Hello fellow WAMUGgers,
As we are celebrating 30 years of WAMUG I though it might be interesting to
share what memories we have of all things Macintosh /Apple and beyond.
Earlier this month, Severin Crisp wrote to me of his experiences 40 + years
with computers and his association with Apple . It makes for a very interesting
read.
He has given permission to share it to the list.
I am sure others have had lengthy and/or interesting associations with Apple.
It would be great to hear your memories.
Cheers,
Maureen
Severin Crips’ Email
My introduction to computing was on a Bendix G15 at National Research Council
of Canada in Ottawa where I was a PostDoctoral fellow from 1960. It was a
single user machine on which you booked time and it had paper tape input and
typewriter output and had a regular maintenance outage for one hour every
morning! Shortly before we left Canada in 1964 (plus two sons who had
materialised in our time there) the division acquired a new machine, still
paper tape input but which ran Fortran, to which then I was introduced. Back
in Physics at UWA an IBM 1620 card machine had been acquired and was a huge
advance. Still single user for which you could book time but many jobs run by
the Computing Centre staff as batches. I remember almost wheelbarrow loads of
boxes of cards! Then a DEC10 time sharing machine appeared, a huge step
forward in speed and capability including direct talk to the computer from a
terminal! and the announcement that this would satisfy the University’s
computing needs for at least the next 5 years. In 6 months it was up to
saturation and the CDC Cyber machines, extensive mainframes with card readers,
magtape drives, line printers and the works all running principally batch
more or less took over. A later DEC machine ran as an adjunct, usable from
remote terminals around campus for direct input/output, a foreshadowing of
desktop machines.
The PCs started to appear, both IBM and others and Physics elected to go Mac, a
brilliant choice as far as I was concerned! Machines proliferated through
teaching and research, I had a DEC PDP-8(?) controlling my X-ray spectrometer
and collecting data and communication directly with a Mac in my office. For
home I bought one of the first 128K bundles, with a dot matrix printer and a
carrying case, around $2000 from memory. It was subsequently upgraded to a
MacPlus with a massive 4MB of memory and used as office computer in my wife’s
art gallery. On my desk at work I had stepped up to an SE 30, a real speed
machine, and progressed through a series of upgradings until my retirement in
mid 1964 at which time we moved to Albany and I purchased a PowerMac which
since then has progressed though a series of necessary(??!) indulgences to my
current 21.5inch iMac, which cost a similar amount to that first 128k Mac.
In my time at NRC in Ottawa and in Physics at UWA there was always expert
advice and comment for problems immediately to hand, usually from someone just
a door or two down the corridor or at the help desk in the Computing Centre, a
vital thing when unravelling Fortran puzzles! In Albany that was not similarly
available and at some stage I discovered WAMUG on who/which I have relied
heavily every since. So many times a seemingly hopeless impasse has been
resolved by an exert input, I know my experience mirrors that of many others.
Notably Ronni and Daniel have pointed me in the right direction many, many
times as have so many other members. Much information sits in the archives to
be unearthed; I admit to laziness and just reask the question. I cannot speak
too highly of the benefits I have had from my WAMUG membership, my $30 annual
fee is trivial for the return I get, not only from direct answers and speedy
resolution with no time wasted when problems arise, but from general learning
from seeing solutions emerge from other member’s dilemmas and generally about
things Mac.
My one regret is that I have never attended a WAMUG meeting nor have I met any
members (other than Neil Houghton who lives nearby) face to face; I am a true
member in absentia. Advancing years, which see us both in our 80s, make trips
to Perth rare and become a serious physical effort. Sadly I will not be able
to join with you all on August 10th for the celebration. The WAMUG committee,
who keep the show going the way itv does, deserve at least an Order of
MacStralia in the next honours awards, without them there would be nothing.
I will be there with you in spirit, “Floreat WAMUG!”.
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