What Makes the Zilog Z-80 So Versatile and Sought After?

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

...with all the snow, I figured this place would be crawling with consultants.

Who'da thunk it?

 

[rennea]

It's hard to believe but the weather here is actually nice today. Plus 9c with sun!! Must me the calm before the storm.

 

[amy07]

maybe everyone is doing shows? Doesn't anybody want to come out and play?

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Well, everyone in Ohio is whining about snow over in the other thread, so I figured maybe we could get them to come out and play with something besides snowmen.

 

[katie0128]

I've been here on-and-off all day... actually feeling a bit motivated and tried to get some PC work done. HA! What a concept!

 

[merego]

Well, everyone in Ohio is whining about snow over in the other thread, so I figured maybe we could get them to come out and play with something besides snowmen.

Oh whining in Ohio are we??? a bunch of whiners??
I am downing some wine right now, but I am not a whiner :angel:

 

[AnnieBee]

I'm here, but only for a minute or my DH will ban me from this site... He says he won't begrudge the time I spend at shows, but he will begrudge the time I spend at home here on this site, instead of with him, especially after the kiddo's are finally in bed. I guess he's got a point, but Chef Success is soooo addictive (I mean, where else can you find riveting discussions on mayo vs. MW and jello AND expereince the excitement of waiting for someone to find out if they're pregnant!! Oh, and there's some pretty good PC info here too ).

Anyway, I'm here to "find a recipe", so I guess I'd better do that before I'm found out... Just wanted to say hi to all of you out in cyberspace before I go...

I have so much to do tonight, my DD is 1 tomorrow (she's such a cutie!) and we have friends coming for lunch... Oh, and in case you hadn't heard, it is SNOWING like heck here in Ohio

 

[merego]

My dd turned 2 today, luckily her party is next Saturday and wasn't today.
my son will be 1 next week so we are doing a combined party and I am needing some recipes too. This site is very addicting

 

[pampered.chris]

I flipped my catalogs today for my 1st Spring/Summer season show tomorrow...and not to "whine" but PA is getting snow too!! LOL
I can't wait to get my laptop so I can be on here more!! Then I will probably get "banned" from spending time on CS!!
But just like AnnieBee said...this is SO ADDICTIVE!!!

 

[merego]

My DH is soooo regretting buying me my laptop~ LOL

 

[pampered.chris]

I just can't wait to get it!! I am still pretty new to this site. I can't believe I have been w/ the company for so long and just found out about this site!! I could sit here and read ALL day long!! And once I can sit on the couch and read this site while watching American Idol!! I really can't wait for it!! A week seems WAY too long!!

 

[merego]

I am fairly new but have met so many cool people that I can not wait to meet at conference.
I am a huge Big Brother fan, so I sit on the floor in the playroom with my laptop watching BB while the kids play around me

 

[KellyTheChef]

Our phones/cable/internet went down earlier today so I have been offline quite a bit today. Thankfully, it all came back up a bit ago. I thought my DH was gonna have a complete meltdown! He is a super online gamer and he was going into withdrawal from no internet connection!!

We are on a weather emergency here...no one allowed on the streets except for emergency personnel and others who MUST be out!

 

[chefann]

I've been playing a game for much of the day.

 

[katie0128]

Oh whining in Ohio are we??? a bunch of whiners??
I am downing some wine right now, but I am not a whiner :angel:

Whiner vs whino... tomato vs tamato! <giggle>

 

[merego]

After being housebound for 2 days, I need to be drunk to pass the time~ LOL

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

It is amazing how quickly our perspectives change...when the first microcomputers came out (they weren't called "personal computers" or even PC's until the IBM-PC came out in 1982) they were slow but useful, and amazing. Most people connected to local bulletin boards - those of us who were in the business would use those portals to connect to the Internet, although it was all text based then.)The first connections to remote servers were at 300 baud (you could actually read text as it scrolled on to your screen) and when the 1200 baud modems came out, we were ecstatic. There were local BBS systems all over the country, and one big service called Compuserv.The phone company told us we'd never be able to use speeds greater than 2400 baud. AOL came around and pretty much blew Compuserv away.(You'd dial a local access number to get on to the Compuserv or AOL network. You paid for your connect time per minute, so on and off was the modus operandi.)Not long after that, we got 9600 baud modems and that was about the same time the graphical interfaces were starting to get popular, so it didn't take long before that just wasn't fast enough.Compuserv and AOL weren't enough anymore - everyone wanted access to the Internet.Now, we're connected 24/7 through DSL or Cable or Satellite and we get upset when we lose our connection for one reason or another.

 

[merego]

It is amazing how quickly our perspectives change...when the first microcomputers came out (they weren't called "personal computers" or even PC's until the IBM-PC came out in 1982) they were slow but useful, and amazing. Most people connected to local bulletin boards - those of us who were in the business would use those portals to connect to the Internet, although it was all text based then.)

The first connections to remote servers were at 300 baud (you could actually read text as it scrolled on to your screen) and when the 1200 baud modems came out, we were ecstatic. There were local BBS systems all over the country, and one big service called Compuserv.

The phone company told us we'd never be able to use speeds greater than 2400 baud. AOL came around and pretty much blew Compuserv away.

(You'd dial a local access number to get on to the Compuserv or AOL network. You paid for your connect time per minute, so on and off was the modus operandi.)

Not long after that, we got 9600 baud modems and that was about the same time the graphical interfaces were starting to get popular, so it didn't take long before that just wasn't fast enough.

Compuserv and AOL weren't enough anymore - everyone wanted access to the Internet.

Now, we're connected 24/7 through DSL or Cable or Satellite and we get upset when we lose our connection for one reason or another.

I have to say I really enjoy reading what you post
This one is a tad too deep for me, but you have a point

 

[katie0128]

It is going to be interesting to watch how techology develops over our kids' lifetimes. My brothers are young enough (21 and 23) that they don't remember life without computers, cable, CD, cell phones or even cordless phones! I'm only 33, but some days "the boys" make me feel soooo old!!!

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

In twenty years, they'll write a post like I did, only they'll say something like, "When we were kids, we had these big, clunky things called "laptops" and we actually had to carry a thing like a brick, and that was our phone!"

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

I have to say I really enjoy reading what you post
This one is a tad too deep for me, but you have a point

Don't forget that I had to walk 5 miles to school each day, through 15 foot snow drifts, and it was uphill both ways.

Oh, wait. That was my father.

 

[pampchefrhondab]

I've been checking in now and then, but just got my "on demand" working on my cable tv and just got HBO and Showtime! I just watched two movies today for the first time in YEARS! Boy do I feel like I got nothing accomplished today! Feels kinda good!

 

[heather223]

I actually got some work done for my business today! Well that and I took a 3 hour nap...... I have to admit it was nice not having to go anywhere today!

 

[merego]

Don't forget that I had to walk 5 miles to school each day, through 15 foot snow drifts, and it was uphill both ways.

Oh, wait. That was my father.

was that with no shoes too??

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Nah, just holes in the soles that were patched with cardboard boxes.

 

[merego]

Poor thing

 

[katie0128]

That's nothing... my FIL was so poor, they had a dirt floor on the 2nd floor.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

My mother's family was so poor, Grandma served Cheerios with a fork so they could pass the milk around.

 

[katie0128]

We are so NOT going back to the "yo mamma" jokes.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Yo' started it.

 

[katie0128]

Did not....

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Did so.Yo' momma so dumb, it takes her 2 hours to watch 60 Minutes.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Giving up already?

 

[katie0128]

Yes... I bow before your great and unending wit... I could never compete with such a prowess, so I shall not even try!

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

 

[katie0128]

<giggle!> KG, you always make me laugh exactly when I need it! Thanks.

O.k. - enough play time... I gotta get back to work. I have a wedding shower tomorrow and it is the first live show I've done since November. I'm really starting to freak out about it and I am NO WHERE near ready.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Don't forget to set your clock ahead so you aren't late.

 

[katie0128]

Oh great... one more thing to get done before I pretend to sleep for a few hours. At least the show isn't until 2p, so I have a full 13 hours. Oh wait... I guess I only have 12 hours. Crap.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Okay, I need to get some rest, too. So, I'm outta here.

 

[katie0128]

Nightie, night!

 

[Chef Endora]

Don't forget that I had to walk 5 miles to school each day, through 15 foot snow drifts, and it was uphill both ways.

Oh, wait. That was my father.

That was my father


I hate to age myself, but I remember standing in Sears mesmerized by "Pong."

 

[pamperedlinda]

That was my father


I hate to age myself, but I remember standing in Sears mesmerized by "Pong."

My brother and I got a Pong game when we were kinds - it was the bomb!

(guess that means we are both old!)

 

[chefann]

I remember having computer class in 7th grade on the new state of the art home computers that had oodles of memory - Commodore 64s! Of course, computers change so rapidly, that even the first one I bought for myself, 11 years ago, is a bit of a joke. It came with a whopping (and it was) 2 GB hard drive. My current desktop can handle that much RAM. Not that I use that one for much more than a print server now that I have my laptop. So I can unproductively multitask by surfing the net while I watch TV.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

The first microcomputer that I used was a Hewlett-Packard HP-85.

It was basically a calculator on steroids - the operating system was in ROM so it booted almost instantly. It had 16k of RAM that could be doubled to 32K of RAM, and by adding a cartridge called a ROM Drawer, the operating system could be enhanced, by adding op sys ROMs, to include high-end math functions.The HP-85 was fully self-contained with a 32 character-wide graphical display, a thermal printer that was capable of direct screen dumps and a tape drive for mass storage - 210k. That was astronomical in size in those days. There hasn't been anything as elegant since.I worked for a software house that sold structural analysis and design software to architects and engineers, and we sold a ton of these machines, bundled with our basic (so to speak) programs. A building frame analysis, that would have taken a good engineer a day and a half to do with a calculator, would be done in 25 minutes. Of course, with today's computers, the analysis is pretty much done before you release the return key, and you probably have more computing power in your cell phone than we had in the 85, but in it's day, it was an incredible machine.

 

[etteluap70PC]

My dad and I would sit and play Pong for hours!

I had a Comodore 64! It was OK. remember the giant floppies that were thin like cardstock? The computer magazines back then would have game programs in them. You just needed to copy th 3 pages of computer text... Arrrrgggg.... and inevitably there would be a typo so after spending 3 hrs typing it all in it still would not work!

LOL...... I feel so spoiled now.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

The engineering firm that I worked for had developed all their software on the Wang 2200 and ported it to the HP-9845 and later to the HP-85. Wang really had the first "personal computer" that was, basically, a Wang terminal with memory built into it and two 5¼" floppy drives mounted on top. The PCS-II was kinda homely but had all the power of the 2200 Minicomputer. The big system used 8" floppy disks (I think they held 80k on one side and later, the double sided ones held 160k) so the 5¼" on the PCS-II were referred to, rather derisively, as "dinky disks."

A few years later, when the 3½" hard-cased floppies came out, those became the dinky disks. It was also really difficult to explain to someone, who was a novice, why those hard-cased disks were called "floppies" because they were hard.And yes, there were thousands of jokes about "floppy" and "hard," as well as jokes about "drives" and "joysticks" and we really don't need to rehash any of them here.ETA: I found a photo of an HP-9845. This was some serious technical computing power in it's day, the graphics screen was unheard of in computers. Rumor has it that some of the targeting graphics in the first Star Wars film was done with a 9845. Remember, that film was made in the mid 1970's.

 

[JAE]

For once, her in West Michigan, no snow for days! It was sunny and very cold yesterday. I spent the first part of the day at junior high volleyball tournaments. Then I cleaned out e-mail and balanced my checkbook for my PC account. DH brough Papa John's pizza home and we watched Mr. Magoriums Emporium or something like that. Off to bed early so I could get up on time this morning. No CS for me yesterday, which is amazing.

Sorry to those of you who are still enduring the snow accumulation. I went out to the beach of Lake Michigan on Thursday to see the ice bergs and took younger ds out in the evening so he could see them for the first time. I took a picture with my phone of the sunset behind the ice bergs, but I haven't sent the picture to my computer, yet.

Supposed to be in the 40's this week. Happy with that.

 

[JAE]

Ice Bergs on Lake MI Shore at SunsetHere's a picture taken from my phone while DS was outside walking on the beach with my coat on him. Way too cold for me to get out and walk closer. It's not that great a picture and the icebergs are far away, but you can get the idea, I hope.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Here's a picture taken from my phone while DS was outside walking on the beach with my coat on him. Way too cold for me to get out and walk closer. It's not that great a picture and the icebergs are far away, but you can get the idea, I hope.

Very cool JAE! But then, I know what I'm looking at, so it makes sense to me. Personally, I can hardly wait until those icebergs become waves again, and we can actually walk out on the pier!

 

[JAE]

You probably can't tell from the picture, but there were people on top of the icebergs and on the pier. Bad idea! The water was splashing into the ice, too. There are big chunks of ice in the channel and you can hear them rubbing along the walls. I usually don't go out there in the winter, but I went for a run Thursday morning out to the beach and just stood there looking around. It's pretty cool, and I think it's pretty unique.