Let's hop in the time machine aviation nerds.

We had a TRS-80 with the tape deck when I was growing up. You couldn’t do much on it, but I felt so cool to be able to use a computer. Then Dad replaced it with a Xeos computer running MS-DOS. When we got Windows 3.1, I had no idea what to think. Still had to start Windows from the command line.
 
I wrote two software systems on TRS-80 Model 1: a general accounting system and an electrical estimating system. I also wrote an energy calculation system as a sales tool to sell Coleman heat pumps.

Good times. But the system I worked on had 32KB of RAM and 4 floppy drives. So it was a big one.
 
I loved the Kaypro II we got in 1981 -- two floppy drives (one for the operating system and programs; one for data), 64K RAM.

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Then one day the guy who subleased an office from us brought in a NEC computer with [gasp] a 5MB hard drive! (Aviation content: his dad was one of the crewmen aboard the Spruce Goose when it flew.)
 
Pilawt said:
I loved the Kaypro II we got in 1981 -- two floppy drives (one for the operating system and programs; one for data), 64K RAM. Then one day the guy who subleased an office from us brought in a NEC computer with [gasp] a 5MB hard drive! (Aviation content: his dad was one of the crewmen aboard the Spruce Goose when it flew.)
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KayPro was a nice box. When my dad needed a new computer I recommended the Chameleon (had both a 8088 and a Z80 on the motherboard). It was purported to run both CP/M and MS-DOS and I figured that was hedging our bets since it wasn't clear to me (at maybe 19 years old) which was going to win out. They never got the CP/M working which turned out OK as MS-DOS clearly won. It was a quirky box and he kept it until he needed one with a hard drive, which they didn't support in their portable package.

John
 
I remember my first hard drive for the PC - 20MB for $800. Thought I died and went to heaven... a real computer!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
Remember the discussion: Why do you need 1MB of RAM? The OS doesn't even address it all.

Now phones have have how much RAM?

Oh, and when the first CPU that had to have a fan got all kinds of heat (deliberate). Now they make cases with 3 or more fans in them. I'm waiting for the iPhone with a micro-fan in it.
 
@GeorgeC can kiss my ass!

Oh, and old computers and stuff.
 
I grew up in Cupertino. I saw it all on the billboards on the 101 and Hwy 237...

I bought my first external floppy drive at the original Fry's store when it was in a crappy strip mall on Lawrence Expressway.
 
I still have one of these in a box somewhere.

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I started with a Digital PDP 8i. Paper tape, and ...a Star Trek game. After playing Star Trek for a few hours, you'd end up with a two inch stack of folded paper. No mouse, no monitor. Great stuff back then!
 
jsstevens said:
Ah, yes the 029:
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Ran two or three boxes of cards through those in my first round of college. PL1 anyone? IBM's version of the last language anybody will need to learn...
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Now that brings back memories!! Wrote my first computer program on one of these. It was in Fortran.
 
Since I derailed from software development to network, then firewalls fairly early in my career, I was paid for a lot more hours of writing FORTRAN while a student, than hours of C after graduation. But I made a heck of a lot more for the C.
 
Eric Stoltz said:
The only DOS game I had gave me dysentery.
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I'd vote for the children of the early-80's to be called the Oregon Trail generation, to separate us from the Millennial title, lol. Nothing like firing up a classroom Apple IIe with a 5 1/4 floppy of Oregon Trail.
 
kayoh190 said:
Rad. I was rocking a PC during those days as a young kid, so don’t know much about the Commodore 64, but that looks like a nice setup.

Gotta love the RF modulator!
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Wait, what "PC" did you have in 1982? You must have been wealthy!

My first PC was around 1989, 80386 @ 25Mhz (32bit), 1MB RAM and a 40MB hdd, a VGA monitor and a 24pin printer = $2500

I still remember the price because that was big bucks for a kid back then!
 
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Remember these? The TI-30 was the go-to calculator in junior high, back when I was a young' un. I remember how it made a very high-pitched whine when you pressed the keys.

TI-30.jpg
 
IK04 said:
Mine was an Atari 800XL with extra RAM.
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I had an Atari 800XL also! I should’ve spent the extra money and got a Commodore 64 though. Much better product and way better support.
 
Here’s a 1982 throw back that some might remember. Vectrex! Still works, just takes a minute for the electrons to warm up. :)
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This was my first PC. It took video game like cartridges for software. It also had a provision to hook up a tape recorder which nearly never worked and I guess in theory you could have a floppy drive but I never had any of those things. It did come with a bunch of manuals full of sample BASIC programs. I used to type them in line by line and run them.... then loose the whole thing when I had to shut it off.
 
topgun260 said:
Wait, what "PC" did you have in 1982? You must have been wealthy!
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Heh! 1982 was before my first memories, but the Commodore 64 was popular with many of my friends even into the late 80s. My Dad was a computer consultant in those days, and I was sometimes lucky to get a hand me down computer from a client site after he did an upgrade. He gave me an IBM 5160 initially - maybe in '84 or '85? - and I had a string of clones afterwards. I remember being given a 286 with EGA and an AdLib card in 3rd or 4th grade - it was a huge deal back then! I was all about Sierra adventure games. :)

My Dad had a couple of Macs too, which were awesome in their own way. 640x480 at 256 colors was pretty amazing in 1987. But also waaaay too expensive to hand down to a dumb kid.
 
Velocity173 said:
Here’s a 1982 throw back that some might remember. Vectrex! Still works, just takes a minute for the electrons to warm up. :)
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Just a year or two too early for me, but that is incredible!
 
SoCal RV Flyer said:
Remember these? The TI-30 was the go-to calculator in junior high, back when I was a young' un. I remember how it made a very high-pitched whine when you pressed the keys.

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That was a great machine! Got me all the way through high school, then I bought a TI 58 that took me through college.
 
SoCal RV Flyer said:
Remember these? The TI-30 was the go-to calculator in junior high, back when I was a young' un. I remember how it made a very high-pitched whine when you pressed the keys.

View attachment 72090
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Yup, I had the TI-30 in HS, then bought the HP for college. As you can see, I still have it and it still works perfectly. Old HP stuff was built to last a lifetime.

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Pilawt said:
Hey, you kids, get off my lawn!

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Abacab, I remember that album, although A Trick of the Tail remains my favorite Genesis album...
 
Bill Watson said:
SoonerAviator said:
Yup, had original MSFS on Win 3.1. No joystick, so I put in hours and hours on that program by using the 10-key controls to fly it. Nothing like flying under the GG Bridge or making a landing on the Nimitz to hone your skills, lol.
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I’m a little hazy here but the ‘original’ MSFS on the IBM PC was pre-windoze. I never touched it, but I think FS existed pre-MS and ran on the very earliest platforms.
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That's right. @StevieTimes posted a video of the Apple II version of the "true" origin of what eventually became Microsoft Flight Simulator--the subLOGIC Flight Simulator. I had the C-64 version and knew of the Apple II version, and there may have been other versions also (TRS-80, maybe?).

subLOGIC made the choice to have the sim default to Meigs Field, which became an iconic characteristic of the software through the years, as MS maintained that default. I think that persisted all the way through the final iteration of the software (though I never had FS X).

The 3D rendering of the Chicago skyscrapers (and other included cityscapes you could fly around) was a pretty impressive feat on those platforms, simplistic though it may seem by today's standards.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Yup, I had the TI-30 in HS, then bought the HP for college. As you can see, I still have it and it still works perfectly. Old HP stuff was built to last a lifetime.
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I still have an HP-12C. Looks identical to your 11C except it is designed for business math - calculating loan payments, future and past values, etc. It was so popular in the 80's and 90's that when HP discontinued it, the user community (small but loyal!) moaned and whined so loudly that HP brought it back into production!

I had to buy new batteries for it last week. It is working perfectly, although the metal back is peeling off. It is just glued on. I'll look for an STC for a different kind of glue. It is outrageous that the OEM glue only lasted 35 years or so. :rolleyes:

-Skip
 
Skip Miller said:
I still have an HP-12C. Looks identical to your 11C except it is designed for business math - calculating loan payments, future and past values, etc. It was so popular in the 80's and 90's that when HP discontinued it, the user community (small but loyal!) moaned and whined so loudly that HP brought it back into production!

I had to buy new batteries for it last week. It is working perfectly, although the metal back is peeling off. It is just glued on. I'll look for an STC for a different kind of glue. It is outrageous that the OEM glue only lasted 35 years or so. :rolleyes:

-Skip
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Note the pencil so you know it's real.
 
jsstevens said:
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Note the pencil so you know it's real.
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There's an HP-15C sitting on my desk as a type this. Bought it in the fall of 1984. I used a TI-58 all through college, but about the time I started my career it began to double-digit on some keys. I also found I needed something that I could slip into a pocket, and the TI was just too bulky. The HP was the perfect solution, and three decades later it still is.

HP made high quality, professional grade equipment back then. Sadly, their new stuff isn't nearly as good.

And kids today can't even speak RPN, dammit!
 
Half Fast said:
There's an HP-15C sitting on my desk as a type this. Bought it in the fall of 1984. I used a TI-58 all through college, but about the time I started my career it began to double-digit on some keys. I also found I needed something that I could slip into a pocket, and the TI was just too bulky. The HP was the perfect solution, and three decades later it still is.

HP made high quality, professional grade equipment back then. Sadly, their new stuff isn't nearly as good.

And kids today can't even speak RPN, dammit!
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If you have an iPhone, you need to go to the app store and look for RETRO 15C. Some guy programmed a perfect 15C replica, it works wonderfully. Screen shot from my phone:

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Bill Jennings said:
If you have an iPhone, you need to go to the app store and look for RETRO 15C. Some guy programmed a perfect 15C replica, it works wonderfully. Screen shot from my phone:

View attachment 72121
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I have it on my iPad, but my phone is Android. I haven't found a good HP15 sim for Android so I'm using RealCalc, which is at least RPN.
 
StevieTimes said:
Commodore...? Pffffftttt...

Apple 2
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Holy shizzle! I had that on my Apple //e when I was a highschooler! I definitely learned my VOR nav on that. Totally forgot about it. And the thought never crossed my mind that I'd learn the real thing about 10 years later!
 
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