Console OS

[TimMc]

Anybody else remember going to the drugstore with your Dad to test the tubes from the TV? And then there's the 8K memory board ($250!) I soldered up for my first computer. 32G USB drives are what- $4?

In store tube testers... the Magic 8 Ball of TV troubleshooting. My childhood Osco Drug store and Safeway both had them.

 

[FMEng]

I rode my bicycle to the nearest Radio Shack to test tubes. I hate to admit it but I occasionally miss Radio Shack.

 

[sk8rsdad]

My dad had a portable tube tester so we didn't need to go to the hardware store.

 

[jtweigandt]

Anybody else remember going to the drugstore with your Dad to test the tubes from the TV? And then there's the 8K memory board ($250!) I soldered up for my first computer. 32G USB drives are what- $4?

Yes and my Dad was a lifer with NCR corp. Started as a cash register and mechanical accounting machine tech, Got his degree in Physics.. moved to Dayton and engineering at the dawn of the Solid state era. Finished his career designing large disk arrays. Collaborated on creating the specs for SCSI. when the ATT buyout happened they had in place the perfect poison pill.. he got like 5 years service added to his 40, and a year or two salary if I recall.. But what an arc... he even brought home some ferrite core modules for me to take to show and tell.

 

[derekleffew]

Yes and my Dad was a lifer with NCR corp.

And the water at Old River pool was the coldest of any public pool ever.

 

[jtweigandt]

And the water at Old River pool was the coldest of any public pool ever.

Not way back. They used to have their own power plant and heated it with the cooling water for the steam turbines. Spent many hours in that unbelievable sized pool.

 

[DuckJordan]

I rode my bicycle to the nearest Radio Shack to test tubes. I hate to admit it but I occasionally miss Radio Shack.

as a touring tech I absolutely miss Radio Shack.

 

[StradivariusBone]

Ah, pining for the good old days - only 9 years ago! In a decade it's kind of amazing how far some things have come that are actually useful.

Well the Express was more like 30 years ago, but I agree! The hardware is cheap enough now where it makes more sense to use an existing OS and write software instead of taking a microcontroller with enough I/O and building all the resource management into your software from the ground up.