a million
dollar investment. Granted - that was more than just a terabyte of disk,
but still...

Shows you how spoiled we are these days. My first computer was a
386-16. The 80 meg hard drive in it cost me over $800 just for the
drive itself.

At one point, I upgraded the 1 meg of ram to 4 megs. Cost me a
whopping $500 for that ram.

LOL, My first computer was an 8086, 640k ram, 2-5.25 floppys, no HD. I
later added a 30 meg HD for about $300.

On 3/11/2012 2:09 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Leon wrote:


NOT ME! I am just itching for Festool to come out with a computer. ;~)

Don't hold your breath Leon. Rumor has it no supplier is willing to paint a
perfectly good cabinet that "green" color.

They say it makes it look too much like a... sander.


Actually,......

http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-m18x/pd.aspx

Bill wrote:

It seems to me that most participants here are interested in price.
A new computer costs, well, a lot and often you're paying for the
newest technology that's not really necessary.

Thanks for explaining. When I purchase, I stay at least a year behind
the newest models--and I use the stuff until I have decent reason to
replace it. I have found the strategy a good one for cars too!



Heh! One of the five $20 Dells I bought turned out to be a snail-paced
930MHz.

So I relegated it to the table where CDs are duplicated.

For that application, it works swell.

On the other hand, there are uses for the latest lickety-split,
double-clutched model.

For example, if you don't save the universe, who will?

Leon wrote:
On 3/11/2012 2:09 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Leon wrote:


NOT ME! I am just itching for Festool to come out with a computer.
;~)

Don't hold your breath Leon. Rumor has it no supplier is willing to
paint a perfectly good cabinet that "green" color.

They say it makes it look too much like a... sander.


Actually,......

http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-m18x/pd.aspx

Whoda ever thunk it?

--

-Mike-

On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 16:06:39 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 3/11/2012 2:09 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Leon wrote:


NOT ME! I am just itching for Festool to come out with a computer. ;~)

Don't hold your breath Leon. Rumor has it no supplier is willing to paint a
perfectly good cabinet that "green" color.

They say it makes it look too much like a... sander.


Actually,......

http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-m18x/pd.aspx

No fair! They're using green LEDs, not green paint.

My first comp was a $950 80286-12MHz screamer with two 5.25 floppies
and a 10MB hard drive. I added a 20MB hard drive the next year for
only $300. I think the comp came with 284k and I later upgraded to
640k and started using DesqVIEW to multitask with it. That was so
-cool- at the time! I adopted Windows 3.0 shortly thereafter and
probably saw 28,000 Blue Screens of Death before Win 3.1 came out and
fixed most of that. Remember Norton Editor and Norton Commander? Ol
Bill was truly a DOS God back then, before he sold his soul to
SlymeAntics.

--
Inside every older person is a younger person wondering WTF happened.

Dave wrote in
:

Shows you how spoiled we are these days. My first computer was a
386-16. The 80 meg hard drive in it cost me over $800 just for the
drive itself.

At one point, I upgraded the 1 meg of ram to 4 megs. Cost me a
whopping $500 for that ram.

I have a TI994/a as my first computer. 1 mHz processor, storage was
mainly on cassette tapes, and the joystick up button didn't work if the
Alpha Lock key was down. There were no lowercase letters either. Lower
case was small caps. It came with a Speech Synthesizer so games could
talk to you.

Neat little machine, though. Even in 2012 Parsec is a fun game to play.
"Press Fire to Begin" it'd say. "Warning: Alien Craft Advancing." "Nice
Shot Pilot." "Nice Shooting." and a few more phrases.

It's responsible for my love of Small Caps fonts and TI calculators.

Puckdropper
--
Make it to fit, don't make it fit.

On 03/11/2012 06:46 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 16:06:39 -0500, Leonlcb11211@swbelldotnet

No fair! They're using green LEDs, not green paint.

My first comp was a $950 80286-12MHz screamer with two 5.25 floppies
and a 10MB hard drive. I added a 20MB hard drive the next year for
only $300. I think the comp came with 284k and I later upgraded to
640k and started using DesqVIEW to multitask with it. That was so
-cool- at the time! I adopted Windows 3.0 shortly thereafter and
probably saw 28,000 Blue Screens of Death before Win 3.1 came out and
fixed most of that. Remember Norton Editor and Norton Commander? Ol
Bill was truly a DOS God back then, before he sold his soul to
SlymeAntics.

My first comp (it wasn't really mine as I had just signed on with Big
Blue) was an IBM 360/30 in 1966. A mainframe with 8K of core memory and
a card reader/punch, a chain printer and a huge 3MB removable disc.

The software was a card assembler. That sucker was proudly displayed in
the IBM building in Seattle behind glass walls on the ground floor for
all to marvel. It did have a console with lots of switches and little
blinky lights (not leds).


--
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure,the creed of ignorance, and the
gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery"
-Winston Churchill

On 3/11/2012 9:46 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 16:06:39 -0500, Leonlcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 3/11/2012 2:09 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Leon wrote:


NOT ME! I am just itching for Festool to come out with a computer. ;~)

Don't hold your breath Leon. Rumor has it no supplier is willing to paint a
perfectly good cabinet that "green" color.

They say it makes it look too much like a... sander.


Actually,......

http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-m18x/pd.aspx

No fair! They're using green LEDs, not green paint.

My first comp was a $950 80286-12MHz screamer with two 5.25 floppies
and a 10MB hard drive. I added a 20MB hard drive the next year for
only $300. I think the comp came with 284k and I later upgraded to
640k and started using DesqVIEW to multitask with it. That was so
-cool- at the time! I adopted Windows 3.0 shortly thereafter and
probably saw 28,000 Blue Screens of Death before Win 3.1 came out and
fixed most of that. Remember Norton Editor and Norton Commander? Ol
Bill was truly a DOS God back then, before he sold his soul to
SlymeAntics.

--
Inside every older person is a younger person wondering WTF happened.

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.

I up graded to a PC Junior, and finally to an Ambra (IBM) I ran IBM OS/2
on it for years.

An interesting side light. When I got the Ambra we were installing the
LAN for the company I worked for. Our first LAN software was OS/2 which
we ran for many trouble free years. At one point we had to upgrade to a
newer version of OS/2. One of the engineer who had worked there for 4
years got wind of what we were doing and came storming over wanting to
know why were installing such a bad piece of software. We told him he
had been using the "bad" software for 4 years and he never had a
problem. He left quietly.

On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 19:21:19 -0700, Doug Winterburn
wrote:

On 03/11/2012 06:46 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 16:06:39 -0500, Leonlcb11211@swbelldotnet

No fair! They're using green LEDs, not green paint.

My first comp was a $950 80286-12MHz screamer with two 5.25 floppies
and a 10MB hard drive. I added a 20MB hard drive the next year for
only $300. I think the comp came with 284k and I later upgraded to
640k and started using DesqVIEW to multitask with it. That was so
-cool- at the time! I adopted Windows 3.0 shortly thereafter and
probably saw 28,000 Blue Screens of Death before Win 3.1 came out and
fixed most of that. Remember Norton Editor and Norton Commander? Ol
Bill was truly a DOS God back then, before he sold his soul to
SlymeAntics.

My first comp (it wasn't really mine as I had just signed on with Big
Blue) was an IBM 360/30 in 1966. A mainframe with 8K of core memory and
a card reader/punch, a chain printer and a huge 3MB removable disc.

Wow, you got in a wee bit earlier than I did. I switched careers in
'88 after some back problems and took Coleman College's course for
comp repair, Computer Electronics Technology.


The software was a card assembler. That sucker was proudly displayed in
the IBM building in Seattle behind glass walls on the ground floor for
all to marvel. It did have a console with lots of switches and little
blinky lights (not leds).

I've only heard of card readers, but I got to program a switch-flippy
little computer, complete with neons, which ran an old Baird Gamma
Camera in the late '90s. What a trip! Luddite tech.

--
Inside every older person is a younger person wondering WTF happened.

On 3/11/2012 9:21 PM, Doug Winterburn wrote:

My first comp (it wasn't really mine as I had just signed on with Big
Blue) was an IBM 360/30 in 1966. A mainframe with 8K of core memory and
a card reader/punch, a chain printer and a huge 3MB removable disc.

The software was a card assembler. That sucker was proudly displayed in
the IBM building in Seattle behind glass walls on the ground floor for
all to marvel. It did have a console with lots of switches and little
blinky lights (not leds).




That was the machine I first learned Fortran on (1972).

One fellow, struggling to put himself through college had created a
generic set of cards which he would rearrange to create new programs.

I thought that was pretty cool.

On 12 Mar 2012 02:07:56 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:


I have a TI994/a as my first computer. 1 mHz processor, storage was
mainly on cassette tapes, and the joystick up button didn't work if the
Alpha Lock key was down. There were no lowercase letters either. Lower
case was small caps. It came with a Speech Synthesizer so games could
talk to you.

Hey, we still have ours. Bought it for my son and he did a science
project with it in 8th grade. I wonder if it has any value today.

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

Matt

On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 23:50:19 -0500, Swingman wrote:
When I moved about 11 years ago I sold the last one I had for $200 in a
garage sale. I thought that was high, but two folks wanted it at the
same time, and one outbid the other.

And all the while, you're standing there trying not to grin while they
bid each other up.

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?


--
www.eWoodShop.com
Last update: 4/15/2010
KarlCaillouet@ (the obvious)
http://gplus.to/eWoodShop

On 3/11/2012 10:15 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 12 Mar 2012 02:07:56 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:


I have a TI994/a as my first computer. 1 mHz processor, storage was
mainly on cassette tapes, and the joystick up button didn't work if the
Alpha Lock key was down. There were no lowercase letters either. Lower
case was small caps. It came with a Speech Synthesizer so games could
talk to you.

Hey, we still have ours. Bought it for my son and he did a science
project with it in 8th grade. I wonder if it has any value today.

When I moved about 11 years ago I sold the last one I had for $200 in a
garage sale. I thought that was high, but two folks wanted it at the
same time, and one outbid the other.

--
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Last update: 4/15/2010
KarlCaillouet@ (the obvious)
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On 3/11/2012 10:39 PM, Matt wrote:
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 got a Heathkit H8 in the late 70's, but damn near went broke buying
peripherals for it to be of much use before switching to the 99/4A a
couple of years later.

The H8 was still a "religious experience" ... I was literally shaking in
anticipation the first time I fired it up.

--
www.eWoodShop.com
Last update: 4/15/2010
KarlCaillouet@ (the obvious)
http://gplus.to/eWoodShop

On 3/11/2012 10:53 PM, Dave wrote:
On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 23:50:19 -0500, wrote:
When I moved about 11 years ago I sold the last one I had for $200 in a
garage sale. I thought that was high, but two folks wanted it at the
same time, and one outbid the other.

And all the while, you're standing there trying not to grin while they
bid each other up.

Ackshully ... I felt, and still feel, a little ashamed about that.

The guy that bought it knew abolutely nothing about computers and really
didn't realize what he was buying, except that it was a gasp
"computer". I was hoping that they both knew something I didn't know ...
and I did tell the guy that if he kept it long enough it would probably
be worth a museum price someday ... in a couple hundred years, maybe.

--
www.eWoodShop.com
Last update: 4/15/2010
KarlCaillouet@ (the obvious)
http://gplus.to/eWoodShop

Ed Pawlowski wrote in
:

On 12 Mar 2012 02:07:56 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:


I have a TI994/a as my first computer. 1 mHz processor, storage was
mainly on cassette tapes, and the joystick up button didn't work if
the Alpha Lock key was down. There were no lowercase letters either.
Lower case was small caps. It came with a Speech Synthesizer so games
could talk to you.

Hey, we still have ours. Bought it for my son and he did a science
project with it in 8th grade. I wonder if it has any value today.

It might have some value today, especially if your video modulator is
still in good shape. (I had some problems with the cable going bad.)

I've still got mine, in fact it's hooked up right now. Parsec is in the
cartridge slot now, Blasto is nearby. (Old computers is a hobby of
mine.)

Puckdropper
--
Make it to fit, don't make it fit.

In article m,
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.