For all us old geezers

[Beerman]

Old Computers

Remember the old days? This site will take you back to long ago.

[cdanteek]

Old Computers

Remember the old days? This site will take you back to long ago.

 

 

Could you check that link!

 

http:///

 

cd

[Beerman]

Sorry bout that one. It's fixed.

Now let me go search for that Mavis Beacon Typing disc.

[gi7omy]

I see they have my first one there too

 

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/comput...?st=1&c=263

 

It was usually referred to as the 'plastic beermat'

[Brendon]

I have a ZX81 and a Mavis Beacon disc in the cupboard if you want them.

 

I also have a working TRS-80, with 4 drives and the 48K memory upgrade. A whole 48k of main memory!!! (And NewDOS/80)

[Beerman]

I have a ZX81 and a Mavis Beacon disc in the cupboard if you want them.

 

I also have a working TRS-80, with 4 drives and the 48K memory upgrade. A whole 48k of main memory!!! (And NewDOS/80)

Ah, the Trash-80 we called it. My first computer used at work. I don't remember them coming with 4 drives. Mine only had 2. You could not kill that machine!

[Brendon]

You could attach up to 4 floppy drives, and with a 1791 double density board and 80-track drives you could have immense storage power at your fingertips. Drives 0 thru 3 all on-line at once!!

[gi7omy]

Brendon - I not only have the ZX81 and a Spewctrum up in the attic - I also have the original wobbly 16K RAM pack That's when I learnt to save work often

[ggrussell]

And I STILL have this one in storage.

[marlinsinger]

All those came out long after I started working on computers. I started on mainframes in 1970. No such thing as solid state memory. It had ring memory.

[Doris H.]

My son has a C-64 & a C-128 that he hasn't used in ages. The 128 never did work right. My daughter used to have an NCR DMV - NCR's first personal computer. I got it for free when I worked there, when my department was cleaning out their storage room. My first computer was an NCR PC810 (286) which was eventually upgraded to a 486. My current one is a Dell, and just my second computer. It's about 6 years old. I got the PC810 in about 1988, give or take - employee purchase plan, about a 40% discount, and it cost $2300. The only extra was a second floppy drive, so I had a 5 1/4 and a 3 1/2. It had a 20 meg hard disk which I soon supplemented with a 40 meg disc. When the 40 meg disk died, I had to upgrade the computer to make a new drive work.

Yep, here it is:

http://old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=541

And here is the DMV:

http://old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=299

It doesn't say there, but you could get a module to run DOS on it.

Whoever had that Zenith, it may be the same one my daughter had after the DMV - got it used.

 

I started working on computers in '75 - actually training '75 & '76 - an old IBM 360 mainframe. I believe it had core memory (is that what you mean by ring, because it was pictured as a bunch of interlocking rings?). On my first job, I worked on an NCR B1 OS computer (can't remember what they called it), but it was already into chip technology. It had a whole 64k of memory.

[marlinsinger]

I started working on computers in '75 - actually training '75 & '76 - an old IBM 360 mainframe. I believe it had core memory (is that what you mean by ring, because it was pictured as a bunch of interlocking rings?). On my first job, I worked on an NCR B1 OS computer (can't remember what they called it), but it was already into chip technology. It had a whole 64k of memory.

 

Yes, a bunch of little rings. Each was one bit, either turned on or off.

[gi7omy]

Actually they were 'magnetic cores' - each one was a ferrire ring with a coil on it and they were arranged in a grid and they were magnetised or demagnetised depending (now who's giving their age away).

 

At least it was a step up from using thermionic valves and relays as memory devices

[lynn98109]

Near the end of 2000, I got a job (short-lasting) at a place where the owner said that if there was a fuss made about the computers, she would get rid of them. (Actually, her IT person was gradually sneaking in PCs in the form of "not finding parts" for the ones in use.)

 

They were running their sales and inventory on a Pentium 286. I commented to my software guru that at least they didn't seem to crash. She thought about that and said, "No, they didn't have enough power to do much of anything."

 

Lynn

[bimicher]

My son has a C-64 & a C-128 that he hasn't used in ages. The 128 never did work right. My daughter used to have an NCR DMV - NCR's first personal computer. I got it for free when I worked there, when my department was cleaning out their storage room. My first computer was an NCR PC810 (286) which was eventually upgraded to a 486. My current one is a Dell, and just my second computer. It's about 6 years old. I got the PC810 in about 1988, give or take - employee purchase plan, about a 40% discount, and it cost $2300. The only extra was a second floppy drive, so I had a 5 1/4 and a 3 1/2. It had a 20 meg hard disk which I soon supplemented with a 40 meg disc. When the 40 meg disk died, I had to upgrade the computer to make a new drive work.

Yep, here it is:

http://old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=541

And here is the DMV:

http://old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=299

It doesn't say there, but you could get a module to run DOS on it.

Whoever had that Zenith, it may be the same one my daughter had after the DMV - got it used.

 

I started working on computers in '75 - actually training '75 & '76 - an old IBM 360 mainframe. I believe it had core memory (is that what you mean by ring, because it was pictured as a bunch of interlocking rings?). On my first job, I worked on an NCR B1 OS computer (can't remember what they called it), but it was already into chip technology. It had a whole 64k of memory.

 

I had my first hands on experience with computers in 1964-1966 on IBM mainframes. Even as undergrads the University of Waterloo allowed their students "almost physical" access to the computers. We were able to feed the cards directly into the reader and later pick up the results on cards and take them to the printer for output.

[grandpabruce]

Near the end of 2000, I got a job (short-lasting) at a place where the owner said that if there was a fuss made about the computers, she would get rid of them. (Actually, her IT person was gradually sneaking in PCs in the form of "not finding parts" for the ones in use.)

 

They were running their sales and inventory on a Pentium 286. I commented to my software guru that at least they didn't seem to crash. She thought about that and said, "No, they didn't have enough power to do much of anything."

 

Lynn

 

LOLLOL!

[Doris H.]

I had my first hands on experience with computers in 1964-1966 on IBM mainframes. Even as undergrads the University of Waterloo allowed their students "almost physical" access to the computers. We were able to feed the cards directly into the reader and later pick up the results on cards and take them to the printer for output.

I was past 40 by the time I got my computer training. Too bad I didn't get my bachelor's degree in that - I got that in '61, and went back and got an AAS in Data Processing in '76. I suppose all the rest of you old-timers remember when "Univac" and "computer" were virtually synonymous?

[gi7omy]

Wasn't that about the time that the boss of IBM said he could see a market for maybe 4 computers worldwide by the end of the centiry?

 

Actually, back about 1960 I saw my first computer - it was the one from Lyons (LEO - a modified EDSAC from Cambridge) that they had given to the University of London and a friend of mine was a maths lecturer and in charge of it - it took up about the whole floor, relays clacking everywhere and the output and input were on punched tape