Computer Shopper Magazine (Blast from the past)

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[Rebelbase]

My brain stumbled back to the old days. Remember these? Countless hours going through the pages trying to find the best deal. And stacks of the things taking up space on the desk!

[roadcat]

That might be, but it would only work with active phone service, right? We have no home phones at all anymore. We just have cell phones.

Yes. Just about everyone we know rely only on cell phones. We're one of the exceptions. We like having an old style land line. Main phone on it has an answering machine. When power is out, it is out but our rotary phones still work.

[Organic Panic]

OS/2... HAHAHA. Hadn’t heard that in ages. The first CNC machine I ever used was run on OS/2

[Still Thinking]

Yeah, I guess the good rev is a little smaller than Ebola.

Maybe Robert Reich in blackface.

[Still Thinking]

I saw one a year or two ago that still was. Thermwood CNC router.

[roadcat]

I know, we used to pay $3-5/MB for a rotating hard drive,

You paid cheap. Back in the 1970s it was common to spend many hundreds of dollars per MB on hard drives. They were only 5MB and huge boxes.

[dp0622]

lol

[Still Thinking]

Oh yeah, I know. I’m talking early 90’s with PCs. Once place I worked in the mid-80s, they were considering a DEC mini and workstations, but instead bought TRS-80’s just as they were coming out. The bookkeeper had an external 4MB drive on hers that was probably 6x16x16 and cost I don’t remember what but it was a lot.

[W.]

Gotta either thank or blame Computer Shopper for getting me online 20 years ago.

[dayglored]

And ANOTHER Blast from the Past ... PING!

You can find all the Windows Ping list threads with FR search: just search on keyword "windowspinglist".

[CodeToad]

I had that very Northgate system. With the “new” VGA system I paid $3,200.

[Company Man]

It wasn’t just ads. A big part of my computer education was the articles and feedback from the subscribers.

[MarkL]

I remember the TRS80 myself. My father had the original unit w/ cassette recorder, but eventually expanded it as far as it could go. He added ram, then the 48KB expansion, a Shugart floppy drive, and eventually a 5MB hard drive!

TRS-DOS rocked!

Mark

[MarkL]

In 1985, I purchased an Altos 586, an 8086 based small business system that would run MPM (multi-user version of CPM) or Altos Xenix. I bought that computer used for $1000 (with 2 Altos II terminals,) but the 10MB hard drive just wasn't big enough to handle the Xenix development system. I replaced the drive with a used 40MB hard drive for which I paid another $900.

Mark

[roadcat]

I replaced the drive with a used 40MB hard drive for which I paid another $900.

That was the price range back then. In early 1985, I bought a 20MB hard drive for $400. My supervisor was pissed, yelling at me because a half year earlier he bought a 10MB hard drive for the same price, $400. A 40MB new drive was certainly over $1000. Prices kept coming down, and some years later I bought a 100MB drive for $1000, which I thought was cheap. It just gets better and better. In the early 1980s I loved working with CP/M. It was the stone ages of personal computing compared to now, but I felt more intimate with the internal goings-on of computing.

[Red Badger]

Apple’s share price at the time of its IPO in December 1980 was just $2.75.

Yesterday’s close was $119.99.

Apple’s stock has split four times since the company went public. The stock split on a 7-for-1 basis on June 9, 2014 and split on a 2-for-1 basis on February 28, 2005, June 21, 2000, and June 16, 1987.

So, your $500 investment would be worth over $1.2M today!................

[BubbaBasher]

Didn’t need it. I would leave my office in Silicon Valley and walk one block to Fry’s Electronics. They had everything.

[martin_fierro]

Around these parts the free Microtimes and (damn! what was the other one?) magazine were mandatory reading.

When done with, they made great potted plant stands. Really soaked up the excess water.

[dayglored]

> I would leave my office in Silicon Valley and walk one block to Fry’s Electronics.

O.M.G. I'd have to leave my wallet at home...

[MarkL]

In the early 1980s I loved working with CP/M. It was the stone ages of personal computing compared to now, but I felt more intimate with the internal goings-on of computing.

Yup! My Altos 586 had 5 serial ports (no graphic adapter, just serial terminals) and could run a multi-user version of CP/M (MP/M,) but I preferred Altos Xenix. I agree with you, and to this day, I'm still a bit of the belief that if it can't be done in 8 bits and 64KB, it doesn't need to be done! :-)

Mark

[phs3]

This is a little late...
You could always shimmy up the pole and find the red and green wires. ;-)