3 ms·

My experience of the time is from a home computing perspective. From that perspective I saw minimal impact from the 286. I knew many people with 8088 machines a

by tssva 4y ago

My experience of the time is from a home computing perspective. From that perspective I saw minimal impact from the 286. I knew many people with 8088 machines and very few that owned a 286. If you walked into a store selling PCs to consumers the shelves were full of 8088 machines but few 286 based ones. The big change I saw was in the early 90s when 386 PCs with VGA displays became common place. This is when the people I knew upgraded and 8088 machines completely faded from the scene. The killer app driving 386 sales was Windows 3.0.

PaulHoule 4y ago
I got my machine in the mail. By 1989 PC Clones had eaten everything and the one computer magazine that was thriving was Computer Shopper.
- indigodaddy 4y ago
  I was in S Fla then as a boy/teen and it was crazy how many weekend computer expos/shows there were in Miami / Fort Lauderdale (usually in a city or county convention center or some hotel)—- most of them advertised in Computer Shopper. I went to a bunch of them with my dad. They were really a lot of fun. Mostly just a bunch of tables of middle-aged to older computer guys selling peripherals and software (and I’m sure lots of other stuff I can’t remember now)..
  - cubano 4y ago
    Of course Galacticomm was HQed in Lauderdale and they made the MajorBBS multiline BBS system so I can't help but wonder if you had any experience meeting the quite brilliant devs that ran that shop? My company, Magicomm, wrote 3rd party add-ons for the main system and eventually my partner was hired on with them directly...me? Not so lucky I remember interviewing directly with the owner, Tim Striker, and I was so nervous because I wanted to work there so badly...I almost completely blanked out for the interview and couldn't remember even the simplest of C basics. (Describe an union, what command do you use to zero out memory after you malloc etc etc) I bombed the interview and never did get to work for my dream company like my partner, who I basically trained on how to use C, did, and to this day this fact irks me lol.
    - indigodaddy 4y ago
      Hah, very interesting! Nope never did meet any of those guys or rly run in those circles.. I did a little Amiga BBSing but honestly don’t remember any of them.. I did go to one meetup thingy but also barely remember it in some mall… I do remember though spending a lot of time at All Books and Records on Sunrise Blvd (I think) next to the Sears. Coolest book and record store around except for maybe Robert A Hittel’s bookstore on Federal Hwy.. Also spent a lot of time going to Sunshine Software on Cypress Creek Rd.. kind of a magical place run by two rly cool computer dudes..
  - dehrmann 4y ago
    I still remember these commercials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jGKXbL8Wtc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jGKXbL8Wtc I went with dad and brother a few times, and yes, middle-aged computer guys selling stuff. I was always more excited by the hardware than software, so I didn't check out those tables so much.
    - indigodaddy 4y ago
      Wow, yep, and that jogged my memory, my dad and I also went to one or two at the War Memorial Auditorium! That’s wild.

by tssva 4y ago

PaulHoule 4y ago

I got my machine in the mail. By 1989 PC Clones had eaten everything and the one computer magazine that was thriving was Computer Shopper.

indigodaddy 4y ago
I was in S Fla then as a boy/teen and it was crazy how many weekend computer expos/shows there were in Miami / Fort Lauderdale (usually in a city or county convention center or some hotel)—- most of them advertised in Computer Shopper. I went to a bunch of them with my dad. They were really a lot of fun. Mostly just a bunch of tables of middle-aged to older computer guys selling peripherals and software (and I’m sure lots of other stuff I can’t remember now)..
- cubano 4y ago
  Of course Galacticomm was HQed in Lauderdale and they made the MajorBBS multiline BBS system so I can't help but wonder if you had any experience meeting the quite brilliant devs that ran that shop? My company, Magicomm, wrote 3rd party add-ons for the main system and eventually my partner was hired on with them directly...me? Not so lucky I remember interviewing directly with the owner, Tim Striker, and I was so nervous because I wanted to work there so badly...I almost completely blanked out for the interview and couldn't remember even the simplest of C basics. (Describe an union, what command do you use to zero out memory after you malloc etc etc) I bombed the interview and never did get to work for my dream company like my partner, who I basically trained on how to use C, did, and to this day this fact irks me lol.
  - indigodaddy 4y ago
    Hah, very interesting! Nope never did meet any of those guys or rly run in those circles.. I did a little Amiga BBSing but honestly don’t remember any of them.. I did go to one meetup thingy but also barely remember it in some mall… I do remember though spending a lot of time at All Books and Records on Sunrise Blvd (I think) next to the Sears. Coolest book and record store around except for maybe Robert A Hittel’s bookstore on Federal Hwy.. Also spent a lot of time going to Sunshine Software on Cypress Creek Rd.. kind of a magical place run by two rly cool computer dudes..
- dehrmann 4y ago
  I still remember these commercials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jGKXbL8Wtc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jGKXbL8Wtc I went with dad and brother a few times, and yes, middle-aged computer guys selling stuff. I was always more excited by the hardware than software, so I didn't check out those tables so much.
  - indigodaddy 4y ago
    Wow, yep, and that jogged my memory, my dad and I also went to one or two at the War Memorial Auditorium! That’s wild.