Bit of PC History - Memory Lane

Fantail · 24 Aug 2022

Sometimes I pass this building on one of my routes. Thought this might be interesting to share, it's the IBM Building in Endicott NY. Another point of interest is their old factory building that takes up about two blocks. I'm told it's slated for demolition but that the building is contaminated.

Bit of PC History - Memory Lane-20220629_102505.jpg

Bit of PC History - Memory Lane-20220629_102432.jpg

Yeah the old IBM PC-Compatible days. The younger crowd might be wondering what that is, like seeing a phone with a cord. Well some of this goes back to the pre-windows era. DOS, Tandy, dot matrix printers, bulletin-message boards, dial up modems. My 1st set up was an SX1000, 640k, both floppy drives, 30 meg card drive, cga monitor.
Cheers to the memories.

jonnied12 · 27 Aug 2022

Yeah, I'm that old! My first was a TRS 80.
In the summer of 1977, Radio Shack introduced the TRS-80 for $599. This offering included a BASIC language interpreter, four kilobytes of RAM, a Zilog Z80 processor at 1.77 megahertz, a twelve-inch video monitor, a cassette recorder, a power supply, and a cassette tape containing the games Blackjack and Backgammon.

alphanumeric · 30 Aug 2022

lol, yeah I was there for the original "clone wars".

Compumind · 30 Aug 2022

jonnied12 said:

Yeah, I'm that old! My first was a TRS 80.
In the summer of 1977, Radio Shack introduced the TRS-80 for $599. This offering included a BASIC language interpreter, four kilobytes of RAM, a Zilog Z80 processor at 1.77 megahertz, a twelve-inch video monitor, a cassette recorder, a power supply, and a cassette tape containing the games Blackjack and Backgammon.

Lol.

Too bad I can't find my original receipt. I was number 432 and the receipt was later signed by the president of Radio Shack at the time and the pink copy was mailed to me.

FWIW.

jonnied12 · 30 Aug 2022

Compumind said:

Lol.

Too bad I can't find my original receipt. I was number 432 and the receipt was later signed by the president of Radio Shack at the time and the pink copy was mailed to me.

FWIW.

...

MisterEd · 31 Aug 2022

jonnied12 said:

Yeah, I'm that old! My first was a TRS 80.
In the summer of 1977, Radio Shack introduced the TRS-80 for $599. This offering included a BASIC language interpreter, four kilobytes of RAM, a Zilog Z80 processor at 1.77 megahertz, a twelve-inch video monitor, a cassette recorder, a power supply, and a cassette tape containing the games Blackjack and Backgammon.

I bought the TRS-80 Model I in 1979. I started with 4KB RAM but upgraded to Level II ROM and 16KB RAM. I upgraded to 48KB RAM after I added the Expansion Interface. I eventually added 2 x 5-1/4 inch drives and 2 x 8-inch drives. I even added a mod to also boot to CP/M 2.2.

jonnied12 · 01 Sep 2022

MisterEd said:

I bought the TRS-80 Model I in 1979. I started with 4KB RAM but upgraded to Level II ROM and 16KB RAM. I upgraded to 48KB RAM after I added the Expansion Interface. I eventually added 2 x 5-1/4 inch drives and 2 x 8-inch drives. I even added a mod to also boot to CP/M 2.2.

alphanumeric · 01 Sep 2022

Bill Gates said:

"640K ought to be enough for anybody."

If I blow the dust of off of some old stored boxes I'll likely find some SIMMS lol.