From: "Aron Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> On Monday 04 April 2005 09:16 pm, Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
> > Ron Hunter-Duvar wrote:
> > >On April 2, 2005 05:26, Daniel Anderson wrote:
> > >>On Friday 01 April 2005 04:49 pm, Erylon Hines wrote:
> > >>>On Friday 01 April 2005 12:40 pm, Daniel Anderson wrote:
> > >>>| I'm going back to my TRS80 model 4.
> > >>>|
> > >>>| Dan
> > >>>
> > >>>OMG! I had one of those. I think it cost- like -
> > >>>$1650, which is probably about $10,000 in today's dollars.
> > >>
> > >>I still have mine, still works, dabbled a little in basic with it. I
put
> > >> in the extra memory and two 720k drives. Paid $50 for it used.
> > >>
> > >>>And the first 386/25. I still have that laying around somewhere, or
at
> > >>>least pieces of it--4 MEGS of RAM-whoo hoo--that was one hell of a
> > >>>machine. I actually ran Linux on it, for a while, kernel 1.x
something,
> > >>>maybe 1.2, I can't remember exactly. Yup, them were the good ole
days.
> > >
> > >I've got you all beat. I started on a Cosmac Elf with 256 bytes of
static
> > > ram, a hex keypad and 2-digit 7-segment display! An RCA-1802, the best
8
> > > bit cpu ever built. Composite tv output (40x25), and audio tape
storage
> > > were also available. My brothers and I soldered the components onto
the
> > > motherboard ourselves.
> > >
> > >And I walked to work bare feet in the snow, 5 miles, up hill both ways
> > > 8^).
> >
> > Do you really want to start comparing who has the oldest hardware
> > sitting around? I think there is a lady on this list that has us all
> > beat. (Especial after I junked the model 33 teletype last year.)
> An ASR 33? I would have killed to get one of those back in the old days
:-D
Not worth it. Traditionally the earliest amateur computers were built
out of Strowger relays and pinball machine parts. As for earliest "micro-
computer" I have a friend who still has his 4004 based computer. (And for
what it is worth perhaps the earliest micro-computer multitasking OS
went into the OM-55 satcom modem for the Navy. It was built by Magnavox
in Torrance back when 8080s were about $100-$150 a piece. On the other
paw there may be something even older than that. But COSMAC ELF is a piker.
Trust me on that one. Even my Processor Technology Sol PC is relatively
new on the block compared to the first toys out there. (6502 based
thingies need not apply. And I think the Sol PC design predated the
COSMAC and F8 chips, too.)
(I passed up acquiring a mostly built Altair when its owner died of
pancreatic cancer. I was playing with bigger iron, some nice Hewlett
Packard 8500 consoles based on their 2100S mini-computer. I built
myself a nice interactive circuit analysis program. That was before
"They" discovered I could commit software as well as design fancy
Radio Frequency electronics. All of which is mooted by the couple
people I know who built pinball machine and Strowger relay based
"things".)
{^_-} Joanne
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