On Fri, May 10, 2013 at 2:55 PM, Roy Smith <r...@panix.com> wrote: > In article <mailman.1523.1368160434.3114.python-l...@python.org>, > Chris Angelico <ros...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> The first hard disk I ever worked with stored 20MB in the space of a >> 5.25" slot (plus its associated ISA controller card). > > Heh. The first hard disk I ever worked with stored 2.4 MB in 6U of rack > space (plus 4 Unibus cards worth of controller). That's not actually > the first hard disk I ever used. Just the first one I ever got to touch > with my own hands. > > Did I mention that the air filters had to be changed a few times a year? > > Uphill both ways, in the snow, while beating off the dinosaurs with > sticks.
Yeah, I'm pretty young. First computer I ever broke (the same one that had the aforementioned 20MB drive) addressed a whole megabyte of memory, 640KB of which was OK (we're left wondering whether anyone would notice if ROM developed a fault), and I got to play around with 64KB of it in DEBUG.EXE. And yeah, I wrote code straight in DEBUG and saved it and crashed the system. (Tip: If you want to write a device driver, make sure you start with your dad happy with you.) Was good fun. I heartily recommend the exercise, but... uhh... do consider setting up a virtual machine first :) ChrisA -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
