[olug] "I remember when..."

[woodsjay at cox.net]

I remember ordering the Altair 8800 with 8 K of memory in February 1975 ($1200). I bought a Teletype model 35 ASR ($1000) so that I could have external (paper tape) memory. The bootstrap loader was loaded in from the front panel with switches (35 bytes). It was just enough to read Intel hex format binaries from the paper tape. The first program available was an assembler from the Bay Area Computer Club. The second program I wrote to mimic the Wylber text editor that ran on an IBM 360/67 Orvyl Timesharing system. 

---- Kevin <sharpestmarble at gmail.com> wrote: 
> I remember that Apple [[c. No HDD, 5.25" floppy drive, monochrome
> green screen that developed vsync issues(*sniff*), and the ugly sound
> that it made when you (re)booted it without a floppy disk(it couldn't
> find an OS). "Please take the disk out, turn over, and reinsert to
> save your data." That AppleSoft BASIC is probably the most bug-free
> "OS" that I can remember.
> 
> On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 23:27, Sam Tetherow <tetherow at shwisp.net> wrote:
> > First computer we as TRS-80 Model 1 with 32k expansion pack and worn
> > drive (cassette, write once, read never).  Actually got rid of it last
> > year.  Had original receipts and I paid over $1000 for the dot matrix
> > line print that came with it.  Second machine was an Apple IIc witch I
> > only paid $800 for it.  If you are looking for a blast from the past,
> > check out Bryan Lunduke (BryanLAS)'s ustream feed
> > (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bryanlunduke) he is running old computer
> > chronicles when not broadcasting live.
> >
> >    Sam Tetherow
> >
> > Dan Linder wrote:
> >> (I'll change the subject to avoid hijacking the Ubuntu thread.)
> >>
> >> Will Langford wrote:
> >>
> >>>> Heck I even appreciate the fact that Bill Gates/Microsoft made cheap
> >>>> hardware a reality.  I remember spending $5K+ for my first machines in
> >>>> the pre win95 days.
> >>>>
> >>
> >> Sam Tetherow wrote:
> >>
> >>> 89 was my first PC
> >>>
> >>
> >> Hmmm, does my Timex Sinclair 1000 count as a "PC"? ;-)  That was around 83.
> >>
> >> If you need the "Intel Inside", how about my "DEC Rainbow 100A" (with both a
> >> Z80 for CPM, and an 8088 for MS-DOS) - that was about 1984 (
> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_100).  (And my dad cringed at the
> >> $5,000 price tag...but we did get it used and it came with a 5MB HDD!)
> >>
> >> Dan "Where's my cane and hearing aid batteries..?"
> >>
> >> --- ---
> >> "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" (Who can watch the watchmen?) -- from the
> >> Satires of Juvenal
> >> "I do not fear computers, I fear the lack of them." -- Isaac Asimov (Author)
> >> ** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
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