Dan Minette wrote:
Depends on a few definitions. I worked on an IBM system in the early 70s, but it was just data entry. I had no idea how to go beyond the application interface. I had (still have) a programmable HP calculator (still play lunar lander, even though my PDA does it in 16m colours and the the calculator does it as glowing red numbers) in 1976. My first personal computer was Commodore Vic20 with optional extra cassette drive, before I upgraded to the monstrously powerful TRS-80 which had VisiCalc - oh the power!OK, since we're playing the oldest stuff game here. What is the oldest computer everyone here has worked on? I think mine (which I've mentioned before) is the oldest, but I'd be curious to see who might beat me. :-)
Now my car, my GPS, my watch, my camera, my stereo etc etc all have more computing power than any of those... But they were great at the time.
And my several-year-old HP-48 has 8 times the memory of the first mainframe I used. And the first memory upgrade card I bought for a computer cost $160-something, was about the size of the plastic card I used to pay for it, and had 2^10 times the memory of said first mainframe, and was totally obsolete a few months later. Your point?
;-)
-- Ronn! :)
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