1981 Personal Computer Catalog

edibobb writes "I just fired up my scanner and uploaded the 35-page 1981 (+/- 1 year) personal computer catalog from American Small Business Computers. 16K RAM for $22; 10 megabyte hard drive, 5 meg fixed and 5 removeable, with 14-inch platters; 25-character per second printer. Things have changed a bit since then!"

Comments

Blast from the Past

[General Sherman]

I don't see what's so special, it's just like taking the tour inside NASA.

Oh the hair and the suits.

[nlinecomputers]

Those guys in those suits. Did we really dress like that? Fuck I'm old.....

Too Pricey

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not upgrading my memory until it drops to a buck per K, a few months from now.

Check out those hairdos and moustaches...

[isny]

What do you think? 1970s Pr0n stars or computer salesmen? You be the judge!

Re:Here I sit

[DrunkenTerror]

Nice mailto, Ass In Gap. That's your Indian name from now on.

Slashdot effect

[JustinXB]

Thanks to the Slashdot effect, you get to see the catalog at 1981 speeds!!!

My ENIAC boasts unbreakable security!

[rice_burners_suck]

16K RAM for $22; 10 megabyte hard drive, 5 meg fixed and 5 removeable, with 14- inch platters; 25-character per second printer.

You think that's advanced technology, eh? You should come to my place sometime and check out my ENIAC. You have to be the 1337est of the '1337 to operate this thing. No hard drive. No mouse. No graphics... hell, there ain't even a CLI for cryin' out loud! (Real Programmers don't need no stinkin' user interface.) To enter commands into this baby, you gotta connect hundreds upon hundreds of wires, kind of like they did in the old telephone switchboards, where a human operator connected your call.

And best of all, this computer does it all.

• Want to multiply two numbers in just 3 milliseconds? Done.
• Want security even the likes of OpenBSD can't beat? Done.

The designers of this system knew what they were doing. The inability to store a program means that this system CANNOT get a virus, ever, period. Of course, then Von Neumann had to come along and invent stored programs, and the next thing you know, Outlook automatically executes email attachments...

Re:1981? Not Later?

[Mr. Troll]

Check out the MTBF on the printer:

1 year at 75% duty cycle. That's AWFUL....unlike my modern Lexmark, which only cost me $40, I mean that thing lasted.....oh wait

At least todays crappy printers don't weigh 44 freakin pounds..

Oblig. Apollo 13 quote

[Wheaty18]

"We even have computers that can fit inside a single room!"

you had catalogs!?!

[pyrrho]

when I was young we had to signal our computer orders (usally replacement beads for the abacus) with damp blankets using smoke signals.

And we liked it.

Re:Here I sit

[the_mad_poster]

Holy shit

That is the FUNNIEST fucking comment EVER. I have preserved a screenshot in case it ever changes at http://www.simple-sam.com/ass_in_gap.png

I am so drunk..... (because I took off work tomorrow). WAIT! I'm not drunk enough to not qualify my statement.... and I made the link into a link.... so I'm... uh... not drunk?

Save time - read the obligatory Slashdot comments

[mrklin]

"Is the site hosted on a the original server with 16K RAM and a 10 megabyte hard drive becase it is Slashdotted!!!!!"

"Yes, but does it run Linux?"

"Bill Gates said 640K ought to be enough for everyone." which is then followed by 10 variations of "Actually, Gates never said that."

"I actually owned one of those (insert archaic by modern standards technology here)" which is followed by another 10 variations of "That's nothing. We didn't even have those abovementioned technology because Big Bang just occurred and we only had hydoren and helium available, you insensitive clod!!"

Snooze...

Re:Here I sit

[GlassUser]

I have modified my sig for the first time in forever, to honor this.