Breach in subject

From: John Higginbotham <higginbo_at_netpath.net>
Date: Mon Dec 8 22:49:58 1997

I know this may be a little off topic, but... (How many times have we read
this?!?)

I am suprised at the number of wisened elders in my presence, People that
actually used the machines I dreamed about using in my teenaged years. I was
glad to find out all of these old systems that I wanted so bad back then
actually sport price tags today that I can afford. I have recently sold off
the large majority of my collection of late 80's computers (my wife calls it
the pile, collectively), but have learned that the real joy in using these
systems is the memories it gives me, something about each individual system
that stands out to me. I also find that using computers from another era
tends to bring me back down to earth. Most people today think these machines
are a bunch of hulking dinosnores that can't be useful except as boat
anchors in todays PC world. I know otherwise. Up until recently I had been
using a Model 100 for taking notes and doing addresses, etc. Just as good at
text entry as any P****** system is today. My boss still scoffs at me for
toting around my venerable GRiDCASE 3 (running windows 1.x) that has seen
regular use since I got it, or running Windows 3 on the old Zenith
Supersport, the topic of a quite active thread for the past day or so in
this very list. Hey, I'm not rich. If I was, I'd buy the fastest
notebook/desktop system around. But alas, I am not. The boss stops scoffing
when I tell him how much I paid for my computers and show him what they can
still run. :)

Well, that's it for the monologue. I'm sitting here listening to an
instrumental christmas cd, waiting for IE 4.01 to download, and
contemplating what will be considered old news 10 years from now.

BTW, I didn't mean anything with the "wisened elder" comment. I consider
myself an oldtimer at the young age of 27, with all these little high school
know-it-alls that memorize man pages and can recite every IP address and who
it belongs to on their ISP. I can remember the days before GUI. I was there.
Couldn't afford more than a C-64 or CoCo back then, but I remember them as
some of the best days in computer history.

A parting question: I'm not exactly sure if the HP 7450a 2-pen plotter falls
within the 10-year limit but... Does anyone know where I can get new pens
for this unit?

- John Higginbotham
- limbo.netpath.net
Received on Mon Dec 08 1997 - 22:49:58 GMT