I didn't even know a computer could do that.

[LostMyMind]

I've used punch card punchers and readers, reel-2-reel tape back-up. 160mb disk-packs that were so heavy I could barely lift them.

:waves at a fellow old timer:

RS-232 wow, haven't heard anyone use that old name in a long time.

I loved the punch cards. Whenever you want a break, just drop your stack. Oops, got to resort the stack to the right order. Believe it or not, punch card is still used for large machinery.

Those disk-packs you're talking about, are you talking about those big round, twist and lock in place for main-frames drives?

[ShockQueen]

RS-232....I just got into that one recently. One of my buddies knows I'm looking for a nice graphics tablet, so he brings in this rather large one (12x12) :shock:, but has an RS-232 port. Thankfully, my new mobo still has one of those ports, but sadly, the drivers for it are too old for XP. He says he can get it to work on XP, so I'm waiting for him to bring those in as I can find any for it that will work with my configuration.

Yeah, I could get a Wacom, but they're smaller and/or more expensive.......

Now back to our regularly scheduled topic

[bean]

I think I may still have my Apple II+ somewhere.

Also, I've found all kinds of nastyness inside my own PC - namely dead (and sometimes living) bugs when I lived in a roach infested apartment.

I don't even bother keeping the cover on it now that I have pets - the intake fans get clogged with cat hair within a few days. Although I got to witness one of my cats get in a fight with one of the exposed fans - he stuck his nose in it before I could react, hissed at it, and started swatting at the blades, then kept trying to bite the blades. To add insult to injury, when he turned around to walk off he stuck his tail right into it. (note: I run my pc fans at 7 volts instead of 12 - I can stick my finger right in it and barely feel a tap). I was too busy laughing at that point to make him feel any better.

[protege]

I still have my TI 99/4a (with the voice emulator device add-on). If any of you remember the pains of audio "tape" transfer.

Gotta love those TIs. I still have a few in working order. Someone gave me all their old TI stuff some years back. One was bought new. Anyone remember the days when computer stores weren't as common, or when each company had their own programming language (usually BASIC)?

Of course we all know that the IBM PC came out soon after, and blew all the "minority makes" out of the water. When that happened, the market for TI stuff disappeared nearly overnight.

[LostMyMind]

Gotta love those TIs. I still have a few in working order. Someone gave me all their old TI stuff some years back. One was bought new. Anyone remember the days when computer stores weren't as common, or when each company had their own programming language (usually BASIC)?

My TI was bought by my parents (They actually saved the receipt, I have that too). I have all kinds of stuff for it, including the "expansion box" with a 5.25 floppy drives. Even got a "word processor" for it to turn it into a typewriter. The big thing I got for it, is a cradle modem. Whooping 300 baud. Of course since it is a RS-232 device, I could hook it up to any PC just for fun

I was quite skilled at TI basic, their graphic base engine was actually quite good (much better than apple or "PC")

[protege]

Any "Attack" or "Carwars" fans out there? I could get pretty far on both of those TI games

[LostMyMind]

Carwars wow I can barely remember that one. I should dig it out and put it together. Hopefully before the year is over