OT: Who has the oldest computer?

On Sun, 17 Apr 2011 20:05:37 -0500, Sqwertz wrote:


I forgot - I had an original HP 150 Touchscreen as well. It ran
MS-DOS on an 8088 but was not PC-compatible. It had these huge
honking SCSI cables that were daisychainable, but I don't think it had
any peripherals except an internal thermal printer.

-sw
 
On 17/04/2011 5:14 PM, Nad R wrote:



My first computer was a Coco II from Radio Shack. It didn't take long to
realize how useless Radio Shack is. I ended up getting an XT. I can't
believe the prices I paid for that machine and accessories, but I sure
am glad that prices have plummeted. I paid less for this laptop than I
did for a 20 meg hard drive for that computer.
 
On Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:40:46 -0400, Cheryl
wrote:


It's not gonna happen in the fedarl agencies I work for and with. It
would take at least eight years to materially change the method of
operations.

You know, we used to have "cloud" computing on a local scale. It was
called VM, and there are very good reasons why it died in favor of
local apps and storage.

-- Larry
 
On 23/04/2011 9:10 AM, Andy wrote:

Can't recall having their modem dial back. I do recall dialling the
other end and waiting to hear the modem tones. Then I plugged the phone
into the acoustic coupler. Don't know what sort of computer was at the
other end however.

Krypsis
 
"Krypsis" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

It's not for diehards so much as it is for admins. If you manage any
Windows server or server app you know that most of the functionality is
command line based. M$ never got away from DOS in that respect because so
much of the OS is actually not GUI based. That is the same for a great many
of their server apps such as SQL Manager and Exchange. It's not actually
DOS but you'd be surprised the old DOS stuff that can still run under it.

Paul
 
"Krypsis" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

Actually no, NT was quite capable of running legacy DOS apps. It was not
all unusual to have NT Workstation running DOS and Windows apps. It was
only when Windows 2000 came out that they began to phase it out. The home
versions began with XP and were practically the same minus the Active
Directory layer. It just had a smaller workgroup model network layer.
What began in XP was the removal of support for 16 bit drivers. This was
the main issue with Windows 98 and its rather famous instability problems.


Apple ius pretty brutal about it, though. Ask anyone who installed a
'suggested" update which among other things turned off all further updates
for your system. At least M$ didn't force you to buy new hardware so you
could run OS X 10.2 which fixed bugs in 10.1.


True but they know when they're beat. They wanted to phase out all XP
support after Vista was released but finally bowed to the pressure and added
years onto its lifespan.

Paul
 
"Sqwertz" wrote:

I didn't (and don't) have ... oh, never mind ... but I did have a Kaypro 2
in the newsroom when we made the change from cold type (I also know how to
play a Mergenthaler linotype).

Felice
 
"J. Clarke" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

Not meaning to be a nit picker, but it is a whole lot more than just
recompiling. The top 80% would be a relatively easy port but the bottom 20%
comprises the abstraction layers which would need to be rebuilt from
scratch. Also, there are very specific components in Intel CPUs which would
need to be duplicated on whatever other architecture you choose. AMD for
example does not so much duplicate the design as it emulates the
functionality. Windows really is quite tied to its current architecture.
That was much less the case when NT was designed on top of POSIX which made
it fairly easy to port to CPUs such as the DEC Alpha. Apple got its design
right and porting it to the Intel CPUs was a fairly easy process as those
things go. But W7 would be a whole different thing to port to say a
Motorola CPU.

Paul
 
On Apr 20, 6:48?am, notbob wrote:

==
When my cute little Window XP system refused to boot this morning and
I had to use RESTORE, I wished that I had Windows 3.1...it never
failed me.
==
 
In article ,
[email protected] says...

Dialback was a security thing that some sites implemented. You not only
had to have a login and password but had to be physically at the
location at which you were authorized.

I've still got my APL type ball. However APL on a PC makes what was
running on the 370 at NERDC look like a toy. The first time I created a
gigabyte workspace I guffawed maniacally. And that machine was tiny
compared to what I'm using now.
 
In article ,
[email protected] says...

"Cloud computing" seems to be the latest attempt to return computing to
the days of mainframes and dumb terminals. That ship has long since
sailed but it amazes me that people still see it as viable.

Why should I do my word processing on Google's server when I use a
machine that will pound a Cray X/MP into the dust with three cores tied
behind its back to access Google?

The "Cloud-First Initiative" just says that Federal agencies should look
at cloud computing before they buy anything. Certainly they should, but
that doesn't mean that they're going to find it a viable solution for
their particular need. And even the mission statement doesn't see it
being viable for more than about a quarter of the requirements of the
government.
 
"J. Clarke" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

NT was based on POSIX which was fairly portable.


NT was a ground up project that was derived as part of the IBM/M$ joint
venture known as OS/2. Actually OS/2 was almost entirely an M$ design.

Paul
 
On 4/22/2011 11:21 PM, J. Clarke wrote:



LOL! I had typed the exact same thing but didn't send because I think I
post too much OT. I like this group to read about food and don't think
I have enough to contribute all the time but get so much out of reading.
 
Krypsis wrote:

phone


Krypsis,

Right!

That's what I meant. When I got "modem screech" in my ear I'd dropped
the phone into the coupler.

Best,

Andy
 
"Sqwertz" wrote:

I didn't (and don't) have ... oh, never mind ... but I did have a Kaypro 2
in the newsroom when we made the change from cold type (I also know how to
play a Mergenthaler linotype).

Felice
 
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