A look at today's home computer 50 years ago...

[Tagrel]

MAN - I guess we have really come a long way in home computers! :yikes:

Imagine that baby comfortably squirrelled away in your kitchen! :rofl: I wanna now what the heck the wheel is used for... :confused2:

And I love the line, "With teletype infterface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use".

Bwhahahahahahahahaahaaaa - From someone who used Fortran for YEARS - be VERY happy that is NOT the interface you are currently using. (and the fact that Fortran is a language - not an operating system...)

Guess you guys don't appreciate how good you have it! :mrgreen:

From A 1954 Popular Mechanics:

http://tagrel.com/images/misc/computer2004.jpg

[FLSharon]

wow, I guess that couldn't come in a laptop or wireless... so much for the good ol' days! 8)

[LimeGreenCheri]

Isn't that funny. It says the "needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home" Too funny! :rofl:

[Robin]

The wheel? Well that was they original mouse, silly. :wink:

Fortran...ouch! It was always taught as computer 101. Not the most useful language. I also took Cobol which was taught by the Accounting Deptment in high school, so much more practical.

As for the teletype interface... it looks exactly the same as the ones on the computers in the late 70's. :lol:

[Robin]

See...now you have me going through the archvies at IBM. :lol:

Let's see a show of hands, on how many folks worked on this puppy. :yes:

http://www-1.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/pc/images/02101.jpg

http://www-1.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/index.html

[Bookwood]

I remember sitting int he computer lab at college with DH (then BF) while he did his homework on the computer and all the little 1's and 0's in little rows and him trying to explain to me how it all worked. It went whish over my head and I started to explain the circulatory system to him and he stopped :rofl: . THat is still a useful dodge for me... now I use it when he starts explaining how some radio or the internal combustion engine works (I understand the basics of the engine just now what all the other "stuff" does). I still think I can get him with the workings of the human body thought!

[Belle]

This is a thread for Beast :roll: :lol: And he thought y'all were just Disney nuts - little did he know you were also techno-geeks :wink: He may just enjoy himself at MF afterall :P

{hugs}
Belle

[Ronski]

See...now you have me going through the archvies at IBM. :lol:

Let's see a show of hands, on how many folks worked on this puppy. :yes:

http://www-1.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/pc/images/02101.jpg

http://www-1.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/index.htmloh heck yes!!! :lol:

[AndyL]

I still have my Kaypro with it's CP/M OS & 2 5 1/4" floppy drives. Flying technology for it's time and who could complain about a telephone modem with a 320 baud rate?? ;) http://www.oldcomputers.net/kayproii.html

[LeiasMom]

Belle, the Beast will be quite at home with all of us geeks. DH is an AI programmer (currently focusing on advanced robotics). Talk about going WHISH over my head. .

I do remember my antiquated PC, though. we got one of the first hard drives while I was in high school. It had 4 megs if I recall correctly (DH will remember). The sales guy said that it was "more room than I will ever need". LOL.

[MissBianca]

50 years ago...50 years ago...that wheel was probably for the fire extinguishers or something, lol. And I don't think teletypes had been wedded to computers at that point so it was *a bit* visionary.

What's this about Fortran not being useful, Robin? As an engineer, I can say that it's still used a surprising amount for engineering applications--thus its usefulness has been proven over time. It all depends on what you want to do...

Shall I date myself by saying that I punched cards for my first computer science course? For a state-of-the-art IBM 360. I remember waiting an hour for the results of each tiny run.

Things have come a long way!

[Tagrel]

I have to agree Miss B. Fortran has had its uses for many things (especally scientific applications). I have worked in Aircraft simulation for years, and most of it is/was written in Fortran. These days, its typically in 'C' and some of the NASTIEST code is that auto translated into 'C' from Fortran. :yikes:

And COBOL - Blech! That is the ONE language (and I know and have used about 15) that I REFUSE to ever use professionally. What a horrble and verbose language it is! I'd rather run those BA Vacuums after Wishes at the MK (well - who wouldn't?) :mrgreen: Being a contractor, I do different work each task, but ALL the managers know that COBOL is NOT an option for me! ;)

But, I'm certainly glad that others like COBOL, because that makes it MUCH less likely anyone would even ask me! :)

And I still wanna know WHAT they were thinking with that wheel.... Maybe they forsaw a ship simulator! :captain:

[Robin]

I've never had to program, so I was looking at it more from a training point of view. All we ever got to do with Fortran was figure out stuff like the square root of a triangle. With Cobol you got a better understand of the logic of programming, as I remember us discussing how we'd figure out the commissions for salesman.

Our 'first' computer...for the Fortran class was an IBM 1140..I think..this was around 1974. We had one or two card punch machine, he printer that everyone would standard around until their program ran, and I think the main console with the keyboard. (We were never allowed to touch anything but the card punch and the printer. Our teacher was horrid. I think she 'taught' the first week or two of class, and then everyone was left to 'go at their own pace'. :roll:

For Cobol, we had a brand new (delivered like a week before class started) IBM 370...but it was really a terminal to the mainframe in Board of Ed headquarters. Most of the term was done writing out programs and flowcharts and discussing how it would work. We they finally had the computer setup, it could take 'days' to get your printout back, as you had to wait for the BOE computer to have 'time' to run your program. Still a better class, because we were actually 'taught'. I'd originally signed up for Basic (or RPL? heck...now we're talking 1975) but my Accounting teacher changed my request, saying it was 'too easy' for me.

My Cobol teacher was a fairly young guy who I'd also had for Accounting and Business Law, the Fortran teacher was a Math teacher...who also sucked at math. :lol:

BTW, I actually got into working with computers 'accidentally'. I started as an Accounts Payable clerk, and we had to type all the invoices into a 'state of the art' Microdata Accounting system... we'll the system was buggy, so I also had to 'balance' the final data before it could be submitted to the company's mainframe in HQ. From there, more accounting data started to be input locally, and I worked closely with the MIS department. When accounting got a bit to 'political' for my taste, I informed the Director of MIS that if he got an opening in his department, I'd be really interested in a transfer. I went from 'clocking in batches' to handling the security on the Microdata, then the key card system, then the big jump to Wang OFFICE and DVX (voice mail) administrator. Finally I became the Lotus Notes admin, and am a Domino Admin to this day.