On 3/11/2012 11:15 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.

About 5 years ago I was in an antique store in Indiana and they had a
Commodore 64. They were asking $100 for it.

On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 20:39:55 -0700, Matt wrote:

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

Well, I can't let you and Doug walk off with the old time computer
prize :-).

My first stored program computer was the Readix in 1956. A minuscule
drum memory, an oscilloscope and a Flexowriter for console, and punched
card I/O.

My second computer, since nobody ever heard of the first, was Univac II
in 1957 or '58 at GE's Appliance Park in KY. 2000 decimal words of
memory and 10 tape drives. All the other peripherals were off-line and
either read or wrote tape (metallic film and weighed a ton). We even had
a "keypunch" that wrote to tape instead of cards. And a tape to
telephone to send/receive data from a GE plant in Texas.

I am oversimplifying. Somewhere in the same time frame as Readix/Univac
was an IBM 650 and a 305 Ramac, and a lot of semi-intelligent punched
card calculating machines.

My first home computer was a TRS80 around '75 or '76. Then an S100 bus
Z80 system with a 5mb disk, and then a 286 with a "turbo" mode to start
me on the current era.

My favorite GE story. Louisville didn't know how to deal with snow.
More than an inch would shut the town down. GE ran announcements on the
radio that second shift was canceled and everyone should stay home
"except for computer operations". That was me! I told my boss the least
he could do was use my name :-).

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 23:50:19 -0500, Swingman wrote:

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.

I picked one up at a rummage sale for $5 and later sold it for the same.

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

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.

All this old timer talk about computers. The only thing older than these
machines is me. My THIRD computer was an original IBM, with two floppies
and 128 k memory. On floppy for the software and another for storage. It
was all the rage at the time.

My SECOND computer was an Epson! Yep, the printer people had a CPM system
out for awhile.

Mt first was a....., I can't remember the name of it. It looked like a
metal suitcase and had a giant 9 inch monitor built into it. It was also a
cpm machine. Was that an Osbourne?

And I had an IBM selectric typewriter at the time. So I got a big, awkward
thing, full of solenoids to sit on the keyboard. I hooked it up to the
computer and it "typed" the copy. Later, they came out with an electronic
interface that was much smaller and cheaper. It sounded like a small
hailstorm when it "typed" out some copy.

I was doing some writing at the time and used a Kroy, manual type machine.
I would type out the copy on the typewriter and manually past it up with the
Kroy type. I would them take it the printer. I actually made my living
with that arrangement for awhile. With the font balls for the selectric, it
was cutting edge graphic arts at the time. I subbed out any illustrations I
needed at the local community college. I was known for cheap and fast
graphic arts at the time.

Actually, my first involvement with computers was back in 1964 - 65, when I
was in 8th grade. I helped the class prodigy to build a computer. I was
the grunt, helper, gofer. I didn't have any idea what was going on. But I
held things in place, walked across town to get parts and did some
soldering. It was a big monstrosity that had at least 75 to 80 vacuum tubes
in it. And when we fired it up, in that little room in back of the science
department, it got HOT! We would be dripping with sweat after 10 minutes.

It did not last long. We ran it a few times and it caught on fire. We put
it out with the fire extinguisher. We had to talk to the fire department
and the principal. Who then banned any more "mad scientist" experiments at
his school. Oh well. I used to kid the principal after that. Always
pretending to be working on some kinda mad scientist experiment. It was all
in good fun though, we got along great.

Damn, I feel like some kinda prehistoric techy fossil.

On 3/12/12 2:21 PM, Lee Michaels wrote:

All this old timer talk about computers. The only thing older than these
machines is me. My THIRD computer was an original IBM, with two floppies
and 128 k memory. On floppy for the software and another for storage. It
was all the rage at the time.

My SECOND computer was an Epson! Yep, the printer people had a CPM
system out for awhile.

QX-10 maybe? I had one of those, nice bit mapped green screen, fair
resolution for the day.


Mt first was a....., I can't remember the name of it. It looked like a
metal suitcase and had a giant 9 inch monitor built into it. It was also
a cpm machine. Was that an Osbourne?

Osbourne or maybe a Kaypro are most likely.

Damn, I feel like some kinda prehistoric techy fossil.

Yep.

--
Froz...


The system will be down for 10 days for preventive maintenance.

"Lee Michaels" leemichaels*nadaspam* at comcast dot net writes:

All this old timer talk about computers. The only thing older than these
machines is me. My THIRD computer was an original IBM, with two floppies
and 128 k memory. On floppy for the software and another for storage. It
was all the rage at the time.

My first computer was a week on a B5500 in 1974.
Second was a PDP-8 via dialup in 1976
Third was an HP-3000 via dialup in 1977
Fourth was a VAX-11/780 (staff) in 1979
Then PDP-11, HP9000, Itel AS/6 (370 PCM), various burroughs mainframes.

First personal was a c64, then an A1000, then various 88100 unix systems,
finally a P6 (first x86 box) in 1997.

Did use a portable (IBM 5100 basic and apl ROM) circa 1982.

scott

In article , wrote:

My first computer was a week on a B5500 in 1974.
Good grief!

That's very gratifying to hear; they were definitely over the hill by 1974.
I still keep a little plug-in circuit module from a B5500 in my desk drawer.

Art

My very first computer experience was around 1953. Dad was working on
his Master's thesis and brought home a huge, German (IIRC) electronic
analog computer that belonged to the geology department. Shortly
thereafter he had a perforated ulcer and, while he was recuperating, I
did all the input while he directed me from his bed. The beginning of a
long slippery slope ... the fascination has never waned.

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

On Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:21:08 -0400, Lee Michaels wrote:

Actually, my first involvement with computers was back in 1964 - 65,
when I was in 8th grade.

snip


Damn, I feel like some kinda prehistoric techy fossil.


Naah - just another newbie :-).

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

On Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:42:19 +0000 (UTC), Larry Blanchard
Damn, I feel like some kinda prehistoric techy fossil.
Naah - just another newbie :-).

Well, considering I started with a 386-20, I have to thank all you old
farts for making me feel young.

Appreciate it guys.

On Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:29:41 -0500, Swingman wrote:

My very first computer experience was around 1953. Dad was working on
his Master's thesis and brought home a huge, German (IIRC) electronic
analog computer that belonged to the geology department. Shortly
thereafter he had a perforated ulcer and, while he was recuperating, I
did all the input while he directed me from his bed. The beginning of a
long slippery slope ... the fascination has never waned.

Mine was when Dad brought home a CPM machine on which to write his
book. I was living elsewhere and saw it when I went over for dinner. I
had no interest in it at all, a move I regret. I think that was 1978,
a Kaypro II (suitcase) with dual 191kb, single-sided, 5-1/4" drives
running WordStar.

--
Intuition isn't the enemy, but the ally, of reason.
-- John Kord Lagemann

In article , says...

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.

In article , says...

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.

Nobody who has looked for a source for that statement has ever found it.
And it's questionable, as there was no such thing as a computer as we
know it in 1943 and IBM didn't have one until 1948, so why would he have
any opinion at all concerning the market for such devices?

However it sounds much like what really did happen in 19_5_3, when IBM
went out 20 companies with a presentation about the 701, where they
expected to get at best 5 orders and they got 18.

All this old computer nostalgia...

Remember the big debate when mice came out? I remember reading about mice
and thought they were a good idea. Every one I knew and many authors were
all upset. They claimed that anything a mouse could do, you could do faster
with some kinda command using control and alt keys. I got a mouse and a lot
folks thought I sold out. A couple years later, all computers were sold
with mice. And a lot of the old farts reluctantly bought them because the
new software required them.

Also, remember graphic cards? I remember the old IBM monochrome monitor.
Text only. The Hercules card allowed graphics on a monochrome monitor.
Very primitive, but a genuine graphic. Son all monitors were capable of
graphics. Again, a big shift from monochrome text only monitors to graphics
monitors, card and software.

J. Clarke wrote:
In , says...

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.

Nobody who has looked for a source for that statement has ever found it.
And it's questionable, as there was no such thing as a computer as we
know it in 1943 and IBM didn't have one until 1948, so why would he have
any opinion at all concerning the market for such devices?

However it sounds much like what really did happen in 19_5_3, when IBM
went out 20 companies with a presentation about the 701, where they
expected to get at best 5 orders and they got 18.


You are probably right. The quote I went searching for was along the
lines of the following one (and that brought me to the others):

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."

The long translation of the ENIAC reveals the way the EE's were thinking.

On 3/12/2012 10:26 PM, Bill wrote:
J. Clarke wrote:
In , says...

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.

Nobody who has looked for a source for that statement has ever found it.
And it's questionable, as there was no such thing as a computer as we
know it in 1943 and IBM didn't have one until 1948, so why would he have
any opinion at all concerning the market for such devices?

However it sounds much like what really did happen in 19_5_3, when IBM
went out 20 companies with a presentation about the 701, where they
expected to get at best 5 orders and they got 18.


You are probably right. The quote I went searching for was along the
lines of the following one (and that brought me to the others):

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."

The long translation of the ENIAC reveals the way the EE's were thinking.



http://www.home.earthlink.net/~cavelamb/proof.htm

Third picture down from the top....
THAT'S what they were thinking...

In article om, "Lee
Michaels" says...

All this old computer nostalgia...

Remember the big debate when mice came out? I remember reading about mice
and thought they were a good idea. Every one I knew and many authors were
all upset. They claimed that anything a mouse could do, you could do faster
with some kinda command using control and alt keys. I got a mouse and a lot
folks thought I sold out. A couple years later, all computers were sold
with mice. And a lot of the old farts reluctantly bought them because the
new software required them.

Well, for selecting commands from menus and such the keyboard is
faster. The trouble is you gotta learn the commands.

Also, remember graphic cards? I remember the old IBM monochrome monitor.
Text only. The Hercules card allowed graphics on a monochrome monitor.
Very primitive, but a genuine graphic. Son all monitors were capable of
graphics. Again, a big shift from monochrome text only monitors to graphics
monitors, card and software.

And I remember an IBM salesman making a big deal of the "megapixel
display". Now most TV sets are two megapixel.

It fine just fine on my half page viewing.

Mike needs to reduce his font size and stop displaying his old fogey
syndrome! LOL


-----------

"Bill" wrote in message ...
I do. Thank you for the reminder.

---------
Mike Marlow wrote:
BTW Bill - snip your posts.

I remember paying over $1000 for a 1024K memory board populated with 32K of
chips back in the 70s. I would hate to tell you what my first computer
looked like with it's twenty large size keypad.

Harddrive? IS that like a faster cassette interface?


----------

"Han" wrote in message ...

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

And it costs more than $50 to put the thing in the garbage at the curb for
collection....LOL

---------

"Swingman" wrote in message
...
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.

Wow. I just threw out a unit with an 8 digit readout and 20 key keypad in
order to trim down for a move. The box I made out of finished oak was nice
though.

----------
"Puckdropper" wrote in message
b.com...

Ed Pawlowski wrote in
:
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

I guy at work asked for advice on a new computer and told me it came with a
80 MByte HDD. I asked him what he intended to do with all that storage. It
was ridiculously oversized!

---------
"Swingman" wrote in message
...
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.

On Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:01:07 -0400, Lee Michaels wrote:

Also, remember graphic cards? I remember the old IBM monochrome
monitor. Text only. The Hercules card allowed graphics on a monochrome
monitor. Very primitive, but a genuine graphic.

Around 1980 or a little later, some company finally came out with a
graphics CRT terminal for just under $1000. I bought it and hooked it up
to my S100 system. I recall that it had it's own graphics mode and could
also emulate a Textronics. I had a lot of fun converting old Calcomp (I
used to work there) Fortran plotting programs to C and running them.

I reluctantly threw it out a few years ago. Wasn't worth a dime :-(.

Speaking of C, anyone remember Ecosoft? They were the first company to
sell a full-blown C compiler, not a subset, for the Z80. Made my life a
lot easier. I could write code at home and get the compile-time errors
out of it before I took it to work.

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

On Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:53:52 -0400, J. Clarke wrote:

However it sounds much like what really did happen in 19_5_3, when IBM
went out 20 companies with a presentation about the 701, where they
expected to get at best 5 orders and they got 18.

At one time I had a copy of an IBM study from that time period. It
disappeared in one of our moves but IIRC it predicted a market somewhere
in the teens.

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

(Arthur Shapiro) writes:
In article , wrote:

My first computer was a week on a B5500 in 1974.
Good grief!

That's very gratifying to hear; they were definitely over the hill by 1974.
I still keep a little plug-in circuit module from a B5500 in my desk drawer.

Art

I have a couple of plug-in circuit modules from that era, probably B3500 or
perhaps electrodata systems from when we moved out of the basement in Pasadena.

scott

Josepi wrote:
It fine just fine on my half page viewing.

Mike needs to reduce his font size and stop displaying his old fogey
syndrome! LOL



Fix your newsreader. My font size is 9 point. You are the only person ever
to comment on that. As for my old foggy syndrome - Sorry - too late to fix
that. I'm just over that edge.


--

-Mike-

On 3/12/2012 5:29 PM, Swingman wrote:
My very first computer experience was around 1953. Dad was working on
his Master's thesis and brought home a huge, German (IIRC) electronic
analog computer that belonged to the geology department. Shortly
thereafter he had a perforated ulcer and, while he was recuperating,

Worry can cause ulcers. Was he worried about which virus protection to
use on the "huge German electronic analog computer or that you might
want to examine the innerds to see what made it tick? LOL

On 3/14/2012 12:01 AM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Josepi wrote:
It fine just fine on my half page viewing.

Mike needs to reduce his font size and stop displaying his old fogey
syndrome! LOL



Fix your newsreader. My font size is 9 point. You are the only person ever
to comment on that. As for my old foggy syndrome - Sorry - too late to fix
that. I'm just over that edge.

Mike, troll or not, his font size is his font size, not yours.

--
Jack
Add Life to your Days not Days to your Life.
http://jbstein.com