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36 Years Ago Today, Steve Jobs Unveiled the First Macintosh
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Still got one; had given another one away a few years ago. Works and I remember being enthralled with it at the time. Currently resides in my junk computer room. Periodically I’ll start that or another old relic up (Xerox 860 IPS anyone 
, Sinclair something or other, Colecovision, Atari 400, Commodore something and so on).
Stuff I’d forgotten about; Zip drive and some talky mouse thing I ordered from Taiwan (never worked).
Tom
, Sinclair something or other, Colecovision, Atari 400, Commodore something and so on).Stuff I’d forgotten about; Zip drive and some talky mouse thing I ordered from Taiwan (never worked).
Tom
Loved these in school when I was little. My High School still had some for typing class back in 2004.
Hahahaha....I remember how we officially sneered at the Mac while we were desperately trying to unload the IBM PCjr's. Unofficially, we were wowed by the Mac. Either Wang or Digital Computer(I don't remember which) had earlier purchased a Lisa for examination/evaluation and was returned without comment. No one wanted the returned Lisa. I'm sure it's in a landfill somewhere. Man, I'm feeling very old.
What could you do with this original Macintosh? Could you write a lab report with it? Made a spreadsheet with graph? Could you play games?
When it first come out, what did people use it for?
When it first come out, what did people use it for?
True. But like Windows on ARM, very few third-party applications will run without being recompiled for the ARM64 architecture. (Albeit, emulation can "fix" some of those incompatibilities until a native version is made)
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I am typing this from my Surface Pro X running on ARM64. It is a speedy system when running applications coded for ARM64. Most of the 32-bit emulated applications run pretty well but not as efficiently, obviously. And then there are those apps - mostly by Adobe - which don't run natively or in emulation. Whether this experiment by Microsoft pans out in the long run remains to be seen.
I was talking to a chap recently that convinced the principal of a major university to invest in 30 Macs in 1984! It was a stupid amount of money at the time, but it was a great success and kickstarted a community of hundreds of people with new ideas like ‘graphic designers’ and ‘desktop publishers.’
They continued to be used up until the early 90s, after which they were all thrown in the bin.
...that’s the bit when i shouted, “NOOOOOOoooooo...”
They continued to be used up until the early 90s, after which they were all thrown in the bin.
...that’s the bit when i shouted, “NOOOOOOoooooo...”
October 1984, me
Early 90’s swag , it still works
Early 90’s swag , it still works
Pretty much just word processing and messing around with MacPaint. Microsoft Multiplan was available in 1984 but I don't remember if it was at launch or not. So you might not have even had a spreadsheet yet.
The first iPod was released closer to the first Mac than to the present day.
bought my 128k end of March 1984... got a B (content) / D (style) on first english assignment because my teacher Mr Jordan didn't like New York 12.... after that, every paper was printed in Palatino 12 1.5 spacing...
yea, I bought the printer, an external floppy and had memory boosted to 2 MB!
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yea, I bought the printer, an external floppy and had memory boosted to 2 MB!
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multiplan was useable...
You should try to reconnect. 36 years is a long time to hold a grudge. Having to use that horrible keyboard on the peanut was punishment enough in any case 😬
It controls access to an automated gate that you can program with 4 to 10 digit codes. That’s all it does. Why? If it ain’t broke don’t fix it I was told... The area doesn’t need to be secured per se; more of a way to slow traffic down for pedestrians is my guess.
If it’s ok with them I’ll post a picture.
I still have a fully functional SE/30 at home. With MS Flight Simulator 4, OIDS, Pararena, Beyond Dark Castle, Glider, Photoshop 3, Macrovision 2 (i think), and some other old stuff (Aldus freehand and such as well as more games (Lemmings?)).
I love that machine and it will outlive me ;-)
...so get a $1200 MacBook Air, which will totally clean the IIci's clock, or ~$3ks worth of iMac, that will beat the entry Mac Pro in a sprint and do things like non-linear, broadcast-quality high-def video editing (I think the IIci could edit quarter-screen compressed-to-heck quicktime if you sent your tapes off for compression on a mainframe...)
So that's the thing - what modern computer do you think your IIci maps on to?
You've skipped forward a bit to 1990, going back to 1984 and the original Mac, there was still a huge gulf between "personal computers" and the sort of computers being used in industry - different architectures, different operating systems, different mass storage. A Mac was very still much a personal computer whereas today, a Mac Pro (or a PC Xeon tower) is exactly what most of the industry is using.
Buying a Mac Pro in 2020 is more like buying something like a Sun Workstation or MicroVAX (or something that IBM wouldn't even sell you if you were a private individual) that would have set you back 5-6 digits in 1984 money. Even the cheapest personal computers today have 64 bit processors and run substantially the same MacOS, Windows or Linux that the bulk of the industry is using.
Things have changed so much that comparisons just don't make sense.
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At least today we've lost the "Lethal force will be used against violators" stickers.
(If you'd equipped yourself with the requisite Torx screwdriver bit welded onto 18" of steel rod and opened your Mac, you were faced with the exposed CRT circuitry and its HT CAPACITORS OF DOOM that remained charged to a gazillion volts even after you'd disconnected the mains...)
I still like the Classic SE and the Performa 550:-
everymac.com
Macintosh Performa 550 Specs: EveryMac.com
Technical specifications for the Macintosh Performa 550. Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.
everymac.com
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