Remembrance of PCs past–Lee’s classic PC time regained
I was sitting at my desk this morning, dipping a madeleine into my tea, when a headline in a trade paper caught my eye: “The PC: 20 years old this week.” In an instant I was transported back 20 years, captive to memories returning in excruciating detail.
When the IBM PC came out 20 years ago, I was just beginning my first IT job, programming in COBOL on IBM 370 clones. A few months before, I remember talking with colleagues in my college computer department about the prospect for personal computers. We were dubious about their worth, but interested in trying one out to see what the hype was about.
I managed to evade using a PC for about five years. My first microcomputer experience was with Lotus 1-2-3 on a PC XT with a 20MB hard drive–hot stuff at the time. I learned XyWrite to do word processing, since I was employed at a newspaper that used the related Atex page publishing system.
Once I’d walked down Swann’s Way with a company computer, I wanted one for myself. The main criterion for me was portability. I wanted to be able to carry my PC with me as I studied for a master’s degree. I shelled out about $1,000 for a Datavue Spark–at 9 pounds, the lightest “laptop” of its time. I was quite pleased with it for about two weeks, when Datavue announced a model that had a fixed disk drive. My poor baby had only two diskette drives.
Still, it was good enough to do all the word processing and communications I needed to do. I used it to join CompuServe and browse bulletin-board systems–the Internet equivalents of the day.
Within a couple of years, I’d upgraded to a desktop system–a 33MHz 486DX with a whopping 8MB of memory and a 200MB hard drive. It cost about $2,400. I kept that computer going for about seven years, upgrading the motherboard, processor, memory, disk drive, even the power supply, until nothing was left of the original except the case. Somewhere along the way, I donated the Spark to one of the movers that helped my family move–the sweet cheat gone.
Eventually the desktop system, too, was relegated to the basement in favor of newer technology. Its replacement still lives in my home office. But it wasn’t until recently that I found the computer to which I’ve given my heart, as in a budding grove.
Remember my earlier desire for portability? I’ve been carrying around a Sony VAIO PictureBook PCG-C1VN lately. It’s tiny–the size and weight of a hardback book–but with all the power of a larger machine. The screen is only half as tall as a normal notebook screen, but I can live with that. It uses a 600MHz Transmeta Crusoe processor, so battery life is supposed to be extended, but I haven’t taken any trips to distant cities on a plane, so I stay near an electrical outlet. I used V Communications’ excellent PC Upgrade Commander to port all the files and applications from my desktop PC to the notebook.
Because Sony has introduced a newer model, the faster PCG-C1VP, you can get it as cheap as $1,349–an outstanding deal. I carry mine everywhere nowadays. I look at its utility as time regained.
Articles | Administrator | 
Friday, August 10, 2001 12:00 pm
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