Feelin' old...

zorba

Bought this on eBay - a tin sign reproduction computer advertisement. Not only do I remember this exact ad ca 1978 or so, I actually owned - and now own another - one of the IMSAI computers in the ad. From the days of iron men and wooden computers - makes me feel old...

They're still in business, selling parts for their old systems.

Anyone else either remember this, or have a similar story to tell? Maybe an old car ad or gun ad or somesuch that has been resurrected as a "quaint curiosity" that you remember from the day?

zorba

Another ad I found on the Internet, I remember this one too (about 1980 or so):

Gila

I can remember booting computers by entering the addresses and data in binary using toggle switches... 

zorba

Yep - just like the above IMSAI. A lot of the early "Big Iron" was similar, although I have no personal experience with that. What computer(s) did you toggle in boot loaders for?

mitdr774

First computer I recall using was an IBM PS-1.  Had to know exactly what DOS prompt I needed to get to my games.

jbp-ohio

I can't find it now, but I saw an old counter top display for the Remington 788 the other day. I remember they had the same display at the Western Auto back in the mid-70's. If I touched anything today the way I did that 788 it would be considered a molestation....

Kinda similar look......

zorba

And what a fine looking rifle it is! I had to look it up, 'cause I'm not an old timer when it comes to firearms - just computers and some vehicles. Looks like a fun gun, and available in quite a few calibers.

Do/did you have one?

jbp-ohio

Every time we went to town for mom to grocery shop, I ran to the Western Auto to drool over the guns and this............



They also had the same display at the Harts department store, but I had to divide my time between sporting goods and the toy department............

zorba

I remember those knife displays from somewhere - or something very similar anyway...

Gene L

zorba said:

And what a fine looking rifle it is! I had to look it up, 'cause I'm not an old timer when it comes to firearms - just computers and some vehicles. Looks like a fun gun, and available in quite a few calibers.

Do/did you have one?

They're great rifles.  I've owned several in .223 and .308.  I now have one in .308 and one in .222.

jbp-ohio

Apparently I'm not the only person reminiscing about the old Western knife & hatchet.....

jbp-ohio

zorba said:

And what a fine looking rifle it is! I had to look it up, 'cause I'm not an old timer when it comes to firearms - just computers and some vehicles. Looks like a fun gun, and available in quite a few calibers.

Do/did you have one?

No. Came close a couple times. Even used they cost more than I remember new. Their accuracy was kind of legendary...

zorba

jbp-ohio said:

No. Came close a couple times. Even used they cost more than I remember new. Their accuracy was kind of legendary...

Not too late!

jbp-ohio

zorba said:

Not too late!

Nah. If I were going for a a nostalgia gun it would be a Remington 541T.........

earlyagain

I grew up about a mile from this place.
http://www.frentzandsons.com

I can close my eyes and see where anything in that hardware store is including where they cut window glass to size.

When I was real small, the place next door on Main St was an AMC dealer. I didn't know one car from the next but it was an indoor show room with plate glass windows. I'll never forget it.

Gene L

jbp-ohio said:

zorba said:

Not too late!

Nah. If I were going for a a nostalgia gun it would be a Remington 541T.........

I've got a 541 Custom.  Fine shooter and good looking.

zorba

earlyagain said:

I grew up about a mile from this place.
http://www.frentzandsons.com

I can close my eyes and see where anything in that hardware store is including where they cut window glass to size.

We got one of those kind of places near me. Been there since the 40s, I think. Don't even think of trying to find anything in the warren of 3 adjacent 2 story buildings - just show or tell one of the guys what you need, and follow him to it. A "real" hardware store, if they haven't got it, it probably doesn't exist. It might be 50 years old, but its there - somewhere!

I accidentally came home with some 1/2" all-thread rod one time. So, what's so special about that? It was left hand threaded! I went back and told them that I either needed conventional RH rod, *or* I could use this if they had LH nylocks. They had the LH nylocks, so asked me which I preferred. I said that I didn't really care, their choice. They exchanged me for RH rod to my mild surprise.

jbp-ohio

We had the Twin City Hardware Store..... They had a wall of hand made wooden cubby's and drawers 10' high with the ladder on a track. The guy that ran the place knew what was in every single one of them....



It's now a second hand store

earlyagain

Down the road the opposite direction was a Mobile 1 service station. Big flying red horse sign, oil can pyramid in the window, lift bay, rubber trigger lines that rang the bell when rolled over. Mechanics used to fix the flats on our bikes if they weren't too busy.

Every diner in town had a cigarette machine. Rexall drug had a vacuum tube tester. If you were cool you had Converse All-star hightops (white). The only ice cream truck sold Good Humor brand and the driver was in uniform.

I didn't even know what a computer was in 1978. I thought the tinted lenses in my prescription eye glasses were high tech.

jbp-ohio

I got a Commodore Vic 20 for Christmas circa 80-81.... I spent 2 days typing in lines of code to make a simple tank game. Played that for 15 minutes, got bored and turned it off.

Only time I used it after that was to play Donkey Kong and Gorf........... ''Long live Gorf!""

zorba

I bought a Vic=20 about the same time as you, JBP; just to see what you got in a computer that was less than $100 - kinda the same reason I bought a Hi-Point, to be honest. But regardless, the Vic was an interesting machine. Lots of neat stuff you could do with it.

jbp-ohio

It was to teach basic computing. What it taught me was that computing was boring......

zorba

jbp-ohio said:

It was to teach basic computing. What it taught me was that computing was boring......

It sure is now. Computers used to be fun, then IBM came along and ruined things for everybody with a rather bad design that ended up ruling the world.

Diver43

Old computers? In 1985 I jumped in with both feet. The Army was using a Honeywell Level VI system mounted in  40ft van to run ship manifests movement documents and customs paperwork.  Data was received via mag tape and run through a CPU with 6 meg of memory and processed on removable platters that held data.  If nothing errored out and printer didnt jam up it could process a large ship in about 3 hours.  Then to really become mobile we went to Z-248 desk top computers so that we didnt need a tractor to move the computer.

Big Al1

This is the computer I grew up with!! Still worked when the power went out!!

10canyon53

I got to play with "Trash-80's" (TRS-80) in high school computer class.  The first computer I bought right after I got married in '92 was a Tandy 1000.  Upgraded to a Packard Bell 386.  I actually still have that one in a closet somewhere.

Linefinder

Big Al1 said:

This is the computer I grew up with!! Still worked when the power went out!!

Funny... Yesterday I was talking to one of our highly degreed project managers, and the topic turned toward how much things had changed over the years. He recalled 286 computers. I recalled electric pencil sharpeners.

Mike

jbp-ohio

I did try to get a leg up in my senior year of HS. I took typing and basic computer. Although I passed both, it reaffirmed my opinion that computing was very boring. 

Now being on the internet Al Gore invented is fine. Typing in line after line of code ZZzzz..........

Vic's Viewpoint

Two observations recently serve to "twist the knife" for me:  (1) At NSA Hq here in MD, they have a museum of past technologies.  Outside the museum bldg. is, among other things, an "A" model C-130 with dayglo orange markings called a "Sneaky Pete," crammed full of electronic monitoring gear.  Yep, you guessed it:  used to be based where I was stationed, in France.  IOW, aircraft which were cutting edge technology and highly classified when I was in the service are now museum pieces, displayed almost for comic relief!  (2)  Saw a new Weatherby rifle catalogue the other day, and noticed that they no longer offer custom rifles quite like my Super grade pride and joy.  IOW, even Weatherby no longer makes the kind of Weatherby rifles I prefer, presumably because the market for them has, um, died out.  Very sobering realizations indeed.  Everything's carbon fiber this and camouflage that.

Sigh...…………………..

zorba

Vic - I feel your pain!

Six-Gun

jbp-ohio said:

I got a Commodore Vic 20 for Christmas circa 80-81.... I spent 2 days typing in lines of code to make a simple tank game. Played that for 15 minutes, got bored and turned it off.

Only time I used it after that was to play Donkey Kong and Gorf........... ''Long live Gorf!""

I had a couple of those code books and used to copy the Basic code into my C64 much like you did with the Vic 20.  It took a helluva lot of dedication to get even one game working properly (troubleshooting syntax erros, etc.), but I had little more to do over weekends back in the early 80's, so...