1960 meets 1985 (I am cool and I didn't

[Opti]

know it, LOL.)

It occurred to me today(again) that I am cool and interesting looking at

it from a perspective of someone being born around 1985 which is 28/29 years old.

To my 54 years of age

I feel like I should write a book, blog, or something...

All the cool shit I did, while you are

[Opti]

Crap, the computer Gods correctly tell me I have to go to bed,

but I'm amazed of what's happened in my life since I started working

for AT&T in June of 1985.

1984 - Breakup of MA Bell officially begins, I am completing my final

year in grad school TAing computer architecture, etc.

1985- Join AT&T as Member of Technical Staff.

MS-DOS

First PC that was semi-useful, came out ie. 286.

64K was ALL of your main memory.

2400 baud was a big deal

...

I was there and you weren't.

Take that Shaun, you Boomer hater!

(I'm always educating people that UNIX was created in Bell Labs and we

had source code well into 1989 or so. Linux just started out as a rewrite

to have source code again but UNIX features by Linus Torvald so ---> L(inus)UNIX.

[Deleted]

Uh, my ex is way "cooler" according to your terms, Optimist.  He wrote the first Sobel (sp?) program back in the 70s.

Since "cool" Isn't a word EVER associated with my ex, you might want to rethink your definition of "cool."

[Opti]

Sept 11, 2014 23:18:10 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

Uh, my ex is way "cooler" according to your terms, Optimist.  He wrote the first Sobel (sp?) program back in the 70s.

Since "cool" Isn't a word EVER associated with my ex, you might want to rethink your definition of "cool."

I'm sticking with my definition of cool .... sort of ...

,

What's Sobel or are you thinking Cobol the language that was supposed to die and didn't?

I am slightly jealous of those about 10 years older than me in the computer industry,

they used the 8 inch floppy drives which I never saw or even used. I did bootstrap a

PDP6 or some such at Purdue at least once twice.

[Opti]

Around this part of the country, I occasionally get some serious

street(computer nerd) cred when I reveal I have several copies of K&R

classic, The C Programming Language, which apparently would net me

around $20 or so on Ebay since I Have first editions(c 1978) and one second edition.

I'm sadly emotionally attached to my work copy of K&R. I know the coffee stain was

from when I worked in the UNIX division and remember the beginning days of X-windows

and the window GUIs everyone takes for granted now...

Memories 

[tallguy]

Sept 11, 2014 23:18:10 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

Uh, my ex is way "cooler" according to your terms, Optimist.  He wrote the first Sobel (sp?) program back in the 70s.

Since "cool" Isn't a word EVER associated with my ex, you might want to rethink your definition of "cool."

Might have you (and him) beat.  Friend of mine wrote and sold to Microsoft what was then renamed MS-DOS. 

[Opti]

Sept 11, 2014 23:59:54 GMT -5 tallguy said:

Sept 11, 2014 23:18:10 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

Uh, my ex is way "cooler" according to your terms, Optimist.  He wrote the first Sobel (sp?) program back in the 70s.

Since "cool" Isn't a word EVER associated with my ex, you might want to rethink your definition of "cool."

Might have you (and him) beat.  Friend of mine wrote and sold to Microsoft what was then renamed MS-DOS. 

He was Bill Gates?

[Opti]

BTW, TG, to be accurate, I kick your ass!

I'd have to speak to the friend to have an appropriate computer

nerd cred battle.

[tallguy]

I didn't say "I" had cred.  It is cred once-removed, just like the quoted post.  

[Opti]

Sept 12, 2014 0:08:43 GMT -5 tallguy said:

I didn't say "I" had cred.  It is cred once-removed, just like the quoted post.  

It is cred basking.

I would need real names.

I have actually eaten dinner with Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, and other luminaries

including Jim Johnston, etc.

I have basked in the rarified air of what was Murray Hill Bell Labs back in the late 80s

into the 90s. I also feel like a huge under-achiever. MyXH has patents from his days

at Bell Labs. My contemporaries, published books, ran conferences. I was the printer

queen and creator of documentation on how to test X windows pieces when you are

partially brain dead, i.e. like I am now or worse.

I can't wait till the part of the sinus infection/hydration gets under control.

At least I finally made turkey burgers with the Coleman ground turkey I got

on sale. I have a few days of prepared proteins to craft into microwaveable

meals for work...

I want to sleep or at least be alive at 3PM today..... Ack.

[Opti]

In other news, one of my co-workers has me beat again!

She tried to eat a wolf spider when she was three and she slid

down the stairs in her potty chair pretending it was a car.

They were wood, then she tells me.

They were, says not so clueful Optimist?!

My rocking horse was plastic.I have pictures proving it existed in 1961,,,

:Pelp

:PH

Does this brain have an off button,,,

crap I know the answr.

[teen persuasion]

Sept 11, 2014 23:40:51 GMT -5 Opti said:

Sept 11, 2014 23:18:10 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

Uh, my ex is way "cooler" according to your terms, Optimist.  He wrote the first Sobel (sp?) program back in the 70s.

Since "cool" Isn't a word EVER associated with my ex, you might want to rethink your definition of "cool."

I'm sticking with my definition of cool .... sort of ...

,

What's Sobel or are you thinking Cobol the language that was supposed to die and didn't?

I am slightly jealous of those about 10 years older than me in the computer industry,

they used the 8 inch floppy drives which I never saw or even used. I did bootstrap a

PDP6 or some such at Purdue at least once twice.

I worked in a college office in the late 80's, and I remember the secretary was still using the big floppies, I thought they were 10" but maybe they were 8".  She had some dinosaur of a word processing machine that used the floppies.  I realized it had no operating system, she had to push a button twice to find a track and read it.  

The PC in the office began accelerating the time/calendar (bad clock).  After a while, control characters would appear in documents, but only after you saved the file.  I figured out that the date had incremented itself beyond 01/01/2000, and since the year was stored as a two digit int, it was overwriting into the file and appearing as control chars.  Yep, I saw evidence of Y2K in 1987 or so.

I also remember a computer lab that was at the far end of campus, and how slow things were, I think they said it was 200 baud rate.  You could type for a bit, fill up the buffer, and then sit and watch while it echoed what you'd typed.  Or just took a break while you waited for it to catch up.  Needless to say, we only did docs from there, we didn't compile.  Once you were an upperclassman you had 24/7 access to the dept lab and clean room.

[Deleted]

Sobel was one of the early programming languages.  It was proprietary to AT&T, I believe, and stood for Southern Bell (I think).

He was a programmer when they just hired people who could think--math, philosophy, etc. majors and taught them how.

[movingforward]

Well, I am definitely not a computer nerd since I don't understand half of what you all are talking about.  The only thing I recognize is Bill Gates . 

I love watching movies from the 80's though and seeing all the old computers, huge cell phones, etc.  Does that count .  Of course, phones these days keep getting larger so I don't know if we are allowed to make fun of the old cell phones any longer. 

[Phoenix84]

Well, I'm squarely in the age range you believe thinks you're cool, but I don't have any specific idea why at the moment.

What makes you think this?

[Phoenix84]

Sept 11, 2014 23:40:51 GMT -5 Opti said:

Sept 11, 2014 23:18:10 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

Uh, my ex is way "cooler" according to your terms, Optimist.  He wrote the first Sobel (sp?) program back in the 70s.

Since "cool" Isn't a word EVER associated with my ex, you might want to rethink your definition of "cool."

I'm sticking with my definition of cool .... sort of ...

,

What's Sobel or are you thinking Cobol the language that was supposed to die and didn't?

I am slightly jealous of those about 10 years older than me in the computer industry,

they used the 8 inch floppy drives which I never saw or even used. I did bootstrap a

PDP6 or some such at Purdue at least once twice.

You haven't seen a 8 inch floppy?

Man, I'm 29 and have seen an 8 inch floppy.  Not for a loooong time mind you, but my dad used them when I was a little kid.

[mmhmm]

LOL! <says one who was around and busy when formatting was done with a plugboard>

[Phoenix84]

I don't know if I'd go as far as to call it "cool" but I will admit I enjoy talking with people who were around as computing developed. But I'm a nerd.

[alabamagal]

I got some cred from my kids (90's generation).  I told my son that I had tickets to an Ozzy Osbourne concert in the early 80's, but he canceled due to a plane crash with his guitarist and makeup artist.  I still have the actual tickets and showed him.  I don't think he believed me until he read about the crash on Wikipedia.

I also don't think they believe I went to an AC/DC concert since I have no proof.

[milee]

Sept 12, 2014 9:21:45 GMT -5 Phoenix84 said:

I don't know if I'd go as far as to call it "cool" but I will admit I enjoy talking with people who were around as computing developed. But I'm a nerd.

Fellow nerd here.

Context matters, though.  It can be interesting and enjoyable to talk about history and development in a nostalgic or jokey way on a message board or with friends.

Hearing about it from an employee, someone you're interviewing for a job or someone who's telling you how this info somehow means they can't/won't use the current system is a lot less amusing.

[tallguy]

Punch cards were fun.  Only used them in junior high or high school though. 

Flipping channels last night and saw a movie where Bobby Troup was trying to convince aging quarterback Charlton Heston to join the management of some type of computer company.  Touring the company, seeing and explaining the stacks of cards being read in the huge machines....     

[milee]

Sept 12, 2014 9:29:07 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

I also don't think they believe I went to an AC/DC concert since I have no proof.

Brian Johnson lives near me. His wife is very cool and I've hung out at their house a couple of times.  I'm not a close friend or anything like that (one of my friends is BFF with the wife), but it was fun to get to see them in a casual, intimate setting.

Not sure that will impress your son, though, since Brian and the rest of AC/DC are in their 60s now.  

[mmhmm]

You would have loved my dad, @phoenix84.  He was around from the very beginning of data processing, when a computer took up an entire city block.  I remember thinking of him when I saw my first Cray (with seating built around the little box that was the Cray) and imagining him wondering at that.  By the time home computers were common he was already heading down the dementia path, sadly. 

[mmhmm]

Sept 12, 2014 9:31:55 GMT -5 tallguy said:

Punch cards were fun.  Only used them in junior high or high school though. 

Flipping channels last night and saw a movie where Bobby Troup was trying to convince aging quarterback Charlton Heston to join the management of some type of computer company.  Touring the company, seeing and explaining the stacks of cards being read in the huge machines....     

*chuckle* Remember paper tape?  Mylar tape was a freakin' miracle! 

[mmhmm]

Sept 12, 2014 9:31:55 GMT -5 tallguy said:

Punch cards were fun.  Only used them in junior high or high school though. 

Flipping channels last night and saw a movie where Bobby Troup was trying to convince aging quarterback Charlton Heston to join the management of some type of computer company.  Touring the company, seeing and explaining the stacks of cards being read in the huge machines....     

Oooh! I can recall when a card sorting machine went postal and started sorting cards out an open window! 

[Regis]

Sept 12, 2014 9:32:46 GMT -5 milee said:

Sept 12, 2014 9:29:07 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

I also don't think they believe I went to an AC/DC concert since I have no proof.

Brian Johnson lives near me. His wife is very cool and I've hung out at their house a couple of times.  I'm not a close friend or anything like that (one of my friends is BFF with the wife), but it was fun to get to see them in a casual, intimate setting.

Not sure that will impress your son, though, since Brian and the rest of AC/DC are in their 60s now.  

Tell him they're the guys who did "Thunderstruck".  If he's ever been in a stadium for any sort of sporting event, he'll be impressed!

[Tiny]

Sept 11, 2014 23:40:51 GMT -5 Opti said:

Sept 11, 2014 23:18:10 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

Uh, my ex is way "cooler" according to your terms, Optimist.  He wrote the first Sobel (sp?) program back in the 70s.

Since "cool" Isn't a word EVER associated with my ex, you might want to rethink your definition of "cool."

I'm sticking with my definition of cool .... sort of ...

,

What's Sobel or are you thinking Cobol the language that was supposed to die and didn't?

I am slightly jealous of those about 10 years older than me in the computer industry,

they used the 8 inch floppy drives which I never saw or even used. I did bootstrap a

PDP6 or some such at Purdue at least once twice.

HEY! I'm 50 and way back when-- just out of Jr College, I was doing a job part time programmer/part time operator (filled the gap between the night/morning operators and then did some stuff at month/qtr end during the day).   The IBM S34/S36 would take 'magazines' of 8 inch floppies for the morning back up... and then there was the reel to reel drive and the 'download' of data from someplace else (it was a closely guarded secret for some reason... probably because there wasn't much data security.) The computer room did have a doors with combination locks on them...though. I helped when the S34 had a 'tummy ache' and we had IBM out to fix it - the first course of the cure (before the IBM tech guy came out) was to do a bunch of diagnostic-y stuff and to load stuff off the Big Floppies.    As the lowest person on the totem pole I was incharge of loading and unloading the magazines as the operator (the Dragon Lady - my god! some memories there) called out what disks should go in which slots. We were down for a little over 24 hours - my first overnighter....


FWIW:  I've got a couple of old 8 inch floppies as decorations in my cube... they are novelties these days.

[Green Eyed Lady]

Sept 12, 2014 9:08:23 GMT -5 Phoenix84 said:

Well, I'm squarely in the age range you believe thinks you're cool, but I don't have any specific idea why at the moment.

What makes you think this?

LOL!!  Thanks for the coffee on my screen, Phoenix!

[Tiny]

Been watching the Man from U.N.C.L.E. the last season (circa 1967?) has a big bank of "computers" - lots of flashing lights, lots of switches and buttons, reel to reel tapes, lots of pretty women( with guns on their hips) tending the machines.

I liked the flashing lights, the switches and buttons, and the whir-ing reel to reel tapes, and I kinda wish I was pretty and young...  

Many of the computers on the show spit out punch cards and then someone 'reads' the punch card out load (which I find amusing).

I'm still in awe that the 'computer operators' could make meaningful sense out of the banks of flashing lights on the computers.... Even if it is fantasy.  

[andreawick]

Sept 12, 2014 9:10:40 GMT -5 Phoenix84 said:

Sept 11, 2014 23:40:51 GMT -5 Opti said:

I'm sticking with my definition of cool .... sort of ...

,

What's Sobel or are you thinking Cobol the language that was supposed to die and didn't?

I am slightly jealous of those about 10 years older than me in the computer industry,

they used the 8 inch floppy drives which I never saw or even used. I did bootstrap a

PDP6 or some such at Purdue at least once twice.

You haven't seen a 8 inch floppy?

Man, I'm 29 and have seen an 8 inch floppy.  Not for a loooong time mind you, but my dad used them when I was a little kid.

my husband has an 8 inch floppy...wait, what?!