# Time Flys; Computers and what is considered BIG



## Fontano (Feb 7, 2008)

I am watching the Game Show Network today.

And right now is an episode of Password.
Probably from the late 70's very very early 80's.

There is a contestant on that is a Computer Programmer.

They asked him how many computers he had.

"I have one at home, but have 4 or 5 disk drives for it. So it is pretty big"

Just made me chuckle a bit.

A few weeks ago, I was watching TicTacDough (yes I love old gameshows).
And the contestant won a computer for his car. This thing was the size of a brief case. and it never really described what it did for his car though.


----------



## turey22 (Jul 30, 2007)

Yeah time does fly, now computers are so small, laptops. I remember when i was like 10 or 12 the computer screens were so bulky. Now i have a 24 inch screen and its like 2 or 3 inches thick. 

Computer for your car? What could that of been? I want a coffee maker for my car. Maybe if Xzibit could only pimp my ride, I dont even know if that show is around still.


----------



## koji68 (Jun 21, 2004)

My first computer was a Sinclair ZX-81 with 1K of memory. http://oldcomputers.net/zx81.html

I was very happy to upgrade to the Sinclair Spectrum 128. 128K! That was an upgrade. :lol:

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=35


----------



## Jimmy 440 (Nov 17, 2007)

I saw a gameshow too a few weeks ago from around 1982 or 83 and some guy won a consolation prize which was a TRS 80 Color Computer by Radio Shack.That happened to be my 1st computer that I ever owned.Man,now I'm bummed ,Wow,I'm getting old ! <lol>


----------



## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

I've been deleting out some of my stuff as part of a cleanup. Here are some drives that I have found:
IBM 4.3 GB drive, manufactured April, 1997
Maxtor 1.3 GB drive, manufactured 03-31-1996
Conner 540 MB drive, apparent manufacture 12-1996
Seagate 341 MB drive, unable to determine manufacture date
Conner 540 MB drive, apparent manufacture 51st week of 1994
All drives are about to be disposed of after a DOD-quality wipe. Considering how much they cost at original purchase (some of these were hand-me-downs), it is amusing now when you look back and compare them with today. I looked at NewEgg, and they only have 9 drive listings (with one out-of-stock). The lowest capacity is 80GB at $35, with the highest capacity being 500GB at $70. SATA has effective taken over the hard drive business, and even 1 TB isn't even enough space. Yet, you can pick up a 1TB drive for under $100. Years ago, a new hard drive under $100 would be unthinkable.

What's especially amusing is that the smallest USB stick you can get is 1 GB flash drive for $5.49-$6.49 for a basic drive. This has completely obsoleted the floppy drive for transporting information. Years ago, 1 GB would have been a nice dream drive. Not anymore.


----------



## Draconis (Mar 16, 2007)

My earliest computer memories include using a hex editor to hack "Mail Order Monsters" on a Commodore 64 as a teen.

Interestingly enough, the Commodore 64 STILL holds the record for the world's biggest selling computer model of all time.

No other computer lasted as long as the Commodore 64 or shipped as many units.

Not bad for a 8-bit home computer with only 64k of RAM.


----------



## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

Other than playing around with a Trash 80 in the early 80's, I was never into computers, but thinking about the changing of technology always brings one memory to mind.

I was in college in the mid-80's and dating a girl who's Dad was a doctor. We used to tailgate with her folks all the time, but occasionally he couldn't come because he was on call (and while he had a pager, it was a pain to try and find a payphone if needed). One weekend when he was supposed to be on call he showed up anyway. With his car phone. Although it wasn't really a car phone, it was a phone inside a briefcase. The briefcase had some type of battery in it that could in turn be plugged into the cigarette lighter. The handset was the size of a standard handset, but the rest of the briefcase held the "rest of the phone". Lugging that briefcase into the stadium and making a call from the 50 yard line was one of the coolest things ever.


----------



## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Though I've used (all types of) computers since the very late 70s as a kid, I didn't have my own until I could afford to buy my own in 1991. My first computer was an AMD 386/40Mhz with 4 MB RAM and a Maxtor 213 MB IDE drive. Most of my friends had 40 or even 80 MB drives, and a few asked me what I could possibly do with all that space! And they were all amazed at the impossibly low price of the drive: only $2/meg! RAM was only $44/meg for 32-pin SIMMs! And my video card had a whopping 1 MB of RAM, capable of 1024x768 at 256 colors, non-interlaced!

At the time, this computer was so far superior to everything else I'd used, it seemed awesomely fast. At least until a month later, when my buddy Pete got a settlement check for a car accident and bought the top-end computer available: a 486/33. THAT was FAST!

My primary PC today is an Intel E8500 dual-core, mildly overclocked to 3.5 GHz, with 8 GB RAM and 2 500 GB SATA harddrives. And I just put a 1.5 TB drive in my HTPC ($129 from Newegg). I'm pretty sure my cell phone could outperform my first PC! It sure has far more storage, since I have a third of my MP3 collection on it on a 16 GB MicroSDHC card.


----------



## barryb (Aug 27, 2007)

In the late 80's I built a good part of the first terabyte storage unit for Pyramid Technologies in Silicone Valley.

It took up the better part of a small room. 

I have twice that in the computer I am typing from, and it all fits in that nice little box.


----------



## machavez00 (Nov 2, 2006)

My first computer was a Mac LC II. It had an 80MB HD, maxed out at 10MB of RAM (RAM Doublered to 20), 16 Mhz processor, and had a 2400 baud modem.


----------



## Mike Bertelson (Jan 24, 2007)

I remember my first home built PC.


20MB drive - $220 and I thought "wow, 20MB, I'll never be able to fill that". 
1MB RAM - ≈$100 IIRC it 28 individual chips.
Wire Wrap - things like reset & power led didn't have connectors. I had a wire wrap tool which, oddly enough, wrapped the wire around the post. You had to make sure you got that right. It was amazingly secure.

Mike


----------



## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

My first venture in the world of computers was in the late fifties as a systems field engineer with IBM's Military Products (later Federal Systems) Division, working on the Sage Air defense system. I was stationed at the Truax Field Sage site in Madison, WI. We had a total of 4 computers, being a dual site. There were two computers in each of two buildings (each computer occupying an area about 50 by 100 feet). One computer would be running the air defense programs while the other was in standby. I transferred to the IBM plant in Owego, NY before the site became operational. I spent most of my career there, first as a technician and later as a programmer. My first home computer was a Bally Arcade, which had a Z80 processor, was programmable in Tiny Basic in an 8K cartridge with a calculator type keypad, and had a tape recorder for program storage.


----------



## xIsamuTM (Jul 8, 2008)

My first computer was (I guess) a commodore 64. It was used mostly as a word processor, game system, and was the first step to me learning how to type. I think i was like 4 or 5 when we got it.

Next computer was a Packard Bell 386 sx25 in 1992 or 93, i forget. a whole 100mb hard drive and 4mb ram. windows 3.1 ruled. It had a 2400bps modem, added a creative labs 8 bit (i think) sound card. it was my first venturing in to the world of bbs'ing and prodigy.

Next computer was a home brewed one my dad's friend made us. the hd out of the PB, pentium 75mhz with turbo! upgraded 8mb ram, 4x cdrom and a 14.4kbps modem. this was in like 95/96. eventually went to windows 95 so we could use Studio Magic and do our own editing for weddings and such (oh, i did video back then as a part-time job. my dad was a photographer.) that computer was eventually upgraded with more ram, a second hard drive, video card, and a cd/dvd rom. this was my first real hands-on training in nuts-and-bolts work with computers.

1999 marked my fist self built computer* (*minor help from my friends) p2 233, i forget the exact specs, but it was a 1gb hard drive. this one had been rebuilt so many times i think in the end the only orginal hardware was the shell and hard drive. in the end i think it turned into a p4

2001 marked the first "Malchior" computer. a p4 2.xxGHZ 2gb hard drive, dvd/cdr drive. that was my baby. broadband access (dsl) i learned about file sharing at that time and i began massivly downloading fansubbed anime (hence it's name, one of the fists was Evangelion) my (ex)wife had a near identical comuter, "Balthazar" and my friend had a computer (i think he still has it in some form) "Caspar." Malchior lived a long life with a few upgrades until about 2005 when MalchiorPrime was born. That computer was given to my ex when Balthazar finally died, then MalchiorPrime2 a Celeron who's specs elude me right now. it's was given to my sister after she killed hers, and is now the kitchen computer. MalchiorPrime3 was bought in 2007, a HP 6110n and was/is my first dual core computer. We all know what happened to it. MP4(j) is my current box, basicly MP3 with a larger HD and more ram.

yeah, i went off on a tangent, sorry.


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

I worked for an IBM VAR in the late 70's and early 80's. When the first IBM PC came out, they gave us several in hopes that we'd develop software for it. We couldn't figure out what to do with it as it had no real database system, so I took one home. It very well might have been the very first home "PC" in the city. Friedan would come over and gawk at it.

Years later, I upgraded to a PC-AT. It had an EGA monitor and I found some rudimentary photo software. The problem was, images were large and I needed storage. I splurged and bought an ESDI interface card and two of the largest hard drives I could fine - 150MB. I had 300MB of storage at a time when many business ran everything on 20MB. I actually won a bet with a guy. I told him what I had and he said I had to be wrong - it must be "30"' not "300". I actually built my own photo scanner from instructions I found on CompuServe and parts from a fax machine (of course all I got was B&W). I always chuckle when I think back to that. It would take that computer about 20 minutes to scan one 4x6 photo and the resulting image was about 500KB, which would bring the PC to its knees - even after I installed an extra megabyte of "expanded" memory.


----------



## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

My first computer was a TRS-80 Model III which I received on Christmas, 1980.

And, just to illustrate the changes... it is rumored that Western Digital will announce a 2 GB hard drive. I wonder how many HD-DVR owners would love to swap out the drives for that.


----------



## barryb (Aug 27, 2007)

My first was an IBM 8088.

I remember being super stoked to get a 1200 baud modem.


----------



## bobnielsen (Jun 29, 2006)

My first computer was a Compaq DeskPro with a 8086 and 2 5-1/4 in. floppy drives. I bought the extra memory to take it all the way to 256k and later added a 30 MB hard drive which cost over $200 (the basic computer was >$2k). I think the IBM AT (80286) had just come out and was way more expensive. I don't know if it was the 8086 or Compaq's BIOS, but some software just wouldn't run on that beast. After a few years I periodically had to use some cleaner (Kramolin) on the power supply and ISA connectors to keep it running.


----------



## FHSPSU67 (Jan 12, 2007)

Interesting thread: My first PC was a Heathkit H-89 which I built and soldered from the provided pieces. Storage consisted of one, then three 100K floppy drives. My wife went out and bought a new living room suite after I told her I paid $650 for two extra floppies in a self-enclosed box.


----------



## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

I had to chuckle at the living room furniture. . . my first was a TRS-80 (actually first was a KIM-1 single board with 256 bytes of memory!) that cost $599 complete with tape recorder and backgammon and some other game on cassette.

Played a lot of backgammon (actually was a bg craze in the late 70s) and I hung EVERY possible thing on that computer and wife (at the time) always thought it was a 599 computer!

Actually added a set of solinoids (sp?) that reached into a brand new Selectric typewriter, built a parallel port interface, wrote the machine code driver and typed one line from the computer before it all needed readjustment! (Had to delay characters to stay below 13 cps print speed)

The Selectric was an amazing piece of machinery!


----------



## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

You still floppy drive for raid controller drives(press f6) and for automated system recovery and windows 2000,xp,2003 have to have the floppy drive for this part. They supposedly fixed this 2008.


----------



## jerry downing (Mar 7, 2004)

I had an Altair 8800 from some company called MITS. It had a full 256 BYTES of memory. It was built from a kit. If you programmed it right, you could make the front panel lights flash.
I believe that Bill Gates got started on the same type of computer.


----------



## FHSPSU67 (Jan 12, 2007)

dennisj00 said:


> I had to chuckle at the living room furniture. . .


Yep, 28 or so years later, and it still comes up when we're discussing my hobbie$ with our friends (intentional typo):grin:


----------

