I can remember being a sophmore in highschool (1974) and thinking I was the coolest, because my grades were good enough to allow me to be in the "Computer Science" class for the winter semester.
Now mind you, the eight of us in the class, (which met twice a week) were only learning 'Basic' with a bit of FORTRAN tossed in...,
We were allowed only 15 minutes each (per day) of time on the phone-modem connection to the Gee-Whizz-Bang Mainframe at the State University of NY in Albany.
(I was going to Christian Brothers Academy in albany at the time.)
And what great project were we all working on, you might ask...
Using 300 punch cards to create a 14"x 36" cartoon of Snoopy Dancing, made out of "X"s..."O"s... and Various letters of the alaphabet...
I came in second place with only 12 errors in the whole drawing.
The first place kid had five errors.
( I beat him the next year when my free form Dragon pic had only two errors out of 432 cards.)
I use to love to sit in the empty printer room during my "Study Hall" classes and just listen to the constant rat-a-tat-tat of that clunky old machine.
We all took turns sitting in there because somebody had to be constantly watching the machine while it was running, to make sure it didn't jam of run out of paper.
HATED JAMS!! ... cause it meant that the card run had to be Reloaded From The Start and you had just lost a portion of your precious 15 minutes for that day.
...talk about 15 year old teenage angst !!!
One kid was three cards away from finishing his final run for a grade, when the card reader jammed and ate about a third of his project... (about 40 cards started spewing across the room quite bent and mangled)
Needless to say, Prof. Cole (the Teacher) was not happy when he came back to find that the kid had picked up the card-reader and tossed it out the open window of the class. (second story on to a grassy knoll)
I was laffing my TRIBBLE off about that for weeks afterward.
Fortunately for the rest of the class, we had a back-up card reader loaned to us from the University.
Oh what was also really neat about the class, was that the Prof. had been one of the engineers who had worked on the first few UNIVAC computers.
Yeap...funny to see the different ages out there. I am about to hit the big 39 later this month. I still remember all the time rolling the score board on Astroids on my 2600. I am also like alot of you all...I will game until I can not do it any more!
rm
''Do not take life too seriously... You will not get out alive!"
First graphical computer game I became addited to (back i n 1981): Star Raiders on the Atari 800 personal computer. (It was on a cartridge as the 800 has a few cartridge based games available.) Got replaced (and I had to by an external 80KB floppy drive) by Universe.;)
(man this thread is bringing back some memories:eek:)
Especially when some of them, myself included, are among the original gamer generation.
Going by your profile your 28, I'd say you're a second generation gamer. Now me being 37, I'm part of the original gamer generation of the late 70's early 80's.
Geesh. The way you lot talk about computers....as a 20 year old, I must ask: what are you, museum keepers?
Though I will admit....I took ownership of my Brother's TANDY MK2 Word Porcessor, with it's wonderful monochrome, 6 line display, function buttons, Z80 8 bit microprocessor...and 256KB STORAGE memory. It even has the manual and charger.
I can't imagine there's going to be a day that I'm suddenly going to stop gaming, or keeping up with technology.
Sure, my parents never really got into it, but they didn't grow up with it. We are just now seeing the first computer generation reach adulthood, and beyond.
Anyone besides me remember the old key punch cards ??? (try putting one card in the center of the deck with a round hole in it .. sand back and watch the fun !)
Did you hear about when phone Bills used to come as Punch Cards?
You needed to see which holes were punched out to know how much you had to pay.
One guy in Poughkeepsie, NY got a bill for over $3,000. He wrote back to the phone co, and told them they had made a mistake. Obstinate as they were, they just told him to pay his bill, and stop procrastinating. After 3 or 4 months of Back & Forth with them, he took the card outside, through it on the ground, and drove his car back and forth over it several times, and mailed it back to them.
The following month, he received a check from them for over $300,000. Very shortly after that, they wrote to him and said they had sent him the check in error. He wrote back and said, Now that I have your attention, Lets discuss my phone bill. After they corrected his bill, he returned their check.
Soon after that, they quit using Hole Punch Cards for billing.
I haven't posted my age as yet. I hit 62 last year. Anyone out there beat that?
You may have the forums beat, I don't know too many people that age who can use computers but you do remind me a lot of some old military friends. I used to know one guy in his 70s that played battlefield with us (and was pretty decent).
I am certain I am not the oldest player overall, far from it. However, i am probably one the oldest to have had a doctor prescribe video games to me in my youth.
I haven't posted my age as yet. I hit 62 last year. Anyone out there beat that?
Did you hear about when phone Bills used to come as Punch Cards?
You needed to see which holes were punched out to know how much you had to pay.
One guy in Poughkeepsie, NY got a bill for over $3,000. He wrote back to the phone co, and told them they had made a mistake. Obstinate as they were, they just told him to pay his bill, and stop procrastinating. After 3 or 4 months of Back & Forth with them, he took the card outside, through it on the ground, and drove his car back and forth over it several times, and mailed it back to them.
The following month, he received a check from them for over $300,000. Very shortly after that, they wrote to him and said they had sent him the check in error. He wrote back and said, Now that I have your attention, Lets discuss my phone bill. After they corrected his bill, he returned their check.
Soon after that, they quit using Hole Punch Cards for billing.
hahahahah !!
Yup . I remember those days ! I also remember what a strong electromagnet could do to the NEXT generation of computers .. you know the ones with the HUGE reel to reel tapes !
BTW.... I'll be 59 in June ... sooo yeah .. Ya got me beat ! (but not by that much). I'm certain we could discuss some really interesting stuff from the past !
Yup . I remember those days ! I also remember what a strong electromagnet could do to the NEXT generation of computers .. you know the ones with the HUGE reel to reel tapes !
BTW.... I'll be 59 in June ... sooo yeah .. Ya got me beat ! (but not by that much). I'm certain we could discuss some really interesting stuff from the past !
Yep, Used to Walk 5 miles to school every day. Up Hill Both Ways too! ...... :rolleyes:
I am certain I am not the oldest player overall, far from it. However, i am probably one the oldest to have had a doctor prescribe video games to me in my youth.
Going by your profile your 28, I'd say you're a second generation gamer. Now me being 37, I'm part of the original gamer generation of the late 70's early 80's.
Pong predates the Atari 2600, but the first home video game system was the Magnavox Odyssey (1972.)
I had one of the later Odyssey's (the 300, the big yellow one), and it still works, after that moved on to the 2600. Before they released the 5200 (which most kids were getting into) I had stepped up to a Commodore 64 and never looked at another console until the PS2 over 18 years later.
I would almost bet that I have the majority of you beat.
The first Computer I used was an IBM-8088 with 560 K Ram, and a 20 Meg HD. It ran DOS-3.0. The only Game on it was the WORM that you guided around the screen, with the four arrow keys, picking up Numbers 1 - 10, and tried very hard not to run into yourself while doing it. If you hit any part of yourself, you died. Each Number you grabbed made you get Longer.
My Present system, and this game are a BIG Step above that.
I remember that one...
My all time favorite was mechwarrior on my amiga. I had more fun with that then any mechwarrior themed game since.
I would submit that to truely be called an 'old school gamer' you have to be well versed in DOS.
I'm 29.9 myself. Next year I'll be 29.99, then 29.999. Hopefully nobody will catch on >.>
I'm permanently 29. I just celebrate anniversaries of my 29th birthday now.
My dad and I played Magnavox Odyssey together when I was a kid. A few months back, he came over to my house, and my kids, my dad, and I all got together and played Beatles Rock Band together. It was freaking awesome.
With all the garbage on TV, we hardly watch TV anymore. Instead, my family games together. We all play Rock Band and Dance Central together. My youngest and I play Pokemon together. My oldest and I play STO together. Hubby and I play Guild Wars together. It gives new meaning to 'family game night' at hour house.
I remember that one...
My all time favorite was mechwarrior on my amiga. I had more fun with that then any mechwarrior themed game since.
I would submit that to truely be called an 'old school gamer' you have to be well versed in DOS.
Meh, even during the infant days of consoles and simple computers some of us where playing games, War games, miniatures, RPG's, we used the early days to write simple programs to help in our table top games.
"Old school gamers" tossed dice and used grid paper or tape measures to play games, not keyboards.:p
Meh, even during the infant days of consoles and simple computers some of us where playing games, War games, miniatures, RPG's, we used the early days to write simple programs to help in our table top games.
"Old school gamers" tossed dice and used grid paper or tape measures to play games, not keyboards.:p
I remember that one...
My all time favorite was mechwarrior on my amiga. I had more fun with that then any mechwarrior themed game since.
I would submit that to truely be called an 'old school gamer' you have to be well versed in DOS.
I still have a couple of DOS based games I would love to get back into. I never got into Mechwarrior more than a little, always been partial to space based games. Alien Legacy is one I really love. That played best on DOS-7.0 due to Memory Management capabilities.
Wow there's lotsa cool stuff being mentioned in this thread, stuff I remember from long ago.
I'm 37 myself.
And I'm proudly a fan of the REAL Trek. Someone complained about the younger fans who see it as just another scifi, well... honestly, that's why I didn't like the Abrams trek movie too much, because it pandered to that too much rather than the philosophy of Trek. But ehwell. Not all the original movies or shows had great concepts either I guess. Heehee.
Comments
That is awesome!!!!
I use to love to sit in the empty printer room during my "Study Hall" classes and just listen to the constant rat-a-tat-tat of that clunky old machine.
We all took turns sitting in there because somebody had to be constantly watching the machine while it was running, to make sure it didn't jam of run out of paper.
HATED JAMS!! ... cause it meant that the card run had to be Reloaded From The Start and you had just lost a portion of your precious 15 minutes for that day.
...talk about 15 year old teenage angst !!!
One kid was three cards away from finishing his final run for a grade, when the card reader jammed and ate about a third of his project... (about 40 cards started spewing across the room quite bent and mangled)
Needless to say, Prof. Cole (the Teacher) was not happy when he came back to find that the kid had picked up the card-reader and tossed it out the open window of the class. (second story on to a grassy knoll)
I was laffing my TRIBBLE off about that for weeks afterward.
Fortunately for the rest of the class, we had a back-up card reader loaned to us from the University.
Oh what was also really neat about the class, was that the Prof. had been one of the engineers who had worked on the first few UNIVAC computers.
rm
''Do not take life too seriously... You will not get out alive!"
First graphical computer game I became addited to (back i n 1981): Star Raiders on the Atari 800 personal computer. (It was on a cartridge as the 800 has a few cartridge based games available.) Got replaced (and I had to by an external 80KB floppy drive) by Universe.;)
(man this thread is bringing back some memories:eek:)
Going by your profile your 28, I'd say you're a second generation gamer. Now me being 37, I'm part of the original gamer generation of the late 70's early 80's.
Pong predates the Atari 2600, but the first home video game system was the Magnavox Odyssey (1972.)
Though I will admit....I took ownership of my Brother's TANDY MK2 Word Porcessor, with it's wonderful monochrome, 6 line display, function buttons, Z80 8 bit microprocessor...and 256KB STORAGE memory. It even has the manual and charger.
Man, 80's tech sucks. But at least it's reliable.
Sure, my parents never really got into it, but they didn't grow up with it. We are just now seeing the first computer generation reach adulthood, and beyond.
Did you hear about when phone Bills used to come as Punch Cards?
You needed to see which holes were punched out to know how much you had to pay.
One guy in Poughkeepsie, NY got a bill for over $3,000. He wrote back to the phone co, and told them they had made a mistake. Obstinate as they were, they just told him to pay his bill, and stop procrastinating. After 3 or 4 months of Back & Forth with them, he took the card outside, through it on the ground, and drove his car back and forth over it several times, and mailed it back to them.
The following month, he received a check from them for over $300,000. Very shortly after that, they wrote to him and said they had sent him the check in error. He wrote back and said, Now that I have your attention, Lets discuss my phone bill. After they corrected his bill, he returned their check.
Soon after that, they quit using Hole Punch Cards for billing.
Not even close!!!!
Doesn't matter to me what age group you are, your gaming, your having fun and thats what matters
hahahahah !!
Yup . I remember those days ! I also remember what a strong electromagnet could do to the NEXT generation of computers .. you know the ones with the HUGE reel to reel tapes !
BTW.... I'll be 59 in June ... sooo yeah .. Ya got me beat ! (but not by that much). I'm certain we could discuss some really interesting stuff from the past !
Get Off My Lawn !
/Voice
Yep, Used to Walk 5 miles to school every day. Up Hill Both Ways too! ...... :rolleyes:
Story! Tell!
I had one of the later Odyssey's (the 300, the big yellow one), and it still works, after that moved on to the 2600. Before they released the 5200 (which most kids were getting into) I had stepped up to a Commodore 64 and never looked at another console until the PS2 over 18 years later.
Poor fine motor control, doctor recommended vidieo games and prestidigitation. That was around 1981.
Fascinating. And, as shown by later research, not at all unreasonable.
I remember that one...
My all time favorite was mechwarrior on my amiga. I had more fun with that then any mechwarrior themed game since.
I would submit that to truely be called an 'old school gamer' you have to be well versed in DOS.
My dad and I played Magnavox Odyssey together when I was a kid. A few months back, he came over to my house, and my kids, my dad, and I all got together and played Beatles Rock Band together. It was freaking awesome.
With all the garbage on TV, we hardly watch TV anymore. Instead, my family games together. We all play Rock Band and Dance Central together. My youngest and I play Pokemon together. My oldest and I play STO together. Hubby and I play Guild Wars together. It gives new meaning to 'family game night' at hour house.
Meh, even during the infant days of consoles and simple computers some of us where playing games, War games, miniatures, RPG's, we used the early days to write simple programs to help in our table top games.
"Old school gamers" tossed dice and used grid paper or tape measures to play games, not keyboards.:p
"old school gamers" played chess by mail!
10 print "Hello World"
20 goto 10
I even tried programming a Star Trek text adventure for part of a computer class in high school. It actually wasn't half bad for an amateur.
For all you parents out there who have young whippersnappers beating you at the latest and greatest games, here is a great tutorial video.
I still have a couple of DOS based games I would love to get back into. I never got into Mechwarrior more than a little, always been partial to space based games. Alien Legacy is one I really love. That played best on DOS-7.0 due to Memory Management capabilities.
..you forgot the 3 feet of snow...
Loved that... especially the step where the kid comes back with a glass full of pee.... :eek:
ROTFLMAO
10 print "Home"
20 print "Sweet"
30 goto 10
I'm 37 myself.
And I'm proudly a fan of the REAL Trek. Someone complained about the younger fans who see it as just another scifi, well... honestly, that's why I didn't like the Abrams trek movie too much, because it pandered to that too much rather than the philosophy of Trek. But ehwell. Not all the original movies or shows had great concepts either I guess. Heehee.
Ah, The Snow, I forgot the Snow!
There are three sure signs of Old Age, one is Forgetfulness, and I forget what the other two are.