How things have changed!
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This should be an amusing thread. How have computers changed during your life? --- In 1985, I purchased a $35 USD accelerator for my Zenith Z-100, which bumped the processor speed from 4.67 MHz to 7.5 MHz. It was an amazing change to the PC!!! [I originally put "Hz", which was pointed out as incorrect.] That same year it cost $150 to bump that PC from 384 KB RAM up to 1 MB. After I got the PC back, only 1 software package (I think it was Turbo Pascal) could use more than 640 KB. :laugh: In 1989 I installed a 40 MB HD in our office server, quadrupling the storage space. We were excited, as the price had just dropped to $750 USD. Previously that same HD had cost nearly $1,500. In 1999 I installed a new HD (can't remember the size offhand), and I did the math. Going by the per-MB cost, at 1989 prices the new HD would have cost $750,000. And at 1999 prices, the 40 MB HD would have cost about $0.02. In 2009 I did the same thing -- at 1989 prices, the 2009 HD would have cost $45,000,000 ... and Excel didn't have enough precision to calculate the 2009 price of a 40 MB HD ... :laugh:
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This should be an amusing thread. How have computers changed during your life? --- In 1985, I purchased a $35 USD accelerator for my Zenith Z-100, which bumped the processor speed from 4.67 MHz to 7.5 MHz. It was an amazing change to the PC!!! [I originally put "Hz", which was pointed out as incorrect.] That same year it cost $150 to bump that PC from 384 KB RAM up to 1 MB. After I got the PC back, only 1 software package (I think it was Turbo Pascal) could use more than 640 KB. :laugh: In 1989 I installed a 40 MB HD in our office server, quadrupling the storage space. We were excited, as the price had just dropped to $750 USD. Previously that same HD had cost nearly $1,500. In 1999 I installed a new HD (can't remember the size offhand), and I did the math. Going by the per-MB cost, at 1989 prices the new HD would have cost $750,000. And at 1999 prices, the 40 MB HD would have cost about $0.02. In 2009 I did the same thing -- at 1989 prices, the 2009 HD would have cost $45,000,000 ... and Excel didn't have enough precision to calculate the 2009 price of a 40 MB HD ... :laugh:
We gotta have somewhere to put all the cat videos.
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated. I’m begging you for the benefit of everyone, don’t be STUPID.
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This should be an amusing thread. How have computers changed during your life? --- In 1985, I purchased a $35 USD accelerator for my Zenith Z-100, which bumped the processor speed from 4.67 MHz to 7.5 MHz. It was an amazing change to the PC!!! [I originally put "Hz", which was pointed out as incorrect.] That same year it cost $150 to bump that PC from 384 KB RAM up to 1 MB. After I got the PC back, only 1 software package (I think it was Turbo Pascal) could use more than 640 KB. :laugh: In 1989 I installed a 40 MB HD in our office server, quadrupling the storage space. We were excited, as the price had just dropped to $750 USD. Previously that same HD had cost nearly $1,500. In 1999 I installed a new HD (can't remember the size offhand), and I did the math. Going by the per-MB cost, at 1989 prices the new HD would have cost $750,000. And at 1999 prices, the 40 MB HD would have cost about $0.02. In 2009 I did the same thing -- at 1989 prices, the 2009 HD would have cost $45,000,000 ... and Excel didn't have enough precision to calculate the 2009 price of a 40 MB HD ... :laugh:
First computer experience 1965. Had to wind it up every night. :)
>64 It’s weird being the same age as old people. Live every day like it is your last; one day, it will be.
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This should be an amusing thread. How have computers changed during your life? --- In 1985, I purchased a $35 USD accelerator for my Zenith Z-100, which bumped the processor speed from 4.67 MHz to 7.5 MHz. It was an amazing change to the PC!!! [I originally put "Hz", which was pointed out as incorrect.] That same year it cost $150 to bump that PC from 384 KB RAM up to 1 MB. After I got the PC back, only 1 software package (I think it was Turbo Pascal) could use more than 640 KB. :laugh: In 1989 I installed a 40 MB HD in our office server, quadrupling the storage space. We were excited, as the price had just dropped to $750 USD. Previously that same HD had cost nearly $1,500. In 1999 I installed a new HD (can't remember the size offhand), and I did the math. Going by the per-MB cost, at 1989 prices the new HD would have cost $750,000. And at 1999 prices, the 40 MB HD would have cost about $0.02. In 2009 I did the same thing -- at 1989 prices, the 2009 HD would have cost $45,000,000 ... and Excel didn't have enough precision to calculate the 2009 price of a 40 MB HD ... :laugh:
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This should be an amusing thread. How have computers changed during your life? --- In 1985, I purchased a $35 USD accelerator for my Zenith Z-100, which bumped the processor speed from 4.67 MHz to 7.5 MHz. It was an amazing change to the PC!!! [I originally put "Hz", which was pointed out as incorrect.] That same year it cost $150 to bump that PC from 384 KB RAM up to 1 MB. After I got the PC back, only 1 software package (I think it was Turbo Pascal) could use more than 640 KB. :laugh: In 1989 I installed a 40 MB HD in our office server, quadrupling the storage space. We were excited, as the price had just dropped to $750 USD. Previously that same HD had cost nearly $1,500. In 1999 I installed a new HD (can't remember the size offhand), and I did the math. Going by the per-MB cost, at 1989 prices the new HD would have cost $750,000. And at 1999 prices, the 40 MB HD would have cost about $0.02. In 2009 I did the same thing -- at 1989 prices, the 2009 HD would have cost $45,000,000 ... and Excel didn't have enough precision to calculate the 2009 price of a 40 MB HD ... :laugh:
In 79 when I was in college I couldn't afford a computer so I worked in the computer room at the college and we had a IBM System/360 - Wikipedia[^], with 4 tape drives and a disk drive system with drums about 18" around and 10" deep. Don't remember how much they held, but the system was slow and archaic by today's standards.
A home without books is a body without soul. Marcus Tullius Cicero PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - Release Version 1.4.0 (Many new features) JaxCoder.com Latest Article: EventAggregator
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This should be an amusing thread. How have computers changed during your life? --- In 1985, I purchased a $35 USD accelerator for my Zenith Z-100, which bumped the processor speed from 4.67 MHz to 7.5 MHz. It was an amazing change to the PC!!! [I originally put "Hz", which was pointed out as incorrect.] That same year it cost $150 to bump that PC from 384 KB RAM up to 1 MB. After I got the PC back, only 1 software package (I think it was Turbo Pascal) could use more than 640 KB. :laugh: In 1989 I installed a 40 MB HD in our office server, quadrupling the storage space. We were excited, as the price had just dropped to $750 USD. Previously that same HD had cost nearly $1,500. In 1999 I installed a new HD (can't remember the size offhand), and I did the math. Going by the per-MB cost, at 1989 prices the new HD would have cost $750,000. And at 1999 prices, the 40 MB HD would have cost about $0.02. In 2009 I did the same thing -- at 1989 prices, the 2009 HD would have cost $45,000,000 ... and Excel didn't have enough precision to calculate the 2009 price of a 40 MB HD ... :laugh:
I'm not sure if prices are really indicative of how computers have changed, but here goes. I remember paying around $700 for 64 *megabytes* of RAM some time after I started working fulltime. I recently paid $200 for 64 *gigabytes* for my NUC. I remember paying over $900 for an HP scanner (with a SCSI interface). The last scanner I bought was $60. Actually, no, the last scanner I bought was integrated in a $150 scanner/printer combo. When I started off, spending $2000 for a PC was the norm. Now I have a hard time justifying half of that. The one consistent thing is video cards however. I've never paid more than a few hundred dollars for them, yet somehow there's still a market for $2000 video cards. This is an area where "more money than brains" comes to mind.
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I'm not sure if prices are really indicative of how computers have changed, but here goes. I remember paying around $700 for 64 *megabytes* of RAM some time after I started working fulltime. I recently paid $200 for 64 *gigabytes* for my NUC. I remember paying over $900 for an HP scanner (with a SCSI interface). The last scanner I bought was $60. Actually, no, the last scanner I bought was integrated in a $150 scanner/printer combo. When I started off, spending $2000 for a PC was the norm. Now I have a hard time justifying half of that. The one consistent thing is video cards however. I've never paid more than a few hundred dollars for them, yet somehow there's still a market for $2000 video cards. This is an area where "more money than brains" comes to mind.
dandy72 wrote:
yet somehow there's still a market for $2000 video cards. This is an area where "more money than brains" comes to mind.
Gamers
A home without books is a body without soul. Marcus Tullius Cicero PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - Release Version 1.4.0 (Many new features) JaxCoder.com Latest Article: EventAggregator
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I remember getting a new 40MB harddrive for an AS/400 we had and helping lug that thing into the server room. It was freaking huge. Weighed at least 200lbs
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
I started as a consultant to the US Air Force. I recall a classified disk pack (DEC/VAX, I think) being "de-classified". The USAF was diligent about destroying anything that might even remotely contain classified information. Two airmen carried the pack out onto the tarmac and literally pounded it flat with 12 lb sledgehammers. The remains were thrown in an incinerator.
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I'm not sure if prices are really indicative of how computers have changed, but here goes. I remember paying around $700 for 64 *megabytes* of RAM some time after I started working fulltime. I recently paid $200 for 64 *gigabytes* for my NUC. I remember paying over $900 for an HP scanner (with a SCSI interface). The last scanner I bought was $60. Actually, no, the last scanner I bought was integrated in a $150 scanner/printer combo. When I started off, spending $2000 for a PC was the norm. Now I have a hard time justifying half of that. The one consistent thing is video cards however. I've never paid more than a few hundred dollars for them, yet somehow there's still a market for $2000 video cards. This is an area where "more money than brains" comes to mind.
dandy72 wrote:
The one consistent thing is video cards however. I've never paid more than a few hundred dollars for them, yet somehow there's still a market for $2000 video cards. This is an area where "more money than brains" comes to mind.
About 15 years ago I worked with a young guy who had EVERY electronic toy known to man. He was a rabid gamer, and bought the newest top-of-the-line video card every 6 months. At that time the cards went for $500-$700. Yeah, they run about $2,000 today. There is value in having a better card. I installed Skyrim about 7 years ago and my video card was insufficient, so I purchased a better one that cost more than double the most expensive GPU I had previous purchased. I was surprised, as the overall speed of my system noticeably improved. I would not buy one of the high-end cards, but buying above average was worth it.
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This should be an amusing thread. How have computers changed during your life? --- In 1985, I purchased a $35 USD accelerator for my Zenith Z-100, which bumped the processor speed from 4.67 MHz to 7.5 MHz. It was an amazing change to the PC!!! [I originally put "Hz", which was pointed out as incorrect.] That same year it cost $150 to bump that PC from 384 KB RAM up to 1 MB. After I got the PC back, only 1 software package (I think it was Turbo Pascal) could use more than 640 KB. :laugh: In 1989 I installed a 40 MB HD in our office server, quadrupling the storage space. We were excited, as the price had just dropped to $750 USD. Previously that same HD had cost nearly $1,500. In 1999 I installed a new HD (can't remember the size offhand), and I did the math. Going by the per-MB cost, at 1989 prices the new HD would have cost $750,000. And at 1999 prices, the 40 MB HD would have cost about $0.02. In 2009 I did the same thing -- at 1989 prices, the 2009 HD would have cost $45,000,000 ... and Excel didn't have enough precision to calculate the 2009 price of a 40 MB HD ... :laugh:
I bought a customer a 2gb SCSI drive in 1992 and it was ~ £2000 - and very difficult to find one.
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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I remember getting a new 40MB harddrive for an AS/400 we had and helping lug that thing into the server room. It was freaking huge. Weighed at least 200lbs
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
Worked at a small PC build/sell shop. Around 90/91, we ordered a 1000MB (didn't know it was called Gigabyte) hard drive for a local hospital. It was the older bigger size took two drive bays (height) in the PC. It was $1 per / MB so $1000 and that was cheap. :laugh:
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I bought a customer a 2gb SCSI drive in 1992 and it was ~ £2000 - and very difficult to find one.
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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dandy72 wrote:
yet somehow there's still a market for $2000 video cards. This is an area where "more money than brains" comes to mind.
Gamers
A home without books is a body without soul. Marcus Tullius Cicero PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - Release Version 1.4.0 (Many new features) JaxCoder.com Latest Article: EventAggregator
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dandy72 wrote:
The one consistent thing is video cards however. I've never paid more than a few hundred dollars for them, yet somehow there's still a market for $2000 video cards. This is an area where "more money than brains" comes to mind.
About 15 years ago I worked with a young guy who had EVERY electronic toy known to man. He was a rabid gamer, and bought the newest top-of-the-line video card every 6 months. At that time the cards went for $500-$700. Yeah, they run about $2,000 today. There is value in having a better card. I installed Skyrim about 7 years ago and my video card was insufficient, so I purchased a better one that cost more than double the most expensive GPU I had previous purchased. I was surprised, as the overall speed of my system noticeably improved. I would not buy one of the high-end cards, but buying above average was worth it.
Right. I tend to buy "second-best" (not what is top of the line at the time of my purchase, but just slightly lower), and very often you'd have a hard time telling the difference unless you went out of your way to compare the specs. And (IMO) if that's what you have to do, you're trying too hard to justify the extra expense. That being said, the video card in my current gaming rig is about 10 years old. And I feel like I don't have any incentive to replace it until GTA6 comes out...
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Oh, just read your post. I posted about buying a 1000MB drive in 91 or so and it being $1 / MB. :thumbsup:
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I remember getting a new 40MB harddrive for an AS/400 we had and helping lug that thing into the server room. It was freaking huge. Weighed at least 200lbs
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
I had forgotten all all about AS/400 And then you had to comment. The last AIX and Pains systems I worked on was an AS/400 with a failing hard drive. My job was to export the database. into Access. I have LASTING EMOTIONAL DAMAGE from that experience.
Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
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I'm not sure if prices are really indicative of how computers have changed, but here goes. I remember paying around $700 for 64 *megabytes* of RAM some time after I started working fulltime. I recently paid $200 for 64 *gigabytes* for my NUC. I remember paying over $900 for an HP scanner (with a SCSI interface). The last scanner I bought was $60. Actually, no, the last scanner I bought was integrated in a $150 scanner/printer combo. When I started off, spending $2000 for a PC was the norm. Now I have a hard time justifying half of that. The one consistent thing is video cards however. I've never paid more than a few hundred dollars for them, yet somehow there's still a market for $2000 video cards. This is an area where "more money than brains" comes to mind.
I remember when I bought my first 486 back in the day, and specified a Tseng labs ET4000 based video card, because it was then the mutt's nuts for performance.
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This should be an amusing thread. How have computers changed during your life? --- In 1985, I purchased a $35 USD accelerator for my Zenith Z-100, which bumped the processor speed from 4.67 MHz to 7.5 MHz. It was an amazing change to the PC!!! [I originally put "Hz", which was pointed out as incorrect.] That same year it cost $150 to bump that PC from 384 KB RAM up to 1 MB. After I got the PC back, only 1 software package (I think it was Turbo Pascal) could use more than 640 KB. :laugh: In 1989 I installed a 40 MB HD in our office server, quadrupling the storage space. We were excited, as the price had just dropped to $750 USD. Previously that same HD had cost nearly $1,500. In 1999 I installed a new HD (can't remember the size offhand), and I did the math. Going by the per-MB cost, at 1989 prices the new HD would have cost $750,000. And at 1999 prices, the 40 MB HD would have cost about $0.02. In 2009 I did the same thing -- at 1989 prices, the 2009 HD would have cost $45,000,000 ... and Excel didn't have enough precision to calculate the 2009 price of a 40 MB HD ... :laugh:
In the fall of 1986 my parents purchased the brand new Apple ][gs for somewhere in the ballpark of $2500 after a RAM upgrade It had 1MB of RAM, a 3.5 inch floppy, a 5.25 inch floppy, color screen with a mouse and gui, and ran at up to a blistering 2MHz. It's main selling points were the better than EGA but worse than VGA graphics, and actually nice 16-bit ensoniq sound hardware. You could get apple speakers for it made by bose but we didn't. Eventually we got a 40MB hard drive for it (2 20MB partitions because that's all GS/OS and ProDOS could handle. I don't know what that set my parents back, but it replaced the power supply in the PC, which should tell you how "intended" a hard drive was for that machine. Today my desktop cost in the same ballpark. I have a i5-13600K CPU at 5.1GHz, 32GB of RAM, 6TB of fast 990 Pro NVMe storage, and all the fixins. I bought it about 2 years ago. I don't know how many orders of magnitude more powerful it is, even breaking down the speed metrics and comparing them because cycle of my current CPU is like many cycles of the old 65C816 in that apple.
Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
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I started as a consultant to the US Air Force. I recall a classified disk pack (DEC/VAX, I think) being "de-classified". The USAF was diligent about destroying anything that might even remotely contain classified information. Two airmen carried the pack out onto the tarmac and literally pounded it flat with 12 lb sledgehammers. The remains were thrown in an incinerator.
This reminds me of something I read on usenet, long ago. The thread was about how to effectively decommision hard drives. One poster related how he had attended some event, and casual conversation of professionals turned to this subject. There were various solutions, including shotguns, large magnets and power saws. One of the participants said something like "I'm with the NSA, and we put our old drives in the N-Test holes, before detonation." They all laughed. Then they realized the NSA guy was serious.
"A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants" Chuckles the clown
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I had forgotten all all about AS/400 And then you had to comment. The last AIX and Pains systems I worked on was an AS/400 with a failing hard drive. My job was to export the database. into Access. I have LASTING EMOTIONAL DAMAGE from that experience.
Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
