View Full Version : state of the art computer
Wise Young
10-01-2006, 11:50 PM
This was real.
http://www.macmothership.com/gallery/newads7/1976apple1.jpg
Broknwing
10-02-2006, 12:17 AM
Hmmm....notice the price....$666.66
Apple computers are STILL state of the art tho ;) I LOVE my powerbook and when it's time to upgrade I'll get a MacBook Pro :D
rfbdorf
10-02-2006, 01:02 AM
They really had a great idea there.
In the late '80s I designed an implantable pacemaker that was very similar to the Apple - aside from the pacing-specific stuff it had a slightly modified 6502 CPU with 8K RAM and (I think it was) 8K ROM. We wrote our own "operating system" and all the programming was in assembly of course, not Basic. No cassette interface! I still like the 6502 - its circuit was relatively straightforward & easy to understand.
- Richard
Wise Young
10-02-2006, 01:50 AM
They really had a great idea there.
In the late '80s I designed an implantable pacemaker that was very similar to the Apple - aside from the pacing-specific stuff it had a slightly modified 6502 CPU with 8K RAM and (I think it was) 8K ROM. We wrote our own "operating system" and all the programming was in assembly of course, not Basic. No cassette interface! I still like the 6502 - its circuit was relatively straightforward & easy to understand.
- Richard
Richard, we are showing our age to all the young chickens. Wise.
artsyguy1954
10-02-2006, 02:04 AM
Hmmm....notice the price....$666.66
Apple computers are STILL state of the art tho ;) I LOVE my powerbook and when it's time to upgrade I'll get a MacBook Pro :D
Naw, not for me. I'll keep doing my part to make Bill Gates richer and richer. Maybe he'll thank me for it some day and donate a few million towards spinal cord research.:) :D
darkeyed_daisy
10-02-2006, 11:30 AM
$666.66 may be a subtle attempt to tell the world that the computer is the antichrist. I have heard that somewhere but my memory fails me this morning.....LOL
Juke_spin
10-02-2006, 12:57 PM
$666.66 may be a subtle attempt to tell the world that the computer is the antichrist. I have heard that somewhere but my memory fails me this morning.....LOL
Why should this morning be any exception, dunderhead?:p:D:evil:
darkeyed_daisy
10-02-2006, 12:59 PM
Why should this morning be any exception, dunderhead?:p:D:evil:
Somehow I knew that was coming....LOL at least you gave me a good giggle!!!!:p :D
doingtimeonmyass
10-02-2006, 01:50 PM
1Wasn't that back in the early hobbyist era along with the competing TRS-80s and such? It was the Apple II's that really pushed Apple into schools and businesses.
My first real computer was the IBM 8088 with the 8087 math coprocessor. When I upgraded to a 10 MB hard drive, it was pretty nice not having to boot up with a floppy. Times sure do change.
Speaking for all of us older people, I remember when a abacus was the state of art.
Actually Apple was the state of the art when it came out. Too bad it's owners did not realize that by not licensing the rights to it's operating system as did Gates with Windows, it would cause then severe financial problems.
If you are ever in Mountain View, California, you can look at Apple-1 System and other vintage computers at the Computer History Museum (http://computerhistory.org/) where technology lives on.
roshni
10-02-2006, 09:42 PM
Heck, I thought it was too cool when they came out with graphing calculators! :geek:
Richard, we are showing our age to all the young chickens. Wise.
Hey! I'm only 31 and I still have the first computer I ever owned, a pristine Apple IIGS. I still remember the first time I booted my IIGS - nothing has ever come close to replicating that excitement. I was 12 at the time. :D
People don't realise that Apple has effectively revolutionised computers twice - with the Apple II and with the Macintosh. We all know about the revolution ushered in by the Macintosh, but the Apple II was also a first. It was the first mass-produced personal computer complete with integrated keyboard, color graphics, sound, a plastic case, and eight expansion slots.
Of course, today when people hear the words 'personal computer' they immediately think of keyboards, monitors and mice. Prior to Steve Wozniak's vision this was not the case.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_ii
Chris.
rfbdorf
10-03-2006, 01:20 AM
Heck, I thought it was too cool when they came out with graphing calculators! :geek:
I was just finishing grad school when the HP-35 came out; I remember being very impressed.
I still use a Sharp calculator from 1982 - it's only used 3 or 4 batteries so far.
I still have a cylindrical slide rule somewhere, although haven't used it for over 30 years. I always wanted a Curta (coffee grinder) mechanical calculator, still do - now that was really cool! They're expensive now.
- Richard
Wise Young
10-03-2006, 10:31 AM
I was just finishing grad school when the HP-35 came out; I remember being very impressed.
I still use a Sharp calculator from 1982 - it's only used 3 or 4 batteries so far.
I still have a cylindrical slide rule somewhere, although haven't used it for over 30 years. I always wanted a Curta (coffee grinder) mechanical calculator, still do - now that was really cool! They're expensive now.
- Richard
Egadzooks, the HP35 was my favorite calculator. Even now, I hate to use regular calculators. I like reverse polish notation calculators. I still have my slide rule, the ultimate nurd tool that can multiply and divide faster with that than any calculator.
Wise.
Juke_spin
10-03-2006, 10:38 AM
Egadzooks, the HP35 was my favorite calculator. Even now, I hate to use regular calculators. I like reverse polish notation calculators. I still have my slide rule, the ultimate nurd tool that can multiply and divide faster with that than any calculator.
Wise.
It seems you've coined a term, Wise. But what do we get by combining two mild oaths or expletives?:)
bob clark
10-04-2006, 11:54 AM
Back in the 60s my father worked for Thiokol on the Gemini program. I remember him always carrying his slide rule and external micrometer in his lunch bucket. I got in trouble a few times when he caught me playing with them.