Enjoy these old PC pics ;-) ...

cmeisenzahl

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 16, 2002
Messages
260
1970s-comp-02-550x249.jpg


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vic20-aug82.jpg


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The_LED_Museum

*Retired*
Joined
Aug 12, 2000
Messages
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Location
Federal Way WA. USA
I used to have a VIC-20; I remember making a fully self-contained color dial-up terminal out of it around 1990.
And I tested it by going to a nearby bar, firing it up, typing up a very short "dumb terminal" program in BASIC, calling my BBS from the pay telephone, and attaching the telephone's handset to an acoustic modem ("mouse ears"). Needless to say, the modems connected, and I was able to log onto my own BBS with the contraption. :thumbsup:
 

scott.cr

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 10, 2006
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Los Angeles, Calif.
OMG, that's awesome....

Back in 1982-83 my dad built a Heathkit H89 microcomputer. It was similar to the early TRS-80s with the Z80 processor and 4k of RAM. My dad was a copier repairman for 3M but super-talented in digital electronics. He soldered that thing together (like 300 pieces), tested it and ran it. Oddly, I can't find any information about it on their official site. If I had the chance to own this computer now, I would probably jump at it. It's the system I learned BASIC on at age 9. Kids these days are too used to pre-packaged software, but, I guess when you look at a game that requires four DVDs to install, they get a pass. ;-)

Dad also built a Heathkit oscilloscope (5 meg bandwidth baby!!) in 1979-80. It was with this o-scope, a surplus signal generator and a home-built audio power amp that I learned the differences between sine, square, triangle and sawtooth waveforms. (They sound different at the same frequency too, which I found interesting as an 11 year old.)

I remember the first computer show I went to in 1984-85. My dad was probably looking for a deal on a Commodore 64. Atari came out with their 1200XL that year and they had THE greatest graphics demo. It was a red and white beach ball bouncing in front of a grid. I thought it was SO cool.

My dad finally bought the Commodore 64, our first "real" computer to replace the Heathkit. After about two years of playing games and BASIC programming, I started to lust after the Tandy HX1000 (basically a PC jr.). Ummmm... I believe this computer was used in the movie "EXPLORERS," about the kids that build their own spacecraft, might have played a role in my lust for it.

I finally had my own HX1000 in 1994-95 or so, I worked at a computer store and a customer came in wondering if he could upgrade. The answer was no, so he gave it to me in exchange for a discount on a new PC, which I was glad to give him.

In later garage sales I picked up a Sinclair computer (one of those miniature computers I also lusted after as a kid), and one of those "lightweight" Tandy laptops, which was basically a small dot-matrix LCD attached to a keyboard. I actually used it for a number of years to take personal notes and make shopping lists and such. (Prolly a reason why I was single until age 26.) I even brought it to bars.
 

The_LED_Museum

*Retired*
Joined
Aug 12, 2000
Messages
19,414
Location
Federal Way WA. USA
I used to have a Tandy TRS-80 Model 100 laptop; I did very similar things on it that you did.
I eventually lost it to a pawn shop because I was $10 short of retrieving it when the pawn ticket came due.
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Long before that, I also had a Timex Sinclair 1000 - which I traded a Sanyo ghetto blaster for in order to obtain.
I remember it being connected to a little TV, and programming crude games & calendars and such on it.

I ran a BBS (Bulletin Board System) on a Commodore 64, a Commodore 128, and several versions of the PC back "in the day".
I ran it for almost exactly ten years - from midday on 07-21-89 through midday on 07-21-99.
Maybe not "ten years" down to the femtosecond, but close enough for government work as they say. ;)
When I first started the BBS, it was called "Phone-Sys: The Douched Moose", then "The Pink Triangle BBS", and finally, "The Toylet Bowl BBS".

And I ran a demo group on the 64 from ~1989 through mid-1994.
I started with the demo group name "TDM", then changed it to "TDC" when I added a couple of members.
 
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greenlight

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Aug 18, 2004
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chill valley
in grade school we had a room full of commodore pets. If you were lucky you got to use the teacher's version which had 8k and not 4k ram.
 

The_LED_Museum

*Retired*
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Aug 12, 2000
Messages
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Federal Way WA. USA
I still have a Commodore CBM8032 (very similar both electrically and mechanically to the PETs); the disk drives for it got left in Seattle however.
So there it sits, unused, in storage.
 

DoubleDutch

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Joined
Apr 21, 2005
Messages
525
Location
The Netherlands - one foot below sea level
Well, these are from before my computer awareness.

My first computer in 1988 was an IBM clone with dual 3 1/2 inch disk drives; no HD. Very quiet too, with no fan. I bought it together with a 24 needle dot matrix printer; very sophisticated with 4 different fonts! And the noise it made!:eeew:

Kees
 

Gizzy

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 5, 2007
Messages
106
Location
NY
Well, these are from before my computer awareness.

My first computer in 1988 was an IBM clone with dual 3 1/2 inch disk drives; no HD. Very quiet too, with no fan. I bought it together with a 24 needle dot matrix printer; very sophisticated with 4 different fonts! And the noise it made!:eeew:

Kees


LOL same here...my very first one was an IBM with an Intel 8086 processor dual 3.5" drives(pimp at the time:D) and I think 256k or 512k ram I think a 1200 or 2400 baud modem and that dot matrix printer
I remember playing Where in the world is carmen sandiego n stuff :crackup: and getting that first hard drive a few yrs later 25mb!!! I remembe thinking wow I could never fill this up lol:laughing:
 

binky

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 1, 2002
Messages
1,036
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Taxachusetts, USA
I always wanted a PET, but I absolutely loved my 16K TRS-80. Not only was the hardware great but the instruction manuals were fantastically well written.

Frustrating to get the volume just right on my cassette tape player data storage unit. (GreenLED & Craig know the pain fer sure.) :)

I wish I had it now for my kids. Everything about the systems was so ... tangible.

Peek, poke, push & pop!
 
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Big_Ed

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 28, 2003
Messages
1,768
Location
Sycamore, Illinois
I had a Vic-20 back in 1985 or 1986. I had lots of fun on that computer, mostly playing games like Omega Race, Pole Position, Donkey Kong, Frogger, and other popular games of the day. It's still at my parent's house, complete with a cheap version of the Datasette, and a Big Blue printer that used rolls of thermal paper. A buddy of mine had a Commodore 128 soon after, and we played tons of games on that one. Lots of fun!
 
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