# Remember life before computers



## squatting dog (Jul 23, 2021)




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## Aunt Bea (Jul 23, 2021)

We’ve come a long way!

I remember life before scanners, fax machines, copiers, etc...

The worst was typing four copy forms using carbon paper!

The internet and the inexpensive devices we have available to access it still amaze me!


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## Tom 86 (Jul 23, 2021)

I used pencils & the old non-electric typewriters when in school.  They had something in the office that you could make many copies of by cranking that machine. I know the liquid would make you high if you breathed it too long.


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## Don M. (Jul 23, 2021)

I spent pretty much my entire working life "fixing" computers.  Back in the '60's, it was mostly punched card machines.  Then, large mainframes began to emerge...some of which occupied more space than a house.  Then, by the time I retired, the size of those huge units was reduced to little more than a stack of PC's.  Today, there are laptops that can process more data, and faster, than some of what I worked on.  

If things have changed this much in the past 50 years, I can hardly imagine what will be available by the year 2100.


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## Alligatorob (Jul 23, 2021)

squatting dog said:


> Remember life before computers?​


Barely, LOL.  Actually computers have been around all my life, and since my father was an electrical engineer who worked with them I did hear about computers a lot.  However it was not until my 20s that I actually saw one...  My first experience using one was with cards, don't see those much anymore.

_Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine_ was a favorite book when I was a kid.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Dunn_and_the_Homework_Machine


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## Llynn (Jul 23, 2021)

Don M. said:


> If things have changed this much in the past 50 years, I can hardly imagine what will be available by the year 2100.


If things continue the way they are at the moment, it's possible that what will be available in 2100 will be sticks and rocks.


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## OneEyedDiva (Jul 23, 2021)

Re the OP:  Funny! And all true. I'll have to share in a couple of my Facebook groups.


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## jujube (Jul 23, 2021)

"To err is human, but to really screw up, you need a computer."


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## jujube (Jul 23, 2021)

A laptop was where you sat your grandbabies.
A tablet was what you wrote your homework on.  It had lines.
A display was something you didn't want to make of yourself.


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## Verisure (Jul 23, 2021)

squatting dog said:


> View attachment 175132


Yes, but I remember the *dewey decimal system* too.


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## Verisure (Jul 23, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> I used pencils & the old non-electric typewriters when in school.  They had something in the office that you could make many copies of by cranking that machine. I know the liquid would make you high if you breathed it too long.


Yep. Me too. Do you remember what WPM meant?


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## horseless carriage (Jul 24, 2021)

Verisure said:


> Yep. Me too. Do you remember what WPM meant?


Typing speed, words per minute. Never could get my head around technology. But at least my mathematical computer never freezes.


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## peramangkelder (Jul 24, 2021)

An oldie but a goodie


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## Paco Dennis (Jul 24, 2021)




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## Verisure (Jul 24, 2021)

horseless carriage said:


> Typing speed, words per minute. Never could get my head around technology. But at least my mathematical computer never freezes.
> 
> View attachment 175201


I still remember when the abacus was used in Asia and Africa. Then suddenly the little pocket calculator showed up and the abacus disappeared overnight.


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## hollydolly (Jul 24, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> I used pencils & the old non-electric typewriters when in school.  *They had something in the office that you could make many copies of by cranking that machine. I know the liquid would make you high if you breathed it too long.*


Yes that was one of my most tedious jobs as an office junior... 

I remember in our office it was a Roneo machine , and I used to have to churn out hundreds of copies of papers.. and the smell of that ink..*ugh*...


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## terry123 (Jul 24, 2021)

I worked for a Ford dealership when computers first came out. My boss was very wary of them and we did not change until Ford made us do it.  My boss was still wary and made me keep two sets of books for 3 months. One was our old hand way and the other was the computer.  At the end of the 3 months the difference was 10 cents!  So finally we could do the computer for good.  I was so happy with that!! Don't even ask me what we went through using a fax machine for the first week!!!


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## hollydolly (Jul 24, 2021)

The company I worked for as an Office junior after leaving school, had One  Computer ..... and it was so huge it took up the whole of one room...

I worked as a junior for a punch card Operating room..similar to this but with 50 operators.. all going at once..











I was a general dogsbody to them, and to the guys in the print room, and to the boss upstairs.. and I'd have to take over the telephone reception when our receptionist was at lunch...






 this was the same model and colour as the desktop switchboard I operated as a junior


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## Ken N Tx (Jul 24, 2021)




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## hollydolly (Jul 24, 2021)

The year my mum was born... 1930's...


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## Fyrefox (Jul 24, 2021)

And remember _slide rules?  _They used to award them at my high school to brilliant math students who were going off to college to be engineers...


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## Verisure (Jul 24, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> The year my mum was born... 1930's...


The year of the first World Cup.


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## JonDouglas (Jul 24, 2021)

Fyrefox said:


> And remember _slide rules?  _They used to award them at my high school to brilliant math students who were going off to college to be engineers...
> 
> View attachment 175224



I still have mine.  It didn't get any use after HS, though, as I went directly into computers when I got to college.  






Been around and using computers for over 60 years at this point.


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## horseless carriage (Jul 24, 2021)

You could say that I am definitely, "Old School."


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## SeaBreeze (Jul 24, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> I used pencils & the old non-electric typewriters when in school.  They had something in the office that you could make many copies of by cranking that machine. I know the liquid would make you high if you breathed it too long.


In school I had a pencil box and sharpener, in the older grades I had a fountain pen.  At home we just had a regular typewriter, Royal, I believe.


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## JustBonee (Jul 24, 2021)

My first experience with a  Mac  ....  I used one of these at a job I had back in 1985,   working for an international company.
Never thought that I would ever want to own one at home ..


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## hollydolly (Jul 24, 2021)

SeaBreeze said:


> In school I had a pencil box and sharpener, in the older grades I had a fountain pen.  At home we just had a regular typewriter, Royal, I believe.


yes me too... pencil box ..sharpener, and although we had ball point pens with the many colours ( remember those)?.. we also had to learn to write using Ink and fountain pen, ink wells were all slotted into our desks in our early years..up until about  our 3rd year in secondary school.. before I changed into Business economic class. where the desks had built in typewriters..

Does anyone remember these old typewriter desks... sorry I can't find a picture with one in it...







 our typewriters were ancient old heavy keyed  Manual Underwoods..


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## GAlady (Jul 24, 2021)

This a picture of my Christmas present when I was 16.  I thought I was a modern chick.


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## Ken N Tx (Jul 24, 2021)




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## Chet (Jul 24, 2021)

I bought my nephew a Brother word processor a long time ago for Christmas and got one for myself. It weighed a ton, and used a CRT and a floppy. It doubled as a typewriter too. I got tired of looking at it so I took it apart and put it out for garbage pickup a little at a time.


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## GAlady (Jul 24, 2021)

This looks like the first computer my husband and I bought for our office.


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## Devi (Jul 24, 2021)

@GAlady, we had one of those early Mac computers, too (got it in 1984, I think). After we bought it, a friend upgraded the RAM (making it what was then called a "fat Mac"). We also found that you couldn't save a document longer than 8 pages! The operating system was on a disk, and to save a document, you had to swap that out with a blank disk (back and forth, back and forth, multiple times.

It also, along with the dot-matrix printer, cost $3500 _plus_, and this was in 1984. We also were able to buy an external second disk drive ($500) later so we could stop the disk-swapping. So, $3500 plus $500 plus our tech friend's (free) assistance. That's an awful lot of money for 1984.

We switched to what were called, in those days, IBM clones. And had the Mac documents converted to ... whatever was the IBM clone document format at the time. And never looked back.


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## Mitch86 (Jul 28, 2021)

I remember using my huge, cabinet Admiral radio.  Now I use Amazon Echo Shows and almost forgot what radios do.


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## Mitch86 (Jul 28, 2021)

GAlady said:


> This looks like the first computer my husband and I bought for our office


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## Mitch86 (Jul 28, 2021)

I started with a TRS-80 from Radio Shack on a small table next to my bed.  Radio Shack does not even exist anymore.  I used to go over to the Radio Shack store all the time to buy new programs on cassette tapes.


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## JustBonee (Jul 28, 2021)

Life before computers for me,  was doing full-charge accounting,   with a mountain of books.
I worked for a construction company   and my days were filled with transferring figures to ledgers.. 
I remember it was long and tedious.

When computers first came on the  horizon  and  I interviewed for a new job,   I was asked if I  understood accounting..
Why, yes  .. I did  ...   BUT  the darn computer program they were using was totally new to me.  
(I think QuickBooks was one of the first)


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## Ken N Tx (Jul 29, 2021)

1955!!


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## fmdog44 (Jul 29, 2021)

I understood pens, pencils, erasers and paper, stamps and envelopes, phones and tape recorders, stoves and ovens, washers and dryers , TVs and automobiles.


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## Victor (Jul 29, 2021)

I still use pen and pencil for notes. I would not want to return to pre-computer days. I was one of the last to get my own computer. This here is my second one. I used typewriters for everything until about 13 years ago. I used the first pre-internet service (DIALOG-Lockheed) at a library. $60. an hour, mediocre results.
   I don't know what a cloud is, or a cookie or a byte...I used to think app was for apple.


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## Mr. Ed (Jul 29, 2021)

Yeah I remember before computers, we had black and white TV set


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## Time Waits 4 No Man (Jul 29, 2021)

Speaking of "Life Before Computers" reminds me of some older houses we lived in back in the early 1960's, when I was still a boy. Inside some of those old, late 19th century houses were gaslight fixtures, still attached to the walls - completely intact. They were remnants from the Age of Gaslighting, when homes were lit by gaslight. Although gaslighting had begun to die out toward the end of the 19th century, many homes of that era (still standing in the 1960's) still had the original gaslight fixtures, even though electric ceiling lights  and electric wall outlets had long since replaced them. When new electric lighting was installed during the early decades of the 20th century, many a homeowner back then simply turned off the gas and extinguished their gaslighting days forever, since it was less costly to leave them in. But as a kid in one of those old houses I used to ponder the long-dead gaslight fixtures sitting up on the walls, their old-timey brass appearance an intriguing glimpse into a past far distant from my own. Today, decades later, I'm sure many of those transitional gaslit/electric lit houses are long gone. Still, the memory of those old houses of my childhood yet remain with me. 





​


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## Gaer (Jul 29, 2021)

Spreadsheets:  I remember using them ALL NIGHT LONG and coming out 1 cent short!  
Dad had an Underwood typewriter. He was on that thing everyday!

This thread makes you wonder what's next?  E-mail is already outdated!


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## Nathan (Jul 29, 2021)

Fyrefox said:


> And remember _slide rules?  _They used to award them at my high school to brilliant math students who were going off to college to be engineers...


My slide rule teacher said they would be good to stir paint with when they became obsolete.


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## Jeff_RN/Paramedic (Jul 29, 2021)

I remember having to learn counting on an abacus, writing in Roman numerals, and using a slide rule.
Later on, I remember assembling my first computer at the kitchen table. It was a Sinclair kit computer.
It had no software so I had to learn BASIC.  Long time ago.


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## fmdog44 (Jul 30, 2021)

Sunday newspapers, you could spend the entire day reading. I used to look forward to lying on the living room floor and going through every section. My best pal, my dog would lay near by as a part of this Sunday ritual.


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## chrislind2 (Jul 30, 2021)

I remember where I worked they rented out a space for a computer sales company. So mysterious and interesting. This was around 1988-89? Eventually I bought a computer with the premise that it could help my daughter do better in school. Might be somewhat true today, but it really was not back then. I became hooked on learning the computer and my daughter was basically not interested at all. I remember fighting the dot matrix printer. It took so much power from the computer that if you even moved the mouse often the printer would freeze and then the computer would freeze and you had to reboot and start all over again. Used to buy every computer magazine on the rack at the grocery store. A friend of mine at work and I learned computers by reading and doing. I loved the hardware end, tearing them apart and hopefully putting them back together. He was more into the software part. I still work on computers, but it's kind of a love-hate relationship today.


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