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Author Topic: WTF - now I feel old :(  (Read 3148 times)

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Offline motorollin

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Re: WTF - now I feel old :(
« Reply #14 from previous page: January 12, 2011, 04:39:33 PM »
Of course they don't know what floppies are, just like I didn't know until told a few years ago about punchcards, and have no idea how computers were programmed before that. In a couple more decades the 10-20 year old age group will have no idea what CDs are. I don't find this particularly depressing (though I will be sad when CDs stop being produced as I prefer to buy my music in a physical medium).

Actually there was a recent series on British TV called "Back in Time - The High Street". They got a whole load of modern day shopkeepers and recreated high streets from various periods in history. When they got to the 70s, they added a record shop. One younger guy who had never seen a vinyl record actually said that it was nice to buy the music in physical form rather than a download. So maybe there's hope yet :)

--
moto
Code: [Select]
10  IT\'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
20  FOR C = 1 TO 2
30     DA-NA-NAAAA-NAAAA DA-NA-NA-NA-NAAAA
40     DA-NA-NAAAA-NAAAA DA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NAAAAA
50  NEXT C
60  NA-NA-NAAAA
70  NA-NA NA-NA-NA-NA-NAAAA NAAA-NAAAAAAAAAAA
80  GOTO 10
 

Offline Ral-Clan

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Re: WTF - now I feel old :(
« Reply #15 on: January 12, 2011, 04:51:23 PM »
A couple of thoughts on the subject.

I do think that what I learned in the 1980s & 1990s on the PET, VIC-20, C64, Amigas & MS-DOS systems has benefited me.  On occasion I've had to do some strange things with modern computers that involved entering command line parameters, etc. and it's helped.

I used to get depressed and feel old about changes in technology.  But then I just came to accept that old computers like the Amiga get old, but they still remain valid tools in their own right.

My Amiga is old, but can do some very useful, fun and impressive things.  It's a tool and in the hands of creative people, even an antique tool can do amazing things.
Music I've made using Amigas and other retro-instruments: http://theovoids.bandcamp.com
 

Offline Tension

Re: WTF - now I feel old :(
« Reply #16 on: January 12, 2011, 05:36:22 PM »
Quote from: TCMSLP;606132
it makes me feel very old/QUOTE]

But you are very old!

Offline Fats

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Re: WTF - now I feel old :(
« Reply #17 on: January 12, 2011, 07:32:52 PM »
Quote from: motorollin;606194
... just like I didn't know until told a few years ago about punchcards, and have no idea how computers were programmed before that.

moto


FYI.

Before punchcards computers needed to be programmed manually if my info is correct though. Often the programmers would assemble their programs themselves into a binary word stream. Operators then manually programmed the word stream into the computer: physical settings switches to one or zero for each bit in the word and some kind of enter button to transfer the word to memory. I'm using the term word here as at that time there was no standard yet for the size of words.
I have not used these myself. The oldest I used was a mainframe with a room full of terminals connected to it.

greets,
Staf.
Trust me...                                              I know what I\'m doing
 

Offline tone007

Re: WTF - now I feel old :(
« Reply #18 on: January 12, 2011, 07:35:52 PM »
I had one of these:


that needed code punched in via those switches as you described above.

Later of course they made floppy interfaces and boot roms.
3 Commodore file cabinets, 2 Commodore USB turntables, 1 AmigaWorld beer mug
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Offline Iggy

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Re: WTF - now I feel old :(
« Reply #19 on: January 12, 2011, 08:36:54 PM »
Yeah, I feel for you.
How about one of these?



While you S100 users got CPM before we got an operating system, our final operating system, Microware's OS9, was a multiuser, multi-tasking OS that supported position independent re-entrant code.This system supported a 2Mhz 6809, a 6845 VDP,  a serial card with 8 ports, parallel card, floppy controller and hard disk controller.

Come to think of it, my first experience with floppies was on a Wang 2200 which used 5.25 floppies that had more than one hole punched in the normal area for timing. Expensive disks (I think they were about $7.00 each at the time).
« Last Edit: January 12, 2011, 11:39:42 PM by Iggy »
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Offline motorollin

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Re: WTF - now I feel old :(
« Reply #20 on: January 12, 2011, 09:15:02 PM »
Quote from: Fats;606254
FYI.

Before punchcards computers needed to be programmed manually if my info is correct though. Often the programmers would assemble their programs themselves into a binary word stream. Operators then manually programmed the word stream into the computer: physical settings switches to one or zero for each bit in the word and some kind of enter button to transfer the word to memory. I'm using the term word here as at that time there was no standard yet for the size of words.
I have not used these myself. The oldest I used was a mainframe with a room full of terminals connected to it.

greets,
Staf.

Thanks Staf! Why the switch to punchcards if we already had the option of storing data in memory?
Code: [Select]
10  IT\'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
20  FOR C = 1 TO 2
30     DA-NA-NAAAA-NAAAA DA-NA-NA-NA-NAAAA
40     DA-NA-NAAAA-NAAAA DA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NAAAAA
50  NEXT C
60  NA-NA-NAAAA
70  NA-NA NA-NA-NA-NA-NAAAA NAAA-NAAAAAAAAAAA
80  GOTO 10
 

Offline tone007

Re: WTF - now I feel old :(
« Reply #21 on: January 12, 2011, 09:27:04 PM »
They liked to turn off the computers occasionally.
3 Commodore file cabinets, 2 Commodore USB turntables, 1 AmigaWorld beer mug
Alienware M14x i7 laptop running AmigaForever
 

Offline JimS

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Re: WTF - now I feel old :(
« Reply #22 on: January 13, 2011, 12:14:47 AM »
Quote from: klx300r;606162
Steve, I know what you mean, a 17 year old son of my friend thought that it was urban legend that we used to load programs onto computers using tape cassettes.  The poor kid was in shock when I showed him the datacassete and immediately took pictures on his phone and texted all his friends:laughing:


You're lucky he even knew what a cassette was. ;-)
Obsolescence is futile. You will be emulated. - Amigus of Borg
 

Offline Argo

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Re: WTF - now I feel old :(
« Reply #23 on: January 13, 2011, 03:39:36 AM »
Er, What's DF0:?
 

Offline coldfish

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Re: WTF - now I feel old :(
« Reply #24 on: January 13, 2011, 04:04:33 AM »
I felt old when I was telling my niece about how computers (C64) had very few colours couldnt display photos or movies.

She said: "What, like before flatscreens?"
 

Offline robo-ant

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Re: WTF - now I feel old :(
« Reply #25 on: January 13, 2011, 05:02:52 AM »
I don't have an amusing story to tell of what young people think of old tech, because I never talk to children.

What I do have is a photo that my Dad took of me rolling paper tape on the old RCA Victor combo TV/AM Radio/Turntable.  I think I got a paper cut soon after the photo was taken, but I kept playing with that roll of paper tape for a long time.

Speaking of that old TV, I must not have seen "Get Smart" since we had that thing, because I just picked up Season 4 on DVD and was surprised to find that it had been filmed in colour!
 

Offline lsmart

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Re: WTF - now I feel old :(
« Reply #26 on: January 13, 2011, 05:53:26 AM »
Quote from: Argo;606341
Er, What's DF0:?


But that is precisely the difference between the Microsoft concept and the sane world. How could they name their devices A,B,C, ... without ever thiniking about the future. How can an OS that is new in 2009 (Windows 7) still have C: as the hard wired name for the primary partition? At work we have trouble because UNC-paths aren´t universally supported and with only 26 letters in the alphabeth there is some double usage of the same letter.

In the Unix- and the Amiga-scheme you will never run out of device names. You can extend the scheme to accomodate for new developments, without breaking exisiting software and without looking goofy.

We knew that in 1988, but Microsoft didn´t care and they never did the right thing and thow it out of the Windows (pun intended). So we are old, but Microsoft is old and stupid.
 

Offline motorollin

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Re: WTF - now I feel old :(
« Reply #27 on: January 13, 2011, 06:06:38 AM »
Quote from: tone007;606278
They liked to turn off the computers occasionally.


Oh of course :lol:

--
moto
Code: [Select]
10  IT\'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
20  FOR C = 1 TO 2
30     DA-NA-NAAAA-NAAAA DA-NA-NA-NA-NAAAA
40     DA-NA-NAAAA-NAAAA DA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NAAAAA
50  NEXT C
60  NA-NA-NAAAA
70  NA-NA NA-NA-NA-NA-NAAAA NAAA-NAAAAAAAAAAA
80  GOTO 10