Exploring "un-Windows" alternatives

Hi Mary!

> Jeez! Dien. I bet you remember when a
> cassette tape backup was a big deal!

Mary, I LOVE reminiscing about the "old days" of computing.... :)

I was actually a teen when we got our first home PC (a Commodore-64). I had to save up money from my paper-delivery round to help pay for it. :)

Ahhh... tape backups! Yes, I remember programs on cassette tapes.... It seems almost unbelievable nowadays!

A friend of mine had a VIC-20 computer - it came with just 2k of RAM! (Expandable to 8k!) Can you imagine that.... Wow. The memory contents of about 750 standard VIC-20s would nowadays fit on one floppy disk!!!!

Anyhow, it was fun.... I couldn't afford to buy all the games for my computer, so I bought magazines and typed in the BASIC games (from magazines like Compute!). I learned BASIC programming that way.... :)

I don't program much now, but I keep telling myself I'll get back into it one day.... :) (I think programming can be very profitable, when you couple it with marketing skills too....)

My first experience though was with an old Apple II (around 1982)... My school had exactly one Apple II, and my friends and I used to "book" it at lunch time. After experiencing the Apple II, I knew I just HAD to get my own.... :)

(Yeah, I'm pretty much a geek through-and-through...!)

Thanks Mary for this walk down memory lane! :)

I love hearing about people's experiences with computers in the 70s and 80s.... It really seems like a world away nowadays. It helps you to also appreciate the raw computing power we now take for granted at our fingertips! :)

- Dien

When I was in the 8th grade back in 1975-76 the school had a tele-type like hookup to a mainframe somewhere. The students could book time on it to play tic-tac-toe! Of course just like the paper and pencil version it ALWAYS played out ot a draw Much like the video game "PONG" that was a BIG deal to us back then!

Hugh

> Hi Mary!

> Mary, I LOVE reminiscing about the "old
> days" of computing.... :)

> I was actually a teen when we got our first
> home PC (a Commodore-64). I had to save up
> money from my paper-delivery round to help
> pay for it. :)

> Ahhh... tape backups! Yes, I remember
> programs on cassette tapes.... It seems
> almost unbelievable nowadays!

> A friend of mine had a VIC-20 computer - it
> came with just 2k of RAM! (Expandable to
> 8k!) Can you imagine that.... Wow. The
> memory contents of about 750 standard
> VIC-20s would nowadays fit on one floppy
> disk!!!!

> Anyhow, it was fun.... I couldn't afford to
> buy all the games for my computer, so I
> bought magazines and typed in the BASIC
> games (from magazines like Compute!). I
> learned BASIC programming that way.... :)

> I don't program much now, but I keep telling
> myself I'll get back into it one day.... :)
> (I think programming can be very profitable,
> when you couple it with marketing skills
> too....)

> My first experience though was with an old
> Apple II (around 1982)... My school had
> exactly one Apple II, and my friends and I
> used to "book" it at lunch time.
> After experiencing the Apple II, I knew I
> just HAD to get my own.... :)

> (Yeah, I'm pretty much a geek
> through-and-through...!)

> Thanks Mary for this walk down memory lane!
> :)

> I love hearing about people's experiences
> with computers in the 70s and 80s.... It
> really seems like a world away nowadays. It
> helps you to also appreciate the raw
> computing power we now take for granted at
> our fingertips! :)

> - Dien