Wacky Internet access problem

[Tom]

CPM machine with a floppy ... in the mid to late 70s - mostly IBM, Digital's PDP and Vax systems.

Definitely a walk down memory lane  ;D

 

[Molaker]

You folks are bringing back memories. I used the old fashioned telephone coupler modems at 300 baud right around 1980, and was thrilled when 1200 baud modems came out. Our first home computer was a Heathkit CPM machine with a floppy and 64K memory. We were both using main frames and the old mini computers in the mid to late 70s - mostly IBM, Digital's PDP and Vax systems. Life has come a long way. The deep embedded real-time systems I used to develop are all gone, and I am strictly a user focused on having a good user interface.

Fun walk down memory lane!

Alas, my first computer was a Commodore Vic 20 with no floppy, no modem with only 5K RAM.  I used a cassette tape recorder for external storage and a 300 baud modem.  Then upgraded to a Commodore 64 with an external floppy drive and a 1200 baud modem.  Next I went to a Commodore 128 and, my 1st break into "PC", a ZDS 286 followed by a Gateway 386, all the time trying to learn DOS and Basic.  I wrote my 1st real Basic program while working for Zenith Radio Corp in around 1982 or 83 that made setting up consistent color tracking on ZDS color monitors and Brunswick bowling alley twin monitors (really tricky to make colors match on 2 monitors side-by-side).

 

[SeilerBird]

My first "computer" was an Atari 800. It came with 32k of RAM, but being the power user I was I opted for the 16k memory upgrade for $599. And now one gig flash is under two dollars.

 

[kdbgoat]

My first was an Atari 800XL. 64k, 256 colors, way better than a Commodore 64. I sold it used to a friend with a 13" color tv, floppy disk, cassette tape drive, and a daisy wheel printer for a bargain basement price of $700.

 

[Arch Hoagland]

Aren't computers fun?

 

[SeilerBird]

Aren't computers fun?

Addicting.

 

[Alfa38User]

My first was an Apple II plus CLONE, 64K (Real Apples were 48K at the time) using Apple Dos as the operating system. I added an 80 column card for a better screen output, two outboard floppy drives and an Apple thermal printer. Learned a lot on that machine by copying several pre-written software programs in Basic from magazines that were very popular at the time. Learned to write in Basic myself and that came in very handy at work where I had access to timeshare machines. Time frame: late 1977 or so. (Had worked the 7 prior years as a tech in the first electronic telephone switches (#1 ESS),  used in North America, so I had a good idea how computers actually worked and were programmed.)

"Addicting" describes it perfectly....

 

[8Muddypaws]

My first computer was an IBM 360/40.  Well, not really mine, they paid me about $500 a month to play with it.  I worked in a fishbowl computer room on the ground floor of a downtown office building.  All day long there were noses pressed against the windows watching every move we made because 'those damn computers are going to take over the world'.  How right they were!  Very few people don't own at least one computer.

 

[Tom]

there were noses pressed against the windows watching every move we made ...

Used to see the same thing with our "tech shop" at a steel plant. A clean environment working on the increasing automation. We used to make "fish in a fish bowl" faces at them (the gazers) and pretended to swim.

 

[Molaker]

Okay, my 1st computer was an analog CP-66 as part of the US Navy's A3D Skywarrior ASB-1 bombing system.  I think it replaced the slidebacus (slide rule crossed with an abacus) in the mid '50s and was designed to allow a flight crew to loft (sling) a nuke waaay up in the air and roll out 180 degrees to turn tail and run before the big bright mushroom lit up the sky.  It weighed about 250 lbs and was roughly 18"x18"x36" in dimension.  It mounted at an angle in front of the BN (bombardier/navigator) with one end sticking up and functioning as the control panel.  This was early 60's and was soon replaced by the ASB-7 system with the Navy's 1st digital (sorta) computer.  It only weighed about 160 lbs and broke in two so a 130 lb sailor like me could carry one half and wrestle it up the chute into the cockpit.  Whew!  Now, you mainframe guys can brag about how much your computers weighed and how large they were, but you probably didn't have to carry yours up ladders and across a pitching flight deck.  ;D

 

[Larry N.]

Well, if we're going to talk about computers we worked on, then my first one was the bombing/navigational system (Bomb/Nav) on B-47s. It was an analog computer using servo mechanisms, vacuum tubes, relays, etc. and could be tied to the autopilot for navigation or for the last portion of bomb runs. It even had a periscope that the navigator could use to set winds into the system for more accurate navigation (later models used doppler radar for that). The one we kept on a test bench for repairs took up the better part of a fair sized room, but on the aircraft parts of it were in the vertical fin, parts in the nose, and many other places on board.

My next computer was also analog, and HUGE -- it was AT&T's 4A switching machine, an acre or so of electro-mechanical devices that switched long distance calls. Towards the end of its useful life they added a digital computer (excuse me, that's Stored Program Control, since AT&T couldn't build computers, due to a consent decree) for the routing calculations (it could fit in your pocket today).

 

[Alfa38User]

Snipped...

My next computer was also analog, and HUGE -- it was AT&T's 4A switching machine, an acre or so of electro-mechanical devices that switched long distance calls. Towards the end of its useful life they added a digital computer (excuse me, that's Stored Program Control, since AT&T couldn't build computers, due to a consent decree) for the routing calculations (it could fit in your pocket today).

I get that one!! I worked #5A XBar machines (with Centrex services) for 8 years or so myself!!! Local switching as opposed to long distance switching. That SPC operation was very similar to the #1 ESS 'translator function', as I understood it, but the ESS processors controlled all the switching, not just the routing. There were many #1ESS machines installed in the USA, built by Western Electric and later some #4ESS machines that replaced the 4A XBar switchers were used.

Both were probably developed by Bell Labs (AT&T ?), at Indian Hills (NJ). We also had them in our 4A machines as well.... Ours were built by Northern Electric from the original Bell Labs designs. In 1966 our first Montreal located #1ESS machine, (where I worked from 1972 on), was the first one in service in North America, simply because of the 3 hour time difference between Montreal and Los Angeles!!! (Telephone switches were always cut in or out of service at Midnight on any given day.)

SP1 ESS was developed later by Northern Electric (Nortel) in Canada. It was a hybrid that used a mechanical XBar type switch controlled by a processor and it replaced (inhibited) any further installations of #1 ESS at Bell Canada. We ended up with only 14 or so, including 2 military 4 wire machines.

It is said the a powerful laptop today has a lot more computing power than these big machines ever had but... they were certainly the beginning of an era. But, at least you could see and touch the transistors that made up the gates and processors. They were not hidden in those black centipedes we see  decorating today's circuit boards!!!


Ahhh, memories.....

 

[Molaker]

But, at least you could see and touch the transistors that made up the gates and processors. They were not hidden in those black centipedes we see  decorating today's circuit boards!!!

Shhh!  Let's be more discrete about this. :

 

[UTTransplant]

I worked mostly embedded systems, some commercial and some military. Some were critical safety of life systems too. To me, "computers" are things with operating systems. I seldom wrote code for computers. On my systems, I sometimes wrote the real-time executive (baby operating system) itself in assembly language. Oh, the days of 4K and 8K core memory! We even wrote code on bit-slice processors where you ganged up 4 bit machines to make 16 or 32 bit machines. You had to design and code very carefully to get the function to fit the memory and execution constraints.

I did occasionally write for computers, primarily numeric analysis tasks. One summer in grad school I ported a huge Fortran IV program originally written by a quantum mechanic (yes, really) to model hydrogen atom interaction. It was developed for an odd 60 bit numerical analysis specialty computer called a Cyber 60. I ported the code to a IBM 360 (the code could run only at night since it was so computationally intensive), a Prime computer, and a Vax. None came close to the performance of the Cyber, but with some manual fixed point scaling we got acceptable results running on the Vax in 64 bit mode. Lots of analysis work with the various numerical libraries to see which ones gave the best results. Nowadays this type of work is done on ganged multi-processor systems and probably take 20 seconds or less. Back then we would make runs of 12-24 hours. Much easier now.

 

[Larry N.]

Shhh!  Let's be more discrete about this. :

: ;D ;D ;D

 

[Arch Hoagland]

Any old Sperry Univac guys out there? Spent 25 years repairing mainframes with them. First machine I worked on had vacuum tubes. I'm old.

 

[SeilerBird]

Well I think I have finally gotten all my computer problems straighten out. I called CenturyLink and they took me through the troubleshooting process and came up blank. They decided to send a technician out. He came out and told me that when they hooked up my lot all they did was bring the wire into a junction box on my lot and it was my responsibility to run the wire into the house, hook up the modem and get the computer running. They did not tell me this when I ordered the service. They gave me an install time that happened to fall when I had a ticket to the Acro-Cats circus. The repairman told me they should have left a note on my door telling me that is was hooked up only to the J box. The next step was to call Comcast and convince them to disconnect my service. They spent a long time trying to convince me not to switch. They kept asking what would it take for me to stay with Comcast. I told them fire everyone in the company and start over. Then they upped their offer to include extra premium channels on cable. Oh joy. Spend more money on more services from a company that has treated me miserably. I told her that if they offered to pay me $50 per month to use their cable I would turn it down. I think the cable companies are the biggest ripoffs in America. Every time I take a vacation and stay in a motel I am stuck with a cable TV. Everything they offer is garbage or costs extra.

The repairman ran a line into my RV and told me all I had to do now was hookup the modem and I would be good to go. So I ordered one from Amazon and it arrived two days later. I hooked it up and it got a signal from CL but no Internet. After a few hours of troubleshooting unsuccessfully I gave up and called CL. They tried a bunch of trouble shooting ideas and they all failed so they set up an appointment for the repairman to return. Different guy this time. He checked the signal at the J box and declared it good. Told me to call the modem manufacturer and have them set the modem to work properly. So I called them and they told me it was not their problem, call my ISP. So at this point I realized the only way for this to work would be to return the modem to Amazon and order a modem from CL. It was a lot more expensive to buy one from CL.

Finally the modem arrived. I hooked it up and got online without too many hassles. I am getting the 10mps that they advertised. I have checked it many times and it is always right around 10mps. So I am a happy camper, I now no longer have to put up with Comcast. The only problem I have left will be getting both companies to straighten out the bill. I know both of them will be wrong. I may just give up and pay them so I don't have to go though a few hours of customer service hell.

I deeply appreciate everyone's help with this wacky computer problem.

 

[Arch Hoagland]

Glad to hear you are up and running.

 

[Alfa38User]

.... He came out and told me that when they hooked up my lot all they did was bring the wire into a junction box on my lot and it was my responsibility to run the wire into the house, hook up the modem and get the computer running.

This has been the norm for at least 35 years now. Everything past the junction box is the responsibility of the subscriber if you don't choose to pay for the installation but they should have made sure you understood that.....

Glad you got it up and running.

 

[SeilerBird]

This has been the norm for at least 35 years now. Everything past the junction box is the responsibility of the subscriber if you don't choose to pay for the installation but they should have made sure you understood that.....

I have been living in an RV for the last 15 years and I have not been getting cable or home Internet so therefore I had no clue that this might be the norm.