Thread: Local news on Covid 19

Originally Posted by BobH

Which part?
Bob

Old people not knowing about computers. I guess it depends how old. I'm 66, which I think is getting on a bit. My generation has grown up with them. Starting out in the early 1980s with BBC Basic and Sinclair Spectrum and moving onwards from there.

Originally Posted by welshwizard

Old people not knowing about computers. I guess it depends how old. I'm 66, which I think is getting on a bit. My generation has grown up with them. Starting out in the early 1980s with BBC Basic and Sinclair Spectrum and moving onwards from there.

I have 2 years on you and I am using a computer and have a cell phone. Rest assured that my skill level in no way approaches that of the younger generations. I am not saying that boomers and older generations are computer illiterate but that their skill levels are on the whole not as good. When you get to the few remaining centenarians, like my 102 year old mother inlaw, chances are the computer illiteracy rate is pretty high. Times have changed as they always do because the is nothing more constant than change itself. The big difference is in how rapidly change occurs now.

Bob

Originally Posted by welshwizard

Old people not knowing about computers. I guess it depends how old. I'm 66, which I think is getting on a bit. My generation has grown up with them. Starting out in the early 1980s with BBC Basic and Sinclair Spectrum and moving onwards from there.

Ha, I remeber those, I'm 59. My first one was a Vic20 with a little tape deck to load very very basic games etc, it took ages sounded like a crazy fax machine and invariably failed just before it finished loading.

It also ran on basic, I remember writing a 3 line loop that made my name repeat over and over. I was so proud of myself.

Yes, the tape. My first was an Amstrad CPC 464. Put the tape in and wait what, 5 min to load a game?

Yes, those early computers had very limited uses and one of the reasons I chose ignored to them. I had no use for dial up connections either. IIRC my first PC was a Win 95 or 98 when dial up was no longer an issue where I live. It was also about the time I got interested in digital photography so that had a lot to do with getting one.

It killed my interest in books and monthly magazines when I could look stuff up on the internet. About that time the pulp and paper industry I worked in started it's downward spiral too. It was also the start of the downward spiral of companies like Kodak who made film. Things like film and records are now a niche market like straight razors.

I also saw more and more computer automation of the production line. Problem was the programming was not written by someone who actually operated the equipment. It also lead to skill sets being lost over time that were invaluable in operating the equipment manually should the automation fail.

Lots of pluses and minuses in the computer age. Computer controlled automation is a fine thing when it is programmed and implement properly. It can also be a can of worms such as in the case of the Boeing 737 Max as an example.

Sometimes going OT can be interesting.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

Yes, those early computers had very limited uses and one of the reasons I chose ignored to them. I had no use for dial up connections either. IIRC my first PC was a Win 95 or 98 when dial up was no longer an issue where I live. It was also about the time I got interested in digital photography so that had a lot to do with getting one.

It killed my interest in books and monthly magazines when I could look stuff up on the internet. About that time the pulp and paper industry I worked in started it's downward spiral too. It was also the start of the downward spiral of companies like Kodak who made film. Things like film and records are now a niche market like straight razors.

I also saw more and more computer automation of the production line. Problem was the programming was not written by someone who actually operated the equipment. It also lead to skill sets being lost over time that were invaluable in operating the equipment manually should the automation fail.

Lots of pluses and minuses in the computer age. Computer controlled automation is a fine thing when it is programmed and implement properly. It can also be a can of worms such as in the case of the Boeing 737 Max as an example.

Sometimes going OT can be interesting.

Bob

My first internet experience was dial up and in the UK we had no such thing as free local calls like here, we paid by the minute for being on the internet and the phone was engaged as long as we were on.

My first real PC was windows 3.1 and you had to be OK with DOS if any settings needed to be changed.

After the Vic20 my next one was an Amiga, it actually had a tiny hardrive. I helped a local dry cleaner by printing out a list of all the outstanding Dry Cleaning invoices from the local hotels.
I remember one day I had spent about 3 hours on this list with no saves and was about to print it on my noisy dot matrix printer when the whole thing went dark, about 2 seconds later the vacuum cleaner started, I nearly cried.

I have an Mac now.

Isn't it fascinating how this thread evolved from Covid to vaccinations, to the math abilities of the younger generations to early computers. It's almost like that game when we were kids, Chinese whispers.

I'm 73 and my first forays into computerville was at work when we got machines with win95 and basically I taught myself. I wound up computer troubleshooter for the office.

In those days Windows was simple and you could go into it and fix problems. These days if you have problems you just reinstall if the utilities don't fix the problem.

Yea that was before the Internet. Everything was dial up and then along came Compuserve and Prodigy and a few others.

The good old days.

Originally Posted by Phrank

Today, headed to my local Pharmacy expecting a massive line-up for people that had booked appointments for the Astra Vaccine, I was the only person there....

Gotta say, feel relieved to have received the vaccine.

Got the AZ last weekends as well Phrank.
Good to be protected indeed.
Summer GTGs are back on the table!

Originally Posted by MikeB52

Got the AZ last weekends as well Phrank.
Good to be protected indeed.
Summer GTGs are back on the table!

Yes, am surprised at the fact that I felt a relief off my shoulders that I had no idea was there. Will still wear mask etc., but damn, just nice to know I have some level of protection - hearing stories from Nurse Wifey, no desire to die on a ventilator drowning while conscious alone in some room...yea, no ferkin thanks!! :-)

Originally Posted by Phrank

Yes, am surprised at the fact that I felt a relief off my shoulders that I had no idea was there. Will still wear mask etc., but damn, just nice to know I have some level of protection - hearing stories from Nurse Wifey, no desire to die on a ventilator drowning while conscious alone in some room...yea, no ferkin thanks!! :-)

Yea, no joke eh.

Bob