3 ms·

VMS was the first multiuser system I used in 1991. I was amazed that a single computer could have 300 users logged in all doing their own thing. I learned to

VMS was the first multiuser system I used in 1991. I was amazed that a single computer could have 300 users logged in all doing their own thing. I learned to program in C and tried using Borland Turbo C on a DOS. Go outside of the array index and you could easily crash the entire machine which meant reboot and try it again. I thought the concept of memory protection was incredible! Why didn't every computer have that? It was the first time I saw email, sending messages, and the phone utility for chatting with other users while waiting for your programs to run in the background. I moved on to an IBM RT running AIX and got hooked on Unix. That's the system I wanted and have been running Linux since 1994. But VMS still holds a special place.

TristanBall 2y ago
On of my favourite hardware investments as a teenager trying to learn c and assembly under dos was a caching hard drive controller. It made those post crash reboots so much faster! Talk about solving the wrong problem...
- lizknope 2y ago
  My roommate with the 386 running DOS tried to explain extended vs. expanded memory and then near and far pointers in C to me. It didn't make any sense to me. I just asked him "Why isn't memory just memory like on the VAX?" He was so used to the limitations of 16-bit x86 and DOS. Neither of us even understood the concept of a "32-bit flat memory model." I had been spoiled by the VAX and didn't know it was a $200,000 or $1 million system. I found this price list from 1991 but it's hard to figure out how much a system cost. https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/priceLists/US_Systems_Services_Price_List_Dec91.pdf https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/priceLists/US_Sy...
  - icedchai 2y ago
    VAXstations and MicroVAXes weren't that expensive. I knew a guy with a small business that had a VAXStation 3100 or maybe it was a 4000, back in 1991 or 92.
    - lizknope 2y ago
      I think it was a VAXserver 3000 series. The pricelist I found shows it was probably in the $15K to $25K range
    - drummojg 2y ago
      I have a MicroVAX in my living room that I use as an end table.
mixmastamyk 2y ago
Rebooting on the early PC was so common, they had a hotkey for it—Ctrl+Alt+Delete. David Bradley, an engineer who worked on the original IBM PC, invented the combination which was originally designed to reboot a PC. "I may have invented it, but Bill made it famous."

TristanBall 2y ago

On of my favourite hardware investments as a teenager trying to learn c and assembly under dos was a caching hard drive controller. It made those post crash reboots so much faster! Talk about solving the wrong problem...

lizknope 2y ago
My roommate with the 386 running DOS tried to explain extended vs. expanded memory and then near and far pointers in C to me. It didn't make any sense to me. I just asked him "Why isn't memory just memory like on the VAX?" He was so used to the limitations of 16-bit x86 and DOS. Neither of us even understood the concept of a "32-bit flat memory model." I had been spoiled by the VAX and didn't know it was a $200,000 or $1 million system. I found this price list from 1991 but it's hard to figure out how much a system cost. https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/priceLists/US_Systems_Services_Price_List_Dec91.pdf https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/priceLists/US_Sy...
- icedchai 2y ago
  VAXstations and MicroVAXes weren't that expensive. I knew a guy with a small business that had a VAXStation 3100 or maybe it was a 4000, back in 1991 or 92.
  - lizknope 2y ago
    I think it was a VAXserver 3000 series. The pricelist I found shows it was probably in the $15K to $25K range
  - drummojg 2y ago
    I have a MicroVAX in my living room that I use as an end table.

mixmastamyk 2y ago

Rebooting on the early PC was so common, they had a hotkey for it—Ctrl+Alt+Delete. David Bradley, an engineer who worked on the original IBM PC, invented the combination which was originally designed to reboot a PC. "I may have invented it, but Bill made it famous."