How has the evolution of the computer affected your life?
- Thread starter Alpha_00
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PohTayToez
Active Member
I look at a lot more funny pictures these days.
tremmor
Well-Known Member
mine was a imsai 8008 or 8080 in a kit. also a TRS80 with Z80 processor.
Both computer was a board only they give ya the parts. you soldered every part on the board. resistors, caps, sockets but they were not SMT surface mount like today. 9" black screen and a tape interface. cassette or stringy floppy. a 8" disc drive was like $800 and a 3-1/2 disc drive was not invented yet. Internet was not invented yet. Ya used bulletin boards and 24k dial up. 4K of memory was it. the kit was $1200 i think. Everytime ya went on the modem it was a toll call or long distance. I ran bills up as high as $300 for phone line 35 yrs ago.
thats all i remember.
The big step up was the first commodore Amiga with color monitor.
And it was put together. Also printers was out of the question.
it was maybe $1500 and that was the old manual typewriter. the keys pop up and jammed. one key at a time. it was mechanical. only business bought it. Also no such thing as windows. it was dos only when i started. Everything was written in machine language. Assembly i mean.
something else. It was longer when i built these. ive been married 44 years now. i would say it was 40 yrs ago. another thing TRS80 was in a kit from radio shack in the beginning. The demand was so good they mass produced already built.
Both computer was a board only they give ya the parts. you soldered every part on the board. resistors, caps, sockets but they were not SMT surface mount like today. 9" black screen and a tape interface. cassette or stringy floppy. a 8" disc drive was like $800 and a 3-1/2 disc drive was not invented yet. Internet was not invented yet. Ya used bulletin boards and 24k dial up. 4K of memory was it. the kit was $1200 i think. Everytime ya went on the modem it was a toll call or long distance. I ran bills up as high as $300 for phone line 35 yrs ago.
thats all i remember.
The big step up was the first commodore Amiga with color monitor.
And it was put together. Also printers was out of the question.
it was maybe $1500 and that was the old manual typewriter. the keys pop up and jammed. one key at a time. it was mechanical. only business bought it. Also no such thing as windows. it was dos only when i started. Everything was written in machine language. Assembly i mean.
something else. It was longer when i built these. ive been married 44 years now. i would say it was 40 yrs ago. another thing TRS80 was in a kit from radio shack in the beginning. The demand was so good they mass produced already built.
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I'm not sure things have changed much because everything is relative. Speeds have got faster but so have expectations. You may be able to do more in a shorter time today but on slower machines what you could do seemed just as impressive or beneficial at that time.
If you see the computers that were around in the early days of the Space Race, they were so crude, but they were used to do incredible things. People thought no less of them back then.
In some ways, things have slowed down. If you look at applications like Word and Excel, they are not that different to 20 years ago. Back then, the advantages were so great over typewriters and calculators you would be thrilled, even if slow by today's standards. That was the big leap.
The Internet has been a huge change but even that is not dependent on speed. Its development came from more people knowing about using computers. If we were still on Windows 3x technology, the Internet would exist in some form. Computer networks were around a long time before the PC.
The race to go faster has fueled the development of microprocessors and electronics which in turn has revolutionized communications and digital imaging. This aspect of speed is less visible to the public, other than ever-increasing expectations.
It was really the leap to the microprocessor that changed everything. Speed was a nice-to-have.
If you see the computers that were around in the early days of the Space Race, they were so crude, but they were used to do incredible things. People thought no less of them back then.
In some ways, things have slowed down. If you look at applications like Word and Excel, they are not that different to 20 years ago. Back then, the advantages were so great over typewriters and calculators you would be thrilled, even if slow by today's standards. That was the big leap.
The Internet has been a huge change but even that is not dependent on speed. Its development came from more people knowing about using computers. If we were still on Windows 3x technology, the Internet would exist in some form. Computer networks were around a long time before the PC.
The race to go faster has fueled the development of microprocessors and electronics which in turn has revolutionized communications and digital imaging. This aspect of speed is less visible to the public, other than ever-increasing expectations.
It was really the leap to the microprocessor that changed everything. Speed was a nice-to-have.
strollin
Well-Known Member
When I first started using computers in the early 80's, they weren't particularly useful. You could use a word processor to write a letter to print out and mail. Email was of very limited use since very few people had computers or an email account. You could use a spreadsheet to do some calculations or keep track of your finances. Games were text only such as, Adventure. If you were lucky enough to own a modem, you could call Bulletin Board Systems (BBS), which were text only, where you could chat or play text games.
Now, with the proliferation of the web, along with high-speed access to the web, computers are far more useful. Communications are virtually instantaneous using email, texting, VOIP, etc... I can access my bank records on-line, make reservations at a restaurant, buy just about anything, find information on almost any subject, look for a job, play games, watch movies, etc...
I work from home 4 days per week and only go into the office 1 day per week (usually don't even stay a full day). Everything I need to do for my job I can do from my computer at home. My employer even pays for my internet connection.
Now, with the proliferation of the web, along with high-speed access to the web, computers are far more useful. Communications are virtually instantaneous using email, texting, VOIP, etc... I can access my bank records on-line, make reservations at a restaurant, buy just about anything, find information on almost any subject, look for a job, play games, watch movies, etc...
I work from home 4 days per week and only go into the office 1 day per week (usually don't even stay a full day). Everything I need to do for my job I can do from my computer at home. My employer even pays for my internet connection.
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FXB
New Member
Awesome
I started using computers in 1995. The biggest change in my opinion is Internet and the world wide web Since it's debut possibilities with PC's have increased exponentially.
FXB
New Member
well hardware is faster but our expectations are higher as well. Everything is about speed now.
Same story - everything is relative. Hardware and software at the time was the most advanced and was looked on in that light. It could do more "today" than last week.
Look at computers today. Pretty good? Someone in 20 years may not think so. How did people manage in 2011 with such crude stuff?.....and on it goes.