I've scanned this from a 1987 Radio Shack catalog. It's kind of funny to look at this now. According to the specs, this computer has 4.77 Mhz! Also 384K RAM.

We've come a long way. :D

When I went to high school and college...there were no computers. Imagine that! Imagine typing term papers on an electric typewriter, and the only way to correct mistakes was to use White-Out, or to literally "cut and paste" the corrected material onto a new sheet of paper and then zerox it all out. In 1982, our journalism dept. finally got some PC's with word processors. We did all our newspaper work on both manual and electric typewriters. The sounds of the old newsrooms, with IBM Selects ticking and humming away are long gone....:(

I think it's amazing how much computer technology has advanced since then. That computer looks so primitive by today's standards. :eek:

Oh man...What an ad...

Myself, I didn't know about IBM computers until 1990 or so. My first experience with a computer was on an Apple IIe in 1988, and I used Apple's all through the early years of elementary school.


Here's another one that's been on the 'net for some time. It's a computer ad from 1989. This was apparently for companies and not consumers...check out the insane price on this one! Monitor and mouse NOT included :(

Originally posted by Miss Vicki
Here's another one that's been on the 'net for some time. It's a computer ad from 1989. This was apparently for companies and not consumers...check out the insane price on this one! Monitor and mouse NOT included :(
What? $8,400?!? That's ridiculous. A real high price even for back then. I'm sure glad they came down on price!

I like how that ad says that 20 Mhz is "Lightning-fast!"

Originally posted by Fleet
What? $8,400?!? That's ridiculous. A real high price even for back then. I'm sure glad they came down on price!

Jsut think...you could get a lightning-fast 20MHz and 2MB of RAM computer for such a price! :D

Originally posted by Miss Vicki
Jsut think...you could get a lightning-fast 20MHz and 2MB of RAM computer for such a price! :D
Yeah, I think they just slightly exaggerated on that ad. :lol:

Here is the oldest computer ad I have. From a 1980 Radio Shack catalog.
It boasts a "Full 4 MegaHertz Operating Speed." Pretty impressive.
BTW, my brother saved these two catalogs and gave them to me because he knows I am a collector.

That one looks like an old black and white TV set with a busted up typewriter attached to it. :lol:

Originally posted by HootervilleFan
That one looks like an old black and white TV set with a busted up typewriter attached to it. :lol:
:lol:

But it's powerful!

i have a friend who has a pair of 10mb hard-drives from the early seventies, he uses them for end tables.

they still run (notice i didn't use the word "work") too - they make this horrendous grinding sound, then go CLANK CLUNK CLUNK as the read/write heads are tracking

It's come that far in 17 years, imagine how it'll be in another 17.

Originally posted by Fleet
I've scanned this from a 1987 Radio Shack catalog. It's kind of funny to look at this now. According to the specs, this computer has 4.77 Mhz! Also 384K RAM.

We've come a long way. :D

4.77 MHz? Our first computer(Late 1999) was 500 MHz and this one we got in February 2003 is 2.4 GHz.

I can't imagine how slow a 4.77 MHz is. :eek:

Originally posted by Fleet
I've scanned this from a 1987 Radio Shack catalog. It's kind of funny to look at this now. According to the specs, this computer has 4.77 Mhz! Also 384K RAM.

We've come a long way. :D


That's the same kind of computer I had! My dad paid almost $2,000 in Radio Shack and I was the only one at home to understand it.:eek: :D

Originally posted by Fleet
Here is the oldest computer ad I have. From a 1980 Radio Shack catalog.
It boasts a "Full 4 MegaHertz Operating Speed." Pretty impressive.
BTW, my brother saved these two catalogs and gave them to me because he knows I am a collector.

I've been somewhere and seen those! Can't remember where BUT I can remember whacking it a million times because of the speed:rolleyes:

Originally posted by I'maDESIlover
That's the same kind of computer I had! My dad paid almost $2,000 in Radio Shack and I was the only one at home to understand it.:eek: :D
That sure is a coincidence that I have the catalog it was in!

Originally posted by I'maDESIlover
I've been somewhere and seen those! Can't remember where BUT I can remember whacking it a million times because of the speed:rolleyes:
They must have been agonizingly slow.

Originally posted by Brent88
4.77 MHz? Our first computer(Late 1999) was 500 MHz and this one we got in February 2003 is 2.4 GHz.

I can't imagine how slow a 4.77 MHz is. :eek:
Yeah, I know. It would probably take hours to do what now takes only 10 minutes!

Those old computer ads are a riot. The computers look so clunky....like the old cellphones. I watched Wall Street recently, and Michael Douglas was walking on the beach talking on a cellphone that was the size of his head.

I think I used one of those '87 Radio Shacks in college.

:lol:

Oh my gosh! Look at the price!:eek: :lol:

Who remembers the Vic 20 and the Commodore 64?

Originally posted by I am Him
Who remembers the Vic 20 and the Commodore 64?

I was a Timex Sinclair man myself...

;)

Originally posted by Miss Vicki


Myself, I didn't know about IBM computers until 1990 or so. My first experience with a computer was on an Apple IIe in 1988, and I used Apple's all through the early years of elementary school.


That is almost exactly me. Except at my elementary school I think we had IIgs Apple computers...(I'm not sure about the letters but I think it had some Is and some Gs in it, I don't know) But they were all networked together and you picked the game you wanted to play from the menu or put it one of those massive floppy discs in and listened to it grind the game out. My middle school actually still had these computers when I was there, but they also had the Mac Power PCs too.

I used those really pathetic IBM computers when I was in 9th grade. I don't even think they were windows based. But finally, my school upgraded and got rid of those horrible things...

Originally posted by Fleet
They must have been agonizingly slow.

It sure made me pull a lot of hairs out of my head!:lol:

Originally posted by I am Him
Who remembers the Vic 20 and the Commodore 64? i've still got a couple of them lying around - they prolly still work too :)

Originally posted by I am Him
Who remembers the Vic 20 and the Commodore 64?

How about the Commodore PET Computer! :lol:

http://webpages.charter.net/thecomputercollection/micros/pet.jpg

Originally posted by Jenya
How about the Commodore PET Computer! :lol:

Wow, looks like a modern computer! :D

It looks light too; I wonder how much you could get for it on a flea market.:lol:

Originally posted by robyrob
i have a friend who has a pair of 10mb hard-drives from the early seventies, he uses them for end tables.

they still run (notice i didn't use the word "work") too - they make this horrendous grinding sound, then go CLANK CLUNK CLUNK as the read/write heads are tracking

*lmbo*

Originally posted by FamilyTiesGOP
That is almost exactly me. Except at my elementary school I think we had IIgs Apple computers...(I'm not sure about the letters but I think it had some Is and some Gs in it, I don't know) But they were all networked together and you picked the game you wanted to play from the menu or put it one of those massive floppy discs in and listened to it grind the game out. My middle school actually still had these computers when I was there, but they also had the Mac Power PCs too.

I used those really pathetic IBM computers when I was in 9th grade. I don't even think they were windows based. But finally, my school upgraded and got rid of those horrible things...

We had IBM at our school too. It was the first time I had ever really been on a computer(we never got on the internet though :( ). The speed was, get this, 33 MHz, and this was only about 4 years ago. :eek:

Originally posted by Brian
I think it's amazing how much computer technology has advanced since then. That computer looks so primitive by today's standards. Ya but I bet it worked 100x better than what is out now!!

I was afraid to reply to this thread as I dont want Foggy to get mad at me but I figure he will get over it.....