FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Dave, do you remember when a 1200 Baud modem was lightening fast?

donnyman

1200 baud rate? I am not sure even today of exactly what a baud rate is.

What I was most fond of back in the day was my nintendo which we played on a old tv we found in the trash. I loved space invaders.
and don't forget the high tech. PONG game. Pong was the first game I saw on a radio shack computer a work mate had. we have come a long way since.

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

Yup, and I remember when DOS 3 was the big thing until 5 came out. By then Windows was gaining popularity.

Yes I started with a modem that had a 300 baud rate. When 56.600 came out in the nineties it was like incredible. Some of the old BBS's were pretty good back then. The internet took right over.

buzzard bait

By the time Pong came out I was married. My first exposure to computers was in college when learned FORTRAN and turned in punch cards. A few years later Wang came out with a computer that could do square roots. We would sign up to go into a special room with two terminals and do our calculations.

"Over 50" covers a lot of territory. I guess what we have in common is that in order to fly models we had to build them first.

acdii

I started working with computers back in the early 80's with a Timex Sinclair, then got a TS 2068 Color computer. I worked on NEC computer that created programming for Strippit Turret punch presses that used bubble memory and the programming was done with punch tape. The PC's booted from 5 1/4" floppies and were green screens. Remember Thick Net? LOL there was provisioning on the presses for this, and I think Token ring was about to come out for them.

Now I hate computers

Mad Man Marko-RCU

I remember at a Co-op job while in college in the late 1970's working with the early PC's (trash 80) and using a teletype for punching paper tapes for CNC programs on Fanuc 3's and 6's and also the GE Century 500 I believe. That was the same time I was flying my Hobby Lobby 5, 6 and 3 channel radios. Then I bought an American RC Mantis and a Futaba helicopter radio (which as soon as the engine started had a mind of its own). It is amazing how far we have come in the 43 years since I bought that Hobby Lobby 5. I bought it over the Kraft Sport Series that my local hobby shop man wanted me to buy because it had the first form of servo reversing that I had ever seen. It had 5 coin connectors between the receiver and servo and came with instructions to reverse 2 pairs of wires in the plug and then your servo was reversed. In 1973 I thought that was the cat's meow. The radio is still downstairs and still works (but the servos are a little shakey).

I-fly-any-and-all

My Feedback: (1)

funny you mention early fanuc controllers, im a cnc programmer, machinist of skilled trade and the compnay im currently working for has 1985 cnc mills using fanuc 11 controllers but the old tape reader is still mounted on the side of the machine.

skylark-flier

Geez, this and the next several msgs really send me back. My first USAF job was with an IBM MOD-28 teletype, 5-hole tape and all. I'd just gotten out of Goodfellow AFB Tx with my required 20 wpm typing rate and suddenly I had this nasty, noisy monster to feed and attend. Within a year I was up to the machine's 70 wpm max capability - I'd type on one machine and run the tape off the machine next to me to get a perfect hard copy - - all the time, gaining on the tape between the machines.

To this day I can type in excess of 65 wpm.

I don't really remember a whole lot about the early modems - my first one was a Hayes (23.3??) unit that was hooked to a Win 3.1 computer. At that time the only "online" capability I had was Juno e-mail svc. I remember that I couldn't use the telephone when I had the modem plugged in and active. Still got it, packed in a box in the basement, but I haven't actually looked at it in YEARS!

I remember my brothers (both computer gurus, then and now) talking about their brand new "company bought" PCs with a couple MEGs memory. They used to talk about "all that incredible memory" - didn't think it was possible to ever use it all up. Yeah, right. They had (and still have) all the bells and whistles possible for their work - WAY BEYOND ME!!!!!

PONG!!!!!! Yup, still got mine - 6 "D" cell batteries running it - and it's operational still. Also have my original Atari 2600 still running, and the Odessey-2 still operational. That was the beginning and end of my gaming computer systems - never went any farther. Actually, just a couple years ago somebody came up with a "retro" recreation of the 2600 - has 50 or so games built right into it, and of course, I bought one. My favorite games on it are Space Invaders, Missile Command, Pac Man and Frogger. Of course, all these systems are plugged into my old Motorola 21" color TV.

Yeah, I'm THAT old.

oh44077

My Feedback: (5)

81 years old first plane testors profile u control plane with a forster 29 ignition engine converted to glow with an arden glow plug in 1949, still have plane and engine. also have a 1936 denny plane given to me by my uncle in 1945.

brner

Dang does that bring back memories. Around the same time I bought two Timex kits (TS80, if I remember right). Had a whopping 1K of memory but you could get (and I did get) a module that boosted the Timex to 2K.....Woooooooooooow Blazing fast...lol Taught myself Sinclair Basic. Built a couple of small (very small) programs that had to be stored on and loaded from a cassette deck....man, was I living then...lol Frogger was the only game I had on it....then I went big time...bought a Laser 128 (Apple clone). Ahhhhhhh, for those good old days.....

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I remember when I got my first harddrive, a 10 meg NEC with 11 MS access speed, and thinking now I'll never run out of space!. Boy that didn't last long, less than 6 months I think.

donnyman

I am having a good time reading you guys input..........I told my son about the 1200 baud rate and he told me I bought him a 1200 baud rate something or other and he still has it. He said at the time he thought he was ahead of the world and was amazed at the speed.

I remember the punch cards and tapes real well, my employer put a halt to the hole punch medium with our new magnetic tapes and discs. It was an exciting time and the advancements came even faster.

Now days you buy a computer and it is obsolete before you get it home.

My wife will not accept any computer that will not run her packman game!

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Well she does have her standards!

Joe Fisher

My Feedback: (4)

Welcome oh44077, I have some O&R's a 19 and a 23 I flew them U/C when I was in high school in the early 1960's . I had a Super Ringmaster on 52' lines with the 23 it would fly level at shoulder height with the 19 I could just get it to loop.

Carlos Murphy

My Feedback: (72)

81 huh? I don't go back that far, I was borne in 44 and my earliest memory of a airplane was when I was 2 or 3 years old when my father (in the Air Force) would come home, bend over reaching into my playpen and handing me a little plastic airplane.
15 years later I flew my first u/c combat wing.
Welcome to the club.

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

Speaking of O&R engines. I have an old .23 that my did flew U control with back in the early 50's. It was converted to glow and hasn't run in over 40 years now. I had it running when I was about 14.

GallopingGhostler

No tech person likes politics and red tape. Got enough stories to tell, but would be better to share off line than in a public forum.

Good that your particular political situation allowed you to get the job done and had someone supporting you above or at least not stopping you.

tony0707

If you fly two cycle Glo ,you may go to , forums--RC Aircraft : Tips and techniques
Subject is - what i have learned to over the years ,to keep my glo aircraft flying more reliably
Hope it helps some pick up a tip or idea or just reinforces what you know and have done
I am 71 ,flew U control for 6 years when in my teens ,flying two cycle glo for 23 years , until the present
Have had an amazing track record doing both types of of flying in the hobby
My success in RC has a lot to do with my outstanding instructor ,i had the good fortune to fly with for about 15 years ,of my 23
You can see my aircraft in: My Gallery-- on the left of this thread
Some of the better flying two cycle planes and engines from the last 20 years, many have hundreds of , good time , flights and trips to the field
ENJOY and have FUN ,or you are doing something wrong !

donnyman

Tony 0707

Welcome! you have been busy ...... Flying u/c in the past was a blast for me too. building r/c is my main interst now. Enjoy!

donnyman

What kinda zapped my mind was being told by upper management that I was not treated fairly as far as advancement was involved considering my work ethic of getting the job done. this is something I always knew but had no way to confirm it. Actually I would have preferred not to be told. I retired soon after.

rt3232

My Feedback: (6)

Hay Donny even back when I retired from the electronics industry the first time ( 68 ) I was told not to be so blunt when getting things done, though it was not called being politically correct at that time
So a spade is a spade and B@#S is still B#$S just my thoughts

I know how you feel

Cheers

blvdbuzzard

Well I just made the age limit, turned 50 couple weeks ago. Yes I am feeling old. I have the mind of a 16 year old, the body of a 90 year old with a few pieces missing and a few added from other people.

My first, actual computer was an Atari 512. Oh how I was smokin hot techie. I had the 5 1/4 floppy, tape drive and oh you will be green with envy here, the cradle modem. The modem was as fast as lighting. It was able to do 5400 and 9600 baud rates. MAN O MAN I could connect to the UCSD bulletin board in under 20 minutes. What could you ever hope to be faster. Then got a 486DX33, 4 megs of ram, 20meg drive, No way on earth will you ever fill that thing. DOS 3. Any one remember the command to edit a doc?

Now a net admin on a small 15k user 23k asset, 386 location network.

Peek, poke, draw to, if not than, if greater than or equal to, I speak basic to my PC, how about you?

Cox PT-19 UC. We crashed that so many times. Ordered enough parts to build 50 of those planes. Spend the day at the school with a 1.5v dry cell, pint of fuel couple of props and glow plugs.

First radio was a Galloping Ghost single channel. Then I was able to upgrade to a Heath kit 2 channel. I struggled to assemble that thing. I had it all set, took it to the heath kit store, the guy there spent an hour re-soldering my joints, tuned it, all for free. Those were the days. Had Kraft, EK Logic. I was corned at the field for bringing a black and chrome PLASTIC radio. Oh how the screamed. They said it was going to knock down every plane in the air. They said it was cheap junk made in Japan of all places. They had trouble saying the name Futaba too. Boy have times changed.

I just got a FrySky i10 radio. Talk about Fred Flintstone meets the Jetsons. Color touch screen, stupidly simple to program.

So I have joined the old pharts club, over the hill gang, rocking chairs are us. Get off my lawn you damn kids.

Buzz.

acdii

LOL I was there 10 years ago, and I'm only 52! Anyone remember the plastic covered foam and wood ARF's from the 80's?

Joe Fisher

My Feedback: (4)

Welcome Buzz,Sounds like you had fun.

donnyman

Well I do a lot of grumping but I do have much to be thankful for because of the people I worked for/with. GOD bless them all!