The great 80's

[Seob]

Last day i was thinking back of the 80's, and that started me realizing that it was an epic time in computer history for me.

I mean just look at the shear difference of home computers available at the time. All having their own little nifty things.

Today all pc's are just clones of each other, non of them having their own distinctive look.

But in the 80's you had all those great systems, a diversity so larger, unthinkable today. The diversity of this showed off in the surrounding where i lived.

At home we had a Schneider cpc464, a friend of mine had a Commodore 64, a other friend had a Commodore 128, an other friend had a Philips MSX 1, one of my uncles had a Philips MSX 2, a other uncle had a Atari ST. And yet an other friend of my had a Commodore Amiga and a relative of my parents had a Commodore PC10 XT.

How do you remember the 80's? Did you also see such a variety in your surrounding?

[simbalion]

It is hard for me to remember everything because I wasn't always paying attention to such stuff, but even at Radio Shack there seemed to be alot more to look at than now. It seems that technology-wise, the 80's were definitely fun. Just enough tech to make things interesting without taking over. Oddly, alot of those late 70's into the 80's computers have outlived several PCs that I have had since 1998.

[Ransom]

Those were great days to be into computers, for sure. The early days of any new technology see an amazing amount of experimentation. I consider myself lucky to have been there for the early days of microcomputers and video games.

 

Among my friends, there were one Vic-20 (later upgraded to a C=64), one Apple ][+, one Adam, one TI 99/4a, and my Atari 400 (later upgraded to a 1200XL). That's right, not one of us had the same system as the other! Not that I didn't try to convince everyone that Atari was the One True Computer, of course.

 

It's still fun these days, but with 85% using Windows, 13% using Mac, and 2% using some other Unix variant, it's pretty boring in comparison. And the practical capabilities of the computers have little meaningful variation. Not like back when we could argue whether SID or POKEY was better, etc. Not to mention being amazed at how much a 1 MHz 6502 could do without any real support chips as in the Apple ]['s case, or being impressed by the Atari's robust chipset (and faster processor. Boo-yah!).

[Grig]

_{The 80s was my favorite decade. It was such a blend of the old and the new. It was pretty diverse where I lived, too. I was known as the "Atari" guy. My friends Robert and Chris were the "Commodore 64" guys, My friend Birch was the "Amiga" guy, my friend Jeff was the "TI" guy, my friend Richard was the "Vic-20" guy and my friend Benny was the "Apple IIe" Guy.}

Edited April 15, 2012 by jtoubeaux

[BydoEmpire]

Yep, great time for computing - my favorite games and computers are all from the 80s. It was a period of great innovation and excitement.

[AtariLeaf]

I was the "Coco" guy or the "Trash-80" guy as we were typically called (although I didn't think the Trash-80 moniker really applied to the coco line). Most everyone else in school had some version of the Commodore. A few Apple's too. I don't recall anyone having a TI or Atari computer though.

[high voltage]

Ah the great 80s. Disposable income.

VCS first, Compumate soon after, Atari 130 XE followed, then came a C64, soon to be replaced by a C128, also Apple Europlus, NES, Coleco/Adam, SMS, Amiga 500.

[Grig]

Imagination for computer games just seemed to be alive in the 80s. The box and manual artwork from that decade has some of the best art IMHO. Creativity was high. Now, things just seem to be recycled over and over again. Just look at most of the games and movies out today. Recycled trash (or just plain trash!).

[oracle_jedi]

Having lived through the 80s micro-computer revolution gives us a unique perspective on technical things.

 

Back in the 80s people laughed at the Sinclair's rubber-mat keyboards, slow loading times and the small and blurry images on a Sinclair TV.

 

Now I type this post on the rubber mat keyboard of my laptop, wait for Windows to load components of the desktop and apply all of its patches, and watch small, blurry and jittery videos delivered from Youtube.

[Grig]

Technology is so fleeting these days. Every year a 'new and improved' model of something or other comes out and it's cheaper than the previous year's model (or if it's a car it's mor expensive). Anyway, long gone are the days where something was built and you could keep/use it for 20 years - and it would be expected to last that long. Look at the computers of the 80s - most of them still work and 30+ year old disks can still be read from and written to. Just check your local thrift stores. Most of them have some old 486's or XT's or towers or Windows 98 machines along with parts and peripherals like CD-ROM drives and ZIP drives. You hardly ever see an 80s computer like Atari, Commodore, Apple or Texas Instruments. Why is this? Because the owners of those computers know that their machines are very special and they were built to last with care. They are NOT a 'dime a dozen' - they are the exact opposite.

[atarian63]

Great time, made my career selling Atari,so much cool new stuff, a constant barrage of cool items of hardware and software.

 

Nearly all my friends had an Atari pc, knew a few with c64 later when that came out,on had a vic 20 breifly, never knew any apple or pc folks, not really and TI of Trah 80 or COCO either. just never saw much of that stuff around. Pretty much you had an Atari or later a commodore

[Grig]

It was just such an exciting time for almost everything. I remember my junior high (1983) had TRS-80s in their computer lab - no Apples or anything else. It was nearly impossible to use one during 'free' time (lunch period). We also used to have our own D&D club in junior high where we would roll dice during class time, tell the DM what we rolled while passing in the halls and he would tell us what happened the next period. Good times!

[Arkhan]

I missed the 80s. I was born in 1988.

 

I envy all you wrinkly old bastards.

[Grig]

I missed the 80s. I was born in 1988. I envy all you wrinkly old bastards.

 

Yes, the 80s were great. The 70s were great, too - but a bit too funky from time to time. The 80s were such a great mix of 'modern' and 'classic'. I'm not too wrinkly yet, but I am a bastard

[DesertJets]

By the time I was aware of things and messing around with computers it was almost the end of the decade. And from my recollection it had already boiled down to Apple and IBM. I knew about Commodore and the C64 (my cousin had one) and knew about the Amiga and Atari ST. But by the late 80s it seemed much like the world of computers was the Apple II line, the Macintosh, and the whole IBM PC and PC clone market. From my reading into computing in the 80s was that the North American market wasn't nearly as diverse as it was in Europe in terms of platforms.

[+wood_jl]

Ah, the era of dot matrix printers, 300/1200 modems (and $12.50/hr connection fee for 1200baud compuserve non prime-time).

[Grig]

Ah, the era of dot matrix printers, 300/1200 modems (and $12.50/hr connection fee for 1200baud compuserve non prime-time).

 

There is a business in town that still prints their invoices on a dot matrix parinter. It's a Star but I couldn't tell which kind. I asked the sales person about it and she said that it's been there for about 25 years and they are supposed to replace it soon due to no more ribbons (at least that are affordable). She called it "The Dinosaur".

[Seob]

At our work we occasionally use a dot matrix printer to print work order, if needed. It's a NEC printer. We use these dot printers, since they can print carbon copy orders, so you can leave 1 piece of the work order at the costumer, after he has signed it. A laser or inktjet printer can't print these.

[Grig]

I love it - Dot Matrix is still around - like a drunk relative.

[Rex Dart]

Only having been born in the early 80's, I feel like I really missed out. People didn't really buy computers for their seven-year-olds back then like they will now. I had an older cousin whose parents bought a computer.. he really took to it, and now he's a professional programmer. I can't help but wonder what I might be doing if I'd had a chance to get started sooner with 'em.

 

Were any of you The Guy with the Crap Computer? Seems like one downside to so much computing variety... having to go to a friend's house to play the good games because you've got some oddball machine.

[roland p]

I love it - Dot Matrix is still around - like a drunk relative.

When I took a theory exam (about 10 years ago) for my drivers license we all used a keypad to put in our answers. After each question, the answers of all participants where printed with a dot-matrix printer. Pretty smart because if all systems crash for whatever reason, you still have all the answers on paper.

[Keatah]

Newer faster better cheaper may always be good for the company, but not necessarily for the consumer's pocketbook.

 

My Epson MX-80 has outlived several *generations* of modern-day inkjet printers.

Edited April 17, 2012 by Keatah

[+DamonicFury]

Were any of you The Guy with the Crap Computer? Seems like one downside to so much computing variety... having to go to a friend's house to play the good games because you've got some oddball machine.

 

Oh, yes, that was me around 1982. Had a Timex Sinclair 1000, because everything else was still really expensive then. Crap doesn't even begin to describe the thing... membrane keyboard, 2K of RAM, black and white only "graphics". A 16K expansion pack was available, but if you jostled the machine even slightly when it was attached, it would crash. And to top it all off, I couldn't even save programs to tape on mine... it simply never worked on my paticular machine. So I'd write programs down on notebook paper and re-enter them as needed. Was so glad when I could afford an Atari 600XL another year later.

[Grig]

Newer faster better cheaper may always be good for the company, but not necessarily for the consumer's pocketbook. My Epson MX-80 has outlived several *generations* of modern-day inkjet printers.

 

Superb printer. Most older Epson printers are great, but the MX-80 is a workhorse. I printed many reports on that baby. Keep on truckin'!

[Grig]

Were any of you The Guy with the Crap Computer? Seems like one downside to so much computing variety... having to go to a friend's house to play the good games because you've got some oddball machine.

Oh, yes, that was me around 1982. Had a Timex Sinclair 1000, because everything else was still really expensive then. Crap doesn't even begin to describe the thing... membrane keyboard, 2K of RAM, black and white only "graphics". A 16K expansion pack was available, but if you jostled the machine even slightly when it was attached, it would crash. And to top it all off, I couldn't even save programs to tape on mine... it simply never worked on my paticular machine. So I'd write programs down on notebook paper and re-enter them as needed. Was so glad when I could afford an Atari 600XL another year later.

 

i found one at a thrift store a few years back ... for about $3. It worked ... sort of. Interesting little computer but you can't do much with it. Glad you were able to *upgrade* !!!