Old computers
Jul 7, 2013 16:28:30 #
It went thru the University of B. C.'s mainframe as I recall. Was totally computer illiterate at that time, bur recall the first PCs coming out. What huge progress over a relatively short period of time. From that to responding on mt IPad today. Amazing!
Jul 7, 2013 16:36:26 #
Murray wrote:
It went thru the University of B. C.'s mainframe as I recall. Was totally computer illiterate at that time, bur recall the first PCs coming out. What huge progress over a relatively short period of time. From that to responding on mt IPad today. Amazing!
There is a theory about technology (computer related) expanding at a certain rate over a given time period. Increases in speed, memory, etc. I'm not smart enough to remember the calculation but maybe someone will chip in. :thumbup: I think this is it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law
Jul 7, 2013 16:40:52 #
pounder35 wrote:
There is a theory about technology (computer related) expanding at a certain rate over a given time period. Increases in speed, memory, etc. I'm not smart enough to remember the calculation but maybe someone will chip in. :thumbup: I think this is it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law
Moore's LAW. He was a Fellow at Texas Instruments in the infancy of IC design. His law stated that the speed and intricacy of technology would double every decade.
Jul 7, 2013 16:41:01 #
Or the Osborne? The company was killed by announcing prematurely the new gee whiz model before they could deliver it. Everyone stopped buying the current model because they were waiting for the new model. No more cash flow.... no more company.
Jul 7, 2013 16:45:47 #
Jim_In_Plymouth wrote:
Or the Osborne? The company was killed by announcing prematurely the new gee whiz model before they could deliver it. Everyone stopped buying the current model because they were waiting for the new model. No more cash flow.... no more company.
I had a friend who bought one. Called portable. Sure! With a strong back. :roll:
An Osborne Executive portable computer, from 1982 with a Zilog Z80 4MHz CPU, and a 2007 Apple iPhone with a 412MHz ARM11 CPU. The Executive weighs 100 times as much, is nearly 500 times as large by volume, costs approximately 10 times as much (inflation adjusted), and has 1/100th the clock frequency of the phone.
Jul 7, 2013 16:58:19 #
pounder35 wrote:
I think the IRS still uses that for refunds. Not collections, just refunds. :roll: :lol:
My neighbor writes in machine language for a big international company. He started out nearly 40 years ago with United Airlines writing the original code for their reservation system. His current employer is attempting to phase out the old system but the sheer number of computers necessary to accomplish the same number of transactions as the main frame is mind-blowing.
Jul 7, 2013 17:00:27 #
i had the 64....it had the nicest graphics...i liked typing the programs into it....liked the compute mag....
Jul 7, 2013 17:05:11 #
I worked for 43 years writing in high level languages for major food companies until they outsourced my job overseas and I was forced into retirement.
RixPix wrote:
My neighbor writes in machine language for a big international company. He started out nearly 40 years ago with United Airlines writing the original code for their reservation system. His current employer is attempting to phase out the old system but the sheer number of computers necessary to accomplish the same number of transactions as the main frame is mind-blowing.
Jul 7, 2013 17:43:00 #
I remember using the Philadelphia School District's mainframe programming in BASIC from a Model 33 teletype, dialing into it and slamming the phone in the ear cups and running 110 baud. We stored our programs on punched tape for backup. I remember trying to invent the chat room back in 1977 on that system. I ran out of time and got kicked out of the Drexel University computer center over that.
Back then there were no hackers, just "computer abusers." I wrote a virus that locked up the Physics Department terminals in 1978, but that was a different story...
Back then there were no hackers, just "computer abusers." I wrote a virus that locked up the Physics Department terminals in 1978, but that was a different story...
Jul 7, 2013 17:48:12 #
Tell me who they are because their archaic. Ask him if he knows what word marks are, they differenciate between instructions and addresses. A big difference, and if they are still using it, I'd rather not be flying their planes.
Jul 7, 2013 18:01:36 #
TrainNut wrote:
My first computer was a Texas Instruments TI 994A. Loved it. So much better than all the others of its time.
The TI 994A was one of my favorite home computers. Taught myself basic and extended basic and had fun writing programs.
The first computer I worked on was an Burroughs D825 main frame. The Air Force called it the BUIC, Backup Intercept Control. It was solid state, Transistors, used real core memory and thin film memory. Large drum magnetic storage. In tech school they taught us vacuum tube computer theory. Most people probably never heard of vacuum tube computers.
Jul 7, 2013 18:20:01 #
kjfishman wrote:
The TI 994A was one of my favorite home computers. Taught myself basic and extended basic and had fun writing programs.
The first computer I worked on was an Burroughs D825 main frame. The Air Force called it the BUIC, Backup Intercept Control. It was solid state, Transistors, used real core memory and thin film memory. Large drum magnetic storage. In tech school they taught us vacuum tube computer theory. Most people probably never heard of vacuum tube computers.
The first computer I worked on was an Burroughs D825 main frame. The Air Force called it the BUIC, Backup Intercept Control. It was solid state, Transistors, used real core memory and thin film memory. Large drum magnetic storage. In tech school they taught us vacuum tube computer theory. Most people probably never heard of vacuum tube computers.
UNIVAC was a vacuum tube mainframe as was it's previous iteration.
Jul 7, 2013 18:57:58 #
kjfishman wrote:
The TI 994A was one of my favorite home computers. Taught myself basic and extended basic and had fun writing programs.
The first computer I worked on was an Burroughs D825 main frame. The Air Force called it the BUIC, Backup Intercept Control. It was solid state, Transistors, used real core memory and thin film memory. Large drum magnetic storage. In tech school they taught us vacuum tube computer theory. Most people probably never heard of vacuum tube computers.
The first computer I worked on was an Burroughs D825 main frame. The Air Force called it the BUIC, Backup Intercept Control. It was solid state, Transistors, used real core memory and thin film memory. Large drum magnetic storage. In tech school they taught us vacuum tube computer theory. Most people probably never heard of vacuum tube computers.
The original (I believe IBM ) room size computer was vacuum tube. I think there was upwards of 10,000. Here's a link I just found.
http://homepage.cs.uri.edu/faculty/wolfe/book/Readings/Reading03.htm
Jul 7, 2013 18:59:09 #
Seems to me when I did my undergrad '61-64, we used a language called FORTRAN 4 on IBM computer that took up 2large buildings. Used punchcards which you haf to repare in advance then feed to the beast. Pain in the a..
Jul 7, 2013 19:01:08 #
Murray wrote:
Seems to me when I did my undergrad '61-64, we used a language called FORTRAN 4 on IBM computer that took up 2large buildings. Used punchcards which you haf to repare in advance then feed to the beast. Pain in the a..
Is that what's known as "The Good Old Days"? :roll:
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