Hank Posted June 16, 2014 Report Posted June 16, 2014 I had the DEC PC350, replete with a 10meg hard drive. I missed José's experience by a year. I am generation X! We wrote programs on the PC in FortranIV, but the VAX had all the subroutines. The keyboard was luxurious. We witnessed the possibility of texting through the network. Recognize somebody by there login name and send a message. They would get the message and a login address (not login name). They had to look that up quickly (faster than the sender could log off) Cost of the DEC PC....$2k in 1983 dollars. It worked for about six years. It was completely rebuilt over its lifetime. Best regards, -a- I was able to postpone my computer class just long enough that I was in the first group to not use FORTRAN on the Vax. We were all BASIC on IBM PCs with dual floppies--insert DOS 2.0 disc, power on and get a cup of coffee while waiting for it to boot. In some ways, that system worked better than some things in Winders 8, but my old Apple II+ was even better . . . Quote
flyboy0681 Posted June 16, 2014 Report Posted June 16, 2014 I had the DEC PC350, replete with a 10meg hard drive. I missed José's experience by a year. I am generation X! We wrote programs on the PC in FortranIV, but the VAX had all the subroutines. The keyboard was luxurious. We witnessed the possibility of texting through the network. Recognize somebody by there login name and send a message. They would get the message and a login address (not login name). They had to look that up quickly (faster than the sender could log off) Cost of the DEC PC....$2k in 1983 dollars. It worked for about six years. It was completely rebuilt over its lifetime. Best regards, -a- Some of you may remember that the late Ken Olson (founder of DEC) said the following in 1977: "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home." Quote
BigTex Posted June 16, 2014 Report Posted June 16, 2014 I have a couple PDP-11's in my garage if anyone is interested. . They come complete with original VT-100 terminals. Quote
flyboy0681 Posted June 16, 2014 Report Posted June 16, 2014 I have a couple PDP-11's in my garage if anyone is interested. . They come complete with original VT-100 terminals. I'm strictly an IBM 5250 kind of guy. Quote
Bob_Belville Posted June 16, 2014 Report Posted June 16, 2014 I provided my pre-teen daughters with Sinclair and then Timex computers about 40 years ago. They hooked up to a cassette player and a TV. We had several DG laptops in 1984 or a little earlier boasting dual 3.5" diskettes 720k ea., no hard drives. Sharon took one along with a (1200 baud?) modem to MIT as a freshman in '85. Quote
1964-M20E Posted June 17, 2014 Report Posted June 17, 2014 I have a couple PDP-11's in my garage if anyone is interested. . They come complete with original VT-100 terminals. Maybe the Smithsonian will be interested. Quote
Marauder Posted June 17, 2014 Report Posted June 17, 2014 I provided my pre-teen daughters with Sinclair and then Timex computers about 40 years ago. They hooked up to a cassette player and a TV. We had several DG laptops in 1984 or a little earlier boasting dual 3.5" diskettes 720k ea., no hard drives. Sharon took one along with a (1200 baud?) modem to MIT as a freshman in '85. Chances are it was a 300 baud. I had a acoustic coupler for a standard phone handset that ran at 300 baud. Thought I had hit the jackpot when the 1200s came out! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote
carusoam Posted June 17, 2014 Report Posted June 17, 2014 Our 300baud modem had a 600baud switch. Imagine........ DEC Pro 350 connected to a 'borrowed' modem by a very long cable attaching to a dorm pay-phone down the hall. Held together by somebody's belt(Operation Petticoat-style). Calls were 'free' because the bulletin boards were supplying phone credit cards of famous people that won a law suit against the phone company....(yeah....?) At 300baud, you can read the file faster than it is coming in. A long way from getting real time color weather radar in your cockpit. For Chris and me, it's a solid first hand experience. Bob's memory is really impressive... I've got another year to try and remember what I sent with my kids on their way to college.... Thanks for the memory exercise! -a- Quote
Bob_Belville Posted June 17, 2014 Report Posted June 17, 2014 Chances are it was a 300 baud. I had a acoustic coupler for a standard phone handset that ran at 300 baud. Thought I had hit the jackpot when the 1200s came out! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Yup. ...have the T-shirt. We went from 300 to 1200 to 2400 "double speed". Our 1st FAX was a drum that spun the master sheet while a scanner slowly traversed the length. As I recall it took 2 minutes per page. Don't ya just yearn for the good old days? ...Not! 1 Quote
Bob_Belville Posted June 17, 2014 Report Posted June 17, 2014 Our 300baud modem had a 600baud switch. Imagine........ DEC Pro 350 connected to a 'borrowed' modem by a very long cable attaching to a dorm pay-phone down the hall. Held together by somebody's belt(Operation Petticoat-style). Calls were 'free' because the bulletin boards were supplying phone credit cards of famous people that won a law suit against the phone company....(yeah....?) At 300baud, you can read the file faster than it is coming in. A long way from getting real time color weather radar in your cockpit. For Chris and me, it's a solid first hand experience. Bob's memory is really impressive... I've got another year to try and remember what I sent with my kids on their way to college.... Thanks for the memory exercise! -a- I paid Sharon a monthly retainer as our IT expert. She could log on to the DG system from her dorm and fix whatever error the ladies in the order entry department was seeing. They swore the computer (16 dumb terminal on a mini), who only me and Sharon comprehended, knew when 49Mike's wheels left the ground taking me out of town. NC52 was right beside our factory. Quote
DS1980 Posted June 17, 2014 Report Posted June 17, 2014 I have no idea what anybody is talking about. 1 Quote
Marauder Posted June 17, 2014 Report Posted June 17, 2014 I have no idea what anybody is talking about. Nothing really. We are reminiscing. Soon we will be talking about how we discovered rubbing two sticks together will make fire or how Bob actually has the patent on a gizmo called a "wheel". Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 1 Quote
Marauder Posted June 17, 2014 Report Posted June 17, 2014 Yup. ...have the T-shirt. We went from 300 to 1200 to 2400 "double speed". Our 1st FAX was a drum that spun the master sheet while a scanner slowly traversed the length. As I recall it took 2 minutes per page. Don't ya just yearn for the good old days? ...Not! What I do miss about the old days is the speed of things. If something was important enough, you called someone. If they didn't answer and had a secretary, you left a message. Today, everyone expects an immediate answer. Voicemail is even dying. People now email or text me and expect an immediate answer. Back then, if it was important enough, you had your secretary type it up on a professional Royal typewriter complete with carbon paper so you were sure to get your "CC" version. There is no turning "off" or "he's not available" anymore. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 1 Quote
1964-M20E Posted June 17, 2014 Report Posted June 17, 2014 I have no idea what anybody is talking about. Darin I guess you missed the good ole days of computing. I started with an apple IIE about 2 years after you were born. BAUD rates were the measurement of data transfer rates when using traditional phone lines and a modem to let computer talk to each other. Initial phone modems were 300 baud and you need a traditional handset on the phone to connect. You also had to dial the number manually and then place the hand set on the modem. Later modems you could dial the number from the computer. Old computers were fun much slower in many respects but simpler and to the point without all the fluff and code overhead you have today with windows and mac. Up until the mid to late 80’s most interfaces with computer was pure text based and monochrome with little or no graphics and a mouse was a small furry thing in the kitchen eating your cheese. 2 Quote
Hank Posted June 17, 2014 Report Posted June 17, 2014 Just like always, this thread has diverted into the weeds . . . but I really don't miss the old IBM PC, everyone else's clones were so much faster. And cheaper. And worked just fine before Bill Gates started pushing his stolen ideas onto everyone. --singed, A Charter Member of the "I Hate Bill Gates" Club Quote
flyboy0681 Posted June 17, 2014 Report Posted June 17, 2014 Just like always, this thread has diverted into the weeds . . . but I really don't miss the old IBM PC, everyone else's clones were so much faster. And cheaper. And worked just fine before Bill Gates started pushing his stolen ideas onto everyone. Obviously the stolen ideas that you are referring to is Windows, which Gates "stole" from Apple. But are you aware that Steve Jobs "stole" the GUI concept from Xerox, which he had seen at their Palo Alto Research Center (SPARC) years before Apple came out with their first GUI product, Lisa? Here is an image of what the Xerox screen looked like. Look familiar? Quote
fantom Posted June 17, 2014 Report Posted June 17, 2014 "Originality is undetected plagiarism." Quote
DS1980 Posted June 17, 2014 Report Posted June 17, 2014 Thank you for the explanation. And thank you Bob for inventing the wheel. And no thank you Steve Jobs for making it a constant joke to put "i" in front of everything. And no thank you Bill Gates for Windows 8, which is what this thread was originally about. That folks, is called bringing it back full circle. And a full circle is a shape that can easily be made in Paint using Windows 7. I have no idea what I'm talking about. 3 Quote
carusoam Posted June 18, 2014 Report Posted June 18, 2014 Gary, GenX was born the day they built your plane! Best regards, -a- Quote
Hank Posted June 18, 2014 Report Posted June 18, 2014 I thought the GenX'ers came along in the 80's, while I was trying to figure out what college was all about . . . Quote
mike_elliott Posted June 18, 2014 Report Posted June 18, 2014 I have a couple PDP-11's in my garage if anyone is interested. . They come complete with original VT-100 terminals. Former CTO of Compaq and author of "Zork" Scott Cutler, owns a 201 Mooney (with a g600 no less) Quote
BigTex Posted June 18, 2014 Report Posted June 18, 2014 Former CTO of Compaq and author of "Zork" Scott Cutler, owns a 201 Mooney (with a g600 no less) Great... Maybe he'd like to take these things off my hands! It not, I guess I can always power them up in the hangar and use them to heat the place. It's amazing how much heat they generate. Quote
1964-M20E Posted June 18, 2014 Report Posted June 18, 2014 Great... Maybe he'd like to take these things off my hands! It not, I guess I can always power them up in the hangar and use them to heat the place. It's amazing how much heat they generate. Not a bad idea you can also write a program and have it do flight planning for you as well. Quote
carusoam Posted June 18, 2014 Report Posted June 18, 2014 Funny, we left the Pro 350s on for heat as well. Two per tiny dorm room! Best regards, -a- Quote
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