On Generations of People and Computers

From: Brett <danjo_at_xnet.com>
Date: Mon Apr 14 10:13:48 1997

On Mon, 14 Apr 1997, Paul E Coad wrote:
> On Fri, 11 Apr 1997, Carl R. Friend wrote:
> > On Fri, 11 Apr 1997 14:58:15 +0100, Kevan is rumoured to have said:
> > > [On Fri, 11 Apr 1997 01:24:34, PEC wrote:]
> > > > Is this a generational thing? My first computer exposure what to a
> > > > mainframe in the late 70's, but my first computer was an 80's micro.
> > > > Are people in the 40+ age group more likely to have fond memories
> > > > of minis?
> > >
> > > I think there will be a strong corrolation here.
> >
> > Oh come on, guys. I'm not _that_ old :-) (36).
>
> Sorry Carl. I didn't mean to say you were _really_ old. I made a bad
> guess based on the minis and the 'old fart' thing. That'll teach me
> to not extrapolate from a small number of data points again!
>
> Is everyone else in their 20's and 30's? Anyone seriously outside of
> this range?

Well, since I kind of started this whole thing 8-)
I have been thinking about it. I collect EVERTHING. I AM pre-disposed
to computer equipment but as I look back over the deca^H^H^H^Hyears I
do see a pattern.

Let's see if anyone else lines up with this history 8-)

Grade school - got a Philco Entertainment Center - 78 RPM turntable
AM Radio [680-1600 kilocycles] and Police Band [1600 - 2500 kilocycles]
I ABSOLUTELY remember this radio - had a DC electromagnetic speaker coil
that knocked me over the bed and into the wall! Got into B/W photography.
Picked up (influenced from above radio) HeathKit 5-Band Shortwave Receiver
[an AR-3 - still in the garage - used for getting the REAL WORLD news -
as tho the BBC doesn't have an agenda 8-)]

In Junior High School - rescued several 78's from the "Break-A-Record"
game at a dance. [Including an Edison-Vitaphone of John Phillip Sousa]

In High School I got to use the HP Portable Calculator - the one the sise
of a couple of suitcases. [But it DID have a handle 8-)]

In college, I did run punched cards into a Philco 3000 8-) And also
a Xerox Sigma 5.

Went into the Service, something about a war somewhere and a draft number
of 3 - or something 8-) San Francisco - anybody remember the surplus
stores down - I think on Market St. WWII wirerecorders - Surface
Search Radars [wish I had one NOW 8-) - tho a SPS-6 Air Search would be
nicer!] Really thought hard about building a Scelbi 8008 then opted to
build the TVT-1 [Still with me!] Read up on the Mark-8.

Then I got into motorcycles and other countries - a long pause - I'm free!
I'm free! Back to the REAL WORLD.

Worked for awhile in a Machine Shop - Cincinati Acromatic 250 [tubes] and
Milacron AC-5 [transistors] and a beautiful old Moog 110? [Paper tape read
by air - the air aligned plates to allow hydraulics to move the table] and
an ASR-33 [how many of you remember editing paper tape 8-)]. Talked the
boss into getting a TRS-80 and a HeathKit Paper tape punch/reader so I
could do calculations and not waste tape.

[You have already read of my Western Electric PDP-8 trauma 8-)]

Moved on to a place called Numeridex [sold paper tape 8-)] and was
introduced to the SBC 80/20 from Intel. And the Intelec MDS-800 and
the DEC VAX 11/780 and the 11/23 [I have the MDS and the 11/23 8-)]

Picked up KIM-1, SYM-1, various terminals, modems, printers and stuff
along the way. Built a CPM system with a Megatel Quark-64/100 that had
[may soon run again!] 4 8" Tandon 843B drives [still have 8 - don't ask -
the Shugarts in the MDS are getting flaky] formatted to 1.6 MB.

Well then the PC revolution started. Gee, I think I have one each of them
too! Upto what ever they called the 386 processor models.

Did a lot of work in the Industrial Control field - Allen-Bradley and
Modicon. I got to see a lot of the old stuf - and new stuff. I get most of
my stuff for free - or out of the garbage.

I keep a lot of books too. I keep a lot of everything. Anybody need an
Underground Guide for London [about 1974] 8-) [Yes I got to see some
first run Dr. Who]

I don;t think age has anything to do with it. It's how you perceive the
world. It's going too fast for some of us to let it ALL go by. I wasn't
raised to want the newest thing as soon as it shows up. Some people take
a little longer to pick that up. If it works - leave it alone.

Actually, my CPM systems are *apparently* faster than any of my PC stuff.
I mean it only has to load 64KB from a 500Kbs floppy interface 8-)

Well enough rambling.

BC
--
My pen is at the bottom of a page,
Which, being finished, here the story ends;
'Tis to be wished it had been sooner done,
But stories somehow lengthen when begun.
                -- Byron
Received on Mon Apr 14 1997 - 10:13:48 BST

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