One of his ambitions whilst in the US was to buy himself a new computer; such things came much cheaper over there, than back in Blighty.
He used it for a few years, then just as with his old clothes, shoes, and music tapes, he passed it on to his belovéd Papa.
I continued to use it for several years until its slowness really began to annoy me, and I reluctantly upgraded to an IBM ThinkPad.
It's difficult to imagine now (just 16 years later) how cumbersome these machines were. It weighs about 2 kilos, and is about 3 inches thick. Booting-up in the morning (with dial-up) took as long as it took me to shower, eat breakfast, and take a long walk. But as my son assured me at the time, it was definitely Sate-of-the-Art, so I was happy.
It now sits in a box with several other relics; yesterday was the first time I'd seen it in years.
Did you find it cleaning your corner Cro? lol actually it is scary about how quickly things advance,just look at the thickness of TV's now they are just so narrow compared to the old heavy ones that needed 2 ft behind them...even the mobile phone has changed so much...
ReplyDeleteThat one is relatively modern against the one I am using - I was given it only last year I didn't have a computer before that - it takes up a third of the desk and is like a television with speakers. Still, it does the job. Will you be throwing yours out in your clear up.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping to live long enough for it to become an 'Antique'.
DeleteDuring some periodic clearing out at Dad's, we came across a Starwriter, which he had had for some years but had rarely used and, guess what? It powered up and printed out a perfect sheet of text!
ReplyDeleteI have an IBM thinkpad for work now, I switch it on and then go for a long walk, make a cup of tea, say a few hello's and once I get back to my desk after about 20 minutes it is usually about ready to go! That's progress for you! K.
ReplyDeleteKeep it! It's a period piece already.
ReplyDeleteThose mainframe installations you see in films with whirling tape decks in the background? Yep, I've sat at my terminal and issued commands to make tapes whirl back and forth! The laptop I am typing on has (technically) more power and speed than the first water-cooled ICL/IBM machines I used.
Jeez, I feel old!
Every so often in these parts we see ads for old technology....this is when you dump old cel phones, calculators, computers, etc for free.....hopefully you have something like this where you are.
ReplyDeleteThis is beginning to be creepy Cro. First the shooting stick and now the computer. While I was cleaning out a coat closet yesterday I came across my daughter's old computer (aka your Toshiba). She had it when she was at Uni in London, Ontario in 1997. Mystifies me why I still have it.
ReplyDeleteLondon Ontario? My boy was Oxford England! Keep watching J... Tomorrow's post might just make that 3.
DeleteBack in the 80's, my husband was an executive at Commodore Computer and brought home all the new hardware to test. Commodore, at that time, was the big innovator in the personal computer business, and we were lucky enough to be able to be on the forefront of technology. Commodore has long since gone, but in a corner of my basement lays a Commodore 64, a Commodore 128, and the groundbreaking Amiga. Have no idea why we are holding on to this useless stuff except for the memories of the past.
ReplyDeleteYou could always start a museum!
DeleteWe must have been extremely patient back then...
ReplyDeleteFinally, I am able to comment on your blog Cro! Now, my day is complete. However I have nothing to say that is either witty or bright about the old laptop. I will say this...it looks very clean.
ReplyDeleteNot guilty.
DeleteYou've kept it in very good shape. It doesn't seem that long ago that we all had to sit and wait for these machines to boot up.
ReplyDeleteThe first computer we bought was a 386 with a huge monitor and tiny little screen. You could go for walk round the mountain while it was booting up. Can't believe how technology has moved on.
ReplyDeleteI rebooted my Mac from 2003 and I thought it was slow... I was trying to imagine trying to use my laptop from 1998--I think it is heavier than what I am now allowed to lift!
ReplyDelete