Shocking events that let you know you're old

[Amazon 7]

Providence Journal
09.17.2003
I remember being shocked when typewriters began showing up in antique stores.

It's gotten worse.

You can now find early computers there - or in the antiques section of Web sites like Ebay.

It got me thinking about a new definition of old.


Old doesn't just apply to those who can remember life before airplanes or television.

You qualify if things you once considered cutting-edge technology are now antiques. Or when the latest trends you swear you embraced just yesterday are things the MTV generation never heard of.

So, today, a list.



You know you're getting up there if you remember when:

* Your computer's ready-mode was a black screen with a single curser.

* Apple was bigger than Windows.

* Or should I say PCs, since for a while, there was no such thing as Windows.

* There was just "DOS."

* And they were called microcomputers instead of PCs.

* Contrary to free-market theory, your phone choices and bills were much easier because AT&T was a good old-fashioned monopoly.

* There was this amazing new video game called "Pong."

* And you thought it had the most advanced graphics imaginable.

* AOL was just another start-up online service that could easily have lost out to rivals called Compuserve and Prodigy.

* A 20-something guy named Dell came up with the nutty idea of selling computers by mail.

* Jane Fonda went from sex symbol, to feminist activist, to dutiful wife of a powerful man, to obscurity.

* And that powerful man was known not as Ted Turner founder of CNN - but "Blackbeard Among the Bluebloods" for winning the America's Cup while scandalizing Newport society with raucus behavior.

* And there was no question U.S. sailors would of course win the Cup - forever.

* It was called VD instead of an STD.

* The first true laptop computer was a Radio Shack TRS-80.

* And if you were hip, you referred to it affectionately as a TRASH-80.

* Burning a CD was the act of a pyromaniac.

* Sean Connery was Pierce Brosnan.

* The new walkaround phone that gave you astonishing mobility was a cordless one you could take around the house.

* And it got better reception than the one you can now take all over the country.

* Only wives got alimony.

* Steve Jobs ran Apple. I mean, the first time.

* There was a guy on 60 Minutes named Mike Wallace who was so old you figured he'd retire at the latest by 1990.

* TheMideast was simpler because Iran was run by a dictator called The Shah, who wanted power rather than Jihad.

* Mail was something you wrote on a piece of paper and put into a stamped envelope.

* And you didn't get 110 unsolicited pieces of it every morning promising to enhance your anatomical assets.

* No normal person had speakers on their computer.

* The diners at the next restaurant table were smoking cigarettes and you barely noticed.

* The only thing you knew about Robin Williams was he played a weird alien named "Mork" on television.

* A 1-gig hard drive seemed as big as a warehouse. (Today, most are 40-times that.)

* An 8-track tape the size of a paperback book was an advanced concept in compact music recording.

* Everyone knew what an LP was.

And now the final test of whether you're getting up there:

* Even though there are plenty of LPs in antiques stores, you still have 400 in your attic, because deep down, you still think the format will come back.

Mark Patinkin can be reached at [email protected].


Jeanne

[vonSanta 0]

Hey I'm only 28 and I nod in recognition to many of these things.

No fair Amazon, way below the belt. A good spanking should set things straight!

Santa Von GrossenArsch
I only come in one flavour
ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

[yoink 321]

you used computer programmes that came on tape... then came disk drives, WOW!

[Remster 24]

Quote

then came disk drives

Single side, Single density disks....

Remster

[turtlespeed 212]

My first computer had a whopping 15K of memory.
Everything else was on cassette tape and loaded via any standard tape recorder.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[pds 0]

chicklet keyboards.

8" floppies

namaste, motherfucker.

[Thanatos340 1]

I will add a few from personal experience..

You remember having to Notch the other side of your 5 1/4" Floppies so you could use both sides of the disk in your Commodore 64 1541 Disk Drive.

You have ever used a normal Tape recorder to save a program you wrote on your Timex Sinclair 1000.

You were a member of many different BBS`s.

You remember setting your Modem to keep redialing for hours to connect to your favorite BBS because someone else was logged on and it only had 1 connection.

You remember upgrading your 300 Baud Modem to a 1200 Baud and thought that life couldn’t get any better.

You knew the difference between Kermit, xmodem and zmodem and you also know which on to use when downloading a file.

You remember when 640K of memory really was all anyone should ever need.

You were a member of Q-Link and thought it was the coolest thing ever..

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

* The first true laptop computer was a Radio Shack TRS-80

Wrong. The Osbourne was.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[dterrick 0]

Quote

Single side, Single density disks....

HAH!

I still have a Commodore VIC 20 with it's tape drive. I had a Coleco Adam, too, which was replaced by my "first" real computer - an Intel 8088 "IBM-PC clone" with 2 5 1/4" floppy drives, no hard drive, an orange monitor and a dot matrix printer. All in? Just less than three grand in 1986 (I found the bill in a pile of junk).

-Dave

PS: I'm not even gonna start on the rest of that list except to mention "Disco will never die" ... right

Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

[yoink 321]

and when hard drives became commercially availabe... the HUGE 1MB ones...

[pds 0]

Quote

The first true laptop computer was a Radio Shack TRS-80.

bullshit. if he is talking size... any of the various super-micro kit puters win hands down... if talking portability... when was a trash80 ever portable. Kaypro and Compaq if i remember correctly were the first truly portable computers.

namaste, motherfucker.

[Remster 24]

Quote

HAH!

I still have a Commodore VIC 20 with it's tape drive

I got rid of my TI-XX (what number was that thing anyways... cant remember anymore.. .was it 99?) a long time ago, but kept the tape player..

Remster

[kallend 1,647]

Quote

* Even though there are plenty of LPs in antiques stores, you still have 400 in your attic, because deep down, you still think the format will come back.


Jeanne

Attic? I have them in my living room, along with a turntable.

And what's all this about computers? I still have a slide rule, bought in 1963.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[juanesky 0]

A few on the same lines, have a great day everyone...


Then and Now

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What a difference 30 years can make:

Then: Long hair.
Now: Longing for hair.

Then: Keg
Now: EKG.

Then: Acid rock
Now: Acid reflux.

Then: Moving to California because it's cool.
Now: Moving to California because it's hot.

Then: The perfect high
Now: The perfect high yield mutual fund

Then: Watching John Glenn's historic flight with your parents.
Now: Watching John Glenn's historic flight with your kids.

Then: Trying to look like Marlon Brando or Elizabeth Taylor.
Now: Trying not to look like Marlon Brando or Elizabeth Taylor.

Then: Seeds and stems.
Now: Roughage.

Then: Popping pills, smoking joints.
Now: Popping joints.

Then: Our president's struggle with Fidel.
Now: Our president's struggle with fidelity.

Then: Paar.
Now: AARP.

Then: Being caught with Hustler magazine.
Now: Being caught by Hustler magazine.

Then: Killer weed.
Now: Weed killer.

Then: Hoping for a BMW.
Now: Hoping for a BM.

Then: The Grateful Dead.
Now: Dr. Kevorkian.

Then: Getting out to a new, hip joint.
Now: Getting a new hip joint.

Then: Growing pot
Now: Growing pot belly

Then: Rolling Stones
Now: Kidney stones

Then: Being called into the principal's office
Now: Calling the principal's office

Then: Peace sign
Now: Mercedes logo

Then: Parents begging you to get your hair cut
Now: Children begging you to get their heads shaved

Then: Taking acid
Now: Taking antacid

Then: Passing the driver's test
Now: Passing the vision test

Then: "Whatever"
Now: "Depends"

"According to some of the conservatives here, it sounds like it's fine to beat your wide - as long as she had it coming." -Billvon

[Chute 0]

Quote

you used computer programmes that came on tape... then came disk drives, WOW!

For some reason I still have my old computer cassette deck before I up-graded to the 5 1/4 drive. I still have in the box... DOS 4.1.
When Win 98 came out I had to buy two 8 mb sticks for $300 and my hard drive was only 500 mb. ( My Palm Pilot is faster then that now)

Bottomless Beers and Blue Skies!

* Brother_Brian *
D.S.W.F.S.B. #2

[juanesky 0]

Age vs. Youth

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An old farmer had owned a large farm for several years. He had a large pond in the back, fixed up nice; picnic tables, horseshoe courts, basketball court, etc. The pond was properly shaped and fixed up for swimming when it was built.

One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the pond, as he hadn't been there for a while, and look it over. As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee. As he came closer he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny dipping in his pond. He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end of the pond. One of the women shouted to him, "We're not coming out until you leave!" The old man replied, "I didn't come down here to watch you ladies swim or make you get out of the pond naked. "I only came to feed the alligator."

"According to some of the conservatives here, it sounds like it's fine to beat your wide - as long as she had it coming." -Billvon

[wingnut 0]

hey i remeber when a 486 dx/2 66 was the fastest you could get..lol.. not to log ago.... on the flip side, i used to have a compaq "lugable" in my room when i was in highschool for email and such... it was cool.. monochrome green screen, 8088 with a 8087 coprosesor, low density 5 1/4 drives, no hard drive and 640k of ram.. running dos 3.2 off of flopy..... and a 2400baud modem... got me on many a bbs and ven .rec so i could read about those crazy skydivers so i was ready when i could legaly jump.........

______________________________________
"i have no reader's digest version"

[chronistin 0]

Quote

A 1-gig hard drive seemed as big as a warehouse. (Today, most are 40-times that.)

1 GB? My first very own Computer had 10MB. A few days after I ordered it, the guys from the store called me & told me they that brandnew option of 20MB drive. Did I want one? My Answer : What on earth would I ever need 20MB for?
Those were the times. when I knew the purpose of every single file on my harddrive.

Chronistin
(Home @ http://www.fallschirmspringer.net/)

[GARYC24 3]

Quote

My first computer had a whopping 15K of memory.
Everything else was on cassette tape and loaded via any standard tape recorder.

I bought the Timex Sinclair 1000 $39.95 at a drug store located between the wash rags and glasses!
Remember that one?

[Remster 24]

Quote

when I knew the purpose of every single file on my harddrive.

[sigh.....] yep.....

Remster

[ypelchat 0]

Quote

hey i remeber when a 486 dx/2 66 was the fastest you could get..lol.. not to log ago.... on the flip side, i used to have a compaq "lugable" in my room when i was in highschool for email and such... it was cool.. monochrome green screen, 8088 with a 8087 coprosesor, low density 5 1/4 drives, no hard drive and 640k of ram.. running dos 3.2 off of flopy..... and a 2400baud modem... got me on many a bbs and ven .rec so i could read about those crazy skydivers so i was ready when i could legaly jump.........

I still have one of these Compaq somewhere in my basement. They were awfully slow, but very practical at the time.



Yves.

[Remster 24]

Quote

I bought the Timex Sinclair 1000 $39.95 at a drug store located between the wash rags and glasses!
Remember that one?

The fist computer classes I took at school were on these... and the school didnt have a tape player for saving the programs we were writing, so we HAD to finish the assignment during the class and show the teacher. Talk about deadlines. Maybe MS should put that in place for their developers....

Remster

[Thanatos340 1]

I still have my T/S 1000 along with the 16K Ram Pack that plugged into the back for theses who needed Tons of memory.

When I upgraded to the C-64, I knew that had some real Power. 64K of memory and 2 1541 disk drives for extra storage. LOAD “MULE”,8,1

Many years later when I finally gave in and realized that the Commie was not going to make a Come Back, I gave in and bought a 386sx and spent the extra $500 to get the 20 Meg HD instead of the standard 10 meg because I planned on running a BBS and needed the extra space so I could have the biggest DL area around. I remember thinking that there is no way I will ever fill up that 20meg drive.

Remember have to decide between CGA, EGA and VGA?

Remember trying to Configure Expanded Memory and Extended Memory for those who could actually afford more than 1 meg of memory?

[Remster 24]

Quote

Remember trying to Configure Expanded Memory and Extended Memory for those who could actually afford more than 1 meg of memory?

Ahhh the joys of old ACAD......

Remster

[jfields 0]

Or perhaps you remember computers before DOS even existed. I used an old machine with the 8" floppy drives and the operating system was CPM.