C S I

[Elrod]

Computer Sicense Initiative:

Remember When?

A window was something you hated to clean

And ram was the cousin of a goat.

An application was for employment

A program was a TV show.

A cursor used profanity.

A keyboard was a piano.

Memory was something that you lost with age.

A CD was a bank account.

And if you had a 3 1/2" floppy,

You hoped nobody found out.

Log on was adding wood to the fire.

Hard drive was a long trip on the road.

A mouse pad was where a mouse lived.

And a backup is what happened to your toilet.

[Eric]

I'm not saying you're old or anything but... no, I don't remember any of this :P

[Mel in Hawaii]

Good one Elrod...

The only thing I have to say is just think back to when going from a 5 1/4 floppy to a 3 1/2 floppy was considered an 'upgrade'.

[Jack from Ohio]

I remember... Load*.*,8,1

Does anyone else remember that?

[redux]

Good one Elrod...

The only thing I have to say is just think back to when going from a 5 1/4 floppy to a 3 1/2 floppy was considered an 'upgrade'.

My first TRS-80 floppy was an 8inch and held 500K of data which was built in. There was an external drive that cost $2,350 for three disk drives. When the floppy drive was turned on...all the light in the neighborhood went dim... http://oldcomputers.net/trs80ii.html

[Randall]

And I thought you were talking about TV shows. CSI, Vegas, NY, Miami? I'm waiting for CSI: Timbuktu.

[Lion EA]

I remember all of that. I guess I'm old. My first computer had no hard drive, but I was thrilled that it had two floppy drives so I could copy or use both program and data disks without swapping floppies! And, the monotone monitor. My ex-husband lugged both back from Singapore. No copyright laws, so lots of software on floppies.

[jainen]

>>My first computer... had two floppy drives<<

I rarely hear this mentioned, and I understand why anyone would refuse to give the memory any life, but my first computer had a cassette tape drive.

[joelgilb]

>>My first computer... had two floppy drives<<

I rarely hear this mentioned, and I understand why anyone would refuse to give the memory any life, but my first computer had a cassette tape drive.

Mine too.

Hanging head in shame

My first PC was the Coleco Fiasco

[Jack from Ohio]

I remember... Load*.*,8,1

Does anyone else remember that?

OK, no one bit... This is the command from a commodore 64 to start the first program on drive 8. My first was a Vic 20. 20 characters across the screen. It and my 64 had a tape drive as well. It was device # 7

1980

[Terry O]

I was THRILLED - -in 1985 to get a Hundai Blue Chip (yep - -they same guys who make the cars!) with a 20 meg hard drive - -

"Never going to need any more !!" - - cost was in the $2,000 range - -and had to expand to 40 meg the following year!!!!

We still have that little guy in the basement - - - -

[PapaJoe]

I still have my Osborne Executive. (It replaced my original Osborne One which was stolen.) The Osborne One had a FIVE inch CRT screen and two 80Kb floppies. The Executive was a step up with a seven inch screen (monochrome, of course). Ah, memories!

[kcjenkins]

The were ALL monochrome in those days! My first was a DEC Rainbow, and it had TWO disk drives, which made it very great, because you could have your program disk in one, and your data disk in the other, no need to switch disks all the time. I well remember getting my first 20K disk drive!

Kids today take for granted SOOOOOOooooo much that it's almost like we live on a different planet. They think of the internet as something that has always been there, while lots of us remember when it STARTED, and when it was basically just something that University's used....... The world of computing has sure changed a lot in a very short time.

[bstaxes]

My first personal computer was a Tandy 1000 with 2 5 1/4 drives and no hard drive. It was both IBM and APPLE compatible. I had the both of best worlds (at least I thought that then). The printer was a dot matrix DMP-430. Again happy as a pig in s***. The printer used both 8 1/2 by 11 and green bar paper (14 inch wide). The paper had little holes on the side to be pulled through the printer on sprockets. I still have the computer, printer, instruction manuals, and a box of paper. The things we save.

[Randall]

I remember M5, the computer that was supposed to replace Kirk as commander of the Enterprise. It didn't work and Kirk's job was saved.

[Jack from Ohio]

I remember M5, the computer that was supposed to replace Kirk as commander of the Enterprise. It didn't work and Kirk's job was saved.

Proof that Trekers are everywhere!!!

Does anyone know how HAL, the computer in 2001 a Space Oddesy was given his name??

[Lion EA]

I just remember that it was an acronym for something HAL 9000 or something in full?

I had my dot matrix printer until I needed to print resumes and finally purchased an HP LaserJet 4L that I still have printing (not tax returns, too slow for that) but still beautiful print and all I've ever done is replace rollers once.

[jainen]

>> it was an acronym for something HAL 9000 <<

Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic Computer. There is no truth to the rumor that it was a one-letter shift of IBM.

[Lion EA]

I knew we'd have some science fiction fans who would remember. My husband just watched the movie recently, but I was working and hadn't seen it in ages.

[Jack from Ohio]

>> it was an acronym for something HAL 9000 <<

Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic Computer. There is no truth to the rumor that it was a one-letter shift of IBM.

I am TOTALLY impressed!! Knows his Sci-Fi as well as he does his taxes!!

[Randall]

I knew we'd have some science fiction fans who would remember. My husband just watched the movie recently, but I was working and hadn't seen it in ages.

I liked up to the last part. I thought the ending was vague. The writer seemed to paint himself in a corner.

[zeke]

I am TOTALLY impressed!! Knows his Sci-Fi as well as he does his taxes!!

And literature, & poetry, & history, & law, & music, & more I have yet to learn. Jainen's prodigious memory never fails to amaze me.

HAL was born at the University of Illinois.

Jainen - I just gotta know. Did you have the HAL answer off the top of your head, or was it the result of quick research??

Zeke

[jainen]

>>was it the result of quick research??<<

Nah. I keep words like "heuristically" at the ready. Never know when it might be needed.

[Catherine]

The were ALL monochrome in those days! My first was a DEC Rainbow, and it had TWO disk drives, which made it very great, because you could have your program disk in one, and your data disk in the other, no need to switch disks all the time. I well remember getting my first 20K disk drive!

Kids today take for granted SOOOOOOooooo much that it's almost like we live on a different planet. They think of the internet as something that has always been there, while lots of us remember when it STARTED, and when it was basically just something that University's used....... The world of computing has sure changed a lot in a very short time.

The first computer I used was batch cards submitted after waiting your turn for the keypunch machine. Come back in an hour to see where your program died and go back to wait in line for keypunch again. Then we got _paper_ printing terminals that talked with the mainframe through a 300-baud link with a telephone handset stuck in a modem. Only the computer science majors got monochrome CRT monitors. And you had to work after midnight, and the proto-internet was still called the Arpanet....

My first work computer was a 2-floppy Mac, and the first home computer was a DOS machine. My oh my; quite a change in not very many years. I started college in 1976, so start to finish is just over thirty years for me. There's more computing power in my cell phone today than in the whole state back in '76.

Catherine

[Lion EA]

They were building the computer center after I started college in 1965. Had to have strong foundations and building (no tremors) and temperature controlled computer room. We used the keypunch machines and handed our pack of cards through a window, returning in three days for our printouts. Fortran and Fast Fortran. A sorority sister working for the business department used C as well. Took a few computer courses but was not a computer science major, so got no special privileges (couldn't get inside the air conditioned areas!). I still miss DOS where you were in charge of the commands, not some intermediary Windows. Type dir and see where things are, what's missing, etc. Now programs install other programs, mess with your registry, etc., and I'm in over my head tracking down a problem.