Dukasaur wrote:BrutalBob wrote:Dukasaur wrote:I use Vista and Firefox and I have no problems.
Wow when did you make the big break from DOS?
1998.
Every "upgrade" I've ever had was forced on me against my will because whatever I had stopped working and had to be replaced. I've never felt any need for an "upgrade".
My first computer was an Apple IIe with CP/M. I used that until 1991 when it died and I could no longer get parts.
My second computer was actually pretty advanced for its time. It was a Compaq portable, fore-runner of the laptops. The thing came in a suitcase sized package that unfolded to reveal a small computer and a built-in 8-inch monochrome monitor. They were 8088 machines but mine had the 80286 expansion card. Like I said, very advanced for its time. The thing was tough. Under the plastic outer layer of the case was a heavy-gauge steel layer. When they built portables, they took into account the type of punishment these things would take from airport baggage handlers and stuff. Hell, the thing would probably survive a plane crash along with the black box.
The Compaq had DOS. It wasn't MS-DOS. I can't remember which company made it, but it was one of many types of DOS that existed in those days. Nowadays when people say DOS they mean MS-DOS, but back then many companies made a DOS of some kind.
I used the Compaq until 1997. Just like the Apple before it, the only reason I got rid of it was that it died and I could no longer get parts. That year I picked up a newer 286 with a polychrome monitor and the snazzy new 3.5 inch drives. However, other than the fancy new floppy drives and the polychrome monitor, it was actually inferior in many ways to my Compaq. Within a year I picked up another new computer, a 486, and reluctantly I put Windows 95 on it, although it took me a long time to get comfortable with the idea of using a mouse. For a few months I used the Win95 with keyboard shortcuts only and absolutely refused to touch the mouse, but after a few months curiosity became stronger than the revulsion and I started touching the thing.
The 486 lasted until about 2005, when I got a Pentium III machine with Windows NT. That was a super-powerful machine, I got it from a software developer I know who spares no expense with his machines, although of course by the time he gave it to me it was getting long in the tooth and some of the components were no longer state-of-the-art. Later I replaced the NT with Vista.
In 2012 I went long-hauling for a couple years, so I needed a laptop, and in 2013 I bought my current machine, a Toshiba laptop with a Celeron 900. I actually kind-of regret that. Even in 2013, the Celeron 900 was already a bit dated. I had a chance to buy a much faster processor for $400 or the one I bought for $300. At the time, I wasn't making much money and the collection agencies were pretty far up my ass, so I felt I had to go with the cheaper option, but now after only 3 years the thing really lags when I go to graphic-intensive sites like Facebook.
For the first time, I'm considering replacing a computer before it actually dies. It's a bit of a moral dilemma for me. I consider wastefulness a moral obscenity and I've always said people who buy new gadgets when the old one still work should be beaten to death, but here I am thinking about buying a new computer. I guess maybe for the first time I'm feeling the need for a premature upgrade. Anyway, we'll see. Usually after I decide I need something it takes a year or so before I persuade myself to spend the money, so maybe this thing will die in the next year and I'll make a guilt-free purchase.
Wow....
Glad i didnt ask what you been up to.
I remember seeing one of those portable PCs when I was cleaning out a storeroom at my old work. They were a pretty solid unit.
Seeing as though we are swapping "first pc" stories- mine was a C1P Superboard II. It had the keyboard mounted directly on the main board. There was no case, the board just sat out in the open and the power supply was the transformer from my car racing set connected by some wires soldered to the board. Also there was no monitor, I had to get my black and white tv modified to take a coax type connection. Of course no disk drives, just mic & earphone jacks to the portable radio cassette recorder to save and load from cassette tape. Oh and it had a whopping 8k RAM.
Fun stuff. I remember weighing up the pros and cons of a 300 baud acoustic coupler modem, but at (I think) $300 it was way out of my price range. Lucky I waited. A few years later I was able to get my hands on a 2800 baud speed demon, which caused endless fights with my mum about when she could and couldnt use the phone. She just never got it!
