3 ms·

Okay, going to hook this up with a couple 8" disk drives and an acoustic coupler, then we can find a BBS with lots of games to play. What could possibly go wron

Okay, going to hook this up with a couple 8" disk drives and an acoustic coupler, then we can find a BBS with lots of games to play. What could possibly go wrong?

LeoPanthera 3y ago
It’s not obvious today, but at the time that movie was released, David Lightman’s computer hardware was already “retro”. By 1983, the IMSAI was old, and 8” floppies had been replaced with 5” floppies. The intention was to show that David, as a school kid, couldn’t afford high-end equipment and was using hand-me-down, or second hand equipment. To most viewers today, that distinction is lost, as it’s all almost equally in the past.
- tialaramex 3y ago
  That's true when it was released, but was it an intentional choice (ie the movie is explicitly set in our 1983 where this gear is old)? Or is it just that between writing and releasing technology had changed so quickly?
  - djmips 3y ago
    Intentional choice.
  - LeoPanthera 3y ago
    Indeed we know it was deliberate, the producers have talked about it before.
    - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
      That film had the best technical advisors that money could buy. I saw it in the theater as a child, and a few months ago. Every technical element rang true, whether it was yesterday's, today's, or plausible future scope. I often recount how I loved the way David busted out of the office by using alligator clips and a microcassette to replay tones for the cipher lock. In a world where every other film is "hacker in a dark room wears a hoodie and cranks up EDM while CSS scrolls on the screen", WarGames appealed to nerds as an exploration of current tech, and a cautionary tale of a possible future.
- mikewarot 3y ago
  To me, at the time the movie came out, it showed that David was someone interested in technical matters, IMSAI stuff has never been cheap, and the speech board re-enforced that notion in my mind.
- Bluecobra 3y ago
  Well in 1986 his new parents bought him a IBM PC XT (with mouse!) so he got a pretty nice upgrade. :)
- mixmastamyk 3y ago
  Interesting, because at the time I didn’t get that either. His rig was a lot more impressive than my VIC-20 and cassette drive. A bit less impressive than my Intellivoice for speech/games but good enough. The movie is probably what taught me modems existed however. Recently I’ve watched it and wondered why he’s using an (expensive but old) 70s style computer rather than a cheap 80s home computer and now I know, thanks.
nedrylandJP 3y ago
Backdoors are not secrets!

Okay, going to hook this up with a couple 8" disk drives and an acoustic coupler, then we can find a BBS with lots of games to play. What could possibly go wrong?

LeoPanthera 3y ago

It’s not obvious today, but at the time that movie was released, David Lightman’s computer hardware was already “retro”. By 1983, the IMSAI was old, and 8” floppies had been replaced with 5” floppies. The intention was to show that David, as a school kid, couldn’t afford high-end equipment and was using hand-me-down, or second hand equipment. To most viewers today, that distinction is lost, as it’s all almost equally in the past.

tialaramex 3y ago
That's true when it was released, but was it an intentional choice (ie the movie is explicitly set in our 1983 where this gear is old)? Or is it just that between writing and releasing technology had changed so quickly?
- djmips 3y ago
  Intentional choice.
- LeoPanthera 3y ago
  Indeed we know it was deliberate, the producers have talked about it before.
  - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
    That film had the best technical advisors that money could buy. I saw it in the theater as a child, and a few months ago. Every technical element rang true, whether it was yesterday's, today's, or plausible future scope. I often recount how I loved the way David busted out of the office by using alligator clips and a microcassette to replay tones for the cipher lock. In a world where every other film is "hacker in a dark room wears a hoodie and cranks up EDM while CSS scrolls on the screen", WarGames appealed to nerds as an exploration of current tech, and a cautionary tale of a possible future.
mikewarot 3y ago
To me, at the time the movie came out, it showed that David was someone interested in technical matters, IMSAI stuff has never been cheap, and the speech board re-enforced that notion in my mind.
Bluecobra 3y ago
Well in 1986 his new parents bought him a IBM PC XT (with mouse!) so he got a pretty nice upgrade. :)
mixmastamyk 3y ago
Interesting, because at the time I didn’t get that either. His rig was a lot more impressive than my VIC-20 and cassette drive. A bit less impressive than my Intellivoice for speech/games but good enough. The movie is probably what taught me modems existed however. Recently I’ve watched it and wondered why he’s using an (expensive but old) 70s style computer rather than a cheap 80s home computer and now I know, thanks.

nedrylandJP 3y ago

Backdoors are not secrets!