Wondering about wild grapes

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Old camera Old drive

  
How old are you in computer years? Dang, I must be thousands or millions of years old. You see, I remember when a computer took up an enormous size room and spit out punch cards. By the way, did you know that the only reason the first computer systems used punch cards instead of magnetic tape (yes, magnetic tape storage was available) was that IBM had the best sells force and they already had punch card systems in use. Because of that, we were set back years in computer development.


Then came personal computers with huge “floppy drives”. Then the hard drive came about and the floppy shrunk down to under 6” and then they came out with the 3.5” floppy. I liked that one and still do, but now computers don’t come standard with 3.5” drives anymore.

Do you remember what your first digital camera was? Mine was a Sony Digital Mavica that used 3.5” floppy drives to save pictures as .pdf files. It had a 10x zoom. I loved that camera and still do. Although the picture files were not high resolution, the 10x zoom brought distant objects close. You could also pull out the floppy and stick it right into any computer. That is, up until now. Seems they have eliminated the 3.5” drive on new computers. The last one I had built, I insisted that one be included.

Here is picture of the front of the old camera:
                                    

And here is the back:

And here is a picture of my newer camera taken with the old one.  Notice how much smaller the newer one is:


Just to prove that the old camera took good pictures, although not as dense, here are a few old pictures.  This first one is of a mushroom and the detail is quite clear:

And these two are of a humming bird, one in flight and one sitting.  That old camera did a pretty good job:


Go take some pictures and enjoy life now and again when you look at your pictures.

13 comments:

  1. I solved the lack of 3.5 floopy by getting a standalone USB model from Hong Kong. About 8 bucks if I remember correctly. It works with every machine I've tried.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oldfoor, I need to get a USB model. That way I can use 3.5" floppies with our laptop.

    It is even hard to find blank floppies any more.

    ReplyDelete
  3. cant post today, maybe this 1 will. need comparison on pics. and on feral hogs, theyre goooood for any kind of eating. nephew cooked a youngun with an apple in its mouth, ummmm ummmm. get em up here in my yard some times.

    ReplyDelete
  4. heyyy,,,it DID! took umpdozen times but,,,,,

    ReplyDelete
  5. I date back to the 8 inch floppy disk an 400 baud modem.when we went to 1200 I thought it can't get any better.

    ReplyDelete
  6. All that old technology makes good targets !!! Get with the modern age guys.

    ReplyDelete
  7. TROUBLEnTX, you are correct, feral hogs are good, I have had them in the past. And comparing the pictures, there is actually no comparison, files from the old camera are only 40 t0 70 KB and the ones from the new camera are about 1.5 MB and my new camera is actually pretty old. Been thinking about getting a new one.

    Ted, I lived a lot of years before I even hear the work “computer”. Now, I can’t live without them.

    Ben, I like old things. I would take back my ’57 Chevy Convertible in a heartbeat. And you are almost as old as I am, shouldn’t I like you? OK, I know what you mean, but I can’t stand those I’pad things and the cell phones that do everything but make calls. I had the texting turned off our phones. I am stubborn enough to pick and choose the things I want out of this modern age.

    ReplyDelete
  8. how old am I in computer, Xerox 8080, 5 1/1 single side, single density floppy, no HDD Fortran and Qbasic if you wanted a program , you wrote it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. As far as ownership goes, you are older in computer years. My first computer was 8086 w/ 5.25" floppy disk and no modem. Then got a 286 and then a 386 and then. . . .many more upgrades.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Remember the first instant cameras where you had to wipe some kinda goo on the pics as they came out of the camera...

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am just now getting my first digital camera... I know archaic! Anyway I will soon be taking and posting pics,well I hope so anyway. Blessings jane

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm a bit to young for punchcards, but I do remember cassette tapes, and waiting 20 minutes for my TI99-4A to load a game at what I could only assume was a 300 baud bell modulation. Them were they days, and I remember thinking how rich I was when the family picked up a 486 with an honest CD drive when I was 12. Them were the days.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Frann, Not really, but I had the one that was not Polaroid and because of a law suit, couldn't buy film for it anymore.

    Jane, Glad you got a digital camera. Now you will never know how you did without one.

    Grant, I had three computers before they came out with a 486. You are a young guy. 73's

    ReplyDelete