Glad someone is doing it. Passion projects drive tech.
Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami
81–90 of 153 posts
Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami
#82I loved Computer Shopper. I regularly bought the UK version in the 90s just to gawps at all those adverts and dream about buying my ultimate PC.
Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami
#83The Feb 1986 issue linked in the article caught my attention, since it is the month I was born.
Page 10 starts with a story of someone planning to build a case for the Apple I, to take it to a computer show. The guy called Steve Jobs, and Jobs offered him to send the new tape interface, which Wozniak just finished. It is an utterly amazing read!
https://archive.org/details/computer-shopper-february-1986/C...
Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami
#84UK Computer Shopper was awesome in the early 90s. Fat wodge of newsprint covering everything from ZX Spectrums to NeXT stations.
I think I still have my copy of the issue where they reviewed the Sun IPX, ghods I wanted one of those...
Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami
#85This... is fugging amazing. No, seriously. It really is. Those of you who are too young to remember the heyday of Computer Shopper won't get it (probably) but that magazine was ... well, as the article says, practically a "bible" to some of us. There was NOTHING like finding the new issue on the news-stand, buying it, and rushing home to pore over the ads, looking for a sweet new motherboard, some RAM, maybe a Sound…
It was the one thing I carried everywhere as a teenager.
Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami
#86What is the value of digitizing computer shopper?
Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami
#87The regulars, including Don Lancaster, were great. I would drool over so many articles that I barely understood, and one of my goals for the next month were to get caught-up on some part of this tech that had escaped me.
Computer Shopper was fantastic for guiding me to complement my more formal studies.
OT: Does anyone else still use 6502/65c816's and TMS32C32's?
Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami
#88This... is fugging amazing. No, seriously. It really is. Those of you who are too young to remember the heyday of Computer Shopper won't get it (probably) but that magazine was ... well, as the article says, practically a "bible" to some of us. There was NOTHING like finding the new issue on the news-stand, buying it, and rushing home to pore over the ads, looking for a sweet new motherboard, some RAM, maybe a Sound…
I've been fully spoiled by PCPartPicker [0], which just invisibly filters out parts that aren't compatible with the components already selected for a build. The idea of having to manually keep track of every compatibility check at every component interface sounds like a path to debugging hell. On the other hand, that makes success a far stronger nerdcred signal. [0] https://pcpartpicker.com/list/
The sheer variety of weird and wonderful ways things could be incompatible is really tamed by modern standards. I remember spending days as a kid working out obscure IRQ conflicts blindly flipping plastic jumpers, or editing config files.
I don't miss it!
Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami
#89This... is fugging amazing. No, seriously. It really is. Those of you who are too young to remember the heyday of Computer Shopper won't get it (probably) but that magazine was ... well, as the article says, practically a "bible" to some of us. There was NOTHING like finding the new issue on the news-stand, buying it, and rushing home to pore over the ads, looking for a sweet new motherboard, some RAM, maybe a Sound…
I've been fully spoiled by PCPartPicker [0], which just invisibly filters out parts that aren't compatible with the components already selected for a build. The idea of having to manually keep track of every compatibility check at every component interface sounds like a path to debugging hell. On the other hand, that makes success a far stronger nerdcred signal. [0] https://pcpartpicker.com/list/
I remember when this was just something the creator was messing with. Its come a long way.
Parts compatability isn't really too hard. Pull up the mobo specs and make sure your ram timings, CPU socket, PCI, and power demand all line up.
Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami
#90Considering the prices adjusted for inflation, and how little computers could do out of the box beyond the business applications they were designed for in that era, it was really quite an expensive hobby to be a hacker!
I think I’ve been paying close to the same price for computers for 25 years. Moose’s Law and relentless miniaturization and cost optimization are the only reason why.