#80s computing

[chasedbybuildings]

Artwork by Robert Tinney. 1982.

[thegikitiki]

Behold the Delta-10, a machine so fast it can print the alphabet six times in a single second, assuming, of course, you actually want six copies of the alphabet in a font that looks like it was stitched together by a caffeinated woodpecker. In 1984, this was the peak of "red-hot efficiency," which is a polite way of saying it sounded like a robotic chainsaw massacre was happening in your home office.

The ad treats the printer like a suspect in a noir film, placing it under a harsh desk lamp as if trying to get it to confess where it hid the missing perforated edges of the paper. And let's talk about that 8K buffer. It’s adorable how we used to brag about memory capacities that couldn't even hold a modern low-res emoji today. But hey, it was "fully compatible" with the IBM PC, which meant you were officially part of the beige-box elite.

Source: October 1984 issue of Computers & Electronics.

[disneyfemslashcomics]

Play my Visual Novel and let me know what you think~

Purple by SnittenStudios

Separated by the internet, screens, and pixels, can two queers find love?

It's free, it's about trans lesbians, it's drawn in an art program from the 80s, you can play it in your web browser if you'd like.

[retropopcult]

The Cray X-MP was a supercomputer designed, built and sold by Cray Research. It was announced in 1982 as the "cleaned up" successor to the 1975 Cray-1, and was the world's fastest computer from 1983 to 1985 with a quad-processor system performance of 800 MFLOPS. The principal designer was Steve Chen.

[cairt]

Drawing in PC paintbrush is cool, I'm having a lot of fun with dithering and learning how to use the program. Some of the tools make me think about modern art programs and the desire to emulate physical media, when PC paintbrush in all its 1984 neon glory fully embraces aspects of the media that are difficult in physical media. (THERE'S EVEN MOVE, GROW, AND FLIP CAPABILITIES) (i do not know how to make those work.)

[gifsofthe80s]

Sylvania Tech - 1983

[featurecreep]

Ad for Maxell’s AI Toolbox software, included with select purchases - Of floppy disks, although they manufacture batteries and other consumer technology products as well. They began producing floppies in 8-inch format for the Japanese market in the 1970s, later going international with their products competing against US based manufacturers such as IBM, Memorex, and Shugart Associates. InfoWorld magazine, February 16th 1987

[chasedbybuildings]

Artwork by Robert Tinney. 1980.