Sneak Attack

[Mister_Chris]

I agree regarding tape storage. I remember my Commodore 64, which I first purchased with a data-sette (a cassette drive which was controlled by the C64). I later upgraded to the hottest new technology, a 170K 5.25" floppy drive (which was about the size of a loaf of bread, and cost two weeks salary). Both were rock solid reliable; I remember being stunned when I found that 720K 3.5" floppies weren't as reliable. Tape and 5.25" storage was like chiseling data into granite.

I think I still have some of those old data-sette tapes kicking around, from 30 years ago. It would be such a kick to recover that data. I miss the C64; 40 characters per line, 23 lines per screen, one font, 16 color screen, 320X200 pixel resolution (but it was OK, because it was all smeared together after it went through the TV tuner - channel 3, or channel 4), 64 kilobytes of RAM (which was HUGE for the day)... sigh. The C64 was the last computer that I feel I really mastered, and the first I ever loved. I did 6502 assembler on that thing, peeked and poked till 3 in the morning... rolled out of the waterbed at 10AM and went at it again.

I'll bet nobody here even knows what peek-ing and poke-ing - in a digital sense - even is, anymore. Sometimes it feels like I grew up in the 17th century.

I put a solid state drive in my latest machine, about a year ago; and I am underwhelmed. I found no discernible performance increase, and a really high cost per gigabyte of storage. The small size is also an issue; no matter how I try, crap still builds up on C drive and I periodically have to go through the drive and move or delete stuff. SSDs may be the standard 5 years from now, but I wish I'd put my money into a 2 terabyte mechanical drive than a 120 GB SSD. I may replace it; it was definitely the wrong road to travel down.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I started with a TRS80 Model 3 I used for RTTY (radio teletype) on the US ARMY MARS system.

Then I bought the Commodore 64 I programmed to perform engineering calculations and materiel estimations.

 

[Handley_Page]

I agree regarding tape storage. I remember my Commodore 64, which I first purchased with a data-sette (a cassette drive which was controlled by the C64). I later upgraded to the hottest new technology, a 170K 5.25" floppy drive (which was about the size of a loaf of bread, and cost two weeks salary). Both were rock solid reliable; I remember being stunned when I found that 720K 3.5" floppies weren't as reliable. Tape and 5.25" storage was like chiseling data into granite.

I think I still have some of those old data-sette tapes kicking around, from 30 years ago. It would be such a kick to recover that data. I miss the C64; 40 characters per line, 23 lines per screen, one font, 16 color screen, 320X200 pixel resolution (but it was OK, because it was all smeared together after it went through the TV tuner - channel 3, or channel 4), 64 kilobytes of RAM (which was HUGE for the day)... sigh. The C64 was the last computer that I feel I really mastered, and the first I ever loved. I did 6502 assembler on that thing, peeked and poked till 3 in the morning... rolled out of the waterbed at 10AM and went at it again.

I'll bet nobody here even knows what peek-ing and poke-ing - in a digital sense - even is, anymore. Sometimes it feels like I grew up in the 17th century.

Round where I lived, the C64 did not have such ardent support, mostly because there were several excellent machines to choose as alternatives (frankly, I preferred the PET).

I had a Dragon 32 (made in Wales); Motorola chipset (6809) and a version of BASIC built-in. Those with surplus money obtained a BBC model B (nobody bothered with the model A, the difference in price was insufficient).
I had eventually got a Tatung "Einstein" (Z80, 64K, and 3.5inch drive/s).

I used to get Very Annoyed when I could not get a decent Instruction manual for Machine code, though. . . .

 

[Mister_Chris]

I think I remember the PET. Came out before the C64, modular keyboard, monitor and computer all in one white case, around $2,000, aimed at the business market... 'bout all I remember. Think it was a monochrome green screen. (Okay, just looked it up on Wikipedia. I remembered it mostly correctly, although I don't remember it having a cassette drive.)

I also remember the 6809, although I never programmed it. Motorola went on to develop the 68000 series, which I did program assembler on. There weren't a lot of books on the 680x0 instruction set, and by the time I'd moved to Intel, clock speeds were fast enough that C++ worked just as well, and was much faster to write.

Now, I write in Python. When I write anything. Which isn't very often.

 

[litmlove]

I put a solid state drive in my latest machine, about a year ago; and I am underwhelmed. I found no discernible performance increase, and a really high cost per gigabyte of storage. The small size is also an issue; no matter how I try, crap still builds up on C drive and I periodically have to go through the drive and move or delete stuff. SSDs may be the standard 5 years from now, but I wish I'd put my money into a 2 terabyte mechanical drive than a 120 GB SSD. I may replace it; it was definitely the wrong road to travel down.

That's a shame becayse I've had an incredible experience of getting a big performance gains from an old computer

I think you need both types of drives. SSDs are perfect for running an operating systems (lots of file accessing, no fragmentation). While Hard drives are perfect for general file storage of Music & Video.

You are right about the cost: avoid SSDs if you are on a budget. Then again, I've avoided upgrading my old computer by installing a SSD.

 

[Handley_Page]

That's a shame becayse I've had an incredible experience of getting a big performance gains from an old computer

I think you need both types of drives. SSDs are perfect for running an operating systems (lots of file accessing, no fragmentation). While Hard drives are perfect for general file storage of Music & Video.

You are right about the cost: avoid SSDs if you are on a budget. Then again, I've avoided upgrading my old computer by installing a SSD.

How large an SSD does one need to run Windows properly, plus whatever else it needs

 

[litmlove]

How large an SSD does one need to run Windows properly, plus whatever else it needs

Hard to say what your needs are. I'm operating with a 50gb which used to be enough but now it's too little for me. I would buy a 120gb SSD if I were to buy again. SSDs 250gb and above are missing the point: they aren't storage drives, they are performance drives. And my conventional "spinny" Harddrive is 500gb which is enough for me (maybe I would buy 1tb because it's a lot more space for only a little extra cost).

It's a simple process installing a SSD. You plugin the SSD externally to your computer using its USB cable, then with the SSD's software provided you "clone" (1-to-1 copy) the drive with your operating system. Turn off your computer, swap the drives (keep the old one as a backup ), turn it back on and before you know it your computer is ready to go. With the USB cable adapter I use my old harddrive as a spare backup external storage device.

If you have never worked on the internals of your computer you'll need a size 0 or 00 philips screwdriver. Before you start working touch a grounded metallic object to get rid of your static electricity, then it's a simple like-for-like replacement (make sure the cables are attached snugly and etc.). If you have a laptop then I may recommend you get a IT technician to do it for you although most Laptops harddrives are very easy to replace. I've heard Apples are difficult to replace; I've never worked on an Apple before.

 

[Handley_Page]

Hard to say what your needs are. I'm operating with a 50gb which used to be enough but now it's too little for me. I would buy a 120gb SSD if I were to buy again. SSDs 250gb and above are missing the point: they aren't storage drives, they are performance drives. And my conventional "spinny" Harddrive is 500gb which is enough for me (maybe I would buy 1tb because it's a lot more space for only a little extra cost).

If you have never worked on the internals of your computer you'll need a size 0 or 00 philips screwdriver. Before you start working touch a grounded metallic object to get rid of your static electricity, then it's a simple like-for-like replacement (make sure the cables are attached snugly and etc.). If you have a laptop then I may recommend you get a IT technician to do it for you although most Laptops harddrives are very easy to replace. I've heard Apples are difficult to replace; I've never worked on an Apple before.

I assume that there is an "Earthed" mains supply to the PC.
Do not do this in the vicinity of nylon carpets.
If your PC has a metal chassis/case, leave the mains plug in at both ends and switch off the PSU at the back of the case.

This ensures that an earth connection, dissipating static, etc., exists.
You could also use an "earthed, "anti-static", wrist strap.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

SSD's...unless you're a hardcore gamer...you shouldn't need one...except to keep up with the Jones'.

Wait a year or so and they will be as cheep as HDD's are now and hold the same about of data. Terrabytes.