Computer Dinosaurs

 Today I'm hanging out with my dad and one of his good friends. As we've gone through the multiple topics of conversation we eventually came around to discussing computers. Both of them are IT guys. Dad's retired these days but they've both been around computers so long that they have a lot to talk about. Today they were talking about what computers used to be like.

Now because I grew up around computers I know a fair bit. I didn't just grow up using them but I grew up with Dad working in IT and running his own computer business on the side. So I remember back before laptops were common and when PDA's first came out. What they were talking about today goes back wayyy further then that. So here's a post for all of you computer nerds who want to reminisce and some fun facts for everyone else.

Did you know there used to be a computer called Zenith? It sounds like a video game. I'm not sure how we went from computers being called Zenith to Apple or Dell but they don't sound nearly as cool. Then again they do sound a little more normal so maybe it's a good change. 

One of the first laptops called Kpro weighed 29lbs! Check out this picture of the Kpro 2! You had to flip up the keyboard to close it and then carry around this huge computer! I don't think I'd want this thing sitting on my lap all day, how about you?

How about this fact, did you know that Tetris (my second favorite game as a kid, Oregon Trail was probably my first) was originally from Russia? And the original software had a function that with a simple command key you could switch your screen from the game to a spreadsheet. I remember my dad admitting to me when I was little that he could play a game in the office and when his boss walked up he could hit that command key so the spreadsheet made it look like he was working. That's some smart programming!

There was also something similar that you could play some different games and keep up to ten programs in resident memory so with just a simple key stroke you could pull up the other program. It had the same affect of making it look like you were working, even if you weren't.

There was a program where you created a typed phone list, but of course this was before the days of cell phones so you just printed the phone list to carry around with you and then had to find a landline to call from. 

I always thought some of the old computers are loud but some of the early ones sounded like a jet turbine was starting when you turned it on, at least according to Dad. Of course he's always been half deaf so if he thought it was loud it must have been insanely noisy! Although I doubt it actually sounded as loud as an airstrip, it still must have been pretty insane.

Here's one that surprised me. There was no mouse, just a keyboard. I can't even imagine using a computer without a mouse!

Microsoft Windows didn't exist so every program was loaded on a separate floppy disk. (How many of you remember floppy disks? Surprisingly I do.) So for instance you would start the computer, load a floppy disk to open a word processer. Then you could type a document. Then you would have to take out that floppy disk, install a different floppy disk to load a spell check program in order to look over everything, before you printed it out to hand over to whoever needed it. And if it was a report for your boss you were going to walk that over to their office because that was before email.

So there it is folks, a blast from the past that allowed a couple of computer nerds to reminisce together and laugh at my horror, while also reminding me of how far we've come in the world of convenience.