One for you IT bods maybe

[Pudsey Bear]

Thirty Years Later, The Windows 3.1 Video Driver You Needed

Over the course of the 1990s we saw huge developments in the world of PC graphics cards, going from little more than the original IBM VGA standard through super VGA and then so-called “Window…

hackaday.com

 

[wildebus]

That made me think back ... back in the last 80s to 90's the typical video driver was around 1MB is size. One reason probably was to download an update it would take an absolute age over a typical modem connection of 9600kb, and 56kb/V.90 a bit later if you were 'cutting edge'.
Fast internet speeds and fast processors and loads of ram have made software developers lazy.

(I sent back the first personal computer I bought as it had to share its 1KB of RAM between the programme and the screen display - and as you added more lines of code (in BASIC), the screen display got smaller and smaller until you were left with a single line! totally useless.
I wonder who can identify what computer that would have been? )

 

[Pudsey Bear]

ZX?

I just thought some may find it interesting to look back.

Compare what we have now to back then BSOD was a daily thing for some PCs.

My tech support in the shop was just amazing, he waded through problem after problem, I could install hard and software well enough but not suss out whatever someones kid had done.

 

[wildebus]

ZX?

ZX80 to be precise.
I didn't bother with another until I got a used IBM and then started a bit of buying and selling. Back then no internet of course, so when to Computer Auctions to buy and advertised in the local paper. Virtually no point in doing it now - the price of second-hand PCs is so low you would need to get them for virtually nothing to make it worth spending the time preping them.

I just thought some may find it interesting to look back.

Compare what we have now to back then BSOD was a daily thing for some PCs.

My tech support in the shop was just amazing, he waded through problem after problem, I could install hard and software well enough but not suss out whatever someones kid had done.

Quite interesting doing some of this support. Sometimes I used to go and see customers when the service engineers couldn't fix the problem or were tricky (I remember going to the Microsoft UK HQ to tell them their software was out of date when they complained they couldn't install in on their new PCs )

But that is all in a past life. For me now, a computer is just a tool and a means to an end rather than an interest and a career.

 

[wildebus]

ZX?

I just thought some may find it interesting to look back.

Compare what we have now to back then BSOD was a daily thing for some PCs.

My tech support in the shop was just amazing, he waded through problem after problem, I could install hard and software well enough but not suss out whatever someones kid had done.

Do you think this will catch on?
Thing that was called an "IPAD" (short for Intel PAD) Apparently it is a portable kind of 'tablet' that you can carry around and browse the internet on?

 

[marchie]

That made me think back ... back in the last 80s to 90's the typical video driver was around 1MB is size. One reason probably was to download an update it would take an absolute age over a typical modem connection of 9600kb, and 56kb/V.90 a bit later if you were 'cutting edge'.
Fast internet speeds and fast processors and loads of ram have made software developers lazy.

(I sent back the first personal computer I bought as it had to share its 1KB of RAM between the programme and the screen display - and as you added more lines of code (in BASIC), the screen display got smaller and smaller until you were left with a single line! totally useless.
I wonder who can identify what computer that would have been? )

Sinclair ZX80?

Steve