Really?

[yesilkedi]

I went to Portsmouth University to sit an exam for a place on a course for Computer Studies in 1971. I passed the test but didn't want to leave the boyfriend - big mistake!

 

[historymystery]

I had an Amstrad 8256 in 1986, and thought it was the bees knees! It was so reliable, and though I heard lots of stories from other people about problems, mine was just fantastic, never any problems at all. Gave it away to my sister in the end when I got a more modern one, but unfortunately she butchered it.

I can't remember what computer I was using in 1986 but I definitely remember using floppy discs as they were so susceptible to static charges wiping all the days from the disc!! The word processor might have been WordPerfect. I also temped as a Wang Operator in the late 80s which was more of a dedicated word processor.

 

[maymorganlondon]

I crashed our computer lab at Uni in 1984 :mysmilie_487: I was rubbish at writing programs for the computer...

 

[stratobuddy]

Shall we all start talking in binary, or hexadecimal, or ASCII, or even octal (my favourite)?

 

[Silver Fox]

Shall we all start talking in binary, or hexadecimal, or ASCII, or even octal (my favourite)?

Oh dear Stratobuddy you are sounding just like the Computer Technicians we had when I was working! I am sure they made things up just to see me go cross eyed.

 

[maymorganlondon]

Oh dear Stratobuddy you are sounding just like the Computer Technicians we had when I was working! I am sure they made things up just to see me go cross eyed.

Mind you if you start talking "normal" language, then you'll see Computer Technicians going cross-eyed :mysmilie_14:

I moved from "normal" business into information services and my initial efforts to communicate induced wimpers from my "techie" colleagues.

Nowadays diagrams are the safest mode of communication.

 

[Nicky-j]

We had computers in our senior school (and I left in 1987) and at work from around 1992 or so, so I can believe his timeline.

 

[iloveshopping]

I worked indirectly for the Home Offce in the 1990s. I was amazed to find that there were no computers on the desks. They were using Roladex card files on their desks. All letters were still typed in a typing pool using antiquated word processors. If you wanted a letter typed you took a preprinted copy of a letter and completed the blanks with the addressee name and address, completed the blank sections and sent it to the typing pool. This department had either been starved of cash or the money misspent. There were the remains of failed filing systems in the office. I heard stories of passports going missing and rats in the basement. I had previously worked in the airline industry that was very computerised and in the 1970s for the DHSS which had a large computer system in Newcastle.

 

[Loveinamist]

I bought my ex a Sinclair ZX Spectrum in 1983 for a £100 :mysmilie_13:

 

[caretodiffer]

I had an Amstrad 8256 in 1986, and thought it was the bees knees! It was so reliable, and though I heard lots of stories from other people about problems, mine was just fantastic, never any problems at all. Gave it away to my sister in the end when I got a more modern one, but unfortunately she butchered it.

I remember the Amstrad :happy: I remember most of them were used to play games :mysmilie_47: I also remember later the printed out papers had holes (like punch holes) all along the left hand side.
My first computer was an Evesham in 2001 , it cost me over 1500 and only had 28 GB :nod:
Didn't Scaramanga in the 1974 James Bond film "The Man With The Golden Gun" have a big room of computers...I remember the scene where Brit Ekland hides a tape in her bikini bottom :mysmilie_17:

 

[stratobuddy]

That would be £216 in today's money. (The ZX80 that is, another post has intervened).

My first PC would be £7,100 in today's' money !!!!!

 

[stratobuddy]

The AMS in Amstrad is Alan Michael Sugar.

The TRAD comes from "trading".

 

[loujareth]

I remember being at school around 1981 and we had 1 BBC computer which served the whole school for learning on, then they got another and it was like amazing! (in their eyes) After using the families ZX81 the spectrum was so posh.

 

[maymorganlondon]

I remember being at school around 1981 and we had 1 BBC computer which served the whole school for learning on, then they got another and it was like amazing! (in their eyes) After using the families ZX81 the spectrum was so posh.

Yes - the acquisition of that first computer was a major event at my school. It was stored the in the computer room... essentially a cupboard under the stairs large enough to hold computer, small desk and a chair. Those were the days... the second and subsequent computers really flummoxed the school for a while as they didn't have any suitable and secure classroom space, plus the teachers seemed to regard it as having some sort of unpredictable wild animal on the premises... they were cautious, and secretly terrified of it!!!:mysmilie_48: