Anne_in_VA
Junior Associate
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 14:09:35 GMT -5
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Post by Anne_in_VA on Sept 12, 2014 10:57:41 GMT -5
Huh - I remember working on a word processing machine back in the '70's. It had a floppy that looked like a punch card that you put in the slot and it would "read" what was on there. Like someone else said, when you typed, it would fill up the buffer and you had to wait for it to catch up. The screen was a tiny one and, if I remember correctly, it was either orange print or green print on a black background.
It took several minutes to boot up. I used to go for coffee while it did that.
I was also a punch-card operator in the mid - late '60's. After a while, we could read what was on the card (sometimes).
I only lasted at that job about 6 months before I transferred to another department. I hated sitting all day doing that punch machine.
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Deleted
Joined: Oct 10, 2024 14:23:11 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2014 11:47:00 GMT -5
Most of what you are talking about is Greek to me. When I was in School, we Learned to use a mimeograph machine and a stencil machine. We went on a school trip and saw a computer that took a whole big room. An electric typewriter was a big deal that only executive secretaries had. I am OLD and not cool .
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Phoenix84
Senior Associate
Joined: Feb 17, 2011 21:42:35 GMT -5
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Post by Phoenix84 on Sept 12, 2014 13:07:15 GMT -5
My earliest computer memories are from my dad's PC. I don't remember what time frame it was exactly, but I know we were in our "old house" so maybe 89-90.
It had 8 inch floppies and MS DOS.
I remember playing a couple of games on it.
One game was where you played a giant gorilla on top of a building (like king kong) and had to input the speed and angle of a banana you threw. The goal was to hit the opposite monkey.
Another was a game where you played a worm in a box and ate numbers. The more numbers you ate, the longer the tail grew. If you hit a wall or your own tail you died.
Another, kind of morbid game was where babies were thrown out of a window at a hospital, and you controlled a trampoline and had to bounce the babies across the computer screen to an ambulance on the other side. If you failed, the babies failed to their deaths.
I didn't have a NES back in the day. I got a Super NES for Christmas in 1991.
Anyway, I've never seen punch cards, or a slide rule for that matter.
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Mardi Gras Audrey
Senior Member
So well rounded, I'm pointless...
Joined: Dec 25, 2010 18:49:31 GMT -5
Posts: 2,087
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Post by Mardi Gras Audrey on Sept 12, 2014 13:39:39 GMT -5
My earliest computer memories are from my dad's PC. I don't remember what time frame it was exactly, but I know we were in our "old house" so maybe 89-90.
It had 8 inch floppies and MS DOS.
I remember playing a couple of games on it.
One game was where you played a giant gorilla on top of a building (like king kong) and had to input the speed and angle of a banana you threw. The goal was to hit the opposite monkey.
Another was a game where you played a worm in a box and ate numbers. The more numbers you ate, the longer the tail grew. If you hit a wall or your own tail you died.
Another, kind of morbid game was where babies were thrown out of a window at a hospital, and you controlled a trampoline and had to bounce the babies across the computer screen to an ambulance on the other side. If you failed, the babies failed to their deaths.
I didn't have a NES back in the day. I got a Super NES for Christmas in 1991.
Anyway, I've never seen punch cards, or a slide rule for that matter. Are u sure it was the 8 inch and not the 5.25 inch? I remember having the 5.25 floppies when using an Apple IIe in elementary school. No internet (at school), a rudimentary word processing system, and some fun games (Go, Oregon Trail!!). I remember my dad's first at hme computer. It was a TRS-80. I think you could do some Basic programs on it but I don't remember much else...
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Phoenix84
Senior Associate
Joined: Feb 17, 2011 21:42:35 GMT -5
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Post by Phoenix84 on Sept 12, 2014 14:50:30 GMT -5
Yeah, it was probably the 5.25 inch floppies.
I remember the were big, and floppy. Unlike the later 3 inch ones we used in elementary school.
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Cookies Galore
Senior Associate
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 18:08:13 GMT -5
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Post by Cookies Galore on Sept 12, 2014 15:05:22 GMT -5
Patti Smith, cool. The Ramones, cool. Debbie Harry, cool. David Bowie, cool. Computer programmer in 1985? Not cool.
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Bob Ross
Junior Associate
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Post by Bob Ross on Sept 12, 2014 15:07:25 GMT -5
Having been a part of the usage of a bunch of dead technologies doesn't make you cool unless you were able to turn them into billions of $.
Otherwise, you're just this guy:
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NancysSummerSip
Community Leader
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 19:19:42 GMT -5
Posts: 36,692
Today's Mood: Full of piss and vinegar
Favorite Drink: Anything with ice
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Post by NancysSummerSip on Sept 12, 2014 15:44:02 GMT -5
Having been a part of the usage of a bunch of dead technologies doesn't make you cool unless you were able to turn them into billions of $.
Otherwise, you're just this guy:
Bob, love your....pocket protector. Oh, and that shiny red stapler!
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swamp
Community Leader
THEY’RE EATING THE DOGS!!!!!!!
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 16:03:22 GMT -5
Posts: 45,622
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Post by swamp on Sept 12, 2014 17:35:45 GMT -5
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.
I'm definitely coming to your house next time I'm in Florida.
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jkapp
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Post by jkapp on Sept 12, 2014 18:07:56 GMT -5
A friend of mine still has his original TRS-80 computer (I doubt it works, but he has it - dust and all)...I tell him he should donate it to the Smithsonian!
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jkapp
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Joined: Dec 23, 2010 12:05:08 GMT -5
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Post by jkapp on Sept 12, 2014 18:10:21 GMT -5
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. Cool... I guess. I'm glad I was born later. Being a teen without internet... sounds lame. Especially since I spent my teens and early twenties in that magical period where most everyone had internet, but nobody had cell phone cameras. It was glorious. Hey, growing up in the 80's was awesome! We didn't need internet, we had the local video arcade. Galaga rules!
And we actually met up with friends and talked face to face...a text was a note passed in class.
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Tennesseer
Member Emeritus
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Post by Tennesseer on Sept 12, 2014 18:25:23 GMT -5
Not quite sure how it worked because it was 40 years ago, but I had to type aircraft weight and balance information into a machine which produced a ticker tape which I then fed into another part of the machine that sent the data over telephone lines to flight headquarters.
This was before email in my company.
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Miss Tequila
Distinguished Associate
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 10:13:45 GMT -5
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Post by Miss Tequila on Sept 12, 2014 18:27:02 GMT -5
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.
I'm definitely coming to your house next time I'm in Florida. Me too!
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Miss Tequila
Distinguished Associate
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 10:13:45 GMT -5
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Post by Miss Tequila on Sept 12, 2014 18:31:12 GMT -5
((Realizes opti has no clue what "cool" means))
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