|
|
03-13-2009, 11:45 AM
|
#1
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Leona
Posts: 6,382
M.O.C. #2059
|
Out of the loop
Got a news letter from Sun Microsystems today. Read or tried to read a page of information, all in English, and didn't understand one sentence. At one point, I custom built computers and even did some programming in Dbase. But now I am completely out of the loop. Trying to understand what they were saying made my head hurt.
|
|
|
03-13-2009, 12:22 PM
|
#2
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location:
Posts: 608
M.O.C. #6162
|
I don't know about you but after 40 years in computer hardware, fixing them & selling them, I don't have a clue of what is going on anymore. But on the bright side-I really don't give a damn either.
High tech burns a person out!
|
|
|
03-13-2009, 03:54 PM
|
#3
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Texas City
Posts: 5,736
M.O.C. #7673
|
I started with Computers while in the military and it began around 1974 working a terminal for a Honeywell 3060, then to a CPU made by Univac that was all push button lights and whistles. We thought we were in peanut butter heaven when we got a 12 platter 12 megabyte hard disk drive. From there in 1980 I bought my first VIC-20, upgraded it with 19k of memory and all kinds of bells and whistles. Then the Commodor 64, but was working for Radio Shack part time and worked with the TRS-80 (trash80). In 1984, retired from military, got a job with a company using an IBM-8080. Learned the BASIC language and programed it for our operations. Taught Adult Eductation on the Commodore 64 in 1986 for a couple semesters. From there it was uphill and into NASA as an Information Security Specialist, affectionately known as that #*$&( Computer Security Guy.
I used to get calls here at the house when people would have problems. One night I got a call that a user had changed something and their screen went blank on their PC. While I was watching televsion, I talked them through the whole routine to change it back, never looking at my computer to do it and my wife asking, "How do you do that?"
Stiles, I'm with you. Now-a-days I wonder how I even get logged into an area and if it crashes - warranty or get it fixed. I'm a USED TO BE GEEK!
Edited: p.s., No! I do not want an iPhone - to technical for me.
|
|
|
03-13-2009, 04:02 PM
|
#4
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Cedar Rapids
Posts: 4,876
M.O.C. #1944
|
At the end of my professional career I was a Technical Writer at Rockwell Collins Radio. One of the problems we saw with the writing of most technical material is that most of it was unreadable. We endeavored to write in sentences that an eighth grader could understand. The sentences were short and to the point. We had to then take our own material, give it to someone else and ask them to follow what was written. If they (another writer) couldn't understand it then we would re-write it. If I must say so myself, we were pretty good at making it readable and understandable.
Orv
|
|
|
03-13-2009, 05:05 PM
|
#5
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Sun City Center
Posts: 626
M.O.C. #8563
|
I miss DOS!!! I was so knowlegable back then. My first computer was a Texas Instrument that had 16K in 1981. Next an Apple IIC and eventually the IBM clones started. I am no longer computer literate. Is it my age or has technology just gotten so fast? Joanie
|
|
|
03-14-2009, 10:11 AM
|
#6
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Fallon
Posts: 6,064
M.O.C. #1989
|
When I first started with computers in the 70's, I knew every file on the computer. Remember, Edlin? I'm not sure I'm remembering the right name. I could do anything with that! Now I look at my computer and I don't know half of what all these files are for. Once in a while I go back to DOS to do something. It makes me feel good! and smart!
Happy trails.......................
|
|
|
03-14-2009, 11:00 AM
|
#7
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: North Ridgeville
Posts: 20,229
M.O.C. #2839
|
We were 37 years in Electronics. Everything. Communications, Navaids, Radar, Computers. Worked in the National airspace system for the FAA. I was a blinking genius. Built our PC's for years. Made big bucks which allows us to live the lifestyle we now live. Did a memory dump the day I retired. I now have problems using my cell phone and a blackberry is out of the question. I only thing I have not forgotten is when my retirement check hits the bank and the most important decision I make every day is which pair of shorts to wear and do I need sunglass to go outside. That is what life is all about...
|
|
|
03-14-2009, 02:29 PM
|
#8
|
Montana Fan
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Signal Mtn.
Posts: 280
M.O.C. #8206
|
I started my computer career in early 1966 on the then brand new IBM 360 Model 30. It had a whopping 16kb of main memory running a 2kb DOS supervisor. We also had a lot of board wireing to do on the Reproducing Punch and other machines. I remember I took IBM Basic Assembler Language, or BAL as it was called, in two weeks in Atlanta. When I got back to work I began to wonder just what I had gotten into. I had already had SPS and Autocoder language classes. I finally became quite a BAL programmer. I also took over the duties of a System Programmer caring for the DOS operating system generation responsibility. The Operating System source was stored in a large deck of punch cards. As for disk drives we had several model 2311 disk drives with a capacity of around 7.25mb of data. Yep, it has been quite a ride on the ole computer train for me too. I retired a year and a half ago where I had been supporting Windows 2000 Server Operating Systems and a very large MS Exchange email system for the past 15 years. I agree with what you all have said, I am just tired and don't want to keep up with the changing technology any more. And I also agree with Waynem said about the iPhone. Just give me a simple cell phone that works great as a telephone and I am happy. Geeeze, you all have really made me think about things in my past work career that I had forgotten for a long time.
I'm going to go lay down and rest now.
|
|
|
03-14-2009, 02:40 PM
|
#9
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Leona
Posts: 6,382
M.O.C. #2059
|
My first was a Commodore and soon after that I bought an Osborne 1 with CPM operating system. Then came the 8088 with DOS and I was so happy to have my 10 meg harddrive. The other day I bought Dianna a new Dell with a 350 GB harddrive for less than half the money than any of the other systems except the Commodore which was basically no more than a toy.
|
|
|
03-14-2009, 04:25 PM
|
#10
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Ore City Texas
Posts: 1,648
M.O.C. #2224
|
Hey, Stiles, you've "rung my bell" a couple of times with your posts in this thread. My first computer was an Osbourne 1, and I've moved all through CPM and DOS. I'll never forget seeing that one blinking dot in dBaseII until I finally learned the language. I too did programing in dBase and moved on to FoxPro. In fact, I still use FoxPro for my own little projects. At one time I wrote programs for Ministerial records for our Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church--in FoxPro, I mean--Menu driven programs in the old "straight line" DOS logic.
IF you understand any of this
Be Happy
ELSE
Just move on
ENDIF
sorry the indents seem not to work.
dw
|
|
|
03-15-2009, 03:01 AM
|
#11
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Texas City
Posts: 5,736
M.O.C. #7673
|
Padre DW,
Here:
IF you understand any of this
     Be Happy
             ELSE
     Just move on
ENDIF
See, I still keep a little in practice.
|
|
|
03-15-2009, 03:14 AM
|
#12
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: New Bern
Posts: 4,387
M.O.C. #8728
|
I've always been out of the loop I guess. I keep my business records on Quickbooks Pro and I subscribe to Carbonite but I still keep a record of all my customer invoices on a legal pad also. Can't break the habit, it's my security blanket.
|
|
|
03-15-2009, 03:40 AM
|
#13
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: North Ridgeville
Posts: 20,229
M.O.C. #2839
|
ehmcfarl does this look familiar. It is the syetem used in Air Traffic Control 1960's to 1990's as I recall we turned it on in Cleveland center around 1967.. The School for this guy was 11 months.
http://infolab.stanford.edu/pub/voy/...isplay/3-1.htm
|
|
|
03-15-2009, 04:46 AM
|
#14
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Lincoln
Posts: 861
M.O.C. #8154
|
Sometimes I wish I was out of the loop! I have become the 'family IT' guy. Since Thanksgiving, I have formated and reinstalled windows on 7 machines including a few at the office. Yesterday, I cleaned up the data on Mom's Mac.
I started on an Apple IIe...and still have my roots and appreciation for Apple's operating system. It takes a day or longer to reinstall windows by the time you download and install all the security updates, patches and programs. It's a pain that just doesn't exist on the Mac side. I just bought DW a new Mac laptop...what a mistake...now I want a Mac too but due to business applications, I am stuck with Windows..
Ken
|
|
|
03-15-2009, 06:52 AM
|
#15
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Texas City
Posts: 5,736
M.O.C. #7673
|
If wife has an iMac24
         She's Happy
              And
         Husband Happy
Endif
I agree. Having worked on PC's for longer than I care to remember - the MAC is simpler.
         And
the graphics are better.
|
|
|
03-16-2009, 09:25 AM
|
#16
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Manhattan
Posts: 1,144
M.O.C. #1846
|
Rich: Those pictures of the Stanford setup bring back some memories -- I started in computers in 1974 taking classes and working on the IBM 360 system at New Mexico State University and, when time allowed, the data center at White Sands. I've been away from the hardware side of it for over 10 years now working in programming and I dream of COBOL -- to me so simple compared to some of the visual programming going on today. Of course, my counterparts and students think the opposite!!
|
|
|
03-16-2009, 04:13 PM
|
#17
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Grove City
Posts: 1,357
M.O.C. #5192
|
Sounds like most of you are late starters - lol.
I started in "data processing" in 1963, before the IBM 360 made a big hit with everyone.
I worked on wiring panel boards for unit record equipment before making the big jump to computer operations and programming in Assembly language. After that it was on to most other languages and systems for over 20 years. I taught college-level programming in Assembler, Basic I and Basic II, RPG, Fortran IV, Cobol, etc etc.
I worked for General Electric selling timesharing, and for Hewlett-Packard and Date General designing large hardware systems.
Then I sold large-scale computers for 15 years.
Now, with CRS setting in, I do fairly well with desktops but haven't tackled laptops yet.
I'm choking with being left in the dust .
Keeping up just doesn't seem worth it any more. With computers doing so much of the detail work now, I guess I don't have to anyway.
Maybe being just "competent" will do for now.
I'll be back and posting a lot for help with satellite systems, air cards and routers when we hit the road - sigh.
Larry
|
|
|
03-17-2009, 12:45 PM
|
#18
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location:
Posts: 608
M.O.C. #6162
|
Oh Larry, no late starter here!
How about 1959 when I started with Univac on their Solid State computer. No transistors - magnetic amplifiers that were driven to saturation to represent a "1" and cleared to = "0".
Allan
|
|
|
03-17-2009, 01:15 PM
|
#19
|
Montana Fan
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: East Moriches
Posts: 418
M.O.C. #6436
|
I fondly remember the commodore 64, What a machine.
|
|
|
03-17-2009, 02:13 PM
|
#20
|
Montana Master
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: North Ridgeville
Posts: 20,229
M.O.C. #2839
|
Allen..A trip through time..The Univac file computer was installed in the Cleveland center in 1959. We came on boad there in 1961 and had the pleasure of checking about a Gazillion tubes. It was removed shortly thereafter.
http://vipclubmn.org/Documents/ATCFileComputers.pdf
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|