Re: [CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
Yes, in 1965-66 as an undergraduate I took a computer course at NYU which comprised learned to program (entry level, PL-1) and my assigned project was writing a routine to alphabetize a list of names including all variants (multiple first, middle names, hyphenated, with degrees, etc.) ...which took a whole semester and didn't actually function for all variants in the end. The horrible input was standing around waiting to sit at a punch card machine (do you hear hangin'chads?) and then wait months for an opening to run the thing with your stack of cards (a shoebox-full) at 2am when you were called to do it. Yes, it occupied an entire floor of the building with a/c trailers outside as well. I seem to recall the model IBM 360/30 and there were disk drives and all kinds of stuff in there (a clean room, remember bugs ??) Once upon a time there was a tavern Where we used to raise a glass or two Remember how we laughed away the hours And think of all the great things we would do Those were the days, my friend We thought they'd never end We'd sing and dance forever and a day We'd live the life we choose We'd fight and never lose For we were young and sure to have our way La la la la la la La la la la la la Then the busy years went rushing by us We lost our starry notions on the way If by chance I'd see you in the tavern We'd smile at one another and we'd say Those were the days, my friend We thought they'd never end We'd sing and dance forever and a day We'd live the life we choose We'd fight and never lose Those were the days Oh, yes, those were the days La la la la la la La la la la la la Just tonight I stood before the tavern Nothing seemed the way it used to be In the glass I saw a strange reflection Was that lonely woman really me? Those were the days, my friend We thought they'd never end We'd sing and dance forever and a day We'd live the life we choose We'd fight and never lose Those were the days Oh, yes, those were the days La la la la la la La la la la la la Through the door there came familiar laughter I saw your face and heard you call my name Oh, my friend, we're older but no wiser For in our hearts the dreams are still the same... Those were the days, my friend We thought they'd never end We'd sing and dance forever and a day We'd live the life we choose We'd fight and never lose Those were the days Oh, yes, those were the days La la la la la la La la la la la la Mary Hopkins -Original Message- From: Rosenberg, Alan [USA] [mailto:rosenberg_a...@bah.com] Sent: Thursday, December 24, 2009 10:16 AM Subject: Re: AAAHH, the old days The old days?? The old days were when an IBM 7094 (the powerhouse of its day) filled a room with a raised floor, dedicated air conditioning, and a crew of operators, cost megabucks to buy (or lease) and maintain, had a cycle time measured in microseconds, and a maximum memory capacity equivalent to 32KB. Alan * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
On Dec 26, 2009, at 12:04 PM, rleesimon wrote: Yes, in 1965-66 as an undergraduate I took a computer course at NYU which comprised learned to program (entry level, PL-1)... PL1, wow that was my programming language of choice for may years. The horrible input was standing around waiting to sit at a punch card machine (do you hear hangin'chads?) and then wait months for an opening to run the thing with your stack of cards (a shoebox-full) at 2am when you were called to do it. Computing back then was more social. People got to know each other while standing around the card reader and output bins. It fostered a kind of camaraderie that vanished when everyone started computing at a desk. The Internet brought some of that back, but it was not the same. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
It always struck me that any attempt to alphabetize names, especially ones that were written full (so that the machine had to determine what part of the seven-word name was the last (family) name, and what part was the middle name, etc.) would be doomed to failure. I just used an extra column in the spreadsheet (field in the database) to enter a faux string that would be used for alphabetization. If the alphabetization string failed to perform as expected, it was simply modified. The column / field would usually be non-printing in any printout of the list. Fred Holmes At 12:04 PM 12/26/2009, rleesimon wrote: Yes, in 1965-66 as an undergraduate I took a computer course at NYU which comprised learned to program (entry level, PL-1) and my assigned project was writing a routine to alphabetize a list of names including all variants (multiple first, middle names, hyphenated, with degrees, etc.) ...which took a whole semester and didn't actually function for all variants in the end. The horrible input was standing around waiting to sit at a punch card machine (do you hear hangin'chads?) and then wait months for an opening to run the thing with your stack of cards (a shoebox-full) at 2am when you were called to do it. Yes, it occupied an entire floor of the building with a/c trailers outside as well. I seem to recall the model IBM 360/30 and there were disk drives and all kinds of stuff in there (a clean room, remember bugs ??) * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
The old days?? The old days were when an IBM 7094 (the powerhouse of its day) filled a room with a raised floor, dedicated air conditioning, and a crew of operators, cost megabucks to buy (or lease) and maintain, had a cycle time measured in microseconds, and a maximum memory capacity equivalent to 32KB. Alan * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
Rosenberg, Alan [USA] The old days?? The old days were when an IBM 7094 (the powerhouse of its day) filled a room with a raised floor, dedicated air conditioning, and a crew of operators, cost megabucks to buy (or lease) and maintain, had a cycle time measured in microseconds, and a maximum memory capacity equivalent to 32KB. My first system was a PDP-11/40 with a max memory of 124kw (248kbytes, 8kbytes were devoted to I/O and CSR) with a 66mb disk drive and a tape drive - that was in 1979... -- Take care | This clown speaks for himself, his job doesn't Wayne D. | supply this, at least not directly I am always exact and precise, more or less. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
[CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
Our first computer was an Apple II which we upgraded to 64k of ram and added an '80 column patch. Had twin (external) 5 1/4 floppy drives and also could write to cassette tape. This was a few years before the Macintosh and long before Windows. By the way, we Still have the Apple II. donald Radio is the theater of the mind; television is the theater of the mindless. - Steve Allen * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
My wife was working for a company that had ported its database to the IBM PC. So we got a loan from the credit union and bought a PC for $5,000. It had: - 10 MB HD (but we saved money by adding one to a PC, not by buying an XT) - 640K of RAM (maxed out, and more than $1000 of the price was bumping it up from 64(128?) K) - Ergonomically superior orange on black monitor with Hercules graphics card to do graphics, like pie charts and such. -- John DeCarlo, My Views Are My Own * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
Ridiculous isn't it what we spent in those days. My dad got his ATT 6300 through work (ATT) Nice thing about it was the integrated graphics and monitor it came with. I kept that computer for a long time. Eventually upgraded to a 486SX. Then started building all of my own. Stewart At 10:40 AM 12/23/2009, you wrote: My wife was working for a company that had ported its database to the IBM PC. So we got a loan from the credit union and bought a PC for $5,000. It had: - 10 MB HD (but we saved money by adding one to a PC, not by buying an XT) - 640K of RAM (maxed out, and more than $1000 of the price was bumping it up from 64(128?) K) - Ergonomically superior orange on black monitor with Hercules graphics card to do graphics, like pie charts and such. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
I got to work on the original 128K MacIntosh under System 1. My favorite app was the font editor. On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 11:58 AM, Stewart Marshall revsamarsh...@earthlink.net wrote: Ridiculous isn't it what we spent in those days. My dad got his ATT 6300 through work (ATT) Nice thing about it was the integrated graphics and monitor it came with. I kept that computer for a long time. Eventually upgraded to a 486SX. Then started building all of my own. Stewart At 10:40 AM 12/23/2009, you wrote: My wife was working for a company that had ported its database to the IBM PC. So we got a loan from the credit union and bought a PC for $5,000. It had: - 10 MB HD (but we saved money by adding one to a PC, not by buying an XT) - 640K of RAM (maxed out, and more than $1000 of the price was bumping it up from 64(128?) K) - Ergonomically superior orange on black monitor with Hercules graphics card to do graphics, like pie charts and such. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** * -- John Duncan Yoyo ---o) * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
At work, we had a nice lab. An Apple Lisa (got the Mac when it came out later), Amiga (already did graphics and true pre-emptive multitasking), then one of the first IBM PCs. I don't know how much that cost, but it had *two* cases. A *huge* cable connected the two, and there was an additional hard disk in the second one. On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 3:54 PM, John Duncan Yoyo johnduncany...@gmail.comwrote: I got to work on the original 128K MacIntosh under System 1. My favorite app was the font editor. -- John DeCarlo, My Views Are My Own * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
one of the first IBM PCs. I don't know how much that cost, but it had *two* cases. A *huge* cable connected the two, and there was an additional hard disk in the second one. That was an expansion box. It had additional slots and a second HD. Not part of the PC, purchased separately. The cable was so fat because it had to carry a bazillion signals. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
[CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
I think my first computer had a 250MB hard drive. I don't remember how much ram. At work we were wowed when the CAD guy got a 500MB and then a 1 Gig hard drive. I had been using DOS a lot at work for CNC machine programming and thought it was kind of fun. I found Windows 3.0 pretty frustrating, but the computer played Doom really well. Jordan Stewart said: |I remember my first Windows 98 machines had maybe 512 MB in them. Unthinkable now, |but this was the case for a long time. | |My fist PC had 64K in it and I had to replace all the chip banks to get it to 640K | |Stewart * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
My first PC (not commodore) had dual 5.25 floppies no HD. My first HD was a 30 MB Hardcard (fit into a full size slot) I paid over $300 for it. The most expensive HD I ever bought. Stewart At 06:49 PM 12/22/2009, you wrote: I think my first computer had a 250MB hard drive. I don't remember how much ram. At work we were wowed when the CAD guy got a 500MB and then a 1 Gig hard drive. I had been using DOS a lot at work for CNC machine programming and thought it was kind of fun. I found Windows 3.0 pretty frustrating, but the computer played Doom really well. Jordan Rev. Stewart A. Marshall mailto:popoz...@earthlink.net Prince of Peace www.princeofpeaceozark.org Ozark, AL SL 82 * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
Geeze. You kids today. My first HD was a Davong 5MB that cost several thousand dollars (fortunately, a client paid for it). But that's not the amusing part. No, the amusing part is that I partitioned it into two 2.5MB partitions so I could run both PC-DOS and the UCSD p-System (and the p-System was far superior, by the way). After living for some years with 90K diskettes (and cassette tape before that), I could not imagine how I would ever fill either partition. -Original Message- From: Computer Guys Discussion List [mailto:computerguy...@listserv.aol.com] On Behalf Of Rev. Stewart Marshall Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 8:05 PM To: COMPUTERGUYS-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Subject: Re: [CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days My first PC (not commodore) had dual 5.25 floppies no HD. My first HD was a 30 MB Hardcard (fit into a full size slot) I paid over $300 for it. The most expensive HD I ever bought. Stewart At 06:49 PM 12/22/2009, you wrote: I think my first computer had a 250MB hard drive. I don't remember how much ram. At work we were wowed when the CAD guy got a 500MB and then a 1 Gig hard drive. I had been using DOS a lot at work for CNC machine programming and thought it was kind of fun. I found Windows 3.0 pretty frustrating, but the computer played Doom really well. Jordan * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] AAAHH, the old days
I came into computers rather late. I graduated from Seminary (graduate school) in 82 and the only computers then were very rudimentary. I got a Commodore 64 in 84. I did not get my first PC till 86. The commodore had 64K memory and I started with a cassette tape drive. I remember typing in Machine language programs. I taught Commodore Basic and Word Pro for Commodore Business Machines at the local HS for evening classes. In Canada the schools all had CBM computers as Commodore was a Canadian company. I paid a couple of hundred for the 180K disk drive when I could afford it. At one time dad had a TRS-80 model 3, I had the commodore and my brother had an Atari 800? A 300 baud modem was awesome! My dads first HD was a 20MB and it cost him almost as much as his system, ATT 6300. Stewart At 09:02 PM 12/22/2009, you wrote: Geeze. You kids today. My first HD was a Davong 5MB that cost several thousand dollars (fortunately, a client paid for it). But that's not the amusing part. No, the amusing part is that I partitioned it into two 2.5MB partitions so I could run both PC-DOS and the UCSD p-System (and the p-System was far superior, by the way). After living for some years with 90K diskettes (and cassette tape before that), I could not imagine how I would ever fill either partition. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
