14 Jan
2002
14 Jan
'02
9:18 a.m.
Tarsi wrote:
The computer had migrated to the Goodwill in Mason
City, which is about 35
miles from Hampton, the place where the church was (is).
I'm so happy about this one. Lots of people talk about their first computer
they had. Well, I didn't have this one back then, but it was the first PC I
ever touched, so that's something.
Tarsi
210
What year did you first use the PC?
My son remembers going to work with me about 20 years ago and using
the computer there (obviously a PDP-11 running RT-11) to play SST
(Super Star Trek). He is now 33, so he was then about the same age
as you were when you touched that first PC.
I was 43 at the time and had already been woking with computers for
over 20 years even back then. Around 1980, the DEC computers
with a hard disk drive were still quite large, but they did have a VT103
which was a VT100 with the backplane that could hold a PDP-11.
Of course, the early VT103 used a floppy. I don't think that I ever
saw another VT103 with the hard drive (an RD53 in that case) under
the VT100 tube. DSD did make an 880/30 what was a 30 MBytye
hard drive (emulated 3 * RL02s) plus an RX03 in a 19" wide box and
about 5" high. If a user had the backplane wired for 22 bits, then
it could use all 4 MBytes of memory. Together with an 11/73, that
made quite a system. Did anyone else ever soup up their VT103?