06-10-2003, 01:00 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Gizmodo in 1983?
 Here's a great trip down memory lane for you older readers, and likely facial expressions of disbelief from anyone under the age of 25. Wonder what the gadget market was like in 1983? Wonder no more! Gizmodo takes you down memory lane with a great write-up of a few gadgets from 1983, like the GRiD Compass 1101 pictured above:
"First clamshell laptop compter. The Compass has a black magnesium alloy case, a gas plasma display, 384KB of memory, and for hacking while on the road, a lightning-fast 1200bps internal modem."
Being only eight years old at the time, I was playing with GI Joe's (Cobraaaa!), but I started getting into computers when I was about 10 years old, so much of this looks familiar to me.
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06-10-2003, 01:42 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,049
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Right on, I hear you about G.I. Joe. and still one of my favorites I want when I have a son some for him to play wiht G.I. Joe toys as well
I remember visiting a few years ago my dads place of work, there was a guy there who had one of the first laptops. It was made by Tandem! haha
So that tells you how old it was. MMM, is that the right word? I know it was from radio shack..mmmmmm
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06-10-2003, 02:26 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 137
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You probably mean Tandy. That was Radio Shack corp name.
I just got rid of my Commodore Pet (Serial number 73) last year. Traded it for a fishing boat. Had 8K of memory and a 40x25 screen. Tape drive included. (This was a desktop, sort of). It was very small with an intolerable keyboard.
dart
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06-10-2003, 03:09 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 125
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Very nice link Jason! Thanks!!! 
pretty cool to see all those gadgets, everytime I go to that page I think about how materialist I am :roll:
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06-10-2003, 03:34 AM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 5,133
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Thinkingmandavid
Right on, I hear you about G.I. Joe. and still one of my favorites I want when I have a son some for him to play wiht G.I. Joe toys as well |
I played with GI Joes all the time. I had the habit of disassembling them, and swapping arms & legs and such. I had a ton, but they were stolen by a classmate of mine. His parents were rich and he had the 7' aircraft carrier, so I'm not sure what his motivation was there. :evil:
PS - if you have a daughter, she may be interested in GI Joe's as well...
Knowing is half the battle.
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06-10-2003, 03:41 AM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 5,133
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Re: Gizmodo in 1983?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
Being only eight years old at the time, I was playing with GI Joe's (Cobraaaa!), but I started getting into computers when I was about 10 years old, so much of this looks familiar to me.
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Wait a minute!!! What's a CANADIAN doing playing with A REAL AMERICAN HERO?
Yo Joe!
He'll fight for freedom where ever there's trouble.
GI Joe is there.
It's GI Joe against Cobra the enemy
Fighting to save the day.
He never gives up.
He's always there,
Fighting for freedom over land and air
GI Joe- A real American hero
GI Joe is there
GI Joe is the codename for American's daring, highly trained
special mission force.
It's purpose, to defend human freedom against Cobra-
a ruthless, terrorist organization determined to rule the world.
He never gives up.
He'll stay til the fight's won.
GI Joe will dare.
GI Joe- A real American hero
GI Joe
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06-10-2003, 03:46 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 21
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older readers!? i remember that.
jeez - I'm an old duffer at 34 ;-)
..lance
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06-10-2003, 04:07 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 130
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1983 year of the X-07
In 1983 I bought my first computer! It was a Canon X-07 and only really sold well in Japan and France. It was portable, had a 120x32 resolution LCD screen and 8KB of RAM! It also had tons of cool peripherals such as a 4-color printer, ROM cards and infrared communication devices. The funny (sad?) thing is I still have it somewhere in my garage!
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06-10-2003, 04:14 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 367
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Here's where I get to show my age. My now almost 22 year old son was 2 years old. I owned the first Sony Walkman and everyone on my ship (Navy) was agog at it.
I didn't own a Grid Compass, but I sure remember it.
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06-10-2003, 04:54 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,060
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I bought my first PC right about the time this was released. Mine was a very similar Tandy laptop:
Half-height CGA monochrome LCD screen
640K RAM (plus 128k print spooler)
8 mhz 8088 processor
DOS 3.1
External modem (but precious little to connect to)
dual 720k floppy drives (so you can keep your program disk in one drive and your data disk in the other!)
weight--about 15 lbs.
price: $1,800
Even though it was a ROCK by today's standards, once I had used it for the first time to write a graduate school term paper, I realized it was worth every penny.
AND, it was then that the slumbering technophilic giant inside me was awakened!
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