Pack Rat

I think I just “one-upped” all of the recent movers in the pack rat category. I came across a file-box full of paperwork. And, of course, ever the Virgo, I had to go through it to see what was there (we can't just toss it on the pile, can we?).

Well, I discovered a small pile of carefully organized clippings from a couple of computer magazines. We could say here that everyone has these sorts of things, but these had not been forgotten, but misplaced. I knew what they were as soon as I saw them.

Anyway, I thought some of the titles of the articles, and more specifically the dates, would be amusing to at least a few of my friends. See what you think about these old gems.

Beyond the Beep: The Coming of Multimedia Windows
“To me, the idea of integrating sounds and video into the PC is an important evolutionary step.”
- October 29, 1991

Putting Sound on PCs: An Introduction to Waveform Audio
“Because sounds can be stored in files, they can be accessed very quickly, copied, and distributed as easily as other forms of data.”
- November 12, 1991

The First DOS 5.0 Utility: UMBFILES Frees Up Extra RAM
“If you need to modify the source code, you will need to recompile it using a macro assembler and the following commands:”
- November 26, 1991

Save Your Configuration Changes Without Leaving Windows 3.0
“To recompile the program, you will need the Windows 3.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) and the Microsoft C compiler, Version 6.0.”
- October 29, 1991

Using a computer is simpler than it used to be. Geez, I used to understand all this stuff.

I also found my 5.25" floppy disks for MS-DOS 2.0. Makes me kinda miss my old 12mHz “turbo-charged” computer and it's 5 megabyte hard drive. Ah, the days of monochrome! I kinda miss my amber display (which was rather radical in its time, since most displays before that had been green).

Geez, I remember upgrading to my screaming i486 that was at least twice as fast as that, had a 30 megabyte hard drive and a color monitor (anyone remember the CGA/EGA/VGA wars?). Man, I was kicking ass then. And I could play Wolfenstein and Doom! Hell, I still have the original 5.25" floppy disks of Doom. It came on five disks, I believe.

I know some of the youngins who read this think that I mis-spelled “disc” i.e. “compact disc.” Sorry, kids. It may be possible that you know what a 3.5" floppy disk looks like. But you may have wondered about why it's called “floppy” because, well, it isn't. The 5.25" disks were floppy. I know, because I've tested this theory extensively.

Anyway, it's incredible the stuff we keep. I'm not quite sure, but I think I can let those articles about MS-DOS utilities go. But I'm going to carefully pack up my floppy disks of MS-DOS 2.0, and then ship them off to the Smithsonian.