Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

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Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

Post by Daehawk »

Computer Chronicles takes us to CES 1994

Highlights from the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Products covered include Accolade's Hockey, Activision's Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, Atari's Jaguar, Advanced Gravis Virtual Reality, Simon Personal Communicator, Amiga CD32, Compaq Presario 425, Video Blaster FS2000, Cyberdreams' CyberRace, Forte VFX-1 3D Head Mount, General Magic, Heartbeat Personal Trainer, Logitech Cyberman 3D

Some cool and not so cool stuff in that. What I find so cool is that its not a video made to look like 1994 but thats really 1994 we see...as it really was. I thought it was so high tech back then...and maybe it was...but looking back its so old tech hehehe.

Theres good and bad. Stuff like that tiny 100 meg hard drive and and the Commercial Brake system that fast forwards your VCR tape past commercials.. The karaoke and the fake guitar made me cringe. Then the cell phone with built in screen made me think they were too far ahead too fast but it lead to what we use today in smart phones. They even talk about VR.

You have to remember this was the year BEFORE even Win 95 came out. We're still in DOS here. I laughed when the Meatloaf music was showing and how it was $14 and they delivered it via UPS. No download music yet. The internet was just really starting. No video online or anything.Barely any web sites and those that had one were like Interplay and such.

BTW those videos of the show listed along the right side are a real treasure of stuff from the past. I think Ive watched them all. Win 98 from 1998....PC piracy 1985..you name it.
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Re: CES 1994 video

Post by Moat_Man »

Thanks for posting that. Pretty cool to see so many v0.001 products. Guitar Hero and Oculus Rift in 1994 anyone?
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Re: CES 1994 video

Post by Giles Habibula »

Wow. I didn't remember that "intel inside" was a thing that long ago.

And yeah, I could binge-watch stuff like this. And I think I have watched a few episodes of Computer Chronicles in the past. But not this one apparently.
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Re: CES 1994 video

Post by Rumpy »

Wow, that phone, for under $900. And yeah, the Karaoke was interesting, but even more interesting that it was from an effort by Wordperfect to expand their product line. I never heard of those products, so I have to wonder if they even went to market. They'd later be sold to Corel.
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Re: CES 1994 video and other old PC videos

Post by Daehawk »

1991 consumer buying guide - monitors episode

Hahah stuff from VGA to 17" SVGA and all assorted stuff related to 1991 monitor tech.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

Post by Daehawk »

I edited the title to reflect the thread change. I found a site with tons of the eps from The Computer Chronicles on it. Thought others would love the trip back as much as me. its got eps from the time it started in the late 70s early 80s to its end sometime in the 2000s. Im watching one from 1990 now showing IBM pcs sold at Sears and the old big CRT monitors to them selling C64s at Toys R Us and such. I have others already picked to watch like 1990s gaming pcs...add in cards......stuff from the 80s....Win95......you name it this show had cool eps.

Have fun all.

https://archive.org/details/computerchr ... ads&page=2

Back in those days you could get a computer in any color you wanted as long as it was beige.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

Post by gameoverman »

I used to watch that show religiously.

When I was a kid I was envious of people who lived through the transition period between not having one major invention, like the telephone. and then seeing how life changed with it. I thought it sucked that everything good had been invented and so I lived in a boring world. I thought computers were a big deal back in the Computer Chronicles time but I also thought it was only big for us computer nerds and geeks. Little did I know that I would live through one of the biggest before and after transitions in human history.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

Post by Giles Habibula »

Daehawk wrote: Im watching one from 1990 now showing IBM pcs sold at Sears and the old big CRT monitors...

Back in those days you could get a computer in any color you wanted as long as it was beige.
Heh. My first Pentium 1 was a Packard Bell I bought from Montgomery Wards. I still have it in the other room somewhere, and it still works (last I checked). And while they were indeed beige, I always liked the styling of their cases.

Image

My first Pentium II was again a Packard Bell, this time purchased from Sears. IIRC, it was over $3,000. Could that possibly be correct?

I know they had a bad reputation, but mine were solid. Both were fine gaming rigs, once the the 12 mb VooDoo II's got added in, and both were fully functional when I finally put them into a closet years ago. The CRTs that came with them had these "stylish" curved speakers that screwed onto the sides of the monitor.

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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

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I was poor and always had my sights on a Packard Bell PC...probably from Walmart as thats where I demoed them when I was there. I ended up with an AST though thanks to an unknown Circuit City sale.

But I did get a Packard Bell 14" SVGA .28mm dot pitch CRT monitor and I loved it. The colors were amazing and it never failed me. My friend called them Packard Hell because of how bad they were but I never had any problems with either of their monitors. In fact i was beyond pleased with them.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

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My first 3-4 computers were Packard Bell from Sears. They worked fine for me.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

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My first computer was a Commodore 64, then a Commodore 128 followed by a PC from Zeos. After that I kept building my own machines with ASUS motherboards until getting a Digital Storm build. It's about time to upgrade, but that will have to wait until year end.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

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I guess if Im technical my first computer was an Atari 800xl around 81 or so.Maybe 82. but my first true PC was 94.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

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Im having so much fun watching more old eps of this today on a rainy day. Got stuff from 86, Y2K, 91 ,95 and 96 on tap to watch. Its great seeing stuff they think will be hot or a big thing and knowing it flopped . Love these videos.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

Post by Alefroth »

Daehawk wrote:I was poor and always had my sights on a Packard Bell PC...probably from Walmart as thats where I demoed them when I was there. I ended up with an AST though thanks to an unknown Circuit City sale.

But I did get a Packard Bell 14" SVGA .28mm dot pitch CRT monitor and I loved it. The colors were amazing and it never failed me. My friend called them Packard Hell because of how bad they were but I never had any problems with either of their monitors. In fact i was beyond pleased with them.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

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I just saw an ep where George said something nearsighted as hell..something like "60% of upper class home have a typewriter why would a computer ever out sell a typewriter in home?" hahaha..oh poor guy.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

Post by Rumpy »

I'll recommend watching Silicon Cowboy on Netflix. It's the story of Compaq and much of footage is via Computer Chronicles.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

Post by Giles Habibula »

Rumpy wrote:I'll recommend watching Silicon Cowboy on Netflix. It's the story of Compaq and much of footage is via Computer Chronicles.
Is this the right one?
I don't have Netflix.

Edit: Watching it now, and it appears that I also need to watch "Halt And Catch Fire". I bought the first season on DVD a long time ago, but I somehow didn't know that it was the story of Compaq, and so it still sits here, unopened. There is even a thread topic about it that I somehow missed, though it petered out in 2015.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

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Yeah, that's the one. It's quite a good documentary. As far as Halt and Catch Fire goes, I'd say loosely based on it, and it's mostly in the first season. They even use some of the footage in that documentary. Other seasons veer away from that and the next one will be set in the 90's. Third season was feeling very off, and it was pretty bad. They didn't even bother wrapping it up properly and jumped to the 90's in the two last episodes.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

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I really loved Pirates of Silicon Valley many years ago. Thought it was well done. Says it was 1999 but feel like it was only 6 or 7 years ago.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

Post by MindToyGames »

Daehawk wrote:Im having so much fun watching more old eps of this today on a rainy day. Got stuff from 86, Y2K, 91 ,95 and 96 on tap to watch. Its great seeing stuff they think will be hot or a big thing and knowing it flopped . Love these videos.
My fav was the 'Halcyon' episode...the shit didn't work! Like, at all. Hilarious, if not intentionally. https://archive.org/details/Lasersan1985
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

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I had a Packard Bell. Here's how 'off' my computer owning experience has been. I had the Pentium 75. At the time, the speeds were up to 60, the 75, then 90. So I thought I was being clever by not getting the slow one, but not spending too much money to buy the fastest one.

Later, after the money was spent, I found out that the P75 was the lame duck in that line. You'd be better off with the P60. That's because the P75 was the only one with the slow 50Mhz bus speed, while the others had 60Mhz bus speeds.

At least I learned something from that experience. Namely, that some of those obscure specs were more important than the flashy numbers they quote in the ads. Even to this day you can get suckered into spending more money on a slower component if you haven't learned that lesson.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

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I kept my 486 until the P166 came out and I got a Cyrix. Yup Cyrix. Wanted to save some money. For some reason it never performed as well as Id hoped :doh:

I just realized Ive lost a computer somewhere. In 1995 I built a AMD 486DX4-100 system then in 1996 I built that Cyrix system . I remember selling a system around 2000 but I dont know which it was. So I should still have one here some place. Uh oh I have no idea where or which.
My fav was the 'Halcyon' episode...the shit didn't work! Like, at all. Hilarious, if not intentionally.
I laughed when they got to the segment where he was saying those old records had lots of noise on them and stuff and was looking forward to moving to all digital cd stuff. Now people fuss that cd is too clean and artificial and they want to go back to records to hear real music the way it should be lol. Cant please anyone.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

Post by Daehawk »

Computer Bowl 2 This one is 1990

Bill Gates is on the West team. They have CB1 - 6 or more. They have a few of them there to watch :)

Broadband in the year 2000 ..wow a whole 10 mps. I used to think that was amazing. 2000 doesn't seem that long ago but it was 17 years.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

Post by Giles Habibula »

Rumpy wrote:Yeah, that's the one. It's quite a good documentary. As far as Halt and Catch Fire goes, I'd say loosely based on it, and it's mostly in the first season. They even use some of the footage in that documentary. .
It was seeing that footage that prompted me to mention it. And yes, Silicon Cowboys was very good. Thanks for recommending it.
Daehawk wrote:I really loved Pirates of Silicon Valley many years ago. Thought it was well done. Says it was 1999 but feel like it was only 6 or 7 years ago.
Heh. I haven't seen that one yet either! I remember shortly after it came out, friends of mine that weren't even computer-oriented were telling me how great it was. But I could not find a copy to rent or buy anywhere...for years. Was it a pay-TV exclusive or something at the time? For some reason, I had a hell of a time tracking it down. I finally gave up. I'm assuming it's going to be much easier now. Thanks for the reminder.

Oh, and Daehawk, somehow you always get me caught up in your damn retro threads, and I wind up spending the whole night (or several nights) going back and reading old crap or watching old video or documentaries or some damn thing. This is not what I planned on doing tonight! Damn it. ;)
gameoverman wrote:I had a Packard Bell. Here's how 'off' my computer owning experience has been. I had the Pentium 75. At the time, the speeds were up to 60, the 75, then 90. So I thought I was being clever by not getting the slow one, but not spending too much money to buy the fastest one.

Later, after the money was spent, I found out that the P75 was the lame duck in that line. You'd be better off with the P60. That's because the P75 was the only one with the slow 50Mhz bus speed, while the others had 60Mhz bus speeds.

At least I learned something from that experience. Namely, that some of those obscure specs were more important than the flashy numbers they quote in the ads. Even to this day you can get suckered into spending more money on a slower component if you haven't learned that lesson.
I remember reading about that fiasco. Fortunately for me, I managed to bypass it because I had just recently dropped $2,600 on my 486/SX-33, and thus it was too soon for me to get involved in the Pentium stuff because I couldn't afford it. When I finally did, I jumped straight to the P133, which IIRC was pretty solid. My next one after that was a PII 266. Still have all of the aforementioned rigs, including the 486 (now upgraded to a DX2-66, but still working).
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

Post by Giles Habibula »

MindToyGames wrote: My fav was the 'Halcyon' episode...the shit didn't work! Like, at all. Hilarious, if not intentionally. https://archive.org/details/Lasersan1985
I'm watching that one right now. Some comments:
The very first thing you see is the host very carelessly holding a laser disk, getting his fingerprints all over it and banging it around, while going on about it being "virtually indestructible". Made me cringe.

Then, a few minutes in, we see Vladimir holding a CD-ROM. A host asks him what its main advantage is over magnetic media, and he responds, "It's virtually indestructible". However, he is very carefully holding it, one finger in the center hole, and the other finger on the outside edge. This is how I've always handled them. I never for a moment believed in their "virtual indestructibility". I've seen far too many of my music CDs damaged by a light scratch. True, in most cases, those light scratches can be rubbed out using plain auto wax, but one good heavy scratch would render the CD useless.

To their credit though, my entire music CD collection, going back to the mid-1980's, still functions perfectly, as long as they were never scratched too badly. So, virtually indestructible? No. But if you take good care of them, I can testify that they'll last at least 32 years....so far. Hell, for that matter, I've got floppy disks going back to 1993 that still work fine. And I've also had very good luck with my burned data CDs.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

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Was it a pay-TV exclusive or something at the time?
Nope just a TNT tv movie.
Oh, and Daehawk, somehow you always get me caught up in your damn retro threads, and I wind up spending the whole night (or several nights) going back and reading old crap or watching old video or documentaries or some damn thing. This is not what I planned on doing tonight! Damn it.
Welp I cant apologize for that one since its so enjoyable to do that :) Ive sat here another 3 hours watching them and meant to watch just one. Takes me back to great times. I was watching one from 1990 . I didn't recognize any of the stuff but it all looked so primitive to me. Then I realized that in 1990 I was in the middle of my super want of a PC and didn;t have one .So that stuff I was seeing and thinking so primitive of was stuff I was dreaming of having back then.
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Re: Computer Chronicles pc tech tv show 80 - 2000s

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