Tonight's Show

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

So I guess having worked with keypunch cards makes me something of a dinosaur, huh?  :-P

[ftyuv]

My coworker told me the other day about an 8-inch floppy disk he had.  Not 5.5", 8".  I hadn't even known those existed!  Feel free to insert lewd jokes about your own 8-inch floppies.

But in my defense, I'm old enough to remember the first time my dad bought a 1-gig hard drive.  I thought he was lying until I actually clicked on the drive's icon and selected "get info."

[French Rage]

[quote ftyuv]My coworker told me the other day about an 8-inch floppy disk he had.  Not 5.5", 8".  I hadn't even known those existed!  Feel free to insert lewd jokes about your own 8-inch floppies.

But in my defense, I'm old enough to remember the first time my dad bought a 1-gig hard drive.  I thought he was lying until I actually clicked on the drive's icon and selected "get info."[/quote]

For that matter, how many kids today even remember 3.5" floppies.  You don't see those any more.  And with flash drives, we might even see CDs on their way out.

[KeithK]

[quote las224]For one of my classes, all the readings are online, and online only. It's about 50 pages per class, which I'm not about to print. I survived the hockey line by heading to the library for 20 mins, saving the articles on my computer, then heading back to read. For another class, you can buy the course packet for $75, or you can access the whole thing online and only print out 5 or so pages per week of homework - most people just get it online.

That's not even mentioning professors who require you to post to discussion boards or complete quizzes online. So much coursework is online now (not to mention how often you have to check your e-mail for updates and last minute announcements), that the hockey line is rather difficult without internet access even just over two days.[/quote]Sure times have changed. I'm laughing at how odd this seems to me (I'm not even that old) and how the convienence of the internet can actually make things less convienent sometimes.

Faced with this problem you have two choices.  Adapt to it (make library runs like you did) or, in time honored fashion, decide that hockey tickets are more important than a couple days of readings. :-D

[Beeeej]

I was just reminiscing the other day about how much we all celebrated back when hard drives fell under a dollar per megabyte.  Now they're well under a dollar per gigabyte.

[RichH]

[quote Beeeej]I was just reminiscing the other day about how much we all celebrated back when hard drives fell under a dollar per megabyte.[/quote]

Actually, I want to know this.  Tell us Beeeej, how much did you celebrate when hard drives fell under a dollar per megabyte?  And who else was at this raucous party?

:-D

[Beeeej]

[quote RichH][quote Beeeej]I was just reminiscing the other day about how much we all celebrated back when hard drives fell under a dollar per megabyte.[/quote]

Actually, I want to know this.  Tell us Beeeej, how much did you celebrate when hard drives fell under a dollar per megabyte?  And who else was at this raucous party?[/quote]

Well, the second floor of CCC actually rose above a murmur there for a minute.  I think we might've even popped an extra 2-liter of Mountain Dew that afternoon.  Much forwarding of e-mails was done, I can tell you that.

Sal Gurnani and Assaji Aluwihare can attest.  :-P

(Can't believe I remember those names...!)

[Larry72]

Reading the disk drive discussion from all you "youngsters" has me in a reminiscing mood:

- First Mini-Computer that we owned:  Dec PDP 11/34 with Two 5MB removable platter drives - each platter 18" across.  The computer had 256kb of main memory.
- First Micro-Computer System:  Chromemco with dual 500kb 8" floppy drives (soft sectored as opposed to hard sectored). If I recall, IBM invented (or outsourced) 8" floppy drives to boot System 34 and Series I mini-computers in the early 1970s.
- We still have one computer in-house that has a 5" diskette drive on it...it also has  a 3.5" diskette drive as well.
- Sitting in my office:  An original Compaq Portable computer in mint condition! Sold in early 1983 for over $4,000.  Presented to me by the original customer as a gift instead of it going to the dumpster.  That machine has somewhat less compute power than my Treo 650.  Only weighs 28 lbs!

Ah the memories...CU hockey memories compete nicely!

Larry '72
The Computing Center

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

[quote Beeeej]
Sal Gurnani and Assaji Aluwihare can attest.  :-P

(Can't believe I remember those names...!)[/quote]

I can't believe you can spell those names!  :-P

[David Harding]

The first minicomputer I worked on was a PDP-8 that Professor Howard Howland (physiology) had.  You loaded the system with punched paper tape.  I can't remember what he used it for, but excess time was available for something like 25 cents/hour.  

My first home computer was a Sinclair.  I think it's still around here somewhere.