From the ark

[openhgs]

We have two of the Amstrad NC100s which students with broken arms use sometimes.

 

At home I have Windows 3.1 running on my P4 2K 512MB memory, which has removable disk packs and it flies - it boots and is ready to go in 23 seconds. FC6 on the same machine boots to login in 37 seconds and 20 seconds after I login, the desktop is ready to go. W2K takes 2 1/2 mins to login and 5 mins after login, the hourglass has finally gone away (this is a bare install too). I've given up completely on the W2K disk and reformated it for Linux from scratch.

 

My first computer was a Commdore 64, which I has when I was at Uni. The uni had a Cyber 173 and several PDP 8s and 11/Es - great boxes.

 

When I was in high school I built my first computer, which didn't involve running off to a shop, buying a few boards and plugging them together. Oh no, it involved soldering relays to a wiring loom; it was an electromechanical device. This computer, known as Junior Arithmetic Calculator and Kinetic Input Evaluator (aka JACKIE) could add, subract and multiply (division involved far too complicated circuitry) and has a whopping 8 bits (thats BITS) of memory. The design was a variation of the original JACKIE featured in "We Built Our Own Computers" a splendid book. I redesigned some of the circuitry from the original and changed it's name a bit. There are some scans of the original design here: http://www.milbo.users.sonic.net/we-built-our-own-computers/index.html If I can ever find a copy of the book at a sensible price (ie not £50+ which is what they usually go for), I intend to do JACKIE the second. If anybody comes across a copy, please let me know.

[witch]

Our 1st PC was a cast-off from dad's work,

 

All 5 of my computers are cast offs from My work!!

Well...they were throwing them out anyway....

[broc]

I had a play with one of the 'original' IBM PCs with an 8086 processor and maths co-processor in the IBM development lab BEFORE it was even announced

[markcuk]

my first pc was a

 

386 sx with the turbo button :-)

 

remember buying a ricoh 2x cd writer for over £400

 

mark

[Heebeejeebee]

my first pc was a

 

386 sx with the turbo button :-)

 

remember buying a ricoh 2x cd writer for over £400

 

mark

 

I think I had one of those !! It had a caddy to put the CD in and was constantly getting jammed.

 

Those were the days.

 

HBJB

[BKGarry]

I had a play with one of the 'original' IBM PCs with an 8086 processor and maths co-processor in the IBM development lab BEFORE it was even announced

 

you old git