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APTI

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Here are a couple things that show my age... lets all jump in...

Do you remember...
lotus.jpg


or
elephant.jpg
 


I'm afraid this is about as far back as my memory goes lol. At least I'm out of diapers though right? Lol

1727912432086.png
 
Here are a couple things that show my age... lets all jump in...

Do you remember...View attachment 22309

or View attachment 22310
I think I had Word Perfect, Lotus 1-2-3, and dBase back in my first year of college, so long ago. Back in those days they also taught Pascal and Vax Fortran, and maybe even Cobol. Hey, whatever happened to Ada? Oh, it's a cryptocurrency now, instead of a programming language.

Signed,

Matthew Campbell
 
The first computer game i played.
i "think" it was Ultima I 1981-82?
1727919872914.png
 
The first computer game i played.
i "think" it was Ultima I
View attachment 22312
I guess I can go back as far as the oregon trail on floppy disc but I couldn't tell you what computer it was. I remember it being small and bulky and the keyboard was built into the machine if I recall.
 
I guess I can go back as far as the oregon trail on floppy disc but I couldn't tell you what computer it was. I remember it being small and bulky and the keyboard was built into the machine if I recall.
LOL it probably weighed 75+ pounds and advertised as "lightweight and portable"
 
No pictures, only 3 characters: Z80, assembly code hobby from Zilog, but i don't miss the long hours although it once got one busy at a very affordable price with the Timex/Sinclair.
 
A small selection of the apps on this disk are in the spoiler.
Directory of /Binaries/Audio
xfreecd-0_7_8-1_i386.rpm Graphical CD Player
mpg123-0_59p-1_i386.rpm MPEG music player
gqmpeg-0_6_2-1_i386.rpm Gnome based MPEG music player
kjukebox-0_3_2-1_i386.rpm CD organization utility for KDE
xmms-0_9_1-1_i386.rpm The X Multimedia system (music studio)
gtuner Radio tuner program for Gnome
TiMidity++-2_0_202mdk_i586.rpm Midi file conversion tool
xsynaesthesia Sound synthesizer program
xwave Sound synthesizer program

Directory of /Binaries/Business
avlglibc.tgz Virus checking software, glibc version
avllibc5.tgz Virus checking software, libc5 version
nlxb318e.tar McAffee virus checking software
mcalc Mortgage calculator
mort-1_12_tar.gz Mortgage calculator (complete binary package)
mort Mortgage calculator
hp67 HP calculator emulator, dynamically linked
hp67.static HP calculator emulator, statically linked
pcalc Calculator
dcalc Calculator
xcalc Calculator
mcalc Mortgage calculator
mpc-1_3_bin_tar.gz Interactive calculator
hylafax-i386-linux-v4_0pl2-1_tar.gz Fax server
hylafax-4_0pl2-3rh5_i386.rpm Fax server
gnokii-0_2_5-1_i386.rpm Cell phone interface
tkscanfax-0_91_tar.gz Fax/scanner interface
workplace-4_2-linux_tar.gz Demo of conferencing/project management tool
IglooFTP-0_6_1-1_i386.rpm Graphical FTP client
logscanner-1_0_tar.gz Log scanning utility
logwatch-1_6_4-1_noarch.rpm Log scanning utility


Directory of /Binaries/Desktop
(Each subdirectory in /Binaries/Desktop contains the corresponding binary program, ready to run)
gnome-pm/ Gnome-based finance tool/portfolio manager
Gnofin/ Gnome-based finance tool
Peoplespace/ Contact database manager
Videobase/ Videotape library database tool
Skyapp/ Prints weather information in the Gnome Panel
transfermanager/ Download multiple files at once in Gnome
aqss/ Search Web sites automatically in Gnome
kfstab/ Filesystem table management tool for KDE
kpstree/ CPU process management tool for KDE
klilo/ LILO configuration tool for KDE
gpasman/ Password tracking tool for Gnome
kreatecd/ CD creation tool (burner) for KDE
kgps/ GPS monitor interface for KDE

Directory of /Binaries/Disk Tools
defrag/ Defragment a Linux filesystem
dfmon/ Monitor mounted filesystems in real time
e2recover/ Attempt to undelete a file
shred/ Completely destroy a file
diskerase/ Wipe a hard disk clean
xdiskinfo/ Graphical display of hard disk information
ext2tool/ Access Linux partitions from DOS/Windows
lde/ Linux Disk Editor low level disk modification tool
safedelete/ Utility to create an undelete command in Linux

Directory of /Binaries/Disk Tools/defrag
defrag-0_73-5_i386.rpm Binary package of defragmentation utility
defrag.8 Manual page for all defrag utilities
e2defrag Utility to defragment an ext2 (Linux) filesystem
e2defrag.static Utility to defragment an ext2 (Linux) filesystem-statically linked version

linuxSybex3.jpg
 
Prog_C-64.jpg


I had a Timex Sinclair 1000 ... not in the $100 days but when you could pick them up on discount for $40.00... but if you plugged in that massive 16 K RAM pack, the video quality went all to crap. I am still impressed by the way the keyboard input changed modes depending upon what sort of input was expected next - it made using that tiny membrane keyboard bearable.

Commodore 64 - with a stack of four 1541 floppy drives (separated with spacers so they wouldn't overheat). I had a reset switch (useful for hacking certain games) wired to the "user" port but had to remove it because if someone turned on the fluorescent light down the hall it would induce some current in the wire and reset my machine as the ballast fired up.

Ampro LittleBoard 1b - Z80 SBC with an ADM 3A terminal - it had a SCSI interface right on board, though I never had a hard drive for it.

Those were the days!

-But- I still have a zip file floating around with a bunch of MS DOS software, in it's installed form, including Lotus 123 (version 3, I think), dBASE III Plus, Wordperfect 5.1, Zortech C++ and Procomm Plus. Last time I tried them under dosbox, most of them still worked. In about 1997, I had occasion to run dBASE III PLUS on a 300 Mhz Win 95 box and I'm pretty sure George Tate would have sat up in his grave if he could have seen how fast that old software was running.
 
I think it was in the mid-80s when I bought my first 'personal computer', a Timex.
All I remember is opening the box, hooking it up to my TV set, fooling around with it {trying to figure out how to use it}, getting frustrated and put it back in the box, then on the shelf.
Paid about $40 for it. I don't remember a manual coming with it.
Don't recall that the Sinclair name was associated with it.
OG TC

Timex from 2024-10-03 06-28-14.png
 
ZX81, but in america we got the TS1000, with an internal jumper to set the different video standard. Clever!

What wasn't too clever happened to be about its extension port, as i had to solder a flat multi-wires cable just to get away from brutal resets resulting from such mechanical clunkiness... The machine code books were impressive stuff to have as an accessory.
 
This thread makes me feel old, though I did get an early start.
 
the first computer i bought was in 1994 and had windows 3.11 for workgroups on a whopping 8 floppies. it had a 486sx 33Mhz chip, 4mb ram, 1mb video card, and a 405mb hard drive. i thought i was the bomb! LOL I remember a friend giving me another 4mb of ram, that computer flew then. i could load up a bbs and play solitaire all at the same time :)

I also remember running some dos menu that loaded before win.com where i could load either windows or any of a few games i had and they all had different autoexec files and memory settings, was pretty neat

*yes i was a little behind back then, i joined the navy in 85 as an aviation electronics technician. we had a computer in one of our shops that we played Doom and Wolfenstein 3d on it. we also had a couple of computers in 94 connected in the shop in 94 that we played Command & Conquer on, that was fun
 
I got a ZX Spectrum +2A in 1989, after years of playing at friends' places to Atari 2600 and other 8-bit computers popular in Spain, mainly Amstrad CPC's. Of my primary school year, only 1 friend had a PC (Amstrad PC1512, which meant 512 KB of RAM), and another friend had a MSX which was the rarity. All others: Spectrums, Amstrands and NES / Sega Master System.
 
View attachment 22314

I had a Timex Sinclair 1000 ... not in the $100 days but when you could pick them up on discount for $40.00... but if you plugged in that massive 16 K RAM pack, the video quality went all to crap. I am still impressed by the way the keyboard input changed modes depending upon what sort of input was expected next - it made using that tiny membrane keyboard bearable.

Commodore 64 - with a stack of four 1541 floppy drives (separated with spacers so they wouldn't overheat). I had a reset switch (useful for hacking certain games) wired to the "user" port but had to remove it because if someone turned on the fluorescent light down the hall it would induce some current in the wire and reset my machine as the ballast fired up.

Ampro LittleBoard 1b - Z80 SBC with an ADM 3A terminal - it had a SCSI interface right on board, though I never had a hard drive for it.

Those were the days!

-But- I still have a zip file floating around with a bunch of MS DOS software, in it's installed form, including Lotus 123 (version 3, I think), dBASE III Plus, Wordperfect 5.1, Zortech C++ and Procomm Plus. Last time I tried them under dosbox, most of them still worked. In about 1997, I had occasion to run dBASE III PLUS on a 300 Mhz Win 95 box and I'm pretty sure George Tate would have sat up in his grave if he could have seen how fast that old software was running.
I actually had a Commodore Vic-20 which had 3581 bytes of free RAM to hold Vic-Basic programming. It used a tape drive that used audio cassettes that would normally be used for music.

Signed,

Matthew Campbell
 
I actually had a Commodore Vic-20 which had 3581 bytes of free RAM to hold Vic-Basic programming. It used a tape drive that used audio cassettes that would normally be used for music.

Signed,

Matthew Campbell
Once I bought my C64, I had to save up for another whole year before I could afford a 1541 floppy drive. During that year, I used a borrowed cassette drive (1341, I think). When I finally got a 1541, I found that -all- of the programs and data that I had accumulated over that year fit handily onto -one- floppy disk - you know, those very high capacity 170 K ones.

I did learn how to do simple repairs on the 1541 - especially drive alignments - on the cheap - there was at least one copy protected game that wouldn't load unless your drive alignment was perfect, so you could just muck with the alignment until that game would load and you were golden. That little skill led me to accumulate a bunch of "non working" drives for cheap and get several of them back into working order.

Speaking of repairs - I also learned how to replace that one chip in the C64 that was always getting fried because some genius at Commodore thought would be OK to wire it directly to the joystick port... which was right next to the power switch, where people's nasty staticky fingers would touch it.
 
M'well, i had a gramophone in my bedroom when i was a young boy, what do i win?!
 
It's cool that so many of you have memories of a Commodore 64 and previous siblings... and that's what I got lately

I'm inserting them as thumbnails to avoid breaking your browser, but I am having lots of fun

24-09-25 15-27-20 0710.jpg24-09-25 17-23-08 0713.jpg24-09-25 15-44-18 0711.jpg24-09-25 21-32-57 0714.jpg24-09-26 18-29-46 0718.jpg
 

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