Question for the old farts around here ;)

[TheAvenger]

Yeah I want my d:|mn jetpack too, and hoverboard they promised...

Naw, we've done great... set our goals high didn't make it but have come a long way...

I remember my first atari, I loved it... and all the Big toys made to kill yourself on, I was 6 fell backwards off an 8 ft metal slide with one rail, knocked clean out... none of this plastic 6inches off the graund stuff, we're raising pansies. I got my @ss up and went down the slide again.

 

[JellyBaby]

I still find it downright spiffy I can load programs instantly now. Much better than that old 20 min wait to get a 48K program off a cassette tape.

 

[Odoacer]

I'm only 15 but my dad said he could remeber his first computer, which had a 20 MB hard drive. He thought he'd never fill it up.

 

[johnhacker]

here's 1 for ya:

ok, u know how there's a 180gb hard drive out but it's like bigger than the normal 3.5? well i predict that soon those drives ARE going to be the regular 3.5" they'll find a way to minimize it.

 

[JohnnyKnoxville]

<< Does it amaze you how much technology has come since you were young? Please give a favorite example if you can. >>



Here's an example for you.When I was in highshool in the computer lab was an IBM mainframe.This thing took up an entire room.The magnetic removable drives looked like giant frisbees.You entered data into it using a key punch,which would put the data on paper cards you stacked up and fed to the mainframe.No monitor everything was printed on paper.Funny thing is a Commodore 64 would have spanked it silly.

 

[RossGr]

I qualify.

I was 6 when they wheeled in our brand new B&amp;W TV, though there were 13 clicks on the dial we could only receive KPIC channel 4, NBC. I couldn't even imagin getting 50+ channels.

When I was 13 my dad, who was into technology!, got me a transistor radio, I used that for years. The local rock and roll station went of the air at sunset s0 at night we would get Wolfman Jack out of San Francisco.

In 1978 a friend at work told me about his &quot;micro computer&quot;, he tried to expain it to me, finally took me into the lab for my first look at a APPLEII, I was hooked. I have been using a PC since then. So have personally experianced computers all the way from the 48K AppleII+ with a whopping 146K floppy drive to a modern multimedia system.

 

[ace31216]

I remember when baseball cards cost only 35 cents a pack. Now, they have all these different brands with with cards of jerseys, bats and autographs on them. Plus the cost so much now. However, the coolest thing is the CD ROM cards. Man, technology! What ever happen to the regular cardboard cards? I liked when it was simple. Cards had stats and topps had trivial questions or trivial data with cartoons on the back. ah, the good ol days.

 

[Bleep]

I remember laying in bed with my earphones on and listening to our 1 radio station with my crystal set, catwisker and all. Built my first tesla coil in 1950, got my first ham licience in 1950 also. no transistors no tv , no girls in short skirts, no cleavage it was really wonderfull.
Bleep :disgust:

 

[WarCon]

I remember my dad use to be the computer analyst for a university and that was the only place computers were. I thought it was just a big adding machine for paychecks and stuff, until he took me in on a Saturday when school was out and we played Star Trek with different symbols and letters being the different ships planets etc. I thought that was cool.

 

[iamfried]

20 years ago, cable included 12 stations. Now I have over 400.
Cars can go more than 75,000 miles without getting their engine rebuit. (some don't even need a tuneup until 100,000 miles)

 

[OS]

<< Cars can go more than 75,000 miles without getting their engine rebuit. (some don't even need a tuneup until 100,000 miles) >>



As opposed to?

 

[Carbo]

The corner candy store. Jars and jars and jars of all kinds of penny candies, washed down with a nickel egg cream. I'm crying.........
Oh, yeah, and sex wasn't deadly and didn't require the wearing of body armor.

 

[Linflas]

<< << Cars can go more than 75,000 miles without getting their engine rebuit. (some don't even need a tuneup until 100,000 miles) >>



As opposed to? >>


As opposed to replacing the points, rotor, and condensor every 3000 miles, plugs every 6000, etc. I truly am amazed at how utterly reliable cars have become. I give very little thought into climbing into my 1990 Subaru and driving it to work every day and it has 180,000 miles on it.

 

[Cyberian]

<< If we saw a car in a parking lot with it's lights left on, my father would open the door, turn off the guys lights and close it back up.
>>



This just might be the most important change of all.

 

[MrBond]

<<

<< If we saw a car in a parking lot with it's lights left on, my father would open the door, turn off the guys lights and close it back up.
>>



This just might be the most important change of all. >>


My dad still tries to do this, although it isn't as common anymore. I used to leave my car unlocked and the windows down while running into the P.O. in my small town. Won't even consider that anymore. It takes 10 seconds for someone to open the door, take my cellphone, and be gone.

 

[SirFshAlot]

I remember using the keypunch machine for those little cards that we had to send to the school district to run our BASIC programs.

We thought it was so cool to get terminals at our school that were connected via phone lines to the mainframe.


I remember my dad getting his first calculator, and all it did was basic arithmetic, and squares. Cost $100.00!

 

[Tripleshot]

Tominator


Nice post. Nice sentiments. Makes me feel proud for being the old geezer I am.

 

[NuclearNed]

I remember the first time my family got a color TV.

I remember lusting after my neighbor's BetaMax vcr.

Anyone remember when potato chips came in a can or a box? I do.

I'm only 30, but these things make me feel ancient.

 

[Red Dawn]

I agree with TS, nice post Tom!

 

[spyordie007]

I would like to take a moment of silence for all the hard work that these old farts have done for us, ok, so anyways...
When I was in Jr. High (might have been a little earlier, hard to remember now...) my dad bought us an apple IIe, it was the coolest thing in the world, had 2 5.25&quot; floppies, no HD, ahh yes 1989, the year that computers reached perfection!

 

[Cweeks]

Ever think of it this way ?

For people born in the last 10 to 20 years there has always been.

CD's
Always been MTV.
Cable/satelite tv
Remote controls for everything
There has Always been walkmans.

But have
Never seen a record.
Never seen a rotary phone.



The list goes on and on but an interesting way to look at things

 

[ManSnake]

War of the future are fought in space or probably on very high mountains by super robots!!

 

[klod]

Anyone remember when the 7-11 was open from 7am until 11pm? And I remember, there used to be this machine in the 7-11, looked like a standup video game console. You could take your radio or TV tubes and plug them into this thing to check them.

 

[Linflas]

<< Anyone remember when the 7-11 was open from 7am until 11pm? And I remember, there used to be this machine in the 7-11, looked like a standup video game console. You could take your radio or TV tubes and plug them into this thing to check them. >>


When I was first married we were using an old RCA 25 inch color TV I bought at a yard sale while I was in college. One day it stopped working so as I always did before I popped off the back and pulled out all the tubes and headed up to the drug store to test them out. I asked the girl behind the counter where the tube tester was and the look she gave me was priceless. I can only imagine what she must have thought I was talking about. :Q This was in 1985 and I think I ended up going to a Radio Shack that still had one at that time. I still have some tube radios that work great after they get warmed up.

 

[trungma]

<<

<< Candy bars $.15. >>



I wish candy bars would be that cheap now:frown: >>



I'm glad candy bars aren't that cheap or else I would be very overweight.