Internet Archeology: Cool Old Shit

M

MODAT7

Active Member
Messages
563
I still have a few modems in parts boxes. I kept a big 2400 baud modem around for testing serial ports (it has large LED's on the front that are easy to see). The oldest modems I used rather heavily during the BBS days. The most recent modem I bought was a voice/caller ID modem I set up on the land line to help block all the annoying scammers. I didn't use that one for data, but I did FAX out a few times over the years. I'm back on cell service again and have been wondering about FAXing my private medical records to doctors. I really don't trust web FAX services. Doing a little research, the telco's really dropped the ball with wireless FAXing.
 
M

MODAT7

Active Member
Messages
563
I still have a big box of floppies buried in the closet. No clue if they're any good. They'd probably still work if formated low density. Dad would bring home boxes of obsolete software that was being thrown out. I'd reformat and use them until the disks died... and I had my share of worn out failures.

When I was a little kid, our first computer was a Sinclair ZX81 with the add on 32k RAM cartridge. It only took a minute to load a BASIC program off the cassette tape. It was also too early for color. I think dad got it on a clearance sale. We never really used it for anything as we didn't have much in the way of programs for it.

When dad started working for HP, he could check out a workstation over the weekend and let me play on it. That was a big deal for a little kid in the mid 1980s. The 3000 series workstations didn't do a lot but had some games. I played the original Adventure game ("xyzzy") but never got very far with it. The 9000/300 series in a 1/3 rollaround rack running unix were much closer to today's workstations. That's where I got my start in unix and some CAD experience. Plotters were fun to watch but were kinda slow for complex drawings. The ones for E sized paper could "plot" out something poster sized. Those were often used for architecture plans. Dad would bring home some of the smaller unix howto manuals and let me read through them.
 
Parazite1986

Parazite1986

Member
Messages
333
I remember when we used to work with Unix and the original Mac computer. Then dad brought home Dell computer and then when windows 95 came on, the game I enjoyed was ironically the sims and I decided to make my sims naked. Basically, you could circumvent the 18 and beyond rule and let your simmies run naked. When I was 18, I removed the censor and they’d just be non Barbie. Years later, wicked whims appeared and it’s the coolest game with sims running over each other and cannibal sleeping with a werewolf.
 

Top