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A trip down computer memory lane..

cwa107


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Some of the author's excerpts are kind of funny... my guess is this is some kid who wasn't alive when these machines were current. I like how he refers to the terminal-in-a-briefcase as a "PC".

I also like how he captions the Mac ad with "One of Mac's early computers". I'll never understand this - we see it here often - people don't get that "Mac" is the brand name of a computer made by Apple. It would be like referring to "Accord's" Honda.

I guess I must be getting old, because I remember some of these ads. Now, admittedly, not some of the early modems or "tiny" (capacity-wise) hard disks, but the Commodore/Amiga/Atari/Radio Shack/Tandy ads definitely look familiar.
 
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Some of the author's excerpts are kind of funny... my guess is this is some kid who wasn't alive when these machines were current. I like how he refers to the terminal-in-a-briefcase as a "PC".

I also like how he captions the Mac ad with "One of Mac's early computers". I'll never understand this - we see it here often - people don't get that "Mac" is the brand name of a computer made by Apple. It would be like referring to "Accord's" Honda.

I guess I must be getting old, because I remember some of these ads. Now, admittedly, not some of the early modems or "tiny" (capacity-wise) hard disks, but the Commodore/Amiga/Atari/Radio Shack/Tandy ads definitely look familiar.

I think more people should look at the pricing on the older stuff and set back and think how far things have come and what our computing dollar buys these days I know I am grateful.
 

cwa107


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I think more people should look at the pricing on the older stuff and set back and think how far things have come and what our computing dollar buys these days I know I am grateful.

No doubt. A friend of mine had a local, 2-phone line BBS - he had maybe 150 users or so. I remember when he bought a 1.3GB hard disk. It was full-height, 5.25 form factor. The thing must have weighed about 20 lbs. It was so big, he had to mount it in an external SCSI tower. He paid $1500 for it - that was in 1993 or so... just a few years later, I bought a 2GB 3.5" Seagate for $130 (maybe '96). Now I can pick up a 4GB MicroSD card that is no bigger than your pinkie finger nail for less than $10.

I remember salivating over the Commodore 1581 3.5" disk drive for the Commodore 64. At the time (maybe 1989) it was like $300 - for a whopping 800K or so of storage. But that was massive to the C=64. You may as well have had a hard disk attached to it. I could have GEOS and a software library on a single floppy.

I also remember buying a 28.8K modem for my first Internet connection in 1995 or so. I think I paid close to $200 for it.

Nowadays, most ISPs give you a modem free or charge a nominal fee for monthly rent on 5Mb+ of bandwidth.

The funny thing about those prices is those were in 1980's dollars! With inflation, those $999 machines are probably more like $2K now.
 
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If I had the space and spare change I would get a new 64. Commodore USA
 
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That's a nice article.
2 things, yes you can still buy cassettes!
The Atari games console is still great, because while the graphics are shocking by todays standards, the gameplay was second to none.
Oh ans $3400 for 10mb, that's insane by today's reckoning.
 

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CWA, I remember a lot of that but was not really exposed to some it till later. I loved the Amiga add! Best computer there! :D

The Atari 800. loved that. That modem was so large. My first modem was a Commodore 300 Baud Auto Modem that would fit in my hand followed by an Avatex 1200 and then 2400 Baud modems. Then 14.4 USR and Zoom 28800 and USR 33.6.

My first hard drive was for my Atari ST called a Megafile. Big Desktop case with 30MB RLL or MFM hard drive tank! WOW. Still have it and it still works! :D

So does my 40MB external for my Amiga 500.


Good old days.
 
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Lisa, does look kind of sexy.......amazing how far Apple has come from there..
 
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Oh and how far have the iPhones come . . . . Leaps and bounds in my reckoning lol

20111111-pns44rscx763rrwft79ntieguc.jpg
 
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dtravis7


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Lisa, does look kind of sexy.......amazing how far Apple has come from there..

Forgot to mention. My friend dad had a Lisa. I went over to their house and fell in love with it, but because of the price, could never get one. Loved it though and said to myself, it was how all computers would someday work. It was way ahead of it's time.


speaking of memory lane, saw this today from 1984......
'1984' Apple Macintosh Commercial (Full advert, Hi-Quality) - YouTube

for those of you who were around...supposedly still one of the greatest advertisements ever made.

base upon George Orwells book 1984..

That was an amazing ad for sure. Really caught my attention. The friends dad with the Lisa saw the bottom falling out of the Lisa market and sold it while he still got a lot of $$$ and bought a 512 or plus and I wanted one so bad! :D
 
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Give it another thirty years and people will consider this generation of computer users as cavemen.

”Have you seen those YouTubes from 2011? How on earth did they get by with those silly little Mac Pros? My SuperMac mid 2041 i100 (250GHZ, 512 Core, 420gb RAM, 25TB SSD, 100TB HDD) only cost $75 - and that was with a 100" Diamond Ray 5D screen thrown in.”

I remember when Pacman was the pinnacle of gaming innovation.
 
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Give it another thirty years and people will consider this generation of computer users as cavemen.

i have already been told by 'friends' that i am a caveman already.....:Angry-Tongue:
 

pigoo3

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Give it another thirty years and people will consider this generation of computer users as cavemen.

EXACTLY!!! Assuming in 30 years we still have computers...and not some sort of brain implant!;)

It's just like the automobile industry:

- in the 1950's folks would look back on car's from the 1920's...and be like..."Oh My God!"
- in the 1980's folks would look back at car's from the 1950's...and be like..."Oh My God!"
- in 2011 we look back on car's from the 1980's...and be like..."Oh My God!"
- in 2040...folks will look back on car's from 2011...and be like..."Oh My God!"

What goes around...comes around!;)

- Nick
 
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Forgot to mention. My friend dad had a Lisa. I went over to their house and fell in love with it, but because of the price, could never get one. Loved it though and said to myself, it was how all computers would someday work. It was way ahead of it's time.




That was an amazing ad for sure. Really caught my attention. The friends dad with the Lisa saw the bottom falling out of the Lisa market and sold it while he still got a lot of $$$ and bought a 512 or plus and I wanted one so bad! :D

funny though that is says it was only ever aired once during the day. it didn't look watershed material to me...
 

dtravis7


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funny though that is says it was only ever aired once during the day. it didn't look watershed material to me...

Yes, during the Superbowl.
 
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agreed,

but we/you did land on the moon in 1969 and nothing really of note since...some things don't move as quick as others i guess

J
 
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