Comments on: A trip down computer memory lane

reporter's notebook At the DigiBarn, computer history is on display alongside several potbellied pigs.
Photos: Computers of yesteryear

[BrianFH]

Commodore

As an old Vic-20 user, I'm surprised at your slip about the PET; the 20 also had BASIC in ROM. Where else?

And much more was possible with the Vic. It eventually had memory cartridges up to 16K (!), cassette recorders (for programs and data), etc. One long program I recall writing and using was a GO game saver. It produced a game board on-screen, and stored plays in sequence for playback later - very valuable for learning from master games published in magazines, etc.

And there were game cartridges and cassettes; from Frogger to Centipede to Spiders of Mars. Great color graphics -- but blown away by the wonderful stuff produced by the Commodore 64! Now, there was a machine ...

[Seaspray0]

Old memories indeed

Can you remember when the big thing in graphics was using sprites to display your game images? It was a vast improvement over having to use text. And the sounds! I personally believe disco music was heavily influenced by the sounds made on those old computer games. Even today, I can be reminded of those days. Just walk into a grocery store, close your eyes, and listen to all the cash registers as they blip every time an item is scanned. It sounds like someone playing a game of breakout. blip blip.... blip blip blip..... blip....

[amadensor]

PET Predates VIC

The PET far predates the VIC. There was the original PET, with the bad keyboard and the onboard cassette drive, then the later ones (B and N series) with the new keys and the tape drive external. Then came the CBM series, like the 8032 and 8096. The VIC 20 followed that. The reason for the mention of the PET is that it was what started it all.

[SunilDe]

Vic 20 2K?

I had a Vic 20 - I remembered it as a 4K machine. I just checked on Wikipedia and they say it's a 5K machine :)
I enjoyed reading this article. It brought back lots of memories of a very interesting and quite geeky childhood. I hope they've got a Sinclair Spectrum out there - I'd be happy to donate mine if they don't. Come to think of it, maybe I should give them my Apple ][e clone - I'm sure they wouldn't have one of those.

[jhstockman]

Memories...

Yes the VIC-20 had 5.5K of RAM but only 3583 was available for the user.
I was a member of the VIC-20 product team in 1980 and this article makes me feel old today...

[Dingbattie]

Please donate your Spectrum to me, if they don't want it!

;-)

[b_hamid]

UI artifacts at DIGIBARN ...

We thank Bruce for operating the DIGIBARN at his farm. Remarkable collection of history captured for us and future generations. What this article does not mention is the incredible collections and fore-tellings of the major UI accomplishments like the PERQ computer developed at Xerox PARC. The PERQ invention made the first WYSIWYG display and printing of trillions of documents worldwide. A transformational step in modern computing and publishing. Bruce gives a compelling demo of this pioneering invention at the DIGIBARN.

[culturtha]

E6, E6B and one other

I still have an E6 flight computer, E6B flight computer both silver and blue ?? and one other in flat black with i think yellow printing issued by the AAF in the 40's or 50's that belonged to a brother and my father that flew.

I used them to actually time and plot cross-country driving times and fuel use back in the 70's

I think I'll go dig thru those old crates they are stored in and go down some memory lane myself. Who knows ??? the one issued by the AAF may be worth something on EBay

[datil8]

Olde Computers

Do you remember the Sinclair? It came with an 8080 I believe, and near Basic language; you put it together yoursellf. In my case I used an Heathkit BW AC/DC TV as a monitor. Later Timex sold a built model under their name. The Sinclair was a good learning tool.

[0sborne]

I recently sent an Osborne to Bruce D at the DigiBarn. I had built it up from parts I bought in a Palo Alto warehouse, leftovers after the company's collapse. I reassembled it in a carrying case I built from used first-growth redwood planks. Bruce seemed to fall in love with it from a pic I attached to an email to him. He reimbursed me for shipping from Honolulu. I am very pleased that the Digibarn exists...I had no idea what to do with the O2 and couldn't put it in the trash. (I got the idea for a wood box after watching a man at ARPA show me a little wood box with two wheels on its bottom...he moved it on his desk and a small blip traveled across his computer screen. He said another computer in Princeton mirrored his screen. He said this was the first two elements of the ARPANET.)