Not quite on topic....

The Auld Grump

I have one of these in storage. I don't even think it is that old...maybe ten years.

I now feel old. I have, did or remember pretty much every thing in this thread.

You know that now days these are more like a solid piece. I got a new one just last year, for a digital unit.

Had several of these as a kid. But now days you can't hardly get an analog only model, (though I still have two, ) Nope, now days one needs a means to use one for digital purposes. Actually, I think mine more correctly works on an analog to digital model.

I had one that looked more like this

OK. Now I'm convinced I'm thinking of something totally different than you guys are.

Did anyone actually use 38? I mean really? 78 for LPs, 45 for 45s, did anyone actually use 38 for anything other than making LPs sound really messed up?

Back on topic -
There was no place to buy those strange dice except by mail order....

Your D4 had a thumbprint imbedded in the plastic.

You wondered what the heck the EHP meant in the Greyhawk supplement.

The Auld Grump

Or, better yet, your d20 had 0 through 9 in it, twice. You had to periodically take a pen and fill in one set of them to mark them as 11-20.

I used the crayon... and ISTR using those dice for Star Fleet Battle Manual before D&D.

(Hey, I used to fix some of those drives including the 5MB versions, not to mention the punch tape readers. Cleaning the drive heads with freon and a lint free cloth - Careful now. Careful!)

- When the basic D&D boxed set was an upgrade
- White dwarf magazine went color

Slightly off topic, but still related to being old: kids graduating from high school today haven't even known of a time when there wasn't a world wide web, (not just the internet) since it was made public in 1991. Heck, kids graduating from COLLEGE today can't remember back before then, either.

Remember when putting in a 1Mb stick was an upgrade of HUGE proportions? And putting TWO 1Mb sticks in your system was starting to be a portion of your total memory? lol

Remember back when we had a HD w/ less than 500Mb of memory and the 1gigs came out. We had to add one of course and I asked my wife what would we do with all that HD space. lol Yeah, that lasted for a few months. Then I saw what she was talking about.

When dialing a telephone number was an accurate description.

Fee fi fo fum, I smell a flaw in the data drum....

I remember when computers were available with 4 kilobytes. When 48K was top of the line Apple ][ and TRS 80 territory.

When there were modems designed with a cradle for holding the phone - and 400 baud was good enough to be shared among several computers.

When there were commercially available computers that instead of a keyboard had a series of nine switches - one for each bit in a byte, and the ninth switch being the 'Enter' key.

When bubble memory and string drives were the waves of the future.

I remember computer punch cards, and the machines that keypunch operators used.

I remember Linotype machines, and what a huge improvement daisy wheels were.

I remember Creative Computing and when Dobb's was Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia.

I remember having to debug 12,000 lines of code to find where the 'for - nexts' and 'if - thens' were messed up - and the ampersand meant a delve into straight machine code.

When the first program that everybody wrote was:
10 Print "Hello!"
20 Goto 10

When most computer rooms had an ascii picture of Spock giving the Vulcan salute, and a nude ascii picture of Nichelle Nichols on the opposite wall.

When the following was always somewhere in the computer room:
ACHTUNG! Alles touristen und non-technischen peepers!

Das machine control is nicht fur gerfinger-poken und
mittengrabben. Oderwise is easy schnappen der springenwerk,
blowen fuse, und poppencorken mit spitzensparken.
Der machine is diggen by experten only. Is nicht fur
geverken by das dummkopfen. Das rubbernecken sightseenen
keepen das cotten picken hands in das pockets,
so relaxen und watchen das blinkenlights.

Except in Germany, where the following held sway:
ATTENTION

This room is fullfilled mit special electronische equippment. Fingergrabbing and pressing the cnoeppkes from the computers is allowed for die experts only! So all the "lefthanders" stay away and do not disturben the brainstorming von here working intelligencies. Otherwise you will be out thrown and kicked anderswhere! Also: please keep still and only watchen astaunished the blinkenlights.

Feelin' young yet?

The Auld Grump

This might get a reaction:

Gas was less than $1 a gallon.

$.35 per gallon - from Sinclair "Dino" stations.... (I loved those silly green dinosaur soaps and toys that they had....)


.

Kind of surprised to find out that they are still around - a lot smaller, but they are still out there.

The Auld Grump