40 years ago, a new paradigm

[KeithB]

This is the 40th anniversary of the Apple Macintosh, and the famous "1984" Superbowl commercial.

I started with an Amiga 1000 + genlock but when the Amiga sputtered out, transitioned to Apple. I like my current iMac with the M1 processor.

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(01-24-2024 02:25 PM)KeithB Wrote:  This is the 40th anniversary of the Apple Macintosh, and the famous "1984" Superbowl commercial.

That's even more incredible for me than 50 years HP-35!

(01-24-2024 02:25 PM)KeithB Wrote:  I started with an Amiga 1000 + genlock but when the Amiga sputtered out, transitioned to Apple. I like my current iMac with the M1 processor.

My first "personal computer" was a Sinclair ZX-81, followed by an Amstrad CPC 464 (the home computer market was dominated by British companies during the 1980ies in Europe). Then a second hand HP-150, my first and only DOS/Windows computer. For a programming job I had to buy my first Macintosh in 1994, a Power Macintosh 7100. Because we worked with large digital elevation models whose data volume at that time either required a mainframe computer or a unix workstation. Or a Macintosh, the only affordable alternative then. Never went away from the Macintosh after that which makes it 30 years for me. Currently I use a 2011 model Mac Book Pro that still goes strong, but for serious image or video processing I borrow my wife's M1 pro based Mac Book. An incredible machine, the most beautiful display I have ever seen in terms of colour and contrast, very fast and yet a battery charge lasts for over 10 hours.

Regards
Max

[John Garza (3665)]

I'm a hobbyist at heart. I prefer my Altairs. Back in the day, many saw the new 'appliance computers' as just toys for those who didn't know which end of a soldering iron to hold. It was a way to 'cash in' on the new tech.

Thankfully, they eventually became much more than that! Notably via the Intel branch - Altair to IBM PC on the business side. But what was really interesting was the other branch - Motorola, the SWTPC to Apple side. These were the 'toy machines' with color graphics, games, etc. They appealed to kids, and essentially 'seeded' the next generation to be computer literate.

-J

[KeithB]

I had an Elf.

[John Garza (3665)]

(01-30-2024 02:35 PM)KeithB Wrote:  I had an Elf.

Oh yes! I had an Elf II from Netronics.
Nice machine. I was a little miffed though when I discovered the 1802 didn't support subroutines.
I had to program RCA's SCRT (Standard Call and Return Technique) in a 2716 EPROM and used that for my programs.

-J

[agarza]

(01-30-2024 01:12 PM)John Garza (3665) Wrote:  I'm a hobbyist at heart. I prefer my Altairs.

The Altair was way too expensive for me, so I could only drool over them in the pages of Popular Electronics magazine.

My first "computer" was the HP34C in the late 1970s, and it was followed by the US version of the Sinclair ZX80 and the Interact Model One.

It wasn't until 1986 that I hopped onto the Apple bandwagon, with the Mac Plus.

[Marc van Lemmen]

(01-30-2024 02:35 PM)KeithB Wrote:  I had an Elf.

Me too, bought a Cosmac ELf II as a kit in 1980.
The Macintosh was way too expensive for me, I only could afford a poor mans mac, an Atari 1040STFm.

[J-F Garnier]

1984 (end of 1984 actually) was the year when I met the HP-71B

But I bought my first computer, an Ohio Scientific "Superboard", in 1980.

J-F

[dm319]

My first main computer was an Amiga A1200. I loved that thing, but it became impractical for my studies. I spent ages choosing between a Thinkpad T40 and Powerbook G4. In the end I went with the T40. It was a great piece of hardware, but Windows XP killed any love I had for computing. In a way it may have been a good thing, because the stick that broke the camel's back was an update I refused to install which got forced through (even back in XP days!), and I wiped it all and put linux on it. That re-enthused my love of computers and I haven't looked back.

I did make a brief venture to Apple. I used their machines at University at the time it went from Mac OS 9 to X. They were beautiful to look at. I was toying with the idea of getting an Ipod to run, oddly enough, an app called 42s. I ended up with an iphone 4s. Sadly, while I appreciated the engineering, I found iOS maddening and the whole apple ecosystem was so locked down I left as soon as I could.

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(02-02-2024 03:16 PM)dm319 Wrote:  I spent ages choosing between a Thinkpad T40 and Powerbook G4.

My first portable Macintosh was a PowerBook G4 Titanium. Expensive almost like calculators from HP ;-) , but I used it exclusively for a decade, so in the end it was not sooo expensive since my colleagues using Windows machines bought a new one every two or three years. That was a revolutionary computer in many respects - a wonderful display, DVD player and burner included, and the indestructible titanium housing. I still have mine, but it does not boot right now. When I have spare time I will see if I can fix it.

Now I am contemplating to buy a new 16" M3 Powerbook. But the price tag is really a little over the top. Maybe... we will see.

Regards

[Albert Chan]

(02-02-2024 05:53 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  my colleagues using Windows machines bought a new one every two or three years.

Buy only what you need ... upgrade or get a new one later. This may be a good move!
Computer price (same specs, if you can still get it) are dropping incredibly fast.

If you get used, it is pennies on the dollar! Perhaps cheaper than an upgrade!
My recent purchase, Dell Inspiron 5558 15.6" i3-5015U 8GB RAM 1TB HDD DVD Win10, free delivery ... $80

[dm319]

Yes, my T40 was expensive also. Back then laptops were pretty unreliable things, and almost every model had a custom keyboard layout, with quite significant variation between key width and placement. The T40 looked plastic on the outside, but had a magnesium subframe, and a carbon fibre lid. It ran for just under 10 years, when one day I dropped it one too many times and the screen hinge sheared off. Even though it was expensive, I got nearly 10 years of usability from it, and the Thinkpads back then were very upgradable. It still works as far as I know, though I had to replace the screen on top. I've just dragged it out the garage - I probably shouldn't leave it in there, but it was working a few years ago when I last checked.

I think we live in a different era now. As Albert says, you can pick up amazing laptops for little money, and they tend to be reliable these days, so not much need to pay a premium. Also, keyboard designs are generally standardised now, although there is some variation in key feel.

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(02-02-2024 08:53 PM)dm319 Wrote:  I think we live in a different era now. As Albert says, you can pick up amazing laptops for little money, and they tend to be reliable these days, so not much need to pay a premium.

Yes of course. If you don't need top performace or the latest version of some software, then a ten year old computer is perfectly good for most tasks. And if the disk is too small, a fast 1 TB SSD can be found for around 50$/Euro now. As a matter of fact I bought my current "workhorse", a 17 inch (why oh why don't they make them any more in that size?) PowerBook on eBay for around 500 Euros when curent models had price tags in excess of 3000.
But the M1 PowerBook of my wife is just so much better... the screen ("liquid retina" the call the technogy) alone would be worth 1000 Euros to me. And then the speed: Converting a raw image from my Canon DSLR takes less than a second - on my 2011 PowerBook it takes a minute!

Regards
Max

[Jim Horn]

I can understand your amazement at the speed of modern hardware. At work we are using nVidia Orin AGX 64G modules as embedded Linux processors to stabilize airborne camera systems and autonomously search for user defined items - people, boats, trucks, ships, even real time mapping boundaries of wildfires and downlinking same. Fun to design! Amazing what you can do with 60 watts of power: 275 x 10^12 operations per second! A long way from my "Finding Factors Faster" on an HP-67: 9.5 factors tested per second...

[Johnh]

Apple devices are beautiful but almost useless for me. In my field, there is virtually no engineering software written for them, and I hate how they try to own you!

I could use an ipad though.

[Namir]

My first computer was the HP-85B. I loved the integrated unit and its BASIC. I bought the MATH ROM and enjoyed the matrix and vector commands. That ROM made it easier to solve linear equations. I also bought VISICALC and other Pacs. At one stage I realized that the digital cartrige was slow and looked at buying disk drives. These drives were VERY EXPENSIVE. I decided the sell my HP-85B and its software to a friend's company and bought an Apple ][+ with several disk drives. I used the Apple for several years until the IBM XT (with a 15Mbyte hard drive) came out. I bought that machine and eventually an HP-86. After donating the 86 to PPC, I focused on the Intel/DOS machines. A few years later I did buy a Mac for my wife--but I was the main user!

Namir

[MinkLib]

The watershed moment for me was buying the RCA COSMAC VIP in 1979, a brilliant machine in many ways. Meant for simple to write video games, in no time I had it hooked up to an old Lorentz teleprinter and a Sinclair prorgammable calculator. All in machine code (96 bytes).
Still have the program and schematics I wrote..

That CMOS RCA micro went into space many times with NASA, as it could endure radiation.

[Pierre]

40 years ago...
I have been using computers for 10 years already.
My first computer at work was a GE600... then Honeywell 2000...
My first personal machine? My old TI-58C which still works and remains within reach on my desk...

In 1984 I worked on HP-3000 and HP-9000 but I do not yet have an HP calculator...
At home it will be a TI-99/4A, followed later by a ZX80 for the pleasure of the Z80 assembler ...
And today it is the TI and HP programmable calculators but especially the DM, PX and others clones...

[Pekis]

(02-20-2024 12:40 AM)Pierre Wrote:  40 years ago...
I have been using computers for 10 years already.
My first computer at work was a GE600... then Honeywell 2000...
My first personal machine? My old TI-58C which still works and remains within reach on my desk...

In 1984 I worked on HP-3000 and HP-9000 but I do not yet have an HP calculator...
At home it will be a TI-99/4A, followed later by a ZX80 for the pleasure of the Z80 assembler ...
And today it is the TI and HP programmable calculators but especially the DM, PX and others clones...

xor a
ld (hl), a nostalgia ...

[Pierre]

(02-20-2024 09:45 AM)Pekis Wrote:  xor a
ld (hl), a nostalgia ...

that's nostalgia...

and above all that!

(memories of the nights at the hotel to "type" my programs for the next day...)