Happy Birthday, IBM PC!

[TI-994A]

The one that started it all...

[blueb]

I bought mine at a just opened 'IBM Store' in Dec 1981. Cost with a dual-floppy (160kb capacity), mono-chrome monitor, and an IBM dot-matrix printer was $7,100 CAD (6,000 USD). I remember because a 'leasing expert' came into our business and wanted to give us a 4 year lease for over $11,000, which I nearly choked on at the time.

Times have changed. I recently bought an 8 core 16 thread NUC for a little over $500(US) haha

[TI-994A]

I bought mine at a just opened 'IBM Store' in Dec 1981. Cost with a dual-floppy (160kb capacity), mono-chrome monitor, and an IBM dot-matrix printer was $7,100 CAD (6,000 USD).

Lucky you! I had always wanted one, but it was prohibitively expensive. The amount you had paid is equivalent to about $25,000 today.

Nevertheless, I was still lucky enough to get a compatible - the Canon A200 PC. Lovely machine with whisper-soft floppy drives. And I already had an Epson 80-column dot-matrix printer for my TI-99/4A. Loved the fanfold paper!



Computers and their peripheral hardware somehow had a different thrill to them in the early days.

[Caronte3D]

I learned COBOL on a machine like that.
Good old times... The only syntax I remember is: "Procedure Division"

[TI-994A]

I learned COBOL on a machine like that.

I was required to learn COBOL in college! BASIC was not offered even as an elective.

Code: Select all

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. HELLOWORLD.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
  DISPLAY 'HELLO, WORLD!'.
  STOP RUN.

[blueb]

... The amount you had paid is equivalent to about $25,000 today.

True.. but worth every penny! How else would I have found PureBasic?

No, seriously, over the years I've really enjoyed using computers.

[TI-994A]

True.. but worth every penny! How else would I have found PureBasic?

No, seriously, over the years I've really enjoyed using computers.

I'm sure it was. And computers are always great, but never as great as the early home computers of the 80s.

[Piero]

The one that started it all...