Old PC Technology

[a9127]

Don't ask me why I was browsing for stuff like this as a 14 year old.

http://www.jeff-goldsmith.org/amusingrefs.html

Or why I came across it today... Guess I was just curious to see if the page was still out there. Had been talking about "search engines" with a friend and somehow remembered this and wanted to see if it was still around. It was.

Here's a screenshot of "Alta Vista" from 1997. You know, before there was Google. I used this a lot for school (and other things obviously ). Anyone else remember it?

[ila]

I took a look through some of the old PC books that I have. There is one, published in 1996, specifically for searching the internet. It includes search engines such as Alta Vista, Yahoo, Web Crawler, and a few others. The one search engine not mentioned is google.

[a9127]

Ila, I don’t know when “Google” first became popular? I seem to remember first using it in late ’99 or early ’00. It was the “cool,” “new,” thing and over the last 20 years, has grown so much more as a company. Much of what I teach it is almost impossible to not be involved with “Google” in some way. I use their analytics and many of my students prefer to use “Google Docs” rather than Microsoft. Our major applications however are still Excel and Access, Oracle, also Power BI, and Tableau. We also use SAS, SPSS, R, and teach Python.

According to “Wired,” The Mosaic browser was released in April 1993. I remember my first time using it but I don’t remember the exact date. The whole idea of “hypertext” and “world wide web” started in the late 80’s anyway (Tim Berners-Lee) so I had used software that “linked” to other resources before.

My parents had “CompuServe” for a long time and I still remember ordering clothes for school from Sears or J.C. Penney’s using their credit card. Of course our computer crashed right after I placed the order (it was a “text” interface) and worrying that I would get in trouble.

But enough… Here’s a few “screenshots” that are sure to bring back memories. And for those who weren’t born yet… yes, this really was what the Internet was like back then and was considered “awesome.”

[a9127]

Sorry to disappoint everyone but I’m still here…

CompuServe? Through a 300 bps modem? The kind you put the phone into. Anyone remember those?

This ad is even older. From 1979… But she’s kind of hot.

From the keyboard and “mall shots” I’m guessing this is from around the mid-80’s to early-90’s. Within my lifetime. But I could be wrong. The world as imagined in “the year 2000.” Yes, they were right. We call it “Amazon.”

“Internet in a Box.” I remember seeing these in places like BestBuy. From 1995. Mom and Dad didn’t have to worry, they had me. I would have been embarrassed to be seen using this to get online even as a kid.

And of course “Windows 95.” But pre-release it wasn’t called “Windows 95.” It was codenamed “Chicago.” I can’t remember the exact version but one of my teachers was in a Microsoft “beta tester” program and let me take his copy home to install on my PC. It was on a stack of 3½” floppies—like a zillion of them. Took forever to install.

Finally, really old CompuServe. “Pre Internet Browser” era, no GUI, probably 300 bps at best (see old modem in first pic). Newspaper is dated July 9, 1980.

(Just been very busy with work. That and spent some time in the hospital getting IV antibiotics after a leg infection flared up. Yes it goes back a long time to an old football injury. Otherwise known as a “compound fracture.” )

[ila]

Originally Posted by a9127

...CompuServe? Through a 300 bps modem? The kind you put the phone into. Anyone remember those? ...

300 bps was far faster than the first modem I ever used. It transferred data at the screaming rate of 75 baud.

Actually I do remember 300 bps modems. I also remember having to put a telephone handset in the cradle of the modem so that it could transfer data.

One time I upgraded my computer so that I had a fax/modem card inside it. I was so ultramodern with that. I purposely bought a fax/modem card because some companies still did business with a fax machine and I could send documents directly to a fax to be printed out.

One thing I learned from the above attached pictures is that CompuServe was owned by H & R Block. I had previously only ever thought of them as a strictly financial company that did personal income taxes as a sideline.

[a9127]

ila,

75 baud? I believed you but had to look it up. It looks like those speeds were used with "teletypewriting" or TTY (mainframe terminals?). I have seen that term "TTY" used with Modems. Don't remember if I ever set anything for that. Maybe for CompuServe? The slowest I've ever used was a "VIC Modem" which was 300 baud. Blazing fast for the time. At least you could get "on line."

What makes me feel old today is this (well that and Billie Eilish turns 18 in three days... ). This is "Windows 2000." It was based on "NT"--the more powerful and "stable" version of Windows. Ran this for a couple of years until "XP" came out. Ran them "side by side." Had an iMac as well. Never had it crash. I noticed Windows 2000 was released 20 years ago today. Can't be. Can't f'ing be...

(You may have to click the "NT info graphic" several times to see it. I just "screen capped" it from Wikipedia. All the info is correct as far as I remember.)

[a9127]

Phones, phones, phones… Thinking about phones... How they have changed over the years. At my university, we still have desk phones, but hardly anyone ever uses them. Like most people now, I take my Samsung Galaxy everywhere. When I started teaching we still had an old (mid 90’s) “Octel” voicemail system. I and the rest of the “younger” faculty hardly ever used it. Hell, I am considered “old” today for using an “Android.” My students a couple of years ago had a campaign to get me to switch to an “iPhone.” “FaceTime” was a big reason for it.

But back to Octel. Everyone made fun of the “nasty lady” who’s voice was heard saying things like “you have three new messages.” She came across as “cold,” “impersonal,” and “authoritarian” and most people hated her. She’s actually a nice person. I read an interview with her several years ago.

I hate voicemail anyway. Don’t have time to listen to a rambling message. Would rather get an email or text. I can read it quickly and decide if it’s important right away. Or trash it…

I don’t know what kind of phone we have at school now but I only seem to get “spam” and calls from “book reps” or "telemarketers.” However it looks much cooler than the old system with a touchscreen interface.

For my consulting business, I use my cell phone exclusively. I will most likely be getting the “5G” folding model in 2020. We also haven’t used a “landline” in years at home. Not long after we were married in 2011 we got a “AT&T U-Verse” package that came with a landline phone and number. Never hooked it up. Think it’s still in a box in the garage.

And there used to be telephone “exchanges.” I know a little about it. You dialed something like “MUrray Hill 5-9975” (the phone number on “I Love Lucy”). Or “BUtterfield 8.” The name of the movie starring Elizabeth Taylor for which she won the 1961 Academy Award.

I am from Detroit which is area code “313.” They replaced “exchanges” with “area codes” sometime during the 60’s and 70’s. I was born after that so I don’t know what the “exchange” for our location was. We lived on the West side. Not far from Dearborn. South of “8 Mile” road. You can buy merchandise with 313 on it. Eminem has a song called “313.” Troy, where we eventually moved is area code “248.”

[ila]

Originally Posted by a9127

ila,

75 baud? I believed you but had to look it up. It looks like those speeds were used with "teletypewriting" or TTY (mainframe terminals?). I have seen that term "TTY" used with Modems. Don't remember if I ever set anything for that. Maybe for CompuServe? The slowest I've ever used was a "VIC Modem" which was 300 baud. Blazing fast for the time. At least you could get "on line."

Yep, 75 baud was teletype. It was analogue communications though and not digital. The method of transferring data is somewhat similar except that analogue communications usually measured the voltage level, which varies according to the character being transmitted, whereas in digital the voltage is either on or off.

[Lbloverxxx]

I remember my first pentium 4 processor. Playing Games like duke nukem 3d. Now Intel is about to release a GPU thats 10000x faster than my first computer ( https://gamingindustry247.com/intel-...on-30th-march/ ) time just flies