4 ms·

> Low end in 1992 would have been a 386, Low end of the sales offers (even though I guess you could still buy a bit lower too), but not low of end of the insta

by wott 6y ago

> Low end in 1992 would have been a 386, Low end of the sales offers (even though I guess you could still buy a bit lower too), but not low of end of the installed base, which was probably predominantly 286.

austincheney 6y ago
My first computer was a 286. My dad brought it home as used salvage in 1987 because the office was going to throw it away. I don’t remember how much memory it had but it had two massive 20mb hard drives. I remember the first game I bought for it was Kings Quest 4. I also remember Windows 3.1 filling one of those drives to capacity.
- ido 6y ago
  Funny that it was already salvage in 1987! You sure you don't have it backwards - the computer was '87 vintage but you got it later? That's when my father bought our first (new!) computer & it was a "turbo xt" (8 or 10mhz 8088). The very first PC/AT was at most 3 years old at that point & still worth a couple grand. Any 286 would be at least mid-range, as a 386 would probably still cost high 4-figures $.
  - austincheney 6y ago
    The hardware was great for the time so I can only guess that small office didn’t need it any more. This was a small regional satellite office of a much larger company.
    - ido 6y ago
      Funny how that works! My first job in 2001 still had a Compaq Deskpro 386 bought in the 80s to control some very expensive equipment (via some proprietary dongle that wouldn't work on then-modern computers). My boss at the time told me they paid $10k for that computer when it was new & the equipment it controlled would cost $1-2m to replace (I want to say it was a microspectrophotometer but my memory is blurry), so they had to keep that 386 around & in working order. Luckily these were apparently very reliable computers.
      - FreeFull 6y ago
        Eventually, the hardware will break, so it's a good idea to plan for that. There are ways to interface with old hardware using new hardware, including special modern motherboards that have ISA slots, or USB2ISA converters
        ido 6y ago
        I haven't worked there in a long time, I wouldn't bet on that computer still chugging along. 2001 is actually closer to 1986 than it is to today :)
- wott 6y ago
  > My first computer was a 286. My dad brought it home as used salvage in 1987 because the office was going to throw it away. Okay, but that's not representative. 80286 maximum sales period just started in 87 and lasted until 90. In 87 at my place, in homes (I am not talking about the office world), everybody I knew (the ones who owned a computer, that is) was still using non-PC 8-bit computers (in the 1 to 4 MHz range). Then a bit later there would be the start of the non-PC 16-bits (Atari/Amiga) era (skipped by many) during which PCs were still more expensive and er... uncool, and only after that the PC started overtaking the non-PC into homes.

by wott 6y ago

austincheney 6y ago

My first computer was a 286. My dad brought it home as used salvage in 1987 because the office was going to throw it away. I don’t remember how much memory it had but it had two massive 20mb hard drives. I remember the first game I bought for it was Kings Quest 4. I also remember Windows 3.1 filling one of those drives to capacity.

ido 6y ago
Funny that it was already salvage in 1987! You sure you don't have it backwards - the computer was '87 vintage but you got it later? That's when my father bought our first (new!) computer & it was a "turbo xt" (8 or 10mhz 8088). The very first PC/AT was at most 3 years old at that point & still worth a couple grand. Any 286 would be at least mid-range, as a 386 would probably still cost high 4-figures $.
- austincheney 6y ago
  The hardware was great for the time so I can only guess that small office didn’t need it any more. This was a small regional satellite office of a much larger company.
  - ido 6y ago
    Funny how that works! My first job in 2001 still had a Compaq Deskpro 386 bought in the 80s to control some very expensive equipment (via some proprietary dongle that wouldn't work on then-modern computers). My boss at the time told me they paid $10k for that computer when it was new & the equipment it controlled would cost $1-2m to replace (I want to say it was a microspectrophotometer but my memory is blurry), so they had to keep that 386 around & in working order. Luckily these were apparently very reliable computers.
    - FreeFull 6y ago
      Eventually, the hardware will break, so it's a good idea to plan for that. There are ways to interface with old hardware using new hardware, including special modern motherboards that have ISA slots, or USB2ISA converters
      - ido 6y ago
        I haven't worked there in a long time, I wouldn't bet on that computer still chugging along. 2001 is actually closer to 1986 than it is to today :)
wott 6y ago
> My first computer was a 286. My dad brought it home as used salvage in 1987 because the office was going to throw it away. Okay, but that's not representative. 80286 maximum sales period just started in 87 and lasted until 90. In 87 at my place, in homes (I am not talking about the office world), everybody I knew (the ones who owned a computer, that is) was still using non-PC 8-bit computers (in the 1 to 4 MHz range). Then a bit later there would be the start of the non-PC 16-bits (Atari/Amiga) era (skipped by many) during which PCs were still more expensive and er... uncool, and only after that the PC started overtaking the non-PC into homes.