Post by Slinger on May 30, 2018 14:48:20 GMT
I've just picked up a cheap 8.9" Amazon Fire device as I've recently signed up for Amazon Prime, and it set me to thinking. The Fire OS is based on Android, but is different enough to be treated separately, so, at home, I've now got...
...all currently running in my living room.
I still remember when it was a rarity to have a computer in the house, let alone 5 different operating systems on multiple devices in one room.
The revolution began (for me) when I sold my ZX Spectrum and bought my first PC. It suddenly occurred to me that the laser printer I'd bought to go with it had more memory than my previous "computer." That first PC was fairly highly specced (for early 1994) in so much as it had a 40MHz AMD processor instead of the more usual 33MHz Intel chip, and I ordered 8Mb of memory instead of the standard 4Mb. I also bought a 15" monitor instead of the 14" model that was the norm. It also had a "turbo" button.
This harbinger of future financial doom was built for me by 'Evesham Technology' if anyone remembers them. They were a top brand at the time, and one of the few places that let joe public specify almost every component that went into their computers, as well as the associated peripherals. I also remember that I splashed out on a Sound Blaster card, an integrated 28.8 modem, a flatbed scanner, and the aforementioned 300 DPI laser printer. I might well be wrong, but I think it had a 120Mb hard drive and it ran both Windows and DOS, of course, both of which were provided for me on 31/2 floppy discs.
We've certainly come a long way...I think.
- Fire OS
- Android
- Windows
- iOS
- Linux (Raspbian)
...all currently running in my living room.
I still remember when it was a rarity to have a computer in the house, let alone 5 different operating systems on multiple devices in one room.
The revolution began (for me) when I sold my ZX Spectrum and bought my first PC. It suddenly occurred to me that the laser printer I'd bought to go with it had more memory than my previous "computer." That first PC was fairly highly specced (for early 1994) in so much as it had a 40MHz AMD processor instead of the more usual 33MHz Intel chip, and I ordered 8Mb of memory instead of the standard 4Mb. I also bought a 15" monitor instead of the 14" model that was the norm. It also had a "turbo" button.
This harbinger of future financial doom was built for me by 'Evesham Technology' if anyone remembers them. They were a top brand at the time, and one of the few places that let joe public specify almost every component that went into their computers, as well as the associated peripherals. I also remember that I splashed out on a Sound Blaster card, an integrated 28.8 modem, a flatbed scanner, and the aforementioned 300 DPI laser printer. I might well be wrong, but I think it had a 120Mb hard drive and it ran both Windows and DOS, of course, both of which were provided for me on 31/2 floppy discs.
We've certainly come a long way...I think.
