Old Heads: Tell me bout the good ole days

[MrCheeto]

I'm surprised message boards were really the main draw. Could I say even more important than programming?

Bodhi's magazine add-ins reming me of a few cars around 2000ish coming with a CD-ROM in the owner's manual. Something about clicking through the same thing you were reading was an added touch of flair, I guess. There was sometimes voiceover audio and always full color pics. I couldn't help but click every single button. I even got a pellet gun in 2002 that had a game that was no larger or more complex than the free flash games of later vintage. It was just a target shooting game. I guess this added some dimension of interactivity.

Business owners need computers. Mainly, he was running an accounting package from Great Plains Software, the same he had used at our company before he left. I'm sure he found other uses for it as well.

Accounting and inventory, that makes sense. On a similar note, I couldn't understand why businesses recently went nuts with the cloud crap. Now every single thing they do gets shared to some sort of calendar, or put into some chat that pops up on everybody's PC and phone so you can tap "like" or "heart" and reply. Every database has to be overcomplicated and resource hungry. Why does a simple inventory list require so much multimedia and loading time?

As late as 2009, I remember construction suppliers, auto parts warehouses, even a furniture store using 80's-90's vintage green-phosphor text-based machines. They worked. They required no load-time and there were no broken plugins holding things up. Some IT guys got some serious kick-backs.


I'm glad to learn about how graphics and editing were handled in those days. Interesting how they sourced images from wherever they could and used proxies to have the printers place full-color photos. Now I wonder how computers helped photographers get their shots across the country or even across the world in full color and full detail. Obviously, couriers could get a roll of film with a contact sheet out pretty quickly, but when did it become practical to turn a negative into something that could be sent over the net?

 

[eyoungren]

I’m surprised to see so many people got into computers for BBS’es and Usenet. I never really used them, I was more into computer magazines until the first web browsers came out. I remember they had these CDs full of shareware and freeware, every month I went digging through them to see what was new.

My father was a software engineer in the banking world, and he gave me the advice, whatever you do, don’t do software. Of course, what happened, I ended up doing software.

I can recall the computer magazines. I spent some time writing in programs by hand for the TRS-80 and Commodore 64. It made you proof your typing.

But I don't recall the CDs until the mid to late 90s, early 00s. By that time BBSes were fading into obscurity.

So, why should it be a surprise that a lot of people were using BBSes and Usenet in the 80s when including CDs didn't start happening until the 90s?

Or do you remember it differently?

 

[eyoungren]

I'm surprised message boards were really the main draw. Could I say even more important than programming?

I was 15 in 1985 when I first started into BBSes.

I lived rural, for some stupid reason my father chose that. My friends were thirty minutes away, the closest mall was 20 minutes and there's no hanging out anywhere. The streets are dirt and there's no sidewalks. Public transportation in 1985? In a rural town? Forget it.

So, how do I escape and interact with people? I connect my computer to a Bulletin Board System.

I didn't care about programming.

 

[Bodhitree]

But I don't recall the CDs until the mid to late 90s, early 00s. By that time BBSes were fading into obscurity.

That’s probably about right, in the 1980’s I wasn’t much involved with computing.

 

[satcomer]

That’s probably about right, in the 1980’s I wasn’t much involved with computing.

We had own my school thanks from grant by Kodak! I know because in 7th grade math I had to network his computer lab to the computer he gave to the Library across the hall! So between a friend Brad we both networked all the computers to three hubs connected to get her with another hub in school ceiling when ran an ethnic cable and drop to the computer in her Library across the hall! Good times back then no wonder after the Army I dropped in Network Administration and made it my career! Glad I'm retired now!

 

[bradl]

We had own my school thanks from grant by Kodak! I know because in 7th grade math I had to network his computer lab to the computer he gave to the Library across the hall! So between a friend Brad we both networked all the computers to three hubs connected to get her with another hub in school ceiling when ran an ethnic cable and drop to the computer in her Library across the hall! Good times back then no wonder after the Army I dropped in Network Administration and made it my career! Glad I'm retired now!

That's sort of similar to me, but 6 years later.

Thanks to my senior year in high school, I was dead set on becoming a journalist. I declared that major the moment I applied for college....

... That didn't go very well. One day after my math class, I found my way into our university's biggest computer lab. 8 hours later, I was still there having fun on their Mac LC IIs. Ended up skipping my next class, which wasn't a good thing, but it did have me do two things: Change my major to computer science, and think about working at that lab, because it beat working at McDonalds as an 18 year old.

I ended up not only working there, but becoming lead consultant there. On my own, not only did I figure out the workings of their network, but mapped out the entire university's domain, all by trial and error. They were and still are a true Class B network, with each building having their own set of subnets, so to be able to map all of that out was crazy enough.. but to cross that with the network admin there and for him to tell me I actually had it RIGHT was even more of a shock..

.. And keep in mind that most of this was before most firewall implementations were standardized. This was around 1993-1994, so SSH/SSL weren't even created; the only encryption one had was either RSAREF, IDEA, or SALT (all cracked). Phil Zimmerman was about to become a debacle due to PGP getting exported, and all clear text TCP/IP protocols ruled. So taking a packet sniffer like Ethereal/Wireshark was fun to do.. and don't get me started on network sharing at that time: Novell Netware ruled, but it was so much fun playing Doom over the network, as Netware had a very nasty IPX bug that could crash every network that has it had Netware implemented.

Also back then, many a university back then were heavily AGAINST Linux, because they thought of it being some toy that wasn't "supported", to the point where some universities suspended or expelled students who were using it, because it constituted a "security breach".... now, Linux is the more or less the preferred version of Unix in the world.

Regardless, many a night was spent in that lab that had me changing majors pretty well panned out, as the pay rate I'm currently at would only be equalled if I were on one of the major cable channels doing opinion shows.

I'm half tempted to go back and apply for the Unix Sysadmin role at my university, as they were one of the ones thinking I shouldn't have been there because of my advocating of Linux and getting sysadmin courses there.

BL.

 

[MajorFubar]

I stuck with an Amiga from 1992 until 1998. In 1986 when PCs went beep and Macs had monochrome graphics, the Amiga had a built-in four-channel sampler and colour graphics that bordered on being photo-realistic (for the time). I used my Amiga for both video production and music production. Unlike the PC and Mac it could be connected to an RF modulator which allowed you to record its video output directly to a VHS video recorder. It was a fantastic tool for amateur videographers and home studios.

 

[eyoungren]

I stuck with an Amiga from 1992 until 1998. In 1986 when PCs went beep and Macs had monochrome graphics, the Amiga had a built-in four-channel sampler and colour graphics that bordered on being photo-realistic (for the time). I used my Amiga for both video production and music production. Unlike the PC and Mac it could be connected to an RF modulator which allowed you to record its video output directly to a VHS video recorder. It was a fantastic tool for amateur videographers and home studios.

I had an Amiga 1000 from 1992 until the early 00s. Got it from a guy who graduated high school and was going off to the Naval Academy. Used it mainly for games, but it was never my primary computer.

But the games were memorable. A friend and I conquered Lemmings on it. And Defender of the Crown was always fantastic.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

In high school in the early 80's, our advanced chem teacher had an Apple II+ in the back of his class. Myself and a friend would program BASIC games that were published in the back of various Apple trade magazines. We discovered a number of errors in the published code, which forced us to troubleshoot and fix the code. Not sure if the errors in the published code were intentional or not, but it forced us to learn how to program.



By the time our high school added a TRS-80 computer lab and official classes, we already knew what we were doing. Between the two of us, we were helping all the other students in the class and in some cases knew more than the teacher.

 

[MajorFubar]

I had an Amiga 1000 from 1992 until the early 00s. Got it from a guy who graduated high school and was going off to the Naval Academy. Used it mainly for games, but it was never my primary computer.

But the games were memorable. A friend and I conquered Lemmings on it. And Defender of the Crown was always fantastic.

Unfortunately most people only used it for games, and that's how Commodore marketed it. Where its obvious niche was as a multimedia machine, because as a one-box solution, it was streets ahead of the Mac and PC for multimedia creation because the built-in hardware was better. Unfortunately, Commodore did not do that. Apparently a disgruntled anonymous Amiga inside developer once said that if Commodore was in charge of KFC they'd advertise Hot Wings as 'the spicy battered limbs of a warm dead bird'.

 

[eyoungren]

Unfortunately most people only used it for games, and that's how Commodore marketed it. Where its obvious niche was as a multimedia machine, because as a one-box solution, it was streets ahead of the Mac and PC for multimedia creation because the built-in hardware was better. Unfortunately, Commodore did not do that. Apparently a disgruntled anonymous Amiga inside developer once said that if Commodore was in charge of KFC they'd advertise Hot Wings as 'the spicy battered limbs of a warm dead bird'.

Yeah, I was young then and didn't realize the capabilities of the machine. That wasn't until I was much older and actually involved in graphic design that I realized it's potential. Unfortunately, I no longer had the computer by that point.

What led to my awareness was someone telling me at some point about Video Toaster. This was before I owned the Amiga. That made me aware of graphics generally, so when I found out that Babylon 5 did all their special effects using Amigas and Video Toaster, I could conceptualize that. The Amiga was powerful, even back then.

 

[MajorFubar]

Yeah, I was young then and didn't realize the capabilities of the machine. That wasn't until I was much older and actually involved in graphic design that I realized it's potential. Unfortunately, I no longer had the computer by that point.

What led to my awareness was someone telling me at some point about Video Toaster. This was before I owned the Amiga. That made me aware of graphics generally, so when I found out that Babylon 5 did all their special effects using Amigas and Video Toaster, I could conceptualize that. The Amiga was powerful, even back then.

The disconnect between the machine's extraordinary potential and how it was marketed was IMO caused by two factors, one being that it was bought-in technology (Commodore didn't design the Amiga, they bought the company which did, Amiga Corporation, after Jack Tramiel and half of Commodore's design-staff moved to Atari), and secondly, and IMO the biggest consideration, they deliberately strangled its appeal as a semi-pro / pro-sumer media creation tool so it didn't compete with the PC clones they were selling for considerably higher cost.

 

[Bustermd]

This thread is awesome. Maybe its just the nostalgia for simpler times, or maybe because technology was more exciting back in the day. There were so many different gadgets to drool over (home audio, home video, video game consoles, computers, portable audio, etc, etc), and the advancement of technology and capabilities was rapid and exciting. Nowadays everything boils down to your computer and your smartphone, maybe a game console, and tech at the consumer level is becoming stagnant, and has honestly been stagnant in the personal computer space for many years. Nowadays the only innovation seemingly is people imaging new and different ways to monetize consumers' personal information, and/or more effectively spread division and disinformation on social media. Sure, there are bigger and better CPUs and GPUs, but those things only benefit a minority of consumers. For an average computer user there is no difference in experience between a 2010 laptop and a 2020 laptop. The same can't be said for a computer from 1990 and a computer from 2000. Same is true of other tech as well. My wife could care less about the difference between 1080p and 4K/Dolby Vision. Barely notices it to be honest.

I first got into computers in the late 80s/early 90s as a kid. My cousin had an Apple II/c and some of the best memories of my life were countless nights spent playing games on that machine. It was also always a great day at school when we got to go to the computer lab and play Oregon Trail. My first personal machine was a 386 laptop of questionable provenance my older brother got for me. Learned everything I could about PC hardware using library books and the odd tech magazine/weekly public access TV show about computers that I could consume. I remember clearly lusting after a 486 DX2 66 MHz machine.

 

[Mousse]

Uni had a Mac Plus lab. We had to sign in to get a OS 6 and an application floppy from the service desk. Pop in the floppy, boot up the Mac, and go get coffee, tea or soda. Eject the floppy, insert the application disk (MacWrite for me). Fire up the program from floppy and off for a bathroom break or grabbing some snack. Get back and start typing. Those were the bad old days.? Not even the nostagia filter could get me to remember those days as being good.?

I spent more time using my VAX-VMS account than using the Macs back then. I only used the Mac for stuff that needed to be printed out for class. To this day, I prefer CLI to GUI in some situtations.

The first Mac I brought with my own $$$ was the LC (dodged the IIvx/IIvi debacle).

 

[MajorFubar]

This thread is awesome. Maybe its just the nostalgia for simpler times, or maybe because technology was more exciting back in the day.

When new technology first appears, each new generation of product brings improvements so vastly superior to the previous that it feels exciting to be alive and be involved in it at that point in time. Prior to my generation (Gen X) the boomers felt the same way with cars, and millennials feel the same way with mobile phones. Then after an exiting period of about ten to fifteen years, the technology has matured to an extent that each generation of product is no longer revolutionary, it's evolutionary. Somehow the excitement goes at that point, because there's not much more to offer beyond faster speeds and more memory. We saw that with computers about 10-15 years ago and phones have been at that level now for about five years.

 

[Bustermd]

When new technology first appears, each new generation of product brings improvements so vastly superior to the previous that it feels exciting to be alive and be involved in it at that point in time. Prior to my generation (Gen X) the boomers felt the same way with cars, and millennials feel the same way with mobile phones. Then after an exiting period of about ten to fifteen years, the technology has matured to an extent that each generation of product is no longer revolutionary, it's evolutionary. Somehow the excitement goes at that point, because there's not much more to offer beyond faster speeds and more memory. We saw that with computers about 10-15 years ago and phones have been at that level now for about five years.

Agree completely. My last few laptop upgrades have been basically not necessary, but done because I wanted something new. In every case I've passed down my old computer to a family member, all of which are still using them, so I don't feel too guilty about it. But despite that, my actual experience in using the device is almost exactly the same.

Also, with technology there has been, for lack of a better term, a consolidation of devices which has made things less interesting for tech geeks such as myself. Everything boils down to essentially your computer and your smartphone. And as we discussed, those have become such mature technology that there is often very little to keep your interest over time.

 

[TiggrToo]

First computer I ever touched was a Commodore Pet at school

I was instantly hooked and finally convinced my dad to buy me a computer for home.

The Acorn (yes, Acorn of ARM fame) Atom was a 6502 based 1.2Mhz computer that had the advantage of coming either as a kit or fully built.

Since the kit was cheaper that's what I was given. Which was good because I learned a lot about building it at the time.

I still remember hooking up an Atari Joystick to the Atom using my own custom hookups so I could use it to play games.

 

[44267547]

In high school in the early 80's, our advanced chem teacher had an Apple II+ in the back of his class. Myself and a friend would program BASIC games that were published in the back of various Apple trade magazines. We discovered a number of errors in the published code, which forced us to troubleshoot and fix the code. Not sure if the errors in the published code were intentional or not, but it forced us to learn how to program.

View attachment 1973183

You should see what an Apple II sells for today. There’s a few members on here who have ‘mint’ condition units. (Obviously not for sale.)

 

[eyoungren]

My cousin had an Apple II/c and some of the best memories of my life were countless nights spent playing games on that machine.

There was one night in 1993 or 1994 that my friend came over around 6pm. He always used my computer (homebuilt) for games, despite having his own. Anyway, the new thing I had that he played mercilessly was Star Control II.

At 8pm I left for work, my regular 9pm to 1am (approximately) shift. I was back home around 3am with my meal from McDonalds and my friend was still at the computer!

Pretty good times. Just about anything was playable without having to worry about system specs.

 

[eyoungren]

Uni had a Mac Plus lab. We had to sign in to get a OS 6 and an application floppy from the service desk. Pop in the floppy, boot up the Mac, and go get coffee, tea or soda. Eject the floppy, insert the application disk (MacWrite for me). Fire up the program from floppy and off for a bathroom break or grabbing some snack. Get back and start typing. Those were the bad old days.? Not even the nostagia filter could get me to remember those days as being good.?

I spent more time using my VAX-VMS account than using the Macs back then. I only used the Mac for stuff that needed to be printed out for class. To this day, I prefer CLI to GUI in some situtations.

The first Mac I brought with my own $$$ was the LC (dodged the IIvx/IIvi debacle).

All this reminds of of the scanning station at design school. When it was your turn, it was make your settings, set your scan and walk away for an hour or two while Photoshop and the scanner slowly ground away.

You hoped you got your settings right the first time.

 

[profcutter]

First computer I ever touched was a Commodore Pet at school

View attachment 1973397

I was instantly hooked and finally convinced my dad to buy me a computer for home.

View attachment 1973401
The Acorn (yes, Acorn of ARM fame) Atom was a 6502 based 1.2Mhz computer that had the advantage of coming either as a kit or fully built.

Since the kit was cheaper that's what I was given. Which was good because I learned a lot about building it at the time.

I still remember hooking up an Atari Joystick to the Atom using my own custom hookups so I could use it to play games.

I never actually used a PET. I used the VAX-connected teletypes at my mom’s university to print out snoopy and play Eliza. The first microcomputer I used was a Trash80 (no offense, that’s just what we called them) in a computer class at the local community college for a kids class. We finally got a c64 for my older brother’s 13th birthday, I so wanted an apple, but we couldn’t afford it. I worked in high school for commodore, I helped them sling Amigas at education conferences. They gave me a desktop a3000 for my efforts, my last one was an a4000 tower, which never ever worked right, it even had a Mac bridge card in it. We were finally able to return it because we got it with a credit card, and I got a power Mac 7100 instead. That thing was loud as hell, but it could run Photoshop (with RAM doubler) and I used it for all my papers. I learned photoshop in art school, I helped run the amiga lab, and printed stuff on the Mac IIci’s on the plotter, must have been like photoshop 3 maybe?

 

[QCassidy352]

Macintosh LC III. I think it had a 25 MHz processor? And the salesman told my dad it was way too much power for a family computer!

 

[jchap]

First computer I ever touched was a Commodore Pet at school

Yes, the Commodore PET! What a familiar story. My first experience with a personal computer was also the Commodore PET, which they happened to have in my elementary school. It had a cassette tape drive for loading and saving programs. "Hunt the Wumpus" was the first program I probably played on that thing. I actually convinced a teacher to let me take the PET home for a weekend. That was my first exposure to BASIC programming as well.

I daresay that the experiences I had with computers as a teenager paved the way for much for what I am doing now... and I'm not even involved in an infotech-heavy field of business, compared to those who work in application and system development.

It might be useful for kids growing up nowadays to learn more about how the technology they use has evolved over the years, what people used to do to create programs and actually make the computer do simple things. People take connectivity for granted nowadays, but it certainly wasn't a "given" when I was growing up. Modems and BBS were just a budding thing for enthusiasts for the most part back in the late 1970's and early 1980's.

 

[jchap]

I never actually used a PET. I used the VAX-connected teletypes at my mom’s university to print out snoopy and play Eliza. The first microcomputer I used was a Trash80 (no offense, that’s just what we called them) in a computer class at the local community college for a kids class.

Wonder why they called them "Trash80s"—what was the origin of that colorful little nickname? Also interesting to note that this name had been circulating around my group of "computer nerd" friends as well.

 

[MajorFubar]

I always wondered what Amiga graphical editors and CGI software looked like in-use. I've seen Renderman footage from Toy Story but that's as close as I've gotten to seeing how it's done. How in the world did they make the "Money for Nothing" video on one of those things?? Seeing a video like that come out of a janky box like that is a miracle in my book.

That's because it wasn't a 'janky box'.