end of an era

[k0ua]

Do you remember this computer?

The Writer Automaton

Wow, thanks for posting that Paul..That machine is amazing.

James K0UA

 

[Soundguy]

remember the terminals that had hand cranks on the side? someone will know what I am talking about

 

[murphy1244]

Remember the Telex machine? Man those things were loud!

 

[stuckmotor]

remember the terminals that had hand cranks on the side? someone will know what I am talking about

I wish my MF had a hand crank.

 

[dmccarty]

What he said, but I have to admit that because of having been a DOS guy, who was dragged to Windows kicking and screaming (I liked another interface that was less of a hog called Geos) I can get lost on my tablets without my keyboard shortcuts. At work where because of electronic medical records, I'm copying and pasting constantly.
...
Thomas

Wow. I forgot all about Geos. You kinda dated your self with DOS and Geos. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

i remember taking typing class on an ibm selectric...

I did too. I took the class to learn to type and quit after one semester. One semester was all I needed to learn to type but the teacher was miffed I quit. The other semester was to learn how to type various letter formats and such which I did not need to learn but the teacher sure thought I needed that other class. Nice lady but she was wrong.

I have been using a USB floppy drive to look for some old files I need to preserve. Should have done this a decade or so ago....

Believe it or not, I have been able to recover files that I saved in 1989 on a 3.5 inch disk! :shocked::shocked::shocked:

The big problem now is that the software to read/use that data runs only on DOS but I was able to find a program that will convert the files. :thumbsup:

Later,
Dan

 

[stuckmotor]

There were times when I honestly couldn't type a straight line on a manual typewriter. I'd accidentally press the space bar half way and an occasional part of a letter would be above the line.

 

[MossRoad]

I'm not that old! :laughing: But I thought the slide rule was something students had to learn, to go onto advanced studies. I find it sad that it isn't around much anymore.

It not around much anymore because its inefficient. You still have to learn which function to use for a situation before you can push the correct button on a calculator. All the theories are still the same.

 

[MossRoad]

i remember taking typing class on an ibm selectric...

Here's why I took typing in high school:

1. Easy 'A' for two semesters.
2. Only me and one other guy in class. The rest were girls. :thumbsup:
3. I had a computer at home (VIC20) and wanted to be more productive VS hunt-and-peck method.
4. The typing teacher was a little old lady with a white 67ish Chevelle with a 327. I tried for a year to get her to sell me that car. I got an 'A' in typing but she wouldn't sell the car. :laughing:

 

[jinman]

I remember punch cards and Fortran.

If you don't know what "9-edge face down" means, you don't know. . . . If you never walked into a computer room and had to scream over the sound of blower fans and line printers, you don't know. . . All the sciences used Fortran (FORmula TRANslation) , but COBOL (COmmon Business Oriented Language) was the language that built business. Anyone know what the acronym ASCII stands for off the top of your head? I just say that I'm old enough to know all those things and remember the time when you really needed to know them to do anything with computers. Today, you just touch the screen and drag icons around to do work. We've gone from being pencil pushers to picture pushers.

BTW: Remember serial port printers? I talking about the old serial ports. In some ways, the printers have come full circle from serial to parallel and back to serial (USB) again. However, I love my wireless (WIFI) printer, an Epson Artisan 837. It has been very robust ever since I installed it. I guess you could really say we've come full circle from writing with a feather quill to inkjet printers that spray ink onto the page. All that laser stuff and toner mess was just a bump in the road.