How everything started - #Part 3

Just to give you some impression what I am talking about learning to code on a programmable calculator and getting addicted to it. The equipment depicted on the pictures was worth more than 2000.-DM in 1980. Let alone the TI-59 and the PC-100C printer were about 1600.-DM together.










All Photos: Archiv Howard Fuhs

"Increasingly, people seem to misinterpret complexity as sophistication, which is baffling - the incomprehensible should cause suspicion rather than admiration."
- Nikolaus Wirth

One thing that were really disturbing over the time were the runtime of the calculators. You better had the external power supply (Wallwart) always with you. All the TI calculators were equipped with rechargeable batteries which didn't last that long due to the power consumption of the display. And the calculators weren't designed to accept standard batteries as an emergency backup. The runtime of the calculators was sometimes really annoying. Especially when you start to work as an electronics engineer out in the field. But things were getting better - which is another story.

Stay tuned for more tales from the Cro-Magnon age of computers.

Have fun and stay healthy!
Howard

How everything started - Part #1
How everything started - Part #2
How everything started - Part #4

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