Old Computing Equipment

[GAD]

My dad was one of the designers of JOHNNIAC when he worked at Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, CA. It later was in the LA Museum of Science & Industry. When I was a kid I'd go ask it questions and it would respond on an IBM selectric typewriter. If it didn't understand the question it just typed, "Eh?" I was just little back then.

That is so cool!

 

[Canard]

Some of this old stuff is very desirable for some surprisingly young people.

A few years back, I put my Pentium Pro 200 DOS workstation up on CL as a joke. It did not have problems with the Spectre/Meltdown issues. All I wanted to do was to post it and send the link to a friend as a joke. The response was like a shark feeding frenzy.

I had used the machine to test client software (mostly Clipper stuff) for industrial systems using Novell and/or MS network client software (the MS TCP/IP client was a memory pig).

I ended up selling it to a very serious young man scarcely out of his teens, not the highest offer but the politest. He knew what it was. He was a collector. He offered me money, some vintage Mac gear, and a Raspberry PI. I took the money and the PI. I also gave him a bunch of other stuff. It was liberating.

 

[HeyMikey]

I remember in school fanning a deck of cards so they wouldn’t stick in the reader, and watching in slo-mo horror as they went flying everywhere. That never happened again.

Somewhere up in the attic I have an original production Mac mc0001. I have to remember to go find it and tape a note to it so my kids don’t just toss it in the dumpster with all my other old crap when I’m six feet under.

 

[GAD]

I remember in school fanning a deck of cards so they wouldn’t stick in the reader, and watching in slo-mo horror as they went flying everywhere. That never happened again.

Somewhere up in the attic I have an original production Mac mc0001. I have to remember to go find it and tape a note to it so my kids don’t just toss it in the dumpster with all my other old crap when I’m six feet under.

My favorite thing about the original Macs is the fact that the signatures of the designers are embossed on the inside of the case:

Folklore.org: Signing Party

www.folklore.org

My first roommate had one. It's difficult to understand today just how different it was. I used to have a special tool called "The Mac Cracker" to open those cases.

 

[davismanLV]

That is so cool!

It is sorta cool and I just did some additional research on papers published by Rand Corp. and found four of them by my dad!! How weird is that?? You can see those HERE.

 

[GAD]

It is sorta cool and I just did some additional research on papers published by Rand Corp. and found four of them by my dad!! How weird is that?? You can see those HERE.

I love it!

I especially love when companies keep their old documentation available online. I'm looking at you EMG!

 

[walrus]

It is sorta cool and I just did some additional research on papers published by Rand Corp. and found four of them by my dad!! How weird is that?? You can see those HERE.

That's very cool! Pretty technical stuff - I don't really follow the summary, never mind buying the whole report!

walrus

 

[fronobulax]

It is sorta cool and I just did some additional research on papers published by Rand Corp. and found four of them by my dad!! How weird is that?? You can see those HERE.

Prospects and Problems For a General Modeling Methodology

Computer technology has yet to provide the modeling enterprise with adequate tools, with the results that modeling has become confused with simulation; modelers are artificially constrained to state-transition models; modelers cannot ...

www.rand.org

Good thing we we weren't in the same room I would argue with some of the definitions and premises. But we could have talked to each other.

 

[gjmalcyon]

It is sorta cool and I just did some additional research on papers published by Rand Corp. and found four of them by my dad!! How weird is that?? You can see those HERE.

Very cool is right.

I'll think of your pop every time I use a stylus with my tablet or Surface Pro:

The RAND Tablet

The RAND tablet was one of the first devices permitting the input of handwritten text and freehand drawings into a computer. While limited in its capabilities and far too expensive for commercial use, the RAND Tablet nonetheless showed the way for PalmPilots, Tablet PCs, and iPads.

www.rand.org

 

[Stuball48]

Remember registration for college classes in the college gymnasium and professors from each department would be there and you went to that department table and, politely, ask a professor if Biology 101 was filled? Then, you got to request a professor. Certainly, didn't know any professors and when I saw the names, Dr. Ford, Dr. Cole, and Dr. Phillips, the one that made sense was Dr. Ford. Ford cars I had heard of and I requested Dr. Ford. THEN I was handed a punch card and when you had your class schedule of punch cards, you took them to your advisor for approval and turned them in.
Hopefully, you got the classes and professors you signed up for.

 

[davismanLV]

Remember registration for college classes in the college gymnasium and professors from each department would be there and you went to that department table and, politely, ask a professor if Biology 101 was filled? Then, you got to request a professor. Certainly, didn't know any professors and when I saw the names, Dr. Ford, Dr. Cole, and Dr. Phillips, the one that made think was Dr. Ford. Ford cars I had hear of and I requested Dr. Ford. THEN I was handed a punch card and when you had your class schedule of punch cards, you took them to your advisor for approval and turned them in.
Hopefully, you got the classes and professors you signed up for.

It was definitely a hands on and .... never met anyone, but had to show up and be there. Remember when you had to actually BE THERE???

 

[JohnW63]

I think I finally tossed my Mac Cracker a few years ago. You needed a sort of long T-15 screw driver to remove the screws under the handle on the top. I have a Mac SE30 that still works in the attic.

 

[davismanLV]

Prospects and Problems For a General Modeling Methodology

Computer technology has yet to provide the modeling enterprise with adequate tools, with the results that modeling has become confused with simulation; modelers are artificially constrained to state-transition models; modelers cannot ...

www.rand.org

Good thing we we weren't in the same room I would argue with some of the definitions and premises. But we could have talked to each other.

I'd pay to see that!!

 

[GAD]

I think I finally tossed my Mac Cracker a few years ago. You needed a sort of long T-15 screw driver to remove the screws under the handle on the top. I have a Mac SE30 that still works in the attic.

Exactly! I always thought that The Mac Cracker was the best name ever.

We used to need them at a place I worked because the SE/30s had a hard drive that was prone to having one of the step in the stepper motor failing. We'd have to pull the entire thing apart, take the drive out, spin it really fast in our hands (kid of like a yo-yo flip without letting go) then re-assemble it all after which it would work for another couple of months. Good times.

 

[Stuball48]

It was definitely a hands on and .... never met anyone, but had to show up and be there. Remember when you had to actually BE THERE???

VEER: If class met three times a week and you missed that class four times, your grade was an "F" and you could plead your excuses to a higher power - but you didn't "cut" class but once - save your other two for legitimate reasons in case they were needed in the future.

 

[Guildedagain]

A few pics, the last of a personal computer built by brother in law who was in it right at the start, he's that rare blend that can burn chips in his office and do fantastic cabinet work.

 

[GGJaguar]

The heat from all those vacuum tubes! The HVAC system to keep those rooms cool must have been impressive.

 

[Nuuska]

Exactly! I always thought that The Mac Cracker was the best name ever. . . .

Maybe it can be used for modern ballet version of Nutcracker.

 

[GAD]

I still have a wire wrap tool. Some of the mainframes I supported still used wire wrap. It is often more reliable than solder and is fabulous for making circuits on pins. I’m surprised it’s not used more in the maker space.

 

[JohnW63]

I don't know if the Maker crowd would know about them.