All Things Geek

[BiloxiGeek]

Folding I could deal with. It's when the secretary (who had NO computer experience) stapled the data disk to the report.

Back around 92-ish, I had a deal with my apartment complex manager to help out with computer support for a discount on my rent. One day they called cause the 3.5" floppy disk where they did a daily data backup had stopped working. So I stopped by after work and started poking around. Drive had power, data cable hooked up properly, but it was making some awfully odd noises when it tried to read a disk. So I started taking things apart.

Finally got down to the drive itself and realized what they had done. The accounts gal had put the disk in the drive with the plastic dust sleeve (soft pliable plastic) still on it. When she removed the disk to check it, the dust sleeve had stayed in the drive.

Took about 15 minutes to get the cover off and fish out all the plastic without damaging anything. Months later I moved out of state and that drive was still working when I left town.

 

[Jelio]

I still have her sitting here on my desk! still works and still sweet!

 

[Coss]

Very cool, I have a paperweight, err umm old computer too over by the film cabinet

And if you can't read the brand and model

It did work last time I plugged it in <8 years ago>
The hinge shattered a long time ago just from old age I thought, comes out it was typical!
The screen is 8" wide and 6" tall making for a 10" viewable screen area, and it was 16 colors!
It's got an RS232 serial port on the side, and a built in modem (we're talking high tech stuff here)
Plus an Expansion port on the back like I have never seen before (3 1/2" long, 1/8" wide)
Alas, the function keys only go to F10

I don't remember how I got it; I think someone just gave it to me; but it had a Word processor program, and a simple spread sheet program. all internal.
I think the OS is some kind of MS-DOS

I found an old ad for it.
It came out in 1989 for <get this> $4,800+ !


InfoWorld

Just scroll down in the article, it's mentioned a few times.

 

[bowers baldwin]

 

[bowers baldwin]

Very cool, I have a paperweight, err umm old computer too over by the film cabinet

View attachment 9366

And if you can't read the brand and model

View attachment 9367

It did work last time I plugged it in <8 years ago>
The hinge shattered a long time ago just from old age I thought, comes out it was typical!
The screen is 8" wide and 6" tall making for a 10" viewable screen area, and it was 16 colors!
It's got an RS232 serial port on the side, and a built in modem (we're talking high tech stuff here)
Plus an Expansion port on the back like I have never seen before (3 1/2" long, 1/8" wide)
Alas, the function keys only go to F10

I don't remember how I got it; I think someone just gave it to me; but it had a Word processor program, and a simple spread sheet program. all internal.
I think the OS is some kind of MS-DOS

I found an old ad for it.
It came out in 1969 for <get this> $4,800+ !


InfoWorld

Just scroll down in the article, it's mentioned a few times.

 

[Hog]

Still have my TRS-80 model I in the box with all accessories, Line Printer and 48k expansion interface, two 8 1/4" floppie drives. Sits upstairs in the barn. I wrote some of the first COGO programs for it and "saved" them on the cassette recorder that programs it.

 

[WilliamH]

Very cool, I have a paperweight, err umm old computer too over by the film cabinet

View attachment 9366

And if you can't read the brand and model

View attachment 9367

It did work last time I plugged it in <8 years ago>
The hinge shattered a long time ago just from old age I thought, comes out it was typical!
The screen is 8" wide and 6" tall making for a 10" viewable screen area, and it was 16 colors!
It's got an RS232 serial port on the side, and a built in modem (we're talking high tech stuff here)
Plus an Expansion port on the back like I have never seen before (3 1/2" long, 1/8" wide)
Alas, the function keys only go to F10

I don't remember how I got it; I think someone just gave it to me; but it had a Word processor program, and a simple spread sheet program. all internal.
I think the OS is some kind of MS-DOS

I found an old ad for it.
It came out in 1969 for <get this> $4,800+ !


InfoWorld

Just scroll down in the article, it's mentioned a few times.

I think you misread the ad. The pertinent paragraph is copied below.

"Since inventing the first portable data terminal in 1969, TI has led the way in packing more and more functionality into smaller and smaller products. Now TI brings you the next generation in portable computing -- the Travel
ate 2000."

That from page 37 of the Aug 13, 1990 InfoWorld.

 

[AriLea]

View attachment 9365
I still have her sitting here on my desk! still works and still sweet!

Triied to write a game program for that one. Amazing what you could and couldn't do with 16k.

 

[Lil4X]

I got roped into computers by my Dad who had just retired and was looking for a new hobby. I bought him a Commodore VIC-20 to play with and upgraded him to a C-64 within a month or two because he'd already surpassed the capability of the machine. I got the VIC, which was interesting but useless in the commercial world. A few years later Dad passed away and I inherited the C-64. I was looking for a word processor since my new business partner insisted on losing my scripts, forcing me to start over on a few customer projects. I learned to xerox everything and keep the originals. Soon, with client revisions and new product changes, I was drowning in paperwork and that tape player on the C-64 was far too slow and problematic. I bought it a floppy drive from Toys R' Us, the only place I could get a Commodore and accessories at the time.

With a good Seiko daisywheel printer, the old '64 did well for a time, but the software I was using (Paperclip) was demanding more memory, so I upgraded to a C-124 - because I didn't have to replace the floppy drive or video monitor. That worked well for a couple more years, until a client offered me a IBM 286-AT he had in his shop with an intermittent problem he couldn't trace. I would crash about once a week, and since he was in the banking business, that could represent a minor catastrophe. So not only did the president of the company give me the computer, he came over and installed it for me. Six months later I'd traced the crash-o-mat to a faulty power supply and he came back and replaced it too. Amazing!

Fast forward a few years and the 286 was getting a little long in tooth and the software available for it was slowly disappearing. I had a guy my partner had hired for some database and spreadsheet work and had bought him an early 486-50 running Windows. With the laserprinter he demanded the all-up cost ran just over $8K . . . and his brilliant "projects" weren't earning us a dime. Four months later when he was screaming about his "old" computer (a 486-90 had just entered the market) I fired him and took over the computer and printer. Finally, I was on a system that was contemporary with my clients' and could communicate with their files. The only problems remaining were that everything on that computer was a Lotus product and 1-2-3 wasn't compatible with Excel, and AmiPro wasn't compatible with ANYTHING (despite being a far superior word processor). When I bailed out of the company after many years, they were still using obsolete equipment and software - sort of the local curse.

My first few weeks with my OWN company saw us with state-of-the-art computers, phones, video and photo gear, and for the first time in years I felt like the cuffs had come off. I didn't have to recreate spreadsheets manually or sneak down to Toys R' Us for parts. We paid our bills and reached profitability in 90 days. Lesson learned: you can be penny wise and pound foolish, it doesn't help when you skimp on tools.

 

[Muzhik]

View attachment 9365
I still have her sitting here on my desk! still works and still sweet!

Yes! I love it! I had SUCH a feeling of nostalgia the instant I saw your photo.