{"id":1021,"date":"2014-08-30T14:03:59","date_gmt":"2014-08-30T18:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/?p=1021"},"modified":"2017-06-16T07:37:05","modified_gmt":"2017-06-16T11:37:05","slug":"my-portable-computing-adventures-from-the-stone-age-to-the-space-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/2014\/08\/30\/my-portable-computing-adventures-from-the-stone-age-to-the-space-age\/","title":{"rendered":"My Portable Computing Adventures from the Stone Age to the Space Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

I was reflecting this morning what a marvel of engineering the Surface Pro 3 is. I\u2019ve never owned anything like it. Light, fast, powerful. Versatile and comfortable to hold. Expandable. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"sp3\" <\/p>\n

And then I got to thinking about the various \u201cportables\u201d I\u2019ve owned, especially the early ones. I\u2019ve always been a laptop person, although the definition of \u2018portable\u2019 has certainly changed over the years. And I started thinking about the hardware I\u2019ve owned. And decided to post a short walk through those ancient devices I\u2019ve owned over the years. <\/p>\n

My first portable was a Tandy 1400FD, circa 1989<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"1400fd\" <\/p>\n

This was a beast that weighed about 14 lbs as I recall. Equipped with a whopping 768K of RAM, it had a switchable clock speed of 4.77\/8.16 MHz and an 8026\/7 Intel 8 MHz processor. <\/p>\n

The MS DOS operating system and applications ran off dual 720K floppy drives. In addition to MS-DOS 3.20, it ran a text based under interface called Deskmate with built in applications for drawing and word processing. The screen was a backlit LCD that reminded me of an Etch-a-Sketch toy. Hard on the eyes, so I printed out everything on a dot matrix printer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just two years later, circa 1991, I purchased a 6.7 lb. slightly more powerful Tandy 2810 laptop (it even had a 20 meg hard drive). With 16 shades of grey, 1 meg of RAM, MS-DOS 5.0 and an 80C286 processor, I ran Windows 3.0 in \u201cStandard\u201d mode. This was the first computer I seriously traveled with as it had a 2400 bps modem and in addition to local hobbyist BBSing, I\u2019d added Prodigy, Genie, and CompuServe to my lifestyle. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"2810.1\" \"2810.2\" <\/p>\n

Just six months later, I sold the 2810 to an online friend and purchased an AST Premium Exec 386\/25SX. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"ast\" <\/p>\n

This technological wonder ran Windows 3.1 in Enhanced mode, and included 4 Megs of RAM and a 20 meg hard drive. Video was significantly improved at 256 shades of grey and with a 386 SX25 processor, it was the fastest machine I\u2019d ever seen. This was the last portable I owned that required a separate, add-on mouse and I jumped on the ballpoint mouse (predecessor of the built in trackball) bandwagon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1993-1995<\/p>\n

I quickly graduated to my first color laptop, a passive matrix Compaq Contura 425c (a 486\/25sx).<\/p>\n

\"contura\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From there, I moved on to an Ambra (offered by IBM as a separate non-IBM\/ThinkPad brand) 486\/DX4 100. I couldn\u2019t believe how fast and colorful my mobile computing world was getting. Both included built-in trackball mouse support. Although each was initially purchased with Windows 3.1 or Windows 3.11, I upgraded to Windows 95. While neither originally came equipped with a CD ROM drive, I purchased one separately, a 2X pcmcia external drive. This was the bleeding edge. I thought I was all set for years to come. <\/p>\n

1996-1997<\/p>\n

Next came a store brand Pentium 120 laptop pre-installed with Windows 95. This machine died, the store (actually a small chain) had gone out of business, and I was about to enter what I considered to be the age of modern laptops.<\/p>\n

1998-1999<\/p>\n

I had always considered the IBM ThinkPad the ultimate portable machine (and a very expensive luxury) and one day while visiting a CompUSA store I caved, and bought a consumer 385XD Pentium II 266 MHz ThinkPad with 64 megs of RAM and a 4 GIG hard drive. <\/p>\n

\"385xd\"<\/p>\n

I loved the track point style mouse.  Later that year, I injured my back and suddenly needed a very light weight machine and purchased a ThinkPad 570 Pentium II 366 MHz machine, equipped with 128 megs RAM, a 5.1 GIG hard drive and it weighed under 4.5 lbs. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 \"570\" <\/p>\n

At the time, I thought it was the ultimate \u201cthin and light\u201d laptop. But it was really the clever \u201cslice\u201d dock that enabled IBM to slim down and lighten up the 570. And I was definitely hooked on ThinkPad\u2019s. Rock solid, and with the best keyboard to be found anywhere. <\/p>\n

1999-2000<\/p>\n

While beta testing Windows 2000, I treated myself to a ThinkPad 600X, a 500 MHz Pentium machine with 128 megs of RAM, 12 GIG hard drive and 4 megs video RAM (and my first DVD drive). I added a full docking station, full size monitor, and all the trimmings. This was a perfect Windows 2000 machine, and it was a good Windows XP Professional one as well.<\/p>\n

2001<\/p>\n

I bought an IBM ThinkPad T22. It boasted an Intel Speed Step processor, 384 megs of 100 MHz PC RAM, 8 megs of video RAM, a 20 gig hard drive and a 8x DVD. I added a long list of add-on peripherals, including 802.11b, firewire, and SCSI pcmcia cards, web cams, USB scanner, printer and a docking station. Again, I thought I was on top of the world, over the bleeding edge, set for years to come. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2003, 2005<\/p>\n

Upgraded to new ThinkPad \u201cT\u201d models. These were incremental upgrades. Stronger, faster, better. \"thinkpad\"<\/p>\n

2007<\/p>\n

In 2007. by some strange alignment of the planets, I hooked up with some folks at HP who sent me a TX1000 tablet to play around with. <\/p>\n

\"tx1000\" <\/p>\n

This had limited touch capabilities (by today\u2019s standards) and was a laptop convertible. You\u2019d twist the thing around to a tablet like configuration. It was pretty awkward, but it was my first hands on experience with a tablet like laptop. The experience got incrementally better a little less than a year later. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2008<\/p>\n

HP followed up the TX1000 with a TX2000<\/a> and sent one along for me to try out. It cane fitted out with:<\/p>\n

Turion 64 X2 TL66 (2.3 GHz 512+512 L2 Cache) <\/p>\n

4 GB DDR2 System Memory <\/p>\n

Fingerprint Reader + Webcam + Microphone <\/p>\n

Wireless a\/b\/g\/n (draft) + Bluetooth <\/p>\n

250 GB SATA 5400 RPM hard drive <\/p>\n

LightScribe 8x DVD+\/-RW Double Layer <\/p>\n

Wireless Remote Control (for Windows Media Center and Quick Play) <\/p>\n

6 cell & 8 cell Lithium-Ion batteries <\/p>\n

Tablet Pen Digitizer and Cord <\/p>\n

12.1\u201d (1280 x800) WXGA Nvidia Go6150 powered graphics (shared memory) <\/p>\n

2 sets earbuds <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"tx2000\" <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 2011 I bought a MacBook Air (mostly to run Windows).  It was, at the time, the thinnest, lightest \u201cultrabook\u201d available.Enough said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2013<\/p>\n

I was first in line at the nearest Microsoft Store to Purchase the original Surface Pro.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2014<\/p>\n

Which brings us to today. I love my Surface Pro 3. It\u2019s been quite the journey. Can\u2019t wait to see what\u2019s next!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I was reflecting this morning what a marvel of engineering the Surface Pro 3 is. I\u2019ve never owned anything like it. Light, fast, powerful. Versatile and comfortable to hold. Expandable.   And then I got to thinking about the various \u201cportables\u201d I\u2019ve owned, especially the early ones. I\u2019ve always been a laptop person, although […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[140],"tags":[312,228],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":""},"post_excerpt_stackable":"

  I was reflecting this morning what a marvel of engineering the Surface Pro 3 is. I\u2019ve never owned anything like it. Light, fast, powerful. Versatile and comfortable to hold. Expandable.   And then I got to thinking about the various \u201cportables\u201d I\u2019ve owned, especially the early ones. I\u2019ve always been a laptop person, although the definition of \u2018portable\u2019 has certainly changed over the years. And I started thinking about the hardware I\u2019ve owned. And decided to post a short walk through those ancient devices I\u2019ve owned over the years. My first portable was a Tandy 1400FD, circa 1989  …<\/p>\n","category_list":"Surface<\/a>","author_info":{"name":"barbbowman","url":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/author\/barbbowman\/"},"comments_num":"0 comments","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pvFKI-gt","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmediaphile.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}