OT Nightmares of the Modern Age

[Sarah Fox]

Hi Avery,

> Some good advice. For my curiosity, what is a Wang Z-80?
> I haven't been "doing" computers for 25 yrs.! :-)

Z-80 is the type of CPU chip (with its own set of instruction codes).  The
Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I and Model III were more popular Z-80 machines, if
that helps put it into perspective.  Our Wang (at my high school) had a
whopping 16 KB of memory and a digital tape drive.  We were also blessed
with a dot matrix printer!  High tech stuff!  I later did computer modeling
on my own 48 KB, 1.2 MHz (?) TRS-80 Model III, which was my first research
computer.  When I went to a "real" machine, a 5.77 MHz XT-clone (8088 chip),
I ported all my source code from the TRS-80 to the XT via a hand-wired 110
baud null modem link.  I watched on my screen as the letters and numbers
were transferred -- like a someone was typing at the computer with a good
caffeine buzz.  How far we've come!  ;-)

Peace,
Sarah