Computers in 1989

[arvee]

For me it was an IBM 8088 with it's blazing fast 8 Mhz processor and 1 or 2 MB of memory (can't remember for sure) and two 5.25 inch floppy drives. A couple years later I got a 10 MB external hard drive. I thought that the 10 meg drive was so cool, becuase I could fit those two or three disk games onto one drive and not have to switch disks at all. Ah the good times.

I do find it amusing that my home theater remote has more RAM than my old system had in HDD space. I still have that thing around here somewhere in a box. Might have to fire it up again someday.

 

[bchem]

For once, this question has NOTHING to do with being a newbie, but EVERYTHING to do with being too young to remember most of these computers. Let the ball-busting commence, but here's my question:

HOW THE HECK DO THOSE THINGS WORK???!!!!

I mean, I remember some of the old atari games like pong and all that stuff, but with that 8800 that AVB posted, GG mentioned something about football or something on it. How the hell does that work?! You don't even have a monitor. What would you use those really old computers for? :0

 

[MidGe]

Hiya bechem,

Most, if not all, could be connected to a normal TV.

Also there were additional costs for printers, which also were very basic.

Enjoy your smoke

MidGe

 

[AVB]

Here is a good overview of the 8800. I just played with mine and never did anything useful......sorta like my computer today

HOW THE HECK DO THOSE THINGS WORK???!!!!

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[Lumberg]

wow.

 

[ggiese]

For once, this question has NOTHING to do with being a newbie, but EVERYTHING to do with being too young to remember most of these computers. Let the ball-busting commence, but here's my question:

HOW THE HECK DO THOSE THINGS WORK???!!!!

I mean, I remember some of the old atari games like pong and all that stuff, but with that 8800 that AVB posted, GG mentioned something about football or something on it. How the hell does that work?! You don't even have a monitor. What would you use those really old computers for? :0

[snapback]264558[/snapback]​

Those original computer worked strictly with a printer - you inputed the program and data, and received a printout. Like I said - we had a thermal printer and we went through rolls and rolls of paper!!!

In the case of football and artillery - you were given a series of choices in a printout (such as being on offense, which play did you wish to execute - pass, running, punt, field goal attempt, etc.) On defense you were given a series of choices of defenses (blitz, pass defense, run defense, etc.). The computer would use a random number generator to carry out the plays and announce if you were successful or unsucessful. The internal timer kept track of the time of the game. It was like typing in what you wanted to do, and wait for the computer to respond.

Remember, this was in the days before pong and other video games. Certainly, the computer at it's infancy. It was a HUGE step when computers went from the 8800 to the Apple/Tandy computers (like the Model 1 I had). But, even that was barely better at first. There was very limited graphics (VERY limited). Instead of waiting for a printout on a printer, the results appeared on the screen. I even did a mod on my expansion interface that allowed the "g" and "q" tails to appear below the line, instead of them being shown above the line... Of course, everything was in black and white. 32K was a HUGE amount of memory in those days. Initially, programs were fed in using a cassette tape recorder. Then there was a single sided 5 1/4" floppy (if you were slick, you'd "punch" the disk edge a certain way so that you could use both sides of the disk in the single sided disk drive. Eventually, they came out with a DOUBLE sided 5 1/4" drive (that's the one that case me $500.00 when I got married). Twice the storage!!!

In those days - people used to ask me why I was using a computer. I'd tell them "to play games and balance my checkbook" - and that was pretty much it. The hobby computer culture at that time was VERY much underground. We had user group meetings where we'd exchange ideas about software and hardware upgrade/repair/hacking (picking apart source code) /etc. It was definitely a different time!!! Bulletin boards, like CigarPass, were very local. One individual would host it at his home on his own computer and you just called in. If you were lucky - the host would have 5 or so call in lines. If not, you just had to keep calling back until you eventually go through (best at about 3AM).

Ah - those were the days!!!!

 

[AVB]

Just to add, the first 8800 didn't even have a printer option, that was later and had 256 BYTES of memory. You programed and read results from the switches and lights. No mega or giga in those days but the second version exploded with 32K and a 64K option. If you read the link you'll know that if the 8800 failed there would be no Microsoft as we know it today.

 

[jgohlke]

First computer, IBM XT (1 floppy, 1 full-height 10M hard drive, 256M memory). Brought it home, unpacked it and got it up and running. Basic was the only application that was any fun that came with the computer. I stayed up all night learning Basic and screwing around writing programs. Every 5 minutes I would run out into the family room and get my wife..."Look at this honey!". Sometime after 10:00pm I discovered the shape procedures in Basic. With just a few parameters like radius and location, the system would draw a circle ALL BY ITSELF! The original monitor had an aspect ratio that was like 9x7 or something, so the circles drew on the screen kind of squashed on the top on the bottom (not round, more eliptical). I got my trig books out and rewrote the circle procedure to account for the aspect ratio. The next morning, my wife walks past the spare bedroom and says "When did you get up?".

I say, "I haven't been to bed yet!".

She gives me "the look" and then I say, "Look at this!".

She says, "Yeah, a circle, I saw that last night.".

Then I say, "But this one is round."

 

[bchem]

For once, this question has NOTHING to do with being a newbie, but EVERYTHING to do with being too young to remember most of these computers. Let the ball-busting commence, but here's my question:

HOW THE HECK DO THOSE THINGS WORK???!!!!

I mean, I remember some of the old atari games like pong and all that stuff, but with that 8800 that AVB posted, GG mentioned something about football or something on it. How the hell does that work?! You don't even have a monitor. What would you use those really old computers for? :0

[snapback]264558[/snapback]​

Those original computer worked strictly with a printer - you inputed the program and data, and received a printout. Like I said - we had a thermal printer and we went through rolls and rolls of paper!!!

In the case of football and artillery - you were given a series of choices in a printout (such as being on offense, which play did you wish to execute - pass, running, punt, field goal attempt, etc.) On defense you were given a series of choices of defenses (blitz, pass defense, run defense, etc.). The computer would use a random number generator to carry out the plays and announce if you were successful or unsucessful. The internal timer kept track of the time of the game. It was like typing in what you wanted to do, and wait for the computer to respond.

Remember, this was in the days before pong and other video games. Certainly, the computer at it's infancy. It was a HUGE step when computers went from the 8800 to the Apple/Tandy computers (like the Model 1 I had). But, even that was barely better at first. There was very limited graphics (VERY limited). Instead of waiting for a printout on a printer, the results appeared on the screen. I even did a mod on my expansion interface that allowed the "g" and "q" tails to appear below the line, instead of them being shown above the line... Of course, everything was in black and white. 32K was a HUGE amount of memory in those days. Initially, programs were fed in using a cassette tape recorder. Then there was a single sided 5 1/4" floppy (if you were slick, you'd "punch" the disk edge a certain way so that you could use both sides of the disk in the single sided disk drive. Eventually, they came out with a DOUBLE sided 5 1/4" drive (that's the one that case me $500.00 when I got married). Twice the storage!!!

In those days - people used to ask me why I was using a computer. I'd tell them "to play games and balance my checkbook" - and that was pretty much it. The hobby computer culture at that time was VERY much underground. We had user group meetings where we'd exchange ideas about software and hardware upgrade/repair/hacking (picking apart source code) /etc. It was definitely a different time!!! Bulletin boards, like CigarPass, were very local. One individual would host it at his home on his own computer and you just called in. If you were lucky - the host would have 5 or so call in lines. If not, you just had to keep calling back until you eventually go through (best at about 3AM).

Ah - those were the days!!!!

[snapback]264640[/snapback]​

Just to add, the first 8800 didn't even have a printer option, that was later and had 256 BYTES of memory. You programed and read results from the switches and lights. No mega or giga in those days but the second version exploded with 32K and a 64K option. If you read the link you'll know that if the 8800 failed there would be no Microsoft as we know it today.

[snapback]264646[/snapback]​

That link was pretty interesting. Backtracked and looked at some of the other "computers" (if that's what you can even call them! ) from way back when. Pretty cool to see where it all started. Put a lot in perspective as I sit here reading and typing on a Window's XP computer, playing music in real time off of the internet while running a $300,000 macine/computer that watches individual molecules bind to and dissociate from each other in real time...all with about 30GB of hard drive space to spare! haha!

GG- That explains a lot! I just saw the switches and lights and had no idea how you could play a game on that. Makes sense with the printer option. I guess I just couldn't fathom the whole game playing thing without a monitor. If it makes any sense, we used to do similar things with our graphing calculators in high school. Instead of using them for trig, we'd program games where we could buy and sell drugs in different towns and see who could make the most money in one class period! Same priciple of game playing without graphics and writing your own programs I guess, just a tad bit more advanced than the games you'd mentioned!

Thanks for the history lesson fellas!

Back to my 2005 computer world for now...

 

[Charles U Farley]

I must be young, my first was light years above all of ya'll.

Mac Plus Baby! I didn't have the external disk or hard drive, though.

 

[BrewMeister]

Mine was a Commodore VIC 20 for $299.
I believe the storage unit (cassette tape) was additional.
The VIC 20 had 4k of RAM.

I was founder and president of the Commodore Users Group in Miami (Miami 2064).

Jim

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Good news for all you COMMODORE fans - it is being reported that at this year's CES 2006 the once defunct Commodore name may rise from the ashes.

 

[emodx]

TI99/4A I remember choosing between that and a early version of a PC or something similiar. I took the TI because it had games I could play, other other was just a "school" machine. After that caome the Commode64. That was ok, but the attack helicopter game was aweome. I used to play that thing for hours on end until I met my first real girlfriend. After that, girls were much more important than gaming. LOL

 

[Double D]

had a apple in school and trash 80 at the house .My dad was a programer and he had huge rolls of tape and punch cards he would bring home from work. I remember he brought me to his work and there was a room filled with machinery and they would push these cards into it to do things this was in the early 70's.