Age, was Re: IBM mainframe goes for 99 cents

From: Jim Beacon <jim_at_g1jbg.co.uk>
Date: Sat Feb 26 07:10:09 2005

> > It could be interesting to know the age"spread" of thist list
> > contributors, and how long we've had the computer virus under our
> > skin.

I'm 37, and bought my first computer (Sinclair ZX80 - still have it in it's
box!) when I was 13 in 1980, before that, I played about with a Research
Machines 380Z (did you get those in the US?), a friends mother was one of
the first computer studies teachers in our area, and used to bring it home
from school.

My first computer studies lessons at school, around 1980, required us to
mark cards and send them off to be run on the County Eductional Services
computer. If you got it right, you got a print out of the results in the
next weeks lesson, if you got it wrong, you got an error print out, and
submitted two lots of cards that week (don't remember anyone sending the
same program off three times though). I never did find out what the machine
was, I can't remeber what the language was either, but I still have my
school exercise books, and it may be written down in there somewhere ;-)

Jim.
Received on Sat Feb 26 2005 - 07:10:09 GMT