Not really WTF thread material but still WTFable
 

Geez, talk about a trip in the Way Back Machine.

I've no idea what that is. Computer thing-y? Or, what?

In your computer is a similar disk drive capable of holding between 2,000 and 20,000 times more data. It is roughly 1"x3.5" and cost $100. That ad probably showed up around 1983-4.

Procrastination pays. :lol:

My first IBM clone had two floppies, but the second (an 8Mhz screamer) had a 20 MB hard drive. I can still remember thinking, "What am I going to do with all that space?"

Ahhh yes the good old TRS-80 systems.

Hmmm. Missed the entre of this thread while away.

UT, did you just find that ad in an old BYTE or do you have some antique gear of that vintage?

I do have a couple of old computers at home, my first two in fact. First one was a Pied Piper, CP/M, one 5 1/4 " disk drive, external display, composite out. It actually is a portable computer, but AC only. Came with a keyboard lid and a carrying handle and all. I'm sure the sucker would fire right up, if I could find a suitable display.

Second machine, Commodore Amiga 1000. Don't get me started on it's technical superiority :angel: and the managment inferiority :devil: ... I sold them (well ones like them. Actually, I think I wrote my own invoice on these units too, so I sold them to myself) and their kin for a few years back in college and shortly after. I still have an old Kaypro necktie in the closet at home. heh.

Friend of mine in college (in 1981/2, based on which dorm room I remember him having it in) had one of those Kaypro portables. Must have weighed at least 30 pounds.

Your current HD, Brianna, cost $100 in *today's* dollars. That behemoth in the picture would therefore equate to about $4,740.00 today, according to inflation figures I just heard quoted on the radio this morning.

..."portable"... ah.. yeah. TRANS-portable is more like it. Like a microwave, or a sewing machine or a television. Was "yours" the green or amber screen? Hehe.. I remember playing Flight Simulator on the system, with the green screen. And Zork. And MultiMate and PerfectCalc. yawn... I'm even boring myself. sorry.

It was the traditional White on Black.

Green Screens were an "oooh wow!!" device at that point. There were three student-accessible DECwriters (dot matrix paper terminals) in the Computer Center, and thirty or so in a room in the Math Building. Later in my college career the collection of DECwriters expanded a wee bit, and another 10 were added in a former storage room in the computer center. The ones actually in the CC were very big deal, since they were directly connected to the mainframe, while all the other machines on campus had acoustic coupler modems. 300 baud, baby! There were also occasional Beehive and Hazleton (IIRC) CRTs. One of the Beehives (in the old storage room) was a little finicky, and had some kind of a short. The text on the screen would get strange and wobbly, and characters you KNEW you hadn't typed would start appearing. The "fix" was to pick it up about six inches off the desk and drop it. Whatever transistor stopped transisting or whatever would get nudged back into place and you could happily go back to typing.

One of the staff in the computer center (I think I may have spoken of how we had tacit approval to break into his office at night) had a CRT terminal with a floating keyboard. We were in awe of his ability to sit with his feet on his desk and his keyboard on his lap. We emulated this behavior during our nighttime sojourns.

There was even one very, very cool vector graphics terminal, which was made extra special by having a 1200 baud modem. We had never seen anything quite so fast. It was reserved for the use of advanced students in the graphics classes. It also had some quirks, which were easily repaired by slamming it underneath the attached keyboard, right around the "H". I majored in Geography and Planning, but minored in Computer Repair.

Amber screens came much later.

DOS-based IBM PCs came to the campus in either my junior or senior year.