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Thread: Old Computers and Tech

  1. #1

    Default Old Computers and Tech

    Remember these?


  2. #2

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech


  3. #3

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Didnt Tandy have something to do with radio shack?
    I was once a proud member of their battery club.

  4. Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    I remember buying my first Apple computer. I was probably 17 and it was well over $1,000. I remember thinking it was a powerhouse.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Yes, Tandy was/is part of the Radio Shack family.

    My first Mac was the Performa 6115CD Power PC...it was near top of the line 500meg hard drive (that wont even run the OS anymore much less any other programs etc)...cost me over $1,000 to max out the memory. And BBatesokc, I am sure your Apple was a powerhouse at the time...know mine ran circles around IBM PCs...seems it was about the same time that Intel had come out with this commercial that had a "fly through" of the inside of the computer...it came out that the commercial had to be produced on a Mac because the Intel based PCs couldn't handle it...LOL

  6. #6

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech


  7. #7

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Quote Originally Posted by Achilleslastand View Post
    Didnt Tandy have something to do with radio shack?
    I was once a proud member of their battery club.
    Just a bit -- they owned the company.

    It started out in Boston right after WW2, as "Uncle Dave's Radio Shack" ("radio shack" was a term used by shipping lines to describe the radio room of a ship) and it catered primarily to ham operators. As it grew, Tandy (originally a leather goods outfit and based in Fort Worth) bought "Uncle Dave" out and kept only the last half of the name. For years, it was the primary source for electronic parts in many parts of the country, but that aspect of its business eventually got phased out in favor of pushing last year's hot item. Today it's difficult to see any trace of the original "Radio Shack" in its stores...

  8. #8

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kyle View Post
    "...today it's difficult to see any trace of the original "Radio Shack" in its stores..."

    ...small electronic retail brick-and-mortars have had a rough go competing against the likes of big-box retailers and online global stores. The Street has long speculated that Radio Shack is 'shopping itself out' -- someone like Best Buy is most likely to swoop in and take out RSH.

  9. #9

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Maybe so, but there have been times that the likes of radio Shack or Westlake hardware carried the part I needed when the big box retailer didn't even have it as an option. Recently, Radio Shack was surprisingly the cheapest of the 3 that had a USB extension cable. Office Depot and Best buy had it but with about $5 separating each store, from least expensive to most...
    Radio Shack
    Office Depot
    Best Buy

    Amazingly, found what I needed at Big Lots for even cheaper ($6 to $11) and even cheaper still at Tuesday Morning. Price range was anywhere from $2 (TM) to $20 (Best Buy)

  10. Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    FRISKY, that is amazing and the descriptions got me laughing...especially at them claiming its lightning-fast. The price....sure have came way down since then.

  11. #11

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    I tend to stay away from bestbuy as they are seriously overpriced and some of the supposed pc techs{geek squad}were not that knowlegable.
    I use newegg for any online purchases and computer masters for any local retail purchases.

  12. #12

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Talking about old computers - I have a GIGANTIC Univac 111 computer built in the early sixties like you use to see on Mission Impossible with the huge Printers made on tables and the aluminum flooring for the cooling system etc. It fills up a 40' Semi-Trailer and doesen't have the power of an XT from what I'm told.. Have a ton of pix where I pulled it out on a warehouse floor which I own. I have had possession of it since 1975 and have sold it to a party in Ca. I am still storing it for the buyer. Quite a story behind it for the dyed in the wool computer folks!!!

  13. #13

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Frisky: LOVE that opening picture! At first I thought it was an old computer surrounded by cobwebs and then realized it was just a very old picture.

    As far as the "storage devices" go . . . I have maybe a hundred of the non-floppy floppies, well-organized, in various containers completely full of data. I also have several of those little . . . uh . . . thumb drives? . . . umm . . . flash drives? . . . oh, whatever, laying around. Completely empty.

    Someday, I need to do something about that . . . Before the crew from "Hoarders" comes around.

    The very first "computer" I ever encountered was a terminal at my high school that was connected with the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Mainframe 30+ miles away. That had to have been back in about 1969. It was a huge, 1940s style, sort of neo-art deco box. It ran on punch tape and electricity. We were supposed to use it to help us learn Algebra II: "Write a program (B.A.S.I.C.) to solve for x when y is and work in the wrapping function."

    Not only did I get an F for the third quarter of Algebra II . . .
    I also got a mental block against computers that persisted until about 1992.

    Oh! In addition to Radio Shack(s), wasn't Tandy also famous for Leather crafting stuff?
    You know . . . wallets . . . belts . . . saddles . . . lanyards . . .
    Or was that a different Tandy?

  14. #14

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Quote Originally Posted by CarltonsKeeper View Post
    Talking about old computers - I have a GIGANTIC Univac 111 computer built in the early sixties like you use to see on Mission Impossible with the huge Printers made on tables and the aluminum flooring for the cooling system etc. It fills up a 40' Semi-Trailer and doesen't have the power of an XT from what I'm told.. Have a ton of pix where I pulled it out on a warehouse floor which I own. I have had possession of it since 1975 and have sold it to a party in Ca. I am still storing it for the buyer. Quite a story behind it for the dyed in the wool computer folks!!!
    Cool, you had the portable model. Quite compact. :-)

  15. #15

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Quote Originally Posted by Achilleslastand View Post
    I tend to stay away from bestbuy as they are seriously overpriced and some of the supposed pc techs{geek squad}were not that knowlegable.
    I use newegg for any online purchases and computer masters for any local retail purchases.
    So do I. I've also found Computer Connections, on May just north of NW 63, to have some quite interesting stock and good prices.

    As for Best Buy, they've been accused in the past of re-shrink-wrapping merchandise returned as defective or damaged, and putting it back on the shelves. I've not heard that about any of the local ones, but it seems to be a widespread practice from coast to coast...

  16. #16

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Quote Originally Posted by CarltonsKeeper View Post
    Talking about old computers - I have a GIGANTIC Univac 111 computer built in the early sixties like you use to see on Mission Impossible with the huge Printers made on tables and the aluminum flooring for the cooling system etc. It fills up a 40' Semi-Trailer and doesen't have the power of an XT from what I'm told.. Have a ton of pix where I pulled it out on a warehouse floor which I own. I have had possession of it since 1975 and have sold it to a party in Ca. I am still storing it for the buyer. Quite a story behind it for the dyed in the wool computer folks!!!
    So tell us about it! I've been dealing with computers since 1959, and heavily so since mid-1965. Helped set up the first national-network facility in OKC, in the late 60s, and wrote the service manuals for the first monitor-based video terminal (G-E's Datanet-750, in 1965). And I'm a history buff interested in all kinds of history...

  17. #17

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Jim, I'm impressed, I thought I was the old computer guy, I began my career in 1962. Did First National's IT become National Sharedata? It might have been Liberty's IT. I suspect we have some mutual friends/acquaintances.
    C. T.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kyle View Post
    So tell us about it! I've been dealing with computers since 1959, and heavily so since mid-1965. Helped set up the first national-network facility in OKC, in the late 60s, and wrote the service manuals for the first monitor-based video terminal (G-E's Datanet-750, in 1965). And I'm a history buff interested in all kinds of history...

  18. #18

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    I joined G-E in July of 1965 as a tech writer, and rapidly got immersed in programming. Stayed in essentially the same job through three changes of ownership: Honeywell, Control Data, and BancTec, during which time I did a lot more software development than tech writing, including writing a database package in a mix of GCOS assembler and Fortran (doing the work in assembler and using Fortran to glue the different routines together) and learning enough COBOL to create a program that would create backpanel wirelists tracing each signal through all its nodes, for inclusion in the service manuals for the big check reader-sorters.

    Actually I didn't get to know very many folk in the local IT community; almost all of my contacts were with others in the GE/HISI/MPI/BTI plant. Only after they laid me off in 1990 and I went to work for Norick Software did I come into contact with many IT people...

    Around 1982 and later I did do some consulting work with a local real-estate rating service, but that was about the extent of it until the 90s!

  19. #19

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Quote Originally Posted by Larry OKC View Post
    Maybe so, but there have been times that the likes of radio Shack or Westlake hardware carried the part I needed when the big box retailer didn't even have it as an option. Recently, Radio Shack was surprisingly the cheapest of the 3 that had a USB extension cable. Office Depot and Best buy had it but with about $5 separating each store, from least expensive to most...
    Radio Shack
    Office Depot
    Best Buy

    Amazingly, found what I needed at Big Lots for even cheaper ($6 to $11) and even cheaper still at Tuesday Morning. Price range was anywhere from $2 (TM) to $20 (Best Buy)
    When I lived in OKC I always bought cables at either G&H Computers on May Avenue in The Village or Computer USA Outlet at NW 27th & MacArthur, they always had them for a fraction of the national chains. Down here in Austin it's either Fry's or Discount Electronics for most computer items.

  20. #20

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kyle View Post
    So tell us about it! I've been dealing with computers since 1959, and heavily so since mid-1965. Helped set up the first national-network facility in OKC, in the late 60s, and wrote the service manuals for the first monitor-based video terminal (G-E's Datanet-750, in 1965). And I'm a history buff interested in all kinds of history...
    If you would like the pictures and the story behind it just personal message me with your email address and I'll load you up!!

  21. #21

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Quote Originally Posted by CarltonsKeeper View Post
    Talking about old computers - I have a GIGANTIC Univac 111 computer built in the early sixties like you use to see on Mission Impossible with the huge Printers made on tables and the aluminum flooring for the cooling system etc. It fills up a 40' Semi-Trailer and doesen't have the power of an XT from what I'm told.. Have a ton of pix where I pulled it out on a warehouse floor which I own. I have had possession of it since 1975 and have sold it to a party in Ca. I am still storing it for the buyer. Quite a story behind it for the dyed in the wool computer folks!!!
    So, that's what your screen name means. The name of the Univac 111 is Carlton!! ;-) jk, jk.

    I'm young, so you guys will be like, "smh". My first computer was in 95. It was a Dell. The thing that gets me though is the operating base. The whole computer was 1.9Gb. My how far we've come since even then (as that pic above shows how all those floppy discs equals one Sandisk microcard, lol).

    On another note, I do have a laptop computer that used to be my uncle's. My dad was going to throw it away, but I wanted to keep it. The brand, I've never even heard of so I'll have to get back to you on that. The one thing I do remember, though, is that the mouse for it was corded and you could hold it in the palm of your hand. It had a white trackball and a tiny little push button on it.

  22. #22

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Quote Originally Posted by bluedogok View Post
    When I lived in OKC I always bought cables at either G&H Computers on May Avenue in The Village or Computer USA Outlet at NW 27th & MacArthur, they always had them for a fraction of the national chains. Down here in Austin it's either Fry's or Discount Electronics for most computer items.
    We really need a Frys here in OKC

  23. #23

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    +1

  24. #24

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Agreed!

  25. #25

    Default Re: Old Computers and Tech

    Besides a few mom and pop places and locally owned joints there really isnt much in the way of pc/parts/repairs here in OKC. I miss CompUsa and as i posted earlier we do need a Frys. Frys does have some pretty good deals which at times even match neweggs prices.

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