First computer?

[Graves The Elder]

nothing but problems

 

[Andy Capp]

I actually put together PDP-8s as a summer job.

Before the VAX they* had one of those, then a PDP-11. The DEC VAX operating system was apparently as much of an improvement as the 11/780. The thing I loved best about the upgrade was the Rainbow terminals with amber phosphors instead of green ones. They were so much easier on my blue eyes. I might never have ever needed glasses (I have good reason to believe) if I hadn't spent so much time in front of green phosphor screens in my mid to late teens.

Digital Equipment over-designed the ever living fuck out of their equipment and I adored it. DEC keyboards were the absolute best I have ever used but they never saw the cheap throwaway consumerist writing on the wall and refused to compromise on quality. They couldn't compete on price and people just had no clue what they were missing out on for the extra money their kit cost. Very sad. They also had the best processors and ended up selling off the IP because they just couldn't get people to spend the money their high design standards required.

*they being a local university, of course.

 

[Andy Capp]

@therealdope
What do you suppose the over/under is on people who know what this is besides you and me?

Or this?

 

[Omegaboy13]

@therealdope
What do you suppose the over/under is on people who know what this is besides you and me?

Or this?

This thread smells like Bengay now.

 

[Andy Capp]

This thread smells like Bengay now.

LOL-worthy but I have literally never used that stuff. I have, however, been with more computers than you've been with women, apparently.

 

[Andy Capp]

Man, I really miss those keyboards.

Edit:
Mind you, for a touch-typist, these are undoubtedly the best ever made,

 

[Lubaolong]

@therealdope
What do you suppose the over/under is on people who know what this is besides you and me?

Or this?

Second one looks like a punch card computer. Not sure about the top one.. some old computer thing.

 

[Lubaolong]

Man, I really miss those keyboards.

Edit:
Mind you, for a touch-typist, these are undoubtedly the best ever made,

I used to have a model m keyboard. Loved that thing. Been using Das Keyboard for many years now. Almost as good.

 

[Andy Capp]

I used to have a model m keyboard. Loved that thing. Been using Das Keyboard for many years now. Almost as good.

I'll keep it in mind the next time I get the "I just can't fucking stand it" urge and decide I can justify spending that much on a keyboard.

 

[Gandzooka]

OG.

 

[PinkFlammingo]

Gateway...box looked like a cow

Hell yeah. When my aunt bought a gateway it came with the sims

 

[computer fogie]

I'm trying to remember what they were good for.

As I recollect it connected to the TV and was capable of letting the user code some lame-o basic programs, not much else?

It's version of BASIC and it's manual were pretty good, I was able to learn programming with it. Also, you could program in assembly language, giving you far more capabilities. The programs with decent (for the time) graphics were done in assembly language. The flight simulator was semi fast, and didn't have giant pixels. The Timex/Sinclair version of Visi-calc was a good spreadsheet too.

It was a good intro to computers, which is what Clive Sinclair intended.

 

[TheNinja]

I had to load "games" on my first computer using one of these!!

 

[sweetviolenturg]

1998 Hewlett Packard Pavilion w/ Windows 1998

 

[therealdope]

@therealdope
What do you suppose the over/under is on people who know what this is besides you and me?

Or this?

I actually never used punch cards. I remember my mother bringing them home but I always had access to vt100/220 terminals. Our university was pretty forward thinking, although the servers were PDP-11s they ran ultrix (UNIX for DEC) so I started very early on System V.

 

[therealdope]

Before the VAX they* had one of those, then a PDP-11. The DEC VAX operating system was apparently as much of an improvement as the 11/780.

are you thinking of VMS?

The PDP-8s that I was putting together had a custom OS written by the physicists. They were control computers for nuclear power.

 

[Andy Capp]

are you thinking of VMS?

The PDP-8s that I was putting together had a custom OS written by the physicists. They were control computers for nuclear power.

Yes, thanks for the reminder.

It's version of BASIC and it's manual were pretty good, I was able to learn programming with it. Also, you could program in assembly language, giving you far more capabilities. The programs with decent (for the time) graphics were done in assembly language. The flight simulator was semi fast, and didn't have giant pixels. The Timex/Sinclair version of Visi-calc was a good spreadsheet too.

It was a good intro to computers, which is what Clive Sinclair intended.

A friend of mine had one. It was a case study about the reality of natural talent versus training.

Now, he's at the top of the cybersecurity field and I am... well... Not.

 

[mb23100]

 

[Andy Capp]

@computer fogie
@therealdope
Re:

A friend of mine had one.

I forget to mention we were both in high school and he was bouncing off the ceiling at the prospect of programming in assembler and I barely understood BASIC. I learned a lot from him but it was never enough to keep me from being bored to tears by programming, or coding as the kids and politicians call it now. I could never get past the rote parts to the point where things get creative. I got to do that in elementary in math and still couldn't see a math degree all the way through, so as a young adult I never even progressed from Pascal to C when I was in university. I blame the drugs (actually the lack thereof as I found out recently the cause is ADHD.)

 

[The Diplomat]

The old black and white Macintosh.

I remember when my dad brought home a Toshiba 244mhz with color, and my mind was blown.