At 7:42 PM +0000 11/28/01, Richard Pisacreta wrote:
>Talking about calculators, some of us had the first PCs. The Atari 
>(separate computer, 5.5 inch disk drive, and printer- you provided 
>the tv as a monitor)and the Apple systems cost about $1,000 and had 
>all of 64K of memory. After you loaded in the word processing 
>program, you barely could type a few pages before you had to save it 
>as a file, and "chain" several files to print out a 20 page 
>document. And were those first printers ever so slow, and you had to 
>hand feed in each sheet!

Did any of you geezers buy the little Timex computer.  It was about
8" X 10" and, like the Atari, had to be connected to a TV.  It
came with BASIC built in and about 4K of RAM, but you could buy a
16K plug in.  You had to store programs on audio cassettes and run
them into the computer with a cassette recorder/player; that instead
of a disk drive.  I think the computer was something like $79 and
the 16K RAM module about $30 more.  One of my colleagues bought one
first, and when I saw that it actually WORKED, I got one too.

Oh yeah, and I still have and use an Apple IIe at home for the
item analysis program I wrote years ago.  And I drive a 1974 TR6,
have a 1971 Kenwood stereo system in my office, and listen
to a late 60s vintage Teac reel-to-reel at home sometimes.  Uh oh,
I think I'm becoming my father!  Time to shut up.

Tim

P.S.  That Timex computer was a Sinclair/Timex I think.

-- 

****************************************************************
  Tim Gaines                            [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Professor of Psychology               phone:  864-833-8349
  Presbyterian College                  fax:  864-833-8481
  Clinton, SC  29325
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