Oh those were the days...

[TJR178]

I remember in Engineering Methods, putting FORTRAN code on punch cards and running them through the VAX mainframe.

I work for one of the world's largest companies and I still use programs tied to VAX.  Granted, its emulated, but still 

Oh, and I had an Apple IIGS back in the day.  Paid close to $3k for that paper weight!

[zarn02]

I'm only 26, so maybe I came from a backwards-ass school district without the money for new gizmos, but...

I have fond memories of Apple IIe machines, and Lode Runner (and a shit tonne of educational games. I got to dick around after school since my mom was a teacher.)

And those big clunky calculators look oddly familiar. Turns out rural Kansas in the early 90's has some old tech still hanging 'round.

[Mojo S2R]

I first learned to program in High School on the Tandy TRS-80, Commodore PET, and then a little bit on the IBM PCjr.





My first personal computer was a Commodore 64.  I later purchased a newer model 64 and a used SX64.  I still have them all in my garage with tons of software.





I always wanted an Amiga 4000 with IBM and Apple emulator cards but then Commodore had to go under.
One thing I never miss about those old computers was that they were instantly on and ready to go when turned on.  No waiting for the OS to boot, dlls to load, virus scanning to complete, etc., etc.

[yamifixer]

I have an Amiga 1000 with an IBM emulator sidecar In my attic. It has an external 9600 bod modem. No idea why i still have it.

But now that i think of it it NEVER gave me a blue screen of death.

[Blackout]

The computer at my local Ducati dealer is very similar to these

[NorDog]

Some of us are older than others.   

[djrashonal]

i just got a super nintendo emulator running on my ipad and using my iphone as the controller, enjoy your fancy telephone NorDog, or should I say Alexander Graham Bell!

[the_Journeyman]

I had this Texas Instruments keyboard with a cartridge slot that was my first "computer" that I played games on.  Anybody know what that thing was?

JM

[Mojo S2R]

TI-99?

[NorDog]

[the_Journeyman]

TI-99?

It was like that, but white and the cartridge stood upright when inserted ~

JM

[Mojo S2R]

Apparently they are both the same TI-994A computers internally.  The silver/black was the first iteration and the beige came out later just before it came off the market.

[Mojo S2R]

Here's the TI-99/4 console with all of the Texas Instruments sidecars attached: Speech Synthesizer, Memory Expansion, RS-232 Serial Controller (with telephone modem), Video Controller, Disk Controller, Thermal Printer, and two floppy drives (attached to the Disk Controller).

[Monsterlover]

It's like 8' long!!

Funny how a smartphone will smoke that thing and they're so tiny in comparison

[Monster Dave]

From a July 1946 issue of Popular Science:








Want!