The Zortech C/C++ compiler was truly awesome when it first appeared, and it got better. When it was released for the OS/2 operating system, it was a welcome addition to the rather “skinny” collection of development tools available for that environment at the time.
Archive | Retro IT
Retro is a culturally outdated or aged style, trend, mode, or fashion, from the overall postmodern past, that has since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again. The use of “retro” style iconography and imagery interjected into post-modern art, advertising, mass media, etc. It generally implies a vintage of at least 15 or 20 years.
Nokia 3110
A lovely “brick” from Nokia. Not too heavy, but fairly big and bulky. It still works! Surprisingly, today’s smartphones are approaching the weight and bulk of the Nokia 3110; of course, they feature somewhat more powerful components đ
Commodore 64 (VIC-64)
One of the many reasons Commodore 64 (C64/C=64/CBM-64/VIC-64) became the most sold personal computer model of all time was not due to its fantastic programming capabilities, but rather due to its role as a “gaming machine”. Compared to today’s consoles, it doesn’t stand much of a chance of course, but in those days, it was second to none. Glorious colors (well..), fantastic sound, and a price that was much lower than most of its competitors’, you would slide in a tape (!) and load your favorite game. If you had generous parents, you could possibly afford a disk drive (Commodore 1541).
NiKom BBS for the Amiga
“Nikom is a BBS-program that uses modems (or telnet together with the appropriate software, such as telnet.device) to allow “boards” or “meeting rooms” where people can discuss different topics. You can set the topic yourself for these boards, e.g. computers, pets, politics, well pretty much anything you can think of; as long as it adheres to the rules set by the SysOp. Bulletin Board Systems are also used to distribute files, although this particular task is more often handled by Internet these days.” — Quoted and freely translated from www.canit.se/nikom/
RemoteAccess BBS
RemoteAccess BBS-software and its last official website. RemoteAccess, or RA, as it was also called, was created by Andrew Milner and Phil Mackay in 1989. In its time, it was a very popular piece of software for those running a BBS. Towards the end of its “era”, RemoteAccess was even considered Y2K-safe đ WikiPedia has a page about RemoteAccess here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remoteaccess
HP Surestore DLT1
A doorstop that was launched in November 2000 by HP. You could squeeze in a massive 80GB on one DLT1 tape at a rocketing speed of 6MB/s (best case). This particular unit has long since been retired.
Casio SF-8350 Digital Diary
The Casio SF-8350 Digital Diary is an “all-in-one” gadget from 1993. A whopping 64 Kb of RAM and double batteries (so that one could be replaced without losing data). Functions like address book, calculator, world time, notes, alarms, etc. Compare with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Smartphone from 2008. Fascinating to see that the Casio had retained data, I haven’t been using it for over 10 years.