[Poll] How old are we?

[Isgrimnur]

Atari 2600, Vic-20 traded in for a Commodore 64, which we kept for way too many years. We went from that to a 386 processor, and my first personal rig was a 486 DX2 66 MHZ with a 405 MB HDD.

[Holman]

I was born in December 1968.

In 1980 my Dad (who worked for AT&T Long Lines as a liaison to Bell Labs) welcomed a crew of engineers into the house to install a UNIX terminal. As far as I know, he never much used it, but he showed me how I could dial up (phone-cradle modem) to a computer in Atlanta to play Chess, Star Trek, and Adventure (the precursor to Zork I). There may even have been a MUD or two. [I was 11. This is the basis for my dubious claim of being the first kid on the internet.]

Shortly after we bought a TRS-80. In 1983 we switched to an Apple II, which I used into the late 1980s. 300- and then 1200-baud modem FTW!

[Holman]

One of my friends got the Pong home console in 1975. Pong was all it knew how to do, but we played a ridiculous number of hours on it.

You got all the Achievements, right??

[Kraken]

One of my friends got the Pong home console in 1975. Pong was all it knew how to do, but we played a ridiculous number of hours on it.

You got all the Achievements, right??

The main thing I remember about it is battling with his sister over who had rights to use the TV.

[Kelric]

You're all so old!

[dbt1949]

You ever graduate high school?

[Kelric]

You ever graduate high school?

17 years ago!

[dbt1949]

If memory serves me right it seems like I remember back from GG days you talking about being 16. Then your misadventures in collage (OSU?).
And now you're a responsible father with a steady job and a much better American taxpayer than me.
You've come a long ways baby! (and I've lost ground )

[Isgrimnur]

He has more kids than I do. And I got my first degree 18 years ago.

[Kraken]

Even if the scale went from dbt1949 to Kelric, we would still be old.

[dbt1949]

And now he's middle aged!

[Hrdina]

Apollo 8 launched just hours after my birth, so I was alive before anyone went to the moon.

This was in the very final days of the LBJ administration, and I do have dim recollections of Watergate on TV.

I was born about a year before that, but my wife was born while Apollo 8 was in lunar orbit.

I too have vague memories of Watergate on the TV news. Hell, I guess I'm old enough to remember that people used to actually watch TV news.

[Daehawk]

I was born 2 months before Apollo 11 landed on the moon.

[Holman]

Apollo 8 launched just hours after my birth, so I was alive before anyone went to the moon.

This was in the very final days of the LBJ administration, and I do have dim recollections of Watergate on TV.

I was born about a year before that, but my wife was born while Apollo 8 was in lunar orbit.

My parents kept a newspaper. It's got a half-page movie ad for YELLOW SUBMARINE.

[Kelric]

If memory serves me right it seems like I remember back from GG days you talking about being 16. Then your misadventures in college (OSU?).
And now you're a responsible father with a steady job and a much better American taxpayer than me.
You've come a long ways baby! (and I've lost ground )

Your memory serves you correctly. I was 13 when I first found GG IIRC, and briefly flirted with OSU.

[Holman]

If memory serves me right it seems like I remember back from GG days you talking about being 16. Then your misadventures in college (OSU?).
And now you're a responsible father with a steady job and a much better American taxpayer than me.
You've come a long ways baby! (and I've lost ground )

Your memory serves you correctly. I was 13 when I first found GG IIRC, and briefly flirted with OSU.

In my day, 13-year-olds were downloading Infocom hintfiles and cracked copies of CHOPLIFTER!!1!

[LordMortis]

Taking a stab, I'd say the 69-72 people were kids when Atari Intellivision started us on the path and were recent college grads that could afford computers when Gone Gold and PC Gamer (which is how I found GoneGold on that brand new internet thing) were in their prime.

FTFY

My Neighbor had Intellivision. I was so jealous. All these years later, I'm a little surprised Intellivision weren't the innovators to start the second generation consoles. It really went Atari>NES>Playstation+XBox with the Segas and ColecoVisions, and Intellvisions as footnotes. But Intellivision bought rights to D&D and Tron and somehow were allowed to brand their sports as things like MLB, even if there was nothing MLB about it. They sold a speech expansion. All of it done so well, except the ability of the controllers to take the wear and tear a video gamer would put on it. I guess it took the NES ability to save games and scores and such on the cart to move forward.

[MonkeyFinger]

I was born in December 1968.

In 1980 my Dad (who worked for AT&T Long Lines as a liaison to Bell Labs) welcomed a crew of engineers into the house to install a UNIX terminal. As far as I know, he never much used it, but he showed me how I could dial up (phone-cradle modem) to a computer in Atlanta to play Chess, Star Trek, and Adventure (the precursor to Zork I). There may even have been a MUD or two. [I was 11. This is the basis for my dubious claim of being the first kid on the internet.]

Shortly after we bought a TRS-80. In 1983 we switched to an Apple II, which I used into the late 1980s. 300- and then 1200-baud modem FTW!

Ah yes. My first job in "the industry" involved Texas Instruments minis and we found Adventure on there one day. Played the crap out of it at lunch and after hours, making maps on graph paper and the whole nine yards. Then we found out how to declare yourself a wizard and changed the hours the cave was open.

We had Pong and then I remember the Intellivision coming along and blowing our little minds.

[Jeff V]

One of my friends got the Pong home console in 1975. Pong was all it knew how to do, but we played a ridiculous number of hours on it.

You got all the Achievements, right??

The main thing I remember about it is battling with his sister over who had rights to use the TV.

My dad spent something like $200 on a wood-grained Pong console. Prior to that, we'd spend hours playing the one at the bowling alley (and marveled at the ingenuity when it changed from a standard upright to a table top that could be played seated). Dad never had an interest in computer or video anything, but we were the first in the 'hood to do Pong.

Sadly, it took much longer to get an Atari and it was already on the way out when we finally got one. At least the games were cheap by then.

[hentzau]

I'm a '64 here. I bought my first computer, a TRS-80 Mark 1 (with 4K of memory!) around 1978. I was dying to learn programming, and so I saved up money from babysitting and working at camp and bought this computer. Spent HOURS typing in programs from BYTE magazine, and saving them off to cassette only have the cassette fail after about the 3rd time loading it. Good times.

We had a pong console prior to that, but I don't have any real memories of that, other than it was one of the units that had the "hockey" version of the app, where you had an additional bar on the screen in the opponent's area to help send the puck back.

First console was an Intellivision. God, we played the shit out that thing. My dad loved it too...he may have played it more than we did. To this day I can still hear the sound of "B-17 Baahhhm-merrr" playing in my head.

[Moat_Man]

I was born in December 1968.

In 1980 my Dad (who worked for AT&T Long Lines as a liaison to Bell Labs) welcomed a crew of engineers into the house to install a UNIX terminal. As far as I know, he never much used it, but he showed me how I could dial up (phone-cradle modem) to a computer in Atlanta to play Chess, Star Trek, and Adventure (the precursor to Zork I). There may even have been a MUD or two. [I was 11. This is the basis for my dubious claim of being the first kid on the internet.]

Shortly after we bought a TRS-80. In 1983 we switched to an Apple II, which I used into the late 1980s. 300- and then 1200-baud modem FTW!

The phone cradle modem is called an acoustic coupler modem and my family has a similar story. My dad was the IT manager for a coal mining company and he brought home some sort of computer (teletype?) with a keyboard, acoustic coupler modem and a printer. It didn't have a screen. The printer basically printed out the "screen" so every time something changed it would print out another sheet. We used reams of paper and mostly played hearts with the people that worked for him. Lol. I think it had adventure/exploration games too. I remember it being a lot fun but I was pretty young and my older brother did most of the playing. I was mostly a shoulder jockey.

I'm sure my dad used it to dial in and work from home too.

[Grifman]

I learned cuneiform in elementary school

[gameoverman]

Atari 2600, Vic-20 traded in for a Commodore 64, which we kept for way too many years. We went from that to a 386 processor, and my first personal rig was a 486 DX2 66 MHZ with a 405 MB HDD.

I was thinking of my history with videogames/computers.
Pong started it all. Atari VCS, the 2600 name came later, lead to an Intellivision. Then I got an Atari 5200 when they came out. Then the videogame crash happened and I switched to Commodore 128. Electronic Arts had the best run of games I've ever seen. MULE/Bard's Tale/Larry Bird vs Dr J...that era.
Then about '87/'88 I was no longer into videogames or computers. I was going out a lot and just lost interest in gaming. It wasn't until a friend showed me Doom on his computer that I got back into it with a Packard Bell and AOL.

[FishPants]

I had (probably still have) a Jimmy Carter roach clip -- a peanut with exaggerated lips. I'll bet somebody somewhere would pay real money for that.

Was it this one:



I wasn't about to sign up to whatever service that is to see what it sold for, but it sounds like what you are describing.

[Kraken]

That's it!

[Holman]

Life was simple then.

What I wouldn't give for a reboot to 1976.

Hell, I'd take 2000.

[Jeff V]

Life was simple then.

Not particularly.

What I wouldn't give for a reboot to 1976.

I suppose I would revisit the military option, which would have led to a radically different life. Had it been successful choice, my career would likely have been far more successful as well.

The military option would have entailed a government-sponsored undergraduate program in Nuclear Engineering at Northwestern University (a school I wouldn't have been able to attend otherwise). My 17/18 year old self had less than no interest in this field, however. I was discussing this with my wife the other day and she's convinced it's just another example of me being a life-long idiot. I have no regrets...did I mention I really, really had no interest in the field? Math and physics were not something I was passionate about.

[Holman]

Reboot-wise, I was thinking more in world-historical terms.

[Jeff V]

Reboot-wise, I was thinking more in world-historical terms.

Jimmy Carter still would have been elected president. Watergate backlash and all.

[Jaymann]

The ancient mariners have crawled out of bed to represent a whopping 11%!

[Kraken]

Reboot-wise, I was thinking more in world-historical terms.

Jimmy Carter still would have been elected president. Watergate backlash and all.

The outside world had little impact on my halcyon days, from 1974 through 1980. I had good friends, enough money, multiple girlfriends, a nice car, a motorcycle, and few responsibilities. That all ended with the Reagan administration.

[The Meal]

The topic title takes me back to the opening lines of this song. (Yeah, it's not an exact match, but I can't let it go.)

[Holman]

Reboot-wise, I was thinking more in world-historical terms.

Jimmy Carter still would have been elected president. Watergate backlash and all.

I like Carter. I only picked 1976 because of the roach-clip, and also because it would nice to have another chance to dodge the rise of the New Right in the years after.