Ancient Hard Drives

[Robert Trevellyan]

You guys had hard drives? You were lucky!

The first computer I owned, I bought the high end model with 32K of RAM and a cassette tape recorder for storage.

Hard drives, pfft.

 

[joeschmuck]

Okay, the first computer I owned was a hexadecimal computer and it didn't do much of anything except expose me to possibilities, no recording device or anything but it was cool being able to program it to turn things on and off. My second computer that I was allowed to use was some IBM Mainframe system with the 80 column punched cards used for programming and core memory. This is the system where I actually learned something useful. After that is was a TRS-80 with the all mighty cassette tape drive used for storing your programs and data. That was not mine either but was in the next room to the IBM Mainframe. After that my second computer was some small single board Z80 computer. It was a piece of crap but it was somewhat fun to play with. At the same time I was getting into RC Airplanes so that peaked my interest a bit more. The third computer I owned was an IBM PC Clone with only the 5.25" floppy disks, I had to upgrade a few more times before the hard drives became something I could afford on my small Navy pay. By the time I was running a 386DX cpu, I could write an entire interrupt routine using Debug off the top of my head and frequently did. I cheated a bit, I'd write it into a text file and then pipe it into Debug, it was easier to rearrange the code when the desired result was not achieved. Oh and writing INT 13h routine, very dangerous, I caused a lot of damage to my system that way but it created on hell of a forced learning curve for me.

 

[Spearfoot]

My first computer was a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A with cassette storage system. It was awful. First PC was an IBM clone w/ 80286 CPU and 20MB HD.

When I took Fortran in college, I had to punch the programs into a deck of cards and feed them into a reader, which loaded and executed them on the University's mainframe about 150 miles away. Later I landed a part-time job 'babysitting' the engineering graduate school's VAX 11/780 in the evenings. What a heady sense of power that was, having (nearly) sole use of a VAX -- with a CRT terminal! No card-punching required!

Nowadays people have smartphones with more processing power than that VAX.

Good times...

 

[hugovsky]

IBM PS/2 with 20MB disk. RIP. It gave me a lot of fun just trying diferent interleave configs to make the hard drive faster... My all 720KB and 360 5 1/4 disks fit into that disk... Before had amstrad 512k, one 8080 @4.75Mhz hercules screen and one msx.

 

[hugovsky]

Oh! and do you remember poke codes to extra lives and powers? 4 colour displays....:p

 

[joeschmuck]

Hey, I'll try to one up you on this but I think this is as far as I can go, well I am excluding when I rode a missile like Slim Pickens did in Dr. Strangelove, I hurt my ankle so he had to fill in for me. But I've actually seen the first computer "bug" (a moth) taped to the log page of the lab and it was found in one of relays in one of the computers in my current work building. They use to have the logbook on display but it's been removed. I keep wondering if it was donated to a museum or something. Now I can't say I was alive during the time it was found, I was not. My parents were still kids back in 1945. This building will be torn down in 2017 after we move into a new building. I've only operated a few VAX machines back in 2002, haven't touched one since.

 

[Spearfoot]

But I've actually seen the first computer "bug" (a moth) taped to the log page of the lab and it was found in one of relays in one of the computers in my current work building. They use to have the logbook on display but it's been removed. I keep wondering if it was donated to a museum or something.

I concede! The first computer "bug"? There ain't nothin' cooler than that in our little sub-culture!

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

I keep wondering if it was donated to a museum or something.

According to Wikipedia, it's at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

 

[joeschmuck]

So they only got it last year, that is odd, it was removed from display probably 2 years ago or maybe a little more, time flies when you get old. Thanks for looking that up. DC is only 50 miles north of us, it was a good thing to do I guess. Someone got credit for donating it.

According to Wikipedia, it's at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Thanks for looking that up.

I knew it was Grace Hopper who found it, so I just had to put her name into Wikipedia. What I hadn't noticed before was the tongue-in-cheek nature of her note: "First actual case of bug being found." At least, that's how I read it today.

EDIT: well I guess she isn't actually credited with finding the moth.

By the way, can one go off-topic in the Off-topic sub-forum?

 

[joeschmuck]

By the way, can one go off-topic in the Off-topic sub-forum?

Well if not, we have tried our best.

Yea, she was just credited for coining the phrase Computer Bug, however I found something which stated well before this that equipment which didn't operate properly would be stated to have bugs, gremlins, etc... I wish the folks who found the moth were better credited.

 

[nanodec]

My first PC was a Tandy 1000HX with 256KB on board. Had 3.5" floppy drive. Many hours were wasted playing King's Quest I & II on that thing... haha

 

[joeschmuck]

You know, I completely forgot that I had a TRS-80 PC-2. That was a cool little device. I think it was a birthday gift. I recall playing around with the TRS-80 Model II with the large 8" floppy disks. Nope, never owned one.

Speaking of computer games, back in 1984 there was a small arrangement of networked IBM XT's (about 9 I believe) and we had some maze game where you would run around and shoot at the other players. It was very crude but it was so much fun hearing "Damn it", "Crap", "Who shot me?". Lots of fun times. I recall the first Pong machine, my best friend had one. That's when Pinball was still mostly mechanical although electronic scoring was coming out.

EDIT: This thread should be renamed "The Good 'ole Days"

 

[DifferentStrokes]

EDIT: This thread should be renamed "The Good 'ole Days"

So, who had a coupler modem? And used it.

 

[joeschmuck]

So, who had a coupler modem? And used it.

I did, well I borrowed one from the local college I was attending when I was in high school (12th grade). 110 baud rate and it was just a TTY using a thermal printer as output. It kept my phone line busy but my parents were understanding. The college allowed me to use it for free. I think I was the first kid from my high school to use the college. I moved from a large city where they had things like computers (the main frame I mentioned earlier with punched cards) to a small town where they looked at you funny if you muttered the word computer. I asked for a computer or advanced electronics to be taught in the school when I moved there (11th grade) and their solution was to pay for a college course. The only stipulation was I had to get myself there and back 3 days a week. Good thing I could drive. It was 2 towns away up the freeway and I made it work. That was a very good deal for me and I couldn't pass it up. I have no idea if they done that for anyone else but I'm glad they did this for me.

Did I mention that I also worked on old 15" iron oxide Magnetic Disk Files in the Navy, 10 platters and the heads moved hydraulically, some really old equipment but reliable for the time. There was a slotted plate on the bottom of the disk pack for the sectors and two light bulbs and photo sensors so the electronics could identify the starting sector (two slots close together) and then each sector there after (a single slot). There was a lamp for the head home location, a lamp for rotation speed. There was one more lamp for the head indexing counter (location of the head). The heads were almost 1" wide and I actually have a brand new one in my office, looks so pretty. Some people thought they were a real pain to align but I guess those folks were just too impatient. I personally thought it was a breeze, but you just had to take your time and it falls into place. Replacing the spindle was the most difficult part because of all the alignments after the fact. If you could do it all in 12 hours, you were good. I was very good. Yes, I'll pat myself on the back for that because it is the truth. There were always head crashes, scratches on the heads and platters. Many times a lot of oxide build up on the heads too. These were open to the environment and back in the day there were a lot of smokers around (not me) and a smoke particle was very bad. Yea, it was part of the fun job I had.

 

[HolyK]

Ohhh ... a "my big is digger" competition? Can i play ?

so ...

The first computer i had was this ...

and my oldest "hard drive" was this:

So Fu*k you, i won! ^^


EDIT: And my first "modem" was this ...

 

[joeschmuck]

LMAO, You won! You must be bigger :D

 

[ChriZ]

Well, technically, the last picture is a telephone, not a modem, so not a very clear win...lol

 

[solarisguy]

If you did not program by toggling switches, you are not a real programmer™ :D or a system administrator ;-)

 

[BigDave]

If you did not program by toggling switches, you are not a real programmer™ :D or a system administrator ;-)

Speaking of toggles and switches, this is really off topic, but has anyone watched the netflix documentary titled "I Dream Of Wires" (grey haired music lovers may find it interesting)