Re: OT: For computer nerds of the 80s

On Apr 17, 12:50 pm, Diesel Damo <Diesel_...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Apr 17, 10:43 am, the_dawggie <the_dawg...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Apr 17, 11:23 am, Diesel Damo <Diesel_...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> > > Hey Hey 16K!
> > > <http://www2.b3ta.com/heyhey16k/>
>
> > Heh LOL!, love it!
>
> > > "It made a generation who can code" - LOL!
>
> > It did actually. I liked my first 'puter the Sinclair ZX80.
>
> > I've still got sitting on my desk next to me my trusty
> > Radio Shock TRS-80 pocket 'puter. It has 1.5KB of
> > RAM too. It is actually quite impressive for early 80s
> > tech. Relatively good implementation of BASIC too.
>
> > Slow as syrup, but still quite usefull. IIRC used it
> > to write a proggie to calculate repayments on the
> > 'lux back when I was buying it. Batteries last just
> > about forever.
>
> > I think I need to use it to count the different CPU
> > architectures/computers I've owned or worked with
> > over the years - it's a lot.
>
> > The things I got up close and personal with was
> > Z80, VAX, Alpha, 6809 to an extent at assembly
> > language level.
>
> <sigh> I *wish* I kept all my old computers. Started with a Tandy
> TRS-80 4KB, then the same again but with 16KB. I remember programming
> the game Frogger into it when I was 10. That about maxed out it's
> potential.
>
> If I could choose just one of my old computers to have back, it would
> be my highly modded 486. Ran even the oldest of PC games and still
> fast enough to run some more modern(ish) ones.

I've had some fairly rare ones which I wish I had kept,
a DEC PDP 11/60. Still got some core memory from
the first PDP 11/10 in Australia - think it is about 4KB
or so. You just can't keep everything, especially if it
is mainframe sized.

I've still got an Apple ][, 6502 - yeah another thing
I did assembly programming on along with the PDPs.

Microbee was something I liked, Z80 processor was
something I was really into. Still got that, along with
a 'puter I designed and built, however used a serial
****t - didn't quite feel like working out the 6545 graphics
controller - however it ran the image of Matthew Starr's
BASIC interpreter I burnt into a ROM.

Ahhh ... the good days of 'puting. In some ways got a
lot of respect for the LINUX folk getting drivers and
stuff written/working for n+1 bits of new kit which
is not fully thought out properly.