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Re: The lure of retro computing

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RS Wood  <rsw@therandymon.com>:

> What's the best computer you ever owned?

I did a lot of fun stuff with my father's office computer: a Xerox
desktop computer with 64 kB of RAM, two 8" floppy-disk drives, a Z80
processor running at 4 MHz IIRC, the CP/M OS, a CRT display with
memory-mapped character display (ASCII + graphics characters) with a
scroll register for super-fast scrolling, a Diablo 630 daisy wheel
printer.

I learned Z80 assembly, dynamic debugging, BIOS listings, sorting
algorithms, Pascal programming and producing polyphonic choral music by
controlling the speaker's coil directly.

Still, the modern computer with Linux, the Internet and the gamut of
programming languages is far more rewarding. Only I feel sorry for the
young programmers who have to jump straight to the complexities without
having the luxury of understanding *everything* of a small
microcomputer.


Marko

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Thread

The lure of retro computing RS Wood  <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-05-06 18:40 +0000
  Re: The lure of retro computing Bob Eager <news0002@eager.cx> - 2014-05-06 19:41 +0000
  Re: The lure of retro computing Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-05-06 22:59 +0300
    Re: The lure of retro computing despen@verizon.net (Dan.Espen) - 2014-05-06 16:19 -0400
      Re: The lure of retro computing Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-05-07 00:19 +0300
    Re: The lure of retro computing "G. Paul Ziemba" <paul+usenet@w6yx.stanford.edu> - 2014-05-07 06:06 +0000
    Re: The lure of retro computing Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2014-05-07 07:10 +0000
    Re: The lure of retro computing David Harmon <source@netcom.com> - 2014-05-08 20:38 -0700
      Re: The lure of retro computing Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-05-09 10:28 +0300
      Re: The lure of retro computing Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2014-05-09 10:08 +0100
  Re: The lure of retro computing Roger Blake <rogblake@iname.invalid> - 2014-05-06 21:09 +0000
  Re: The lure of retro computing Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> - 2014-05-06 22:29 +0000
  Re: The lure of retro computing Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> - 2014-05-07 06:39 -0700
  Re: The lure of retro computing Bob Eager <news0002@eager.cx> - 2014-05-08 18:14 +0000
    Re: The lure of retro computing Stephen Thomas Cole <usenet@stephenthomascole.com> - 2014-05-09 13:34 +0000
      Re: The lure of retro computing Bob Eager <news0002@eager.cx> - 2014-05-09 14:39 +0000
      Re: The lure of retro computing Bob Eager <news0002@eager.cx> - 2014-05-09 14:40 +0000

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