Dan Gross Posted April 13, 2005 Share Posted April 13, 2005 1994 wasn't pre-internet, it was pre Internet boom. If you were smart enough to hop on the Internet business bandwagon in 1994, you're probably quite rich about now. 303125[/snapback] pre-AOL is more like it. Virtually pre-WWW...I believe it was still text-only at that point...too lazy to look it up, I'm sure Fez will correct me with the date as he probably has it memorized... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted April 13, 2005 Share Posted April 13, 2005 pre-AOL is more like it. Virtually pre-WWW...I believe it was still text-only at that point...too lazy to look it up, I'm sure Fez will correct me with the date as he probably has it memorized... 303151[/snapback] The web started roughly end of '94/start of '95 (I remember because I got my first 486 DX4-100 in early '95). Before that, the main organizational system on the 'net was "Gopher" (developed by the U of Minnesota --- my school! ). USENET was another main communication form (still alive and kicking). Me, I used to play MUDs (Multiple User Dungeons); basically text based adventures that you played with real people. Very cool to interact, in real time, with people all over the world. Unfortunately, I graduated from high school in '93, and while I played online a lot, I didn't start any sort of business so missed out on getting rich. CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweet baboo Posted April 13, 2005 Share Posted April 13, 2005 pre-AOL is more like it. Virtually pre-WWW...I believe it was still text-only at that point...too lazy to look it up, I'm sure Fez will correct me with the date as he probably has it memorized... 303151[/snapback] man...i remember using UB's UBVMS system to email my dad in what...1988? 1989? to email my dad when he was overseas...made me an incredibly typist at the age of 8 that was all it was though...no windows, no GUI...just text...i used a program called...procomm? had to type in dialup commands by yourself, log in, setup screen settings or else you wouldn't be able to see anything...i forget what else...amazing how far and fast things have come...nowadays, kids just have to worry about stumbling onto online porn and the RIAA and MPAA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted April 13, 2005 Share Posted April 13, 2005 man...i remember using UB's UBVMS system to email my dad in what...1988? 1989? to email my dad when he was overseas...made me an incredibly typist at the age of 8 that was all it was though...no windows, no GUI...just text...i used a program called...procomm? had to type in dialup commands by yourself, log in, setup screen settings or else you wouldn't be able to see anything...i forget what else...amazing how far and fast things have come...nowadays, kids just have to worry about stumbling onto online porn and the RIAA and MPAA 303194[/snapback] Yup, the VMS/VAX system at UB, that's what I first used. I found a purity test installed on the system. It was quite the interesting experience. I also did some Pascal programming on the system In my opinion, kids today are at a MAJOR disadvantage when it comes to computers. When I was a kid, I was programming and learning the inner workings of machines. Today, there's GUIs covering up the internals so you have no way of learning the internals without installing something like Linux; and frankly, if most parents don't know how it works, the kids probably won't be allowed to tinker with the family computer to install another OS. Kids treat computers like an appliance nowadays. Very sad IMHO. CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gross Posted April 13, 2005 Share Posted April 13, 2005 man...i remember using UB's UBVMS system to email my dad in what...1988? 1989? to email my dad when he was overseas...made me an incredibly typist at the age of 8 that was all it was though...no windows, no GUI...just text...i used a program called...procomm? had to type in dialup commands by yourself, log in, setup screen settings or else you wouldn't be able to see anything...i forget what else...amazing how far and fast things have come...nowadays, kids just have to worry about stumbling onto online porn and the RIAA and MPAA 303194[/snapback] Ugh, I remember the whole friggin' mess trying to get from BITNET to the Internet using hard-coded UUCP paths...that was 1987. This was Fredonia, but the same lame system. When I got over to the Vax systems running 4.3 BSD Unix in 1988 it was much better... Fez, I got out of college in 1991 and at that point USENET and mailing lists were "it." I virtually missed gopher entirely when I entered the working world, only discovering it shortly before I stumbled across the WWW....don't even remember what year...I would have guessed '94...it was before I got married... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoho Posted April 13, 2005 Share Posted April 13, 2005 Yup, the VMS/VAX system at UB, that's what I first used. I found a purity test installed on the system. It was quite the interesting experience. I also did some Pascal programming on the system In my opinion, kids today are at a MAJOR disadvantage when it comes to computers. When I was a kid, I was programming and learning the inner workings of machines. Today, there's GUIs covering up the internals so you have no way of learning the internals without installing something like Linux; and frankly, if most parents don't know how it works, the kids probably won't be allowed to tinker with the family computer to install another OS. Kids treat computers like an appliance nowadays. Very sad IMHO. CW 303201[/snapback] Not sure about that. When I was a kid, I needed to replace tubes to watch television. Now, I just turn it on and watch and buy a new television when the old one breaks. If you were a college kid of the 80's you probably never had to deal with vacuum tubes in television. Are you missing out on anything? Technology moves on and skills of one generation are useless to the next. It sucks to be a blacksmith these days. Welcome the world of the last generation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted April 13, 2005 Share Posted April 13, 2005 Not sure about that. When I was a kid, I needed to replace tubes to watch television. Now, I just turn it on and watch and buy a new television when the old one breaks. If you were a college kid of the 80's you probably never had to deal with vacuum tubes in television. Are you missing out on anything? Technology moves on and skills of one generation are useless to the next. It sucks to be a blacksmith these days. Welcome the world of the last generation. 303246[/snapback] I agree that people don't need to replace tubes to watch TV and that it isn't a needed skill. However, learning how to program still is, and always will be, a very important skill to have. Back in the day, you could turn the computer on and start writing a program right then and there. Today, Windows doesn't even come with a compiler... So kids are missing out on a valuable skill -- programming (as well as learning the inner workings of computers). Yes, that's not something everyone needs to know how to do, but the lack of exposure to it makes it harder for them to decide if they like it or not, and there's nothing wrong with analytical thinking. CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweet baboo Posted April 15, 2005 Share Posted April 15, 2005 what system are we talking about? i remember my first IBM PC not even having an operating system...had to insert a dos disk to get anything started...and then i think all it had was BASIC programming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted April 15, 2005 Share Posted April 15, 2005 what system are we talking about? i remember my first IBM PC not even having an operating system...had to insert a dos disk to get anything started...and then i think all it had was BASIC programming 305771[/snapback] TS2068, C64, C128, Amiga500, Apple ][e, etc. The OS was in ROM (instead of on disk). CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted April 15, 2005 Share Posted April 15, 2005 He was obviously waiting until the college chicks got sluttier. He's hit the motherlode by now... 302644[/snapback] So yer saying he gave the motherlode to some slutty college chicks? Damn, life is too good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovey1961 Posted April 15, 2005 Share Posted April 15, 2005 First "computer used" IBM 5150 4" CRT 40/80 char per line High School 1977 Honeywell Timesharing system paper DECWriter only dial up modem 300 baud College 1980 Prime 750 College Since college Pyrmid SysV CDC Cyber 850 Cray Y-MP VAX/VMS 3100, 6800.... Sun Microsystems MP690 - E10K Polaris FCS had to hardwire program in 24-bit PDP 11 PDP 8 Ah the OLD days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Poojer Posted April 15, 2005 Share Posted April 15, 2005 man if i could i would go to school full time for a long time! He plans to be back for a 12th...lucky guy http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/inde...d=35174&ntpid=1 302177[/snapback] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted April 15, 2005 Share Posted April 15, 2005 God bless him! Man I miss college Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopsGuy Posted April 15, 2005 Share Posted April 15, 2005 I agree that people don't need to replace tubes to watch TV and that it isn't a needed skill. However, learning how to program still is, and always will be, a very important skill to have. Back in the day, you could turn the computer on and start writing a program right then and there. Today, Windows doesn't even come with a compiler... So kids are missing out on a valuable skill -- programming (as well as learning the inner workings of computers). Yes, that's not something everyone needs to know how to do, but the lack of exposure to it makes it harder for them to decide if they like it or not, and there's nothing wrong with analytical thinking. CW 303343[/snapback] Chris, let me ask you something.... Do you change the oil and flush the radiator in your car? 30-40 years ago, most guys our age were muscle car freaks. Today, guys that do their own maintenance are few and far between. About the only thing I do on my car is the air filter and the wipers. It's shame, but not really that big of a problem. Most people have absolutely no idea how a CD/DVD works, but it hasn't really slowed the progress of that media. There will always be a number of folks like you that know the ins and outs of this stuff, so that the rest of us can live on swimming in our ignorance. JMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted April 15, 2005 Share Posted April 15, 2005 Chris, let me ask you something.... Do you change the oil and flush the radiator in your car? 30-40 years ago, most guys our age were muscle car freaks. Today, guys that do their own maintenance are few and far between. About the only thing I do on my car is the air filter and the wipers. It's shame, but not really that big of a problem. Most people have absolutely no idea how a CD/DVD works, but it hasn't really slowed the progress of that media. There will always be a number of folks like you that know the ins and outs of this stuff, so that the rest of us can live on swimming in our ignorance. JMHO. 306256[/snapback] Yes, there will always be people who learn this stuff. My point though was that kids aren't being exposed to it, so they're less likely to get hooked on it IMHO. I know that my dad never changed the oil or anything with his car and because of that I never got interested in cars. I wish it was a skill I had tried to develop, but I didn't. If I had been exposed to it at an early age, maybe I'd be a mechanic today instead, who knows? I just think it's closing doors for kids now that you can't really see under the hood of a computer anymore without a lot of work. CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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