Old PC Technology

[ila]

A couple pictures I found today that have been turned into memes:

Cassette decks can't really be called computer technology, but at one time it was possible to save files to them. I wonder how many still have cassette players (I do ). That head cleaner sure was handy and it actually worked.

Who remembers clippy? I was sure glad that microsoft provided a way to turn off that annoyance.

[a9127]

Didn't think I could find these. First "event" like that I ever went to. May 31, 2001. A long time ago. Got "Office XP" for free. The "highlight" was a "livestream" conference with Bill Gates (you could ask him questions through a moderator) and a guy in a "Clippy" costume. For an otherwise impressive event, "Clippy" was poorly done. Somehow to me he looked more like the fourth picture...

[ila]

Originally Posted by a9127

Didn't think I could find these. First "event" like that I ever went to. May 31, 2001. A long time ago. Got "Office XP" for free. The "highlight" was a "livestream" conference with Bill Gates (you could ask him questions through a moderator) and a guy in a "Clippy" costume. For an otherwise impressive event, "Clippy" was poorly done. Somehow to me he looked more like the fourth picture...

I laughed so hard at the fourth picture that I almost choked.

[a9127]

Found this in a box in the garage. Who remembers “QuickTime”? It’s still around: QuickTimeX. I really don’t remember when I last used it for anything. “A Hard Day’s Night” allegedly was the “first movie” ever digitized and offered on “CD.” I’ve included a screenshot from my PC so you can see the age of the files. There were no DVD’s back then. As far as I can remember, not much of anything. Vaguely remember the “wmv” and “mov” formats. When I tried to install it on my current PC earlier today, I got a “Catastrophic Error” message.

A birthday or Christmas present from my mom and dad. They most likely wanted me to listen to “good music” instead of “death metal.” But many people back in the 1960’s did not like the Beatles. The sound of “electric guitars” did not score well with the “older generation.” So what has changed in 60 years?

However no post of mine would be complete without references to women.

Interestingly, last night I was watching “Goldfinger” again. After having made love to the girl who ends up painted gold, Sean Connery goes into the kitchen to get another bottle of champagne. In what was probably representative of many “older people’s” (the audience for James Bond maybe?) view of the Beatles, he says:

“My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!”

“A Hard Day’s Night” plays upon the themes of “age” and “generational” differences. Sort of like how today everyone uses “Boomer” as an insult for anyone "over 30." Except back in 1964, today’s Baby Boomers were the young fans of the Beatles! I guess some things never change…

I rented it on YouTube. Picked up a couple of terms: John Lennon uses the word “gear” which I guess is “good” or “awesome.” Also George Harrison refers to a girl on TV as a “posh bird.” I think this is good...

Here’s the intro:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8AavEpS6CI


From Goldfinger, a very much alive Shirley Eaton is saying: “Andy, you are SO kinky (giggle).”

And of course in my own lifetime there was “Posh" Spice.

[a9127]

Besides ila, I’m not sure how many members are interested in this old technology thread? My posts earlier today on IBM graphics and games made me think of this book. Titled “IBM Graphics From the Ground Up” it was given to me by the teacher I wrote the stock charting program with (above) back in the mid 90’s.

Copyright 1984 it presented several algorithms for drawing three dimensional objects using BASIC. I did the “3D” PC as an assignment in one of my classes. You could even rotate it using the arrow keys. Nothing special really but maybe more than anything else, helped launch my academic career since it led to other things.

Today this book sits safe and sound on my bookshelf at home.

Damaged during the Summer of 2016 when our temporary offices were flooded, I managed to “salvage” it although it was waterlogged.

You can see some of the water damage in this photo.

The back cover. He graduated from the University of Illinois. Many years later Purdue would play them in football (one of his former students was on that team).

That is a pic of an old 19” IBM “hi res” display. One of the last of the CRT’s. Anyone remember these? Couldn’t help noticing the browser. That looks like “Windows XP” so it must be the early to mid-2000’s. “Overstock.com” is on the screen:

"Have you discovered the secret of the Big O?"

Sabine Ehrenfeld was the spokeswoman for Overstock back then. That was back in the day when all my “celebrity crushes” were older than me. Had to look her up. Sabine was born in 1963. Almost a 20 year age difference.

When exactly did all my "future wives" become 15-20 years younger than me?

[MistressStevie]

Originally Posted by a9127

Besides ila, I’m not sure how many members are interested in this old technology thread?

Having written programs on punch card in Fortran and waiting overnight for results, I love this thread. It is almost as good as Divas and One Pieces Swim Suits.

I have been trying to find my old copy of JCL (job control language) to show my son how far we have come.

[ila]

Originally Posted by MistressStevie

...I have been trying to find my old copy of JCL (job control language) to show my son how far we have come.

This is the first time I have heard of JCL so naturally I had to look it up to get some information. I have never worked on mainframes so now I know why I hadn't heard of JCL. It's always good to learn something new even if it's old.

[a9127]

Originally Posted by MistressStevie

Having written programs on punch card in Fortran and waiting overnight for results, I love this thread. It is almost as good as Divas and One Pieces Swim Suits.

I have been trying to find my old copy of JCL (job control language) to show my son how far we have come.

Glad you enjoy this thread. I think many of us share common experiences with technology.

Have heard of “JCL” but never used it. I knew what it meant. I hope you will post more about it.

My very first experience with programming was “Basic” for the Commodore Vic-20 and then on the IBM PC. In school I wrote a program with one of my teachers in C++ (see above posts). Due to Purdue’s Engineering emphasis, the “earliest” language I’ve ever used was Fortran. I of course know about punched cards but never programmed that way. Have heard many horror stories from others at Purdue.

Along the way, I learned Turbo Pascal, COBOL, Assembly Language, HTML, Java, and many “scripting” languages. Also SQL for working with data. Took an online course in Python a couple years ago just for fun. We require it in our Business analytics major. Thought I should know something about it.

Here’s a link to “Fortran 2021” It will never die!

https://www.absoft.com/?gclid=EAIaIQ...SAAEgLoTvD_BwE