Re: My Vintage Dream PC

GoldIntermetallicEmbrittlement

snipped-for-privacy@thebarattheendoftheuniverse.org

I was writing and distributing code so you kids could play with transporting bits over wires :-).

/BAH

GoldIntermetallicEmbrittlement

snipped-for-privacy@thebarattheendoftheuniverse.org

I was banging Al Gore's mom - I'm his real dad - and HE INVENTED THE INTERNET!

Top that one!

i've been blamed for computer conferencing on the internal network in the late 70s and early 80s ...

the internal network was larger than the arpanet/internet from just about the beginning until possibly late '85 or early '86 ... misc. past posts

some old pictures including online at home between 77 & mid-80s (still haven't found any pictures of online at home from early 70s):

The "home terminal" with the roll of thermal paper. I used one of those too. I'm trying to remember the name of the hardware, but the best I'm coming up with is that it began with a "T." I also recall that that paper tended to do bad things if left exposed to sunlight. It faded even if stored away from light too.

- Bill

Thus, you weren't very productive then and you are less productive now.

/BAH

Terminex?

I was going to say Texas Instruments, but that doesn't look like the one I remember. What a great feeling to get a lightweight terminal that ran 3X as fast as a "standard" TTY and had a built-in acoustic coupler instead of a separate unit. In this respect, at least, times have changed for the better.

Excuse me ... if I wanted to hear from an asshole, I would have farted!

I think you're right - it was likely the TI Silent 700. I used to take one home from the office to connect to National CSS via the integral acoustic coupler.

snipped-for-privacy@garlic.com...

re

hose

per

Texas Instrument Silent 700 series. Various models to include with built-in acoustic coupler, bubble memory (one of the few devices to actually use that technology), cassette decks, etc. A major competitor to TI for terminals of this type was Miniterm, which latter, in my experience, proved more reliable for the traveling salesman application use made of the portables. The printing terminals were replaced by Zenith portables (diskette only initially) with a Diconix printer.

Bruce B. Reynolds, Trailing Edge Technologies, Glenside PA (who had a Dalmation puppy remove a Diconix from a table and chew it to pieces (I think she was after the ink cartridge))

re:

a couple of the "old" pictures

are CDI miniterm i had at home (as well as compact microfiche viewer at home) ... that used rolls of thermal paper ... similar to what i've had in recent fax machines ... thread from last year

before that ... for most of the 70s at home, it was 2741 selectric ... that could take individual sheets ... pretty much like selectric typewriter ... however most of the time i had boxes of greenbar, fan-fold printer paper (i still have selectric apl typeball and there are a couple recent picutres)

re:

there is some vague recollection that cdi miniterm had earlier been TI miniterm; 300 baud instead of standard tty 110 baud. possibly that TI spun-off/sold-off miniterm(?) ... that or it was purely a clone.

an (ascii) 3101 (glass teletype) with 1200 baud modem ... replaced the cdi miniterm at home ... before getting an (my own personal) ibm/pc at home to replace the 3101.

GoldIntermetallicEmbrittlement

IAmTheSlime

snipped-for-privacy@thebarattheendoftheuniverse.org

To the extent that is so, thanks.

Nope. I'd never heard of TI back then. Not being able to remember that TTY is beginning to bug me. I remember all of us fighting over who got to take it home for the weekend.

The key was the lightweight. Not many of us were able to have a TTY at home until the VT05s became plentiful enough for each of us to get one.

/BAH

GoldIntermetallicEmbrittlement

snipped-for-privacy@thebarattheendoftheuniverse.org

You are welcome. I wasn't one of the bit gods, but I was the one who greased their axles so they could to the real work. Every developer had 5% of their projects which they never got around to doing. I picked up that 5% in addition to a lot of other work that nobody wanted to do.

/BAH

You are such a boring child. Can't you produce a real flame?

/BAH

There was a name for it. Do you remember what it was?

/BAH

Not sure what you're referring to. IIRC the overall machine was simply called the Texas Instruments Silent 700 Electronic Data Terminal. I don't recall the acoustic modem and thermal printer having any special designation.

Sorry sweetness, you are the one who made the initial derogatory comment. The thread was light and not a flame war at all.