Something we forgot to mention

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2024 marked the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Intel 8080 processor. It is an important event in the history of IBM-compatible personal c
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bowled845, a, GeeBeeDee, Cybertooth, Elly, TechTango

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Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I was working in Silicon Valley at that time (though it certainly wasn’t called that) and developing commercial control systems based on MODCOMP (remember them) and later PDP hardware. One of my engineers bought and kept a PDP-8 in his bedroom as a hobby (a lot more expensive than the Altair), but most of us never saw the leap coming to the small personal computers that so dominate life now. Somewhat over 10 years later as a graduate student in a different field, I bought my first 8086 computer–a Tandon clone of the IBM PC, to use for word processing and data analysis, and like most, have acquired innumerable ones since then. They are as common as the coffee cup on my desk, and sometimes not a lot larger. Contrast that with the first computer I programmed in 1964, which filled a large room and generated enough heat from its vacuum tubes that only A/C was needed in the building, regardless of the outside temperature. Somehow the step towards AI that requires a server farm to work seems to be headed back there.

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wavy, GeeBeeDee, Will Fastie, Cybertooth, Elly, TechTango

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About that time I was working on 3 360-50’s. I forget the year I started getting, then returning (as I quickly outgrew) the Radio Shack coco and the like, one tiny one. About then I also had a commodore with a amber monitor (which I briefly thought was hot stuff). It was maybe 1980 before I got my IBM PC, and then started quickly building boxes. Fun times!!! What was the name of that inch thick mag with all the mobos and stuff you could do?

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I think it was called “Computer Shopper”? I might still have a copy or two around somewhere.

 

Oops, didn’t see the post below.

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GeeBeeDee, Cybertooth

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I was going to say, “Thanks for the trip down memory lane,” but I see that’s already been taken so forget I said it. (Delete, delete, delete…)

My first microcomputer was the Apple ][ Plus, so it was a 6502 instead of an 8088. However, I immediately opted for the Microsoft CP/M Card so I could have the best of both worlds. It turned out to be a prophetic choice, because the first two CP/M programs I got hold of were WordStar and dBASE II. The latter started my path to a career in tech support starting at Ashton-Tate, and the rest is as they say history.

I had a lot of fun with both the Apple ][ and CP/M worlds, gaming a little on the former (usually SPI military strategy games and the occasional adventure from Infocom) and working on the latter. Eventually I sold it and got an XT clone, thankfully, and moved on from there through all the steps to what we have today.

I’ll check out the Intel Museum site, but I’m curious why it’s only open until March. Guess I’ll have to settle for the virtual tour. Is the Computer Museum in the San Francisco area still open? Last time I was there, the 386 was king.

//Steve//

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a wrote:

What was the name of that inch thick mag with all the mobos and stuff you could do?

Computer Shopper, maybe?

When I was in my starving-artist phase, I would sometimes buy the magazine to be inspired to do better, so that I could afford one of the machines advertised in there.

 

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a

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Something like that…

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