Then you probably remember their first PC word processor, EasyWriter. That's what I started out with. Later I learned that the programmer wrote it while doing time in the slammer, IIRC for blue-boxing.
IBM was always the good stuff. We had two IBM punchers and two Jukis, for about 400 students. The IBMs were always occupied, the Jukis broken most of the time. We weren't s'posed to ... but ... I always carried a pouch with tools along. So I repaired one and whoopdidou, had a seat.
That wasn't their first. The MTST/MCST (Mag Tape/Card Selectric Typewriter) was a word processor, too. ...and there were several mainframe-based systems for such. Yes, I remember SleazyWriter. ;-)
??
I don't know why they had IBMs because the university was pretty heavily into CDC (PLATO, and all). The /75 wasn't a small machine (it did the 360 instruction set in hardware - no microcode).
[...]
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In the early '90s there was still more variety of computers as well -- PCs were clearly the most popular with Macs second, but there were also a sizeable number of people with Atari STs, Apple IIGSes, Amigas and even some NeXTstations for the real hard-core computer guys; there were user groups for most that met somewhere reasonably close to campus. (The Amiga group that I occasionally visited met in the "union south," which was immediately adjacent to all the engineering buildings.)
Wow... :-)
When I returned for my master's at Oregon State here, I was a bit sad to see that within engineering HP calculators had gone from >90% to
"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...
The first PC I purchased was a 286, purchased around 1992 (so already pretty old), but for "only" $700 or so. I didn't purchase my next PC -- a 75MHz Pentium -- until something like 1997 or so.
And solder irons had probably gone to even less that 33% :-(
In fact, this school has a "technology program" where you are required to lease a laptop (whether you need one or not).
Tim
That sounds like a bit of a scam!
I lived in the dormitories for 3 years as an undergraduate, and during the last year they decided that they were going to equip all the rooms with mini-fridges whether you liked it or not... and of course there was a new, separate fee for this. Most annoying to those who had already purchased their own fridge... or decided to do without.
Seems like they should have phased them in over four years and just jacked up the rent a bit rather than making it a separate line item, if they really wanted to do it.
(I have often felt that apartments would be better if there were more standard appliances such as a microwave, dishwasher, and washer and dryer [when there's already plumbing for such] than making everyone haul their own from rental to rental...)
How many years do you have left of school, Tim?
---Joel
Oh, I should be out by next winter, if all goes well.
Why, would you like a copy of my resume? ;-)
Tim
Hey, you guys are spoiled. I never lived on campus, didn't want to. I had no washer, no dryer, no microwave, no diswasher. All I had was a two-burner portable electric "range". But you could not turn both on when the TV was running or the fuse would blow and that was three flights of stairs down. Dishes were done by hand, same for the laundry. Use of the clothesline during the week was scheduled out among the parties.
[...]
Super.
Well, at the moment we're not hiring due to a lack of having much excess money around :-), but of course that could change by next winter. I'm just a regular engineer (not a managerial type), but I could certainly see that your resume made it into the right hands.
Truth be told, by next winter if things go well it'll probably be more software & FPGA (& maybe DSP) people we'll need anyway than circuit designers. Oh, and there's a side project for IT people that might get funded, but I mean, who wants to sit around all day configuring SSH and VPNs and whatnot?
What kind of work do you expect you'll be looking for anyway? The first job I took out of college was your generic microcontroller board hardware design & programming one, and in retrospect I should have spent more time looking for a job doing something closer to analog or RF design -- what I really *wanted* to do -- rather than just taking the first one that I was offered and reasonably qualified for.
---Joel
Oh, hey, one thing you should do when you get serious about looking for jobs next year -- stick your resume up on your web site (and of course stick the URL on your resume for when you hand out printed copies). Your web site demonstrates a very impressive set of skills, and since I suspect your web site gets a fair amount of traffic, I also suspect you'd find a lot of people who'd be interested in hiring you.
They didn't have laundromats over there!? My mother didn't have a washer & dryer until I was about 6, so I do have many early memories of accompanying her off to the laundromat... my brother and I would spend out time looking for loose change people had dropped, and (at least as a kid) it was truly amazing just how much there was to find.
Oh, and it was next door to a donut shop... :-)
I can't even imagine having to do laundry by hand these days! Especially when, after getting married, the amount of laundry done per week has increased by, um, about 5x... :-)
---Joel
I lived on the Dutch side of the border and don't remember a laundromat. There was a dry cleaner where they also did laundry but that was way out of league for a student on a $300/mo budget.
As a student I used to do that every week.
Ahem, I know what you mean :-)
When I was a freshman, I had somewhat different problem: what I am going to eat. The detergents were rationed; however laundry wasn't a big problem since there was not too many things to clean.
VLV
The popular cheap college food over here are ramen noodles or rice and beans... how was it over there?
Reports like this one from Vladimir always humble me a bit. We have to keep in mind that there are countries where even the lowly top ramen out of a plastic can would be a real luxury item. Where you have to worry how to get enough vitamins into your body for the winter.
So-called "double soup": dissolve two packs of dry noodle soup in the amount of water intended for one pack (that's why it was called "double"), add some potatoes and whatever else you may have, then boil it until it will be a uniform kasha.
Did you make tea with a pair of razor blades?
Vladimir Vassilevsky DSP and Mixed Signal Design Consultant
Wow; that is meager. I'm glad you made it with your health intact! How long ago was that?
No, I surely didn't. Please elaborate on how it's done?
When I lived in the dorms at university's (1990-1994), you were required to buy a meal plan from the university's cafeterias -- they had various plans available, from "borderline-anorexic jockey" to "linebacker." These days many schools have switched some or all of their own cafeterias over to the nationwide fast food franchises -- Subwauy, Pizza Hut, etc. Kinda sad; to some degree it reflects the fact that tuition and books are so incredibly expensive these days in the first place, food is now comparatively quite cheap. (I also suspect that there's no remaining major college today that doesn't have a Starbucks within ready walking distance of campus. :-) )
---Joel
A guy at work here knew a WWII soldier who was captured by the Japanese and held as a POW for awhile. He and his fellow POWs received little more than a scoop of rice per day, and to make matters worse, it was white rice, so not only were they not getting enough calories, but they also weren't getting enough vitamins and minerals. They knew this, so one of the POWs risked his life, sabotaging the machine that removed the bran and germ layers, so that they at least had brown rice instead. He believes that that act saved many of their lives while they were waiting for the war to end.
Scary stuff... :-(
---Joel
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