Father of the personal computer dies.

[Spider]

For all you computer buffs---

The "father of the personal computer" who kick-started the careers of Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen has died at the age of 68.

Dr Henry Edward Roberts was the inventor of the Altair 8800, a machine that sparked the home computer era.


Full story - BBC News - Microsoft founders lead tributes to 'father of the PC' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8600493.stm)

[vangogh]

Sad day. I never owned an Altair 8800, but I do remember them and some of the other early "PCs" like the Tandy TRS-80.

[Patrysha]

Yup...TRS-80, Vic20, Commodore 64...ahh memories...

What was your first home computer? Ours was an Apple II plus. Which we got about the time that the school was getting Apple IIe's

[KristineS]

We had a Commodore 64 when I was a teenager. I can remember trying to program it to do the simplest things. I never was very successful, which is probably why I'm a writer and not a computer programmer.

[Harold Mansfield]

My Grandfather had a Tandy and a Commodore 64 (of course without any internet), so I definitely remember them.
I remember him telling me back then to get involved and learn how to use them because it was the future. It only took me another 20 years or so to actually start getting into it.

He would be amazed at what is possible now.

I'm still a noob in comparison. Although I had been on computers before and frequently snuck into different computer labs of what ever University was around me (Didn't have one course when I was in college), my first computer was a Pentium 4 that I actually still have running.

$1700 with a 15" flat screen (the monitor was $400). All the rage then. I can get 2 computers for that now with 5X's the memory and 4X's the RAM..EACH ! and 2 decent 22" Acer wide screen monitors for $300.

My have the times changed.
Dr. Roberts certainly changed my life.

[Patrysha]

We had a Commodore 64 when I was a teenager. I can remember trying to program it to do the simplest things. I never was very successful, which is probably why I'm a writer and not a computer programmer.

I never did any original programming, but I did spend weeks copying programs from my magazines into the computer. I remember being so proud when I got Rocketman to work. My kids would laugh me out of town if they saw how primitive it was.

I better stop with the memories now before I overshare...there were many interesting moments that began in computer labs...

[billbenson]

Mine was an apple II. Came out right after I graduated. Used it for spreadsheets and word processing. Not much more as I recall. First part of college we had to use punch cards writing a program. That was a real pain!

[vangogh]

I wasn't into computers when I was in high school. It was a friend who had the trash 80. My first computer was actually one of the very first Macs off the assembly line. They built a few thousand for the university I went to (Drexel) and Carnegie Melon. Ours had a "D" emblazoned on the front.

Even in college I didn't care much for computers, though oddly my job in between semesters was on a computer. Can't say I used that Mac all that much. I wrote school papers on it and whatever other program we needed for a class. Mostly I played the game Lode Runner on it, which is still one of my favorite games of all time.

[Patrysha]

I wasn't into computers when I was in high school.

I wasn't into computers so much as the boys who like computers :p Boys who were into computers and hockey got double points...

[vangogh]

I was almost there. I was much more into hockey in high school than computers. If only we knew each other when.

[dynocat]

My first was a Gateway XT Intel 8088 processor. Those were the days! .. amber monochrome screen .. DOS .. batch files .. floppy disks .. and where I first played Tetris .. Ahhh, the memories!

[Spider]

I visited the USA in 1977 to purchase a TRS-80 with which to start my business. I wrote an estimating program in BASIC (on audio tape cassette!) to do our contract bids. I would guess there were a thousand or so labor constants to that application, plus the materials content for each item. We also did all our accounting and payroll on it.

I found it especially amazing because I had only 3 years earlier bought my first pocket calculator, and my job at that time involved virtually all day long mathematical calculations, that I had been doing by hand for the previous 10 years.

Gosh! That seems so long ago!

[vangogh]

Gosh! That seems so long ago!

It does, doesn't it? I remember my first few pocket calculators. Years and years ago I was an engineering student and I couldn't live without my HP calculator with reverse polish notation. I still have it around here actually, though the battery dies years ago and I've never had a need to replace it.

I can probably download an app for my iPhone that's more powerful.

[Steve B]

Commodore 64. I wrote my graduate school papers on it and printed them with a daisy wheel printer. I used a $5 cartridge program called Write Now! and then I would plug in a different cartridge to do spell check (Spell Now!). The spell check took about 20 minutes, but was so worth the extra time!

I then used the same computer to write a Basic program to do a Bill of Materials list for a manufacturing company I worked for.

Prior to that I did some Basic programming in high school (graduated in 80) connected to a main frame via a telephone modem (where you plugged the whole telephone receiver into the rubber cups)

[Harold Mansfield]

via a telephone modem (where you plugged the whole telephone receiver into the rubber cups)

WOW ! I can imagine that being a tech marvel at the time, but it seems so distant from where we are now that kids will probably think it was 100 years ago.

[Patrysha]

We have the answering system from the old hotel in our little forestry museum (just like the one from Mad Men only smaller) that always gets some weird looks and lots of questions from the kids. It really is funny how recently that technology was actually used.

I graduated from high school 10 years after Steve B.

[Harold Mansfield]

Someone brought up Keycard or Keypunch cards earlier. When I was a kid, one of my Mom's first jobs was a Keypunch Operator.

From what I remember, it was a big room with a bunch of machines that looked like printing machines and people just sat there all day and fed these manila colored cards with holes punched in them (about the size of an old time card), into the machines.

I'll bet that same "Processing" can now be done on a PC.
I've heard people say that there is more processing power in your PC, Smart Phones and Video Game consoles than all of the computer processors that powered the Apollo Moon Mission.

[billbenson]

It does, doesn't it? I remember my first few pocket calculators. Years and years ago I was an engineering student and I couldn't live without my HP calculator with reverse polish notation. I still have it around here actually, though the battery dies years ago and I've never had a need to replace it.

I can probably download an app for my iPhone that's more powerful.

My college calculator was a hp 45 I paid $450 for. Wore it out through college and I bought a HP financial calculator in 1980 ish which died last year. Approx 30 years. I want to buy another one. I like the Reverse Polish Notation style. Maybe just because I'm used to it. Or maybe because I'm polish :)

[Business Attorney]

My first home computer was an IBM PCjr. My first computer (which I bought for my office about two years prior to that) was a Victor 9000 which could run dual operating systems - PC DOS (later called MS DOS) and CPM 86 (from Digital). It had no hard drive (no desktop computer did at that time) and two floppy drives.

On the subject of calculators, I have been using the same HP12c since 1985 and it seems to be going strong after 25 years.

[vangogh]

My college calculator was a hp 45 I paid $450 for.

I forget which model I have, though it's in another room here so I guess I could always find it. I think I paid around $150 for it at the time.

[KristineS]

It seems weird to think that my high school graduation gift was an electric typewriter and I thought that was the height of technology. Computers were just barely starting to be used when I went to college.

It's so weird how much things have changed. Now I can't imagine being without my laptop and the Internet. My laptop was out of commission for two days and I had withdrawal pangs.

[vangogh]

Same here. I had an electric typewriter in college and it was years ahead of manual typewriters. At the time it was the height of technology. Hard to believe many of us grew up when there was no such thing as a personal computer. How did we ever get through the day? :)

[billbenson]

I had a terrible statistics instructor in college (pre computer). One assignment required putting several hundred numbers in ascending order. Unfortunately, I graduated with an A in statistics and knew very little about the subject because he didn't really teach any theory.

Today, because of computers, kids don't have to spend as much time on mundane tasks like putting numbers in a row. They can spend their time learning theory. I suspect this transcends most curriculums.

I believe that todays graduates are coming out of college with a much larger knowledge base because they aren't spending as much time on busywork. For those that wonder why technology is moving so fast, could be the PC had something to do with it...

[Spider]

Great observation, Bill, but there are pros and cons.

I blame the reliance on PC, calculators for today's poor mathematical skills. To watch someone struggle over adding $2.10 and 90¢, as I did the other day, makes me think a little more of that "busywork" like adding columns of numbers in your head, might have been useful.

[Harold Mansfield]

Great observation, Bill, but there are pros and cons.

I blame the reliance on PC, calculators for today's poor mathematical skills. To watch someone struggle over adding $2.10 and 90¢, as I did the other day, makes me think a little more of that "busywork" like adding columns of numbers in your head, might have been useful.

Oh man, that reminds me of a time when I was working at a busy nightclub and one of the micros went down.
The girl assigned to it had to work with the drawer open ( of course the place had cameras and spotters) and no computer to still be able to take orders and continue selling.
It was HILARIOUS to watch her moving her lips and using her fingers to count. She was completely lost on everything, pricing, but especially adding up orders in her head and giving back change. It was also sad.

To be fair, she was an idiot anyway, but this was just too classic,
Eventually the manager moved her off of that drawer and put me on it, and then a new machine came in about an hour later.

The 20 minutes that she was on the drawer after it went down she was short over $200.
She will always go down as one of the dumbest bartenders that I have ever worked with.
How can you be a bartender and not be able to count money?

[Patrysha]

Those are the reasons (the whole change thing and not knowing simple math equations) that I have made sure to supplement my kids' education to make sure they actually know this stuff...not that I am great at it (I tend to suck at math), but I did learn how to count cash back and know the times tables...how easy is that? And yet most ppl don't bother to learn it all anymore.

It bugs me that they hand out the Mad Minutes in schools and just let them do them at their own pace...gah...that doesn't build speed or instant recall and it's not doing the kids any favours.

[KristineS]

I definitely think everyone should have the basic skills. You should be able to add subtract, multiply and divide and make change. You should also be able to write a simple sentence and a coherent paragraph and understand the basic rules of grammar and composition.

I know there are a lot of machines or programs that will do these things for you, but that doesn't make any difference.

[billbenson]

I don't know that basic math is a good example, Spider. I think its a skill that should be taught at grade school and high school levels. I wouldn't put it in the category of busywork. I hope it doesn't go the way of short hand, which my father knew and was a great tool thats obsolete.

I do think you are correct, however. There will be things that should be taught or learned and computers may take away from that. I think the good outweighs the bad though.

[billbenson]

Eborg, when I worked security at Sears in college, we handled overs and shorts on registers looking for employees stealing. There was one girl who couldn't give proper change, even though the register told her the amount to give a customer.

I think most people including kids growing up in the computer age have the basic math. Waiters need to be able to count change on the spot for example. Same with people buying things and making sure they have the proper change or calculating discounts on items while they are shopping. There is no cure for "stupid" though...