Ancient Computing - Uncensored

[#] Fri Sep 10 2010 17:42:39 EDT from Ford II @ Uncensored

http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

[#] Fri Sep 10 2010 20:57:47 EDT from fleeb @ Uncensored

Wow, I haven't thought of wuarchive.wustl.edu in over a decade!

[#] Sun Sep 12 2010 17:08:51 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar @ Uncensored

Many of us have fond memories of wuarchive, but I doubt anyone would disagree that it has served its purpose and is no longer necessary.

(Kind of like Richard Stallman.)

[#] Mon Sep 13 2010 07:07:29 EDT from fleeb @ Uncensored

Yeah, it's certainly time to move on. So many other places one may go now.

[#] Mon Sep 13 2010 14:10:54 EDT from Spell Binder @ Uncensored

So many places to go...So little time.

[#] Mon Sep 13 2010 22:34:38 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar @ Uncensored

I'm probably the last computer enthusiast on earth to read _Hackers_ by Steven Levy (ISBN 0385191952), but that's exactly what I'm in the process of doing right now.

It's so great to read something written in 1984. There was no such thing as Windows, the Macintosh was barely out of the gate, and mainstream culture didn't know a thing about the nascent Internet.

Levy is wonderful about honoring the true heroes, the people who made the technology happen rather than the people who made the most money.

[#] Tue Sep 14 2010 07:12:48 EDT from fleeb @ Uncensored

I haven't read that, either.

[#] Tue Sep 14 2010 09:28:46 EDT from Sig @ Uncensored

Also not read. I will admit to a hankering to re-read The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll, though.

[#] Tue Sep 21 2010 19:14:48 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar @ Uncensored

Right now I'm sitting in a diner with the IGlet. He's texting on the phone and I'm tethered on my laptop on the same phone at the same time. It's really cool.

[#] Wed Sep 22 2010 09:25:20 EDT from fleeb @ Uncensored

Cell phones are the new desktop computer.

And when I write this, I don't mean in terms of horsepower, or what these things can do, exactly, but in terms of What We Find Really Cool.

Back in the 80s/90s, desktops were awesome. By today's standards, they sucked, but at the time they were really nifty. Today, it's cell phones.

[#] Wed Sep 22 2010 12:47:01 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar @ Uncensored

Actually I clearly remember thinking that desktops were a step in the wrong direction, even then.

[#] Wed Sep 22 2010 13:15:17 EDT from fleeb @ Uncensored

They weren't even thought of as desktops back then, though.

Vic-20, C-64, etc... they were just personal computers.

Although Kaypro had those portables later... which was really nifty at the time.

[#] Wed Sep 22 2010 13:28:37 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar @ Uncensored

Kaypro was nifty but not as nifty as the Osborne 1.

Things sure would be different today if Bill Gates's mother hadn't had connections inside of IBM. Don't believe for a minute that Gary Kildall blew them off.
If it weren't for Mrs. Gates, the IBM PC would have been running CP/M.

[#] Thu Sep 23 2010 11:33:45 EDT from ax25 @ Uncensored

Yes, phones are usefull now as they can run c64 emulators!

[#] Thu Sep 23 2010 16:31:47 EDT from Harbard @ Uncensored

Struggling right now to get Windows ME running on one of my spare boxes. The big trouble is the hardware is too good for Windows ME. Soo....I have to install linux, mount the drive ME is on, copy the drivers over and then continue the install/upgrade.

All for fun! or so I thought.

[#] Thu Sep 23 2010 16:37:33 EDT from Ford II @ Uncensored

Back in the 80s/90s, desktops were awesome. By today's standards,
they sucked, but at the time they were really nifty. Today, it's
cell phones.

I dunno, I could make a pretty good argument that the currently 'cool' phone suck right now.
And as you point out, they'll suck even more in the future when they're replaced by something even more sucky.

[#] Fri Sep 24 2010 15:04:14 EDT from fleeb @ Uncensored

Yes, but witness the enthusiasm!

[#] Mon Sep 27 2010 04:33:15 EDT from Nite*Star @ Uncensored

Sep 7 2010 11:55am from fleeb
The C-128 was interesting. Two operating systems... although I used
the C-128 OS more than the CP/M, but it was still rather interesting
that it could do both.

fleeb, THREE OS/S ... BASIC v2.0 (C-64 mode), BASIC v7.0 (C-128 mode), and CP/M. Did you mean two architecturally different processors, perhaps?

[#] Mon Sep 27 2010 04:34:42 EDT from Nite*Star @ Uncensored

Sep 10 2010 5:42pm from Ford II
http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Holy shit, that's where I got all my Amiga software!

[#] Mon Sep 27 2010 04:38:16 EDT from Nite*Star @ Uncensored

Vic-20, C-64, etc... they were just personal computers.

Although Kaypro had those portables later... which was really nifty
at the time.

Don't forget the Commodore SX-64 (aka the Commodore Executive 64)!