Finally we are at the start again

[Formula Jr]

Just about everything about the interface of your computer comes from one place. And very few people really know about that.

How you use your computer today, comes from something created over thirty years ago: Graphical interface, Bit mapping, mouse, Icons, application sensitive documents, networking, pull down menus, verb noun command structures, PC multi-tasking and the desk top analogy - all comes from the Xerox Star 8010, and its progenitor the Xerox Altos.
I have to laugh sometimes, when Apple or MS or IBM take credit for stuff they didn't invent. We are all using STARs now. That amazes me. It takes a geek to really appreciate this.

I want to make a toast. To The Xerox PARC researchers. "It took a while, but your dream came true. Thank You."

[TuxedoPk]

Owen- The Palo Alto Research Center came up with some amazing stuff. I can't think of a company whose stockholders should be more pissed that they funded all the R&D and held stock in a company that had no clue what to do with the technology they invented.

They also set the world of corporate espionage back a few years- they even paid the salaries of their employees who gave the Apple folk the guided tour.

I'm not sure how far back you go, but do you remember the Altos, Sol by Processor Technology, the S-100 bus & the MITS Altair?

No longer still in the field, but geeky enough to remember the difference between Metcalf's ethernet datalink type field and the IEEE 802.3 datalink fields.

I don't know if you've seen this site. It has some great photos of the systems I remember growing up with. http://www.vintage-computer.com/
Sounds like you'd really enjoy the Computer Museum in Boston. If you're in that area it is well worth the time.

[txtaz]

Rich your dating yourself... :biggrin:
Wes

[onesubdrvr]

Oh my god,...

I HAD several of those computers, and some not listed

TRS-80 Model I, III, IV, IVp
Commodore Vic20, 64
TI99-4/A
Worked on a couple of KayPro's and HeathKit's

wow, that is OLD,... I even ran a "BBS" off of my model IVp,.....ahhh those were the days!!

Wayne
Younger than you think

[Formula Jr]

I go a little earlier, Minnes; Digital PDP 8, 11, LSI, vax. Micros? NorthStar, TRS 80s, C64s.
This is a fun thought for me. As that is what I was doing in '77.
Working on intuitive graphical interfaces.

[onesubdrvr]

That's pretty cool,...


I was 10 when I got my first Model III, then with upgrades to color, went the the Commodore series, but still ran my board off of the IVp.

can anybody say "GEOS" ?

Commodore for Graphic Environment Operating System

Wayne
Only 32

[Formula Jr]

The funny thing about geos was that the machine it was designed for couldn't run it, I double clocked a C64, buss rang it to death, with a hard drive and I still waited forever.. That was beautiful code though. Geos was trying to be cross platform. Geos was STAR.
I think we are there now. STAR exists. Its just called XP or System 10, or some linux shell.

[TuxedoPk]

Wes- I got an early start in the field. I purchased and started selling computers my freshman year of highschool so I go back further than most my age. 41 isn't that old- I'm still interested in sex but just want to check what's on cable first :)

The first computer I owned was one of the first 1000 Apples off the assembly line. I can still remember the red owners manual with Woz's handwritten notes copied into it. My first Hayes modem had its serial number hand etched into it! I've got to find some of the early articals I did for Call Apple magazine in '78 or '79.

Wayne- Being a 6502 assembly programmer I never could bring myself to owning a trash-80 (geek religious wars are equivalent to boater's fuel tank debates)

My first mini experience was on a teletype machine with paper tape storage connected via a leased line to a Dec PDP 8 with 4k bytes of ram.

Anyone remember owning accoustic couplers?

[Patti]

Oh my god,...

I HAD several of those computers, and some not listed

TRS-80 Model I, III, IV, IVp
Commodore Vic20, 64
TI99-4/A
Worked on a couple of KayPro's and HeathKit's

wow, that is OLD,... I even ran a "BBS" off of my model IVp,.....ahhh those were the days!!

Wayne
Younger than you think

Wow.."BBS"..I remember those..I used to belong to a bunch of them back in the early 90's..when you used to telnet into them..I've been online since Prodigys early days and BBS' were real big.

Wow..talk about a flashback..

I MUST be gettin' old :tongue:

[txtaz]

Help!!! I'm having trouble installing Windows 95 on my TRS-80. I keep getting the error "Operator error, operator has insufficient knowledge"

sub, I still have a Heath kit receiver. Those were cool to put together.
Wes