What computers were used for in years BN

[mick2me 3,033]

BN = Before Nottstalgia.

[crankypig 457]

Mick2me, I remember a game where you had to knock buildings down with an airplane and not crash into them,if you managed to flatten all the buildings a little man jumped from the plane and waved....can't remember the name of the game though.

[EileenH 496]

Many years ago when I was a trainee at the EMEB I heard that the Board were getting a Computer! Wasn`t quite sure what a Computer was but apparently it was going to do all the HQ accounting, making loads of us not needed any more.

I got the chance to get in on the ground floor to train to be a Computer person so I went to my head of department to request the transfer.

He shook his head at me and smiled. "Bad career move, Miss G. Stay with traditional accountancy. Computers are a flash in the pan."

So I did. I often wonder where my 'career' would have taken me.

Hey ho! Forks in the road, eh?

[DJBrenton 738]

The earliest game I remember was before real graphics. You had text only games where, for example, you got to a door in a cave and had to decide to open it or continue in the cave etc. The door wouldn't open because (as it turned out) you were carrying the bird you found earlier or you weren't carrying the knife, or you weren't carrying the bird but you had turned the light on. Usded to drive me nuts as I always ended up in an oubliette one way or another.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Never been a "gamer" as such, I get bored playing computer games after just a couple of minutes.

My first PC was an old Texas Instrument full tower that I loaded a Morse Code learning program into to increase my copy skills. Worked real good, got me up to a comfortable 11-12 words per minute, then I took the 13wpm test for the third time and passed for my Advanced Amateur radio license.

[Cliff Ton 10,488]

The same thing applies to early, old mobile phones. It's not that long ago that very few people had one, and if they did it looked like this.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Cliff, my wife's boss when we lived in Australia had an early "cell" phone, it was a large case like a camera/accessary case, weighed about 20lbs, that was years before the "brick" in the hands of John McCain in the photo.

We lived in Bathurst back then, so his phone was useless as there was no national phone cells set up. Once he was over the Blue Mountains on his way down "the hill" to Sydney, he had coverage.

[mick2me 3,033]

Remember the early days of the mobile phone, anyone who had one was viewed as a poser, they used to stand staring at them as if waiting for someone to ring them up. When that happened they used to shout into the phone?

[DJBrenton 738]

I had a mobile phone early as it was useful for work. It cost me around £300 a month!!!

[StephenFord 866]

Yes, in those days I was commuting by train from Sleaford to Derby. Posers thought it was such a novelty to be telephoning from the train that they would always begin their conversation by saying "I'm on a train" - at which point we would all cheer loudly.

An occasional travelling companion told us about a trip he had made down to London a couple of days earlier. He was in the first class, and a bloke was sat just across the aisle from him, holding forth in a loud stentorian voice, one call after another. After 20 minutes or so of this piercing racket, an elderly and respectable looking chap in a suit leaned over and said to him quite confidentially - but loud enough for everyone to hear, "You don't need to shout into those things, you know. They can hear just as well if you speak normally!" This was greeted with a chorus of "Hear, hears".

Does anyone else find the insistent trilling imitation telephone bell by far the most annoying call tone?

[Chulla 4,946]

One of the best stories about using a telephone was when the old actor A E Matthews was appearing on stage in a play. There was a phone on the set and he had to answer it when it rang. It rang and he promptly forgot his lines - dried up. He picked up the receiver, said 'hello', listened for a while and handed it to the actor standing next to him and said 'it's for you'.

[Rob.L 1,091]

Seems like centuries ago, but as recently as 1985, I was asked to look after the distribution of cellphones for BT Cellnet across the East Midlands. This meant me lugging around all sorts - from full car kits (prices start at £825), to hand-portable (£1000 with about three hours talk time), to transportables. These were the ones with a handset perched on a massive battery pack which helped it last all day.

At least I didn't have to pay the exorbitant call charges in those days.

[loppylugs 8,429]

I'd have been happy enough if the #%¥€%! things had never been invented.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

The same thing applies to early, old mobile phones. It's not that long ago that very few people had one, and if they did it looked like this.

A balding right wing dick head.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

HEY, That's a hero......well at least he thinks he was...LOL According to other Vets, he was a colaborator.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

You have to keep up with the times remember ............................SIZE MATTERS

[Cliff Ton 10,488]

A balding right wing dick head.

He just happened to be the first photo which came up with an appropriate size

[BilboroughShirley 1,120]

My dad worked at the Evening Post when they installed the computers for typesetting. At the start they used punched tape and it came in different colours. After it had been used there was a lot of waste and the boss was not amused when my dad used the coloured tape to put up Christmas decorations.

[barclaycon 569]

It's quite amusing really to see the enormous racks of electronics and massive tape machines with spools whizzing round that was the model of a computer - even as recently as the 70's

Punchcards, tape, loads of secretaries entering data. People in white coats.

The whole reason for computers originally was complex calculations and databases.

There's a fantastic programme called 'Triumph Of the Nerds' which traces the development of the computer from WW 2 to the present day. It is fascinating stuff.

In it they describe the rise of the Apple computer from humble beginnings to being on the desktop of business people who had discovered that they could do a lot of the tasks they had to book time for before on the company's massive IBM machine in the back room. Along with Lotus software, it could do lots of data analysis and calculation.

This is what got IBM worried and led to them developing the PC and the need for an operating system - hence Microsoft.

It' s worth checking out this programme to see how shaky and unreliable Microsoft was. They didn't even invent DOS! (the original PC OS).

Now we've got the internet and the wonders of data whizzing around the world - except that commercialisation has now made it a minefield. Software is so full of holes that it needs to be constantly updated. The perceived wisdom is that your computer needs to be connected to the internet all the time - and now everything you do seems to lead to advertising!

(How many of us have to allow 20 mins every time we switch on the computer for OS updates, antivirus updates, browser updates, Flash player etc. etc ?)

If I sound cynical, it's because I just got hit with the Cryptowall trojan. No Antivirus picks it up, you can't get rid of it, your files are all locked up, and it doesn't matter what version of Windows you're on, you are well and truly stuffed.

Like I said, software that is full of holes - but it always seems to show adverts flawlessly!

One curious aspect of computers now is their use in cars. How strange it is to hear that your means of transport is not working properly because of a software fault (!)

I've just seen on the news that Fiat Chrysler Jeeps have been 'hacked' and that criminals can take control of a Jeep Cherokee via its internet-connected entertainment system.

Progress - or is it ?

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

An early computer

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Some time back, I was watching a challenge that an Abacas user could beat someone who used a calculator hands down in calculations..Sure enough the Abacas user was far faster..

[mick2me 3,033]

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

I've seen dozens of people hold them like that, mostly the younger generation.

I'm sure we were taught, usually under threat, how to hold pens and pencils to write with.

[Cliff Ton 10,488]

I suspect a lot of younger kids would almost not know what a pen is, or what it's for. They certainly wouldn't know how to use it correctly.

We are getting a generation who have grown up with keyboards and swiping and tapping.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

#21

This is another early computer