I was on the ones that were 4.77 Megahertz, then they came out with a TURBO option and could run at 8 Megahertz and maxxed out RAM would be 640K.
I was there when 1 megabyte of RAM was $200, and a computer could actually run fine on 16 kilobytes!
I was there before modems, so if you wanted free software, you typed it in from a magazine!
When a floppy drive was expensive, so you'd save your programs to a cassette tape!
I was there when modems were 300 baud (30 characters a second) and you put your phone on the modem (like in War Games)
I was there when the music files you download were MOD files, then when you downloaded single MP3 via a text interface using Zmodem protocol over your modem, and it took you 30 minutes per song...now a couple of clicks and I can get the entire Discography of an artist!
When you download pictures that were 16 colors!
When computers had green screens (cool ones were Amber) and the first color monitors had 4 colors (CGA)
When dot matric printers could print lower case letters below the lines (like g,j,y) so it scrunched them up...and the printer only had one font! And the paper had the holes in the side that weren't detachable!
I was there for ZORK!
I was there when you used a whole punch to be able to use the other side of your floppy disk (SSSD Single Sided Single Density - 90K per side)
When the largest hard drive you could by was a MFM 5 megabyte, and you'd buy an RLL controller to turn into an 8 megabyte!
I was there when Microsoft only sold DOS and BASIC.
I was there when everything came with a manual in small three ring binders!
I was there when people used CP/M.
I was there when WINDOWS first came out and did really do anything!
Was there for the first spreadsheets - Visicalc and Multimate, then Lotus and Quattro
I was there when we got FONTS!
I was even around when GEOS came out - and alternative to Windows!
People like me got a PC OPTION BOARD installed and we could copy any floppy disk!
I was there when you had to cable two computer together and used LAPLINK to moves files between them.
When we first for networks, and you used COAX cable to connect them and if anyone in the chain when down, the network was down!
I was there when all you saw when the computer started was C:>
I was there before the mouse, and when the mouse was optional!
I was there when Compaqs first portable computers were the size of a suit case!
This was my actual first computer:
But before that we used to go to Radio Shack to play Lunar Lander on one of these
My first college computer course was with a room full of these
and you would program in BASIC like this:
10 FOR X=1 TO 25 STEP 1
20 PRINT "HELLO"
30 NEXT X
40 END
(we only had capital letters) it printed (on the screen) HELLO 25 times!
And the cable that connected your printer to your computer was called a PRINTER INTERFACE and cost over $100
2 comments:
Ah yes. My dad had one of those Compaqs. He sent me to computer camp and we learned BASIC. Oh, and we learned LOGO with the little turtle. That was 20 years ago.
What gets me (beyond remembering very vividly 20 years ago) is that there are so many teachers I encounter on a daily basis who are still afraid of computers.
That Atari made our Commodore 64 look posh :)
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