[Hazcat]

I has a "Trash 80" when I was in college. Had a modem setup to the schools' DEC10. That was hilarious trying to communicate. The phone modem was one of the "cradle" type!

[IronJack]

First programming I ever did was via a 300-baud cradle phone modem to an IBM 360 at the local community college. Input/output was from/to an IBM Selectric ... you know, the typewriter with the "ball?" Sometimes the modem would barf and the typewriter would just spew gibberish for page after page.

[Hey, I think I might have found the source of Stepford Rep Nancy Peolsi's problem!]

Anyway, these computer nostalgia threads always bring out some interesting stories. Before it's over and done with, some old-timer will tell us about how he had to shovel coal for his first computer, and how it ran on punch cards made of granite.

Amusingly enough, he'll be telling the truth!

[IronJack]

And I used the pronoun "he" to describe that old-timer, because in those days, the only woman in computer programming was Grace Hopper.

[Larry Lucido]

Was that you??