On Generations of People and Computers

On Mon, 14 Apr 1997, Paul E Coad wrote: Well, since I kind of started this whole thing 8-) I have been thinking about it. I collect EVERTHING. I AM pre-disposed to computer equipment but as I look back over the deca^H^H^H^Hyears I do see a pattern. Let's see if anyone else lines up with this history 8-) Grade school - got a Philco Entertainment Center - 78 RPM turntable AM Radio [680-1600 kilocycles] and Police Band [1600 - 2500 kilocycles] I ABSOLUTELY remember this radio - had a DC electromagnetic speaker coil that knocked me over the bed and into the wall! Got into B/W photography. Picked up (influenced from above radio) HeathKit 5-Band Shortwave Receiver [an AR-3 - still in the garage - used for getting the REAL WORLD news - as tho the BBC doesn't have an agenda 8-)] In Junior High School - rescued several 78's from the "Break-A-Record" game at a dance. [Including an Edison-Vitaphone of John Phillip Sousa] In High School I got to use the HP Portable Calculator - the one the sise of a couple of suitcases. [But it DID have a handle 8-)] In college, I did run punched cards into a Philco 3000 8-) And also a Xerox Sigma 5. Went into the Service, something about a war somewhere and a draft number of 3 - or something 8-) San Francisco - anybody remember the surplus stores down - I think on Market St. WWII wirerecorders - Surface Search Radars [wish I had one NOW 8-) - tho a SPS-6 Air Search would be nicer!] Really thought hard about building a Scelbi 8008 then opted to build the TVT-1 [Still with me!] Read up on the Mark-8. Then I got into motorcycles and other countries - a long pause - I'm free! I'm free! Back to the REAL WORLD. Worked for awhile in a Machine Shop - Cincinati Acromatic 250 [tubes] and Milacron AC-5 [transistors] and a beautiful old Moog 110? [Paper tape read by air - the air aligned plates to allow hydraulics to move the table] and an ASR-33 [how many of you remember editing paper tape 8-)]. Talked the boss into getting a TRS-80 and a HeathKit Paper tape punch/reader so I could do calculations and not waste tape. [You have already read of my Western Electric PDP-8 trauma 8-)] Moved on to a place called Numeridex [sold paper tape 8-)] and was introduced to the SBC 80/20 from Intel. And the Intelec MDS-800 and the DEC VAX 11/780 and the 11/23 [I have the MDS and the 11/23 8-)] Picked up KIM-1, SYM-1, various terminals, modems, printers and stuff along the way. Built a CPM system with a Megatel Quark-64/100 that had [may soon run again!] 4 8" Tandon 843B drives [still have 8 - don't ask - the Shugarts in the MDS are getting flaky] formatted to 1.6 MB. Well then the PC revolution started. Gee, I think I have one each of them too! Upto what ever they called the 386 processor models. Did a lot of work in the Industrial Control field - Allen-Bradley and Modicon. I got to see a lot of the old stuf - and new stuff. I get most of my stuff for free - or out of the garbage. I keep a lot of books too. I keep a lot of everything. Anybody need an Underground Guide for London [about 1974] 8-) [Yes I got to see some first run Dr. Who] I don;t think age has anything to do with it. It's how you perceive the world. It's going too fast for some of us to let it ALL go by. I wasn't raised to want the newest thing as soon as it shows up. Some people take a little longer to pick that up. If it works - leave it alone. Actually, my CPM systems are *apparently* faster than any of my PC stuff. I mean it only has to load 64KB from a 500Kbs floppy interface 8-) Well enough rambling. BC -- My pen is at the bottom of a page, Which, being finished, here the story ends; 'Tis to be wished it had been sooner done, But stories somehow lengthen when begun. -- Byron