The first PC we bought was an Apple ][ with the whole 32KB RAM and duo-drive (two 5.25 floppies in one case). The ex kept it.
I still have my Mac IIcx I bought in 1990 - for over $8K. Haven't tried powering it up for a while.
The box that does most of the housekeeping I built in 2000. It's a dual CPU P-III 866MHz with 1.5GB RAM and Matrox video running Slackware 9.
This one's a bit quicker, but some bits are up for replacement. Q6600, 4GB RAM, 2TB disk, ATI Radeon (my opinions of this card have been voiced elsewhere) and Slackware 12.
My main computer is a 486 DX4 100 with 24Mb RAM. It runs MSDOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11. I mainly use it for keeping a record of how much money I spend with Excell 5 and I keep a record of my bank transactions using Quicken 6.0.
Does a Sharp PC1500 count as a computer????
( It runs basic , and drives its own printer )
Still works and is smaller than a modern lappie
IIRC, upgrading from 2k of Ram to 10k
cost as much as the whole unit
Havent times changed
I still have an operational multitek from 1982. It was originally two 360k floppies but I put in a 20MB HDD and a 1.44 floppy, added 64K of RAM and a VGA card.
It still runs. I check it every couple of months.
Barry
Actually, it wasnt 1982, it was 1985, purchased from Dick Smith.
Does anyone have anything older, that is still functional?
My first one was Sir Clive Sinclair's ZX 81.. Then I build Apple ][..
My Bartels system is running on Fujitsu Stylistic 1000 (50MHz pentium, DOS6.22)..
And I have another Stylistic 1000, running W'95.. for reading books in bed before sleep :-)
And I have NEC PC8201,it is still functional (1MHz processor, LCD sreen, batteries life time is couple of weeks).
I've got an Abacus - dates back about 3000 years (the technology that is - not the one I've got). Doesn't need any power source, but limited to arithmetic calculations - can handle quite large numbers, but the CPU (me) is not very fast. Self taught I'm afraid.
My main computer is a 486 DX4 100 with 24Mb RAM. It runs MSDOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11. I mainly use it for keeping a record of how much money I spend with Excell 5 and I keep a record of my bank transactions using Quicken 6.0.
Hi Henry
I'm still running one of those as well with a 256mb hard drive. It lives in the garage and runs my vehicle servicing program. It's a bit clunky and takes around 5 minutes to boot up but it's a trooper and does the job.
I refuse to part with it as it cost me $2500 in 1995 and I want to make sure I get my money's worth out of it.
Not an ancient computer, but what about an ancient operating system? The software for one of the mass specs I operate runs under OS/2 Warp 3 fixpack 32 (or earlier). There will never be an upgrade. Eventually the OS may not run on new hardware and so I will have to put it in a virtual machine. In the meanwhile I have a stock of old machines (and dot matrix printers) under my spare desk. Although the OS lacks any bells and whistles it is rock solid, but the software has a memory leak which requires a reboot every few days to avoid lockups.
I have a Commodore VIC 20 somewhere. I doubt it still works though. It has the tape recorder with audio cassettes to save and load programs, and two extension cartridges. One is a module to program the 6052 in Assembly and the other one a RAM extension that adds a whopping extra 3KB to the system equivalent to approx. 100 lines of code!
Still got 2 microbee 16's here and the absolute winner, the start of it all .. a ZX80 with 16KB memory expansion pack ... Ive an enormous amount to thank Mr Sinclair for ... these two systems introduced me to computers in the first place, and the Z80 and machine code ... and you know ... modern processors and the code to run them has certainly changed for sure but a lot of the change is to do with the fact that now the processor is much more than that ... its all the peripheral devices as well ... but the nuts and bolts machine language concepts ... they are very much as they were back in those days ... with the one exception I guess .. now we have very fancy editor assemblers to write the code with.
Real men still write their assembler/machine code in notepad
Andrew
Ive still got the notepad Andrew, (well exercise book), mnemonics and beside it the opcodes all written down to enter one by one. I remember I wrote a word processor and invoicing software to use in my business and used it for years. Then around 1988 I bought an "IBM" style machine that you had to assemble yourself ... with a 20Mhz CPU, 640K ram, 5 1/4 floppy and a 20MB hard drive that cost 660 bux by itself.
My first computer was a Texas Instruments TI99/4A. After that I got a CBM64 and then when 386's first came out that was my first PC, with maths co-processor and a whopping 4MB of RAM.
I have emulators for both the TI and CBM64 (and a couple of others) for whenever I get nostalgic
Here at work we run a couple of 486's on some of our production line machinery as all they need is DOS and Win95.
Real programmers can multipunch their machine code on 80 column cards.
Pffft!... I can write binary code by directly tapping on the desk and record it. ... and I love quiche too so don't give me the real man stuff . The only other person who can program this way is chuck norris. May be...
Ive still got the notepad Andrew, (well exercise book), mnemonics and beside it the opcodes
I meant Microsoft Notepad
Working on paper is way too hard as i have to play with three different sets of opcodes, Motorola 68HC11, Toshiba TLCS-900 and bog std Microchip. This real man stuff only cuts so far
Andrew
Quote:
Real programmers can multipunch their machine code on 80 column cards
I've gone green since those days.
( I hated punch cards )
Real programmers can multipunch their machine code on 80 column cards.
Oh yeah ... I remember the paper tape days too ... Octal machines ... with pixie neons for displays and HUGE banks of transistor based cards that were the memory .. they used some form of magnetizing, just forget exactly .. They would just call that machine a heater nowdays
Boy haven't we advanced, what a thread, what a trip down memory lane .. no pun intended.
, and drives its own printer )
... and I love quiche too so don't give me the real man stuff 
