Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2023 02:57:30 +0000
Reply-To: Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: Re: Vintage machines
In-Reply-To: <1057919282.642532.1674517173464@mail.yahoo.com>
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More? (you are getting bored by now). First job at McDonnell-Douglas: Pilot controls. We used all manner of cables and pulleys and brackets to make the hydraulic actuator surfaces happen. Sure...they had Fly-By-Wire back in 1978, but it was reserved for aircraft with ejection seats; electronics back then were not deemed reliable enough. Now, it is commonplace.
LEDs: my Materials Science Professor was keenly involved. Gallium-Arsenide and a bunch of stuff I never understood. Red, Green, Yellow...but blue and white were years later. And yet now....just look at your computer monitor or TV screen.
Vanagons? New Smog stuff started happening; they just couldn't make it work with Air Cooled motor. Hence, we got the Water Cooled one. Yes....this was early 80's.
Fascinating times during that era. Huge developments...yes the stepper motor, micro-processors, LED's, iPhones, computers and multitudes more. I appreciate it all. I really do.
On Monday, January 23, 2023 at 03:40:28 PM PST, Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
And I remember seeing my first Calculator in 1971. Four function: add, subtract, multiply, divide. Cost: $400. I remember taking my first exam as a Junior in Fluid Mechanics in 1974; all the other guys had calculators, I had a slide rule. That night, I bought my first calculator, a Texas Instruments one, used, about $100 advertised in the campus newspaper. But, I got the highest grade in the class on that exam....and yes....I still have my slide rule, and know how to use it!! I laugh about it all now.
On Monday, January 23, 2023 at 03:19:02 PM PST, Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Yes, you are correct. But they were kind of limited back in those days. Now, a modern car has many. I remember my first contact with digital stuff in 1971. Nand Gates and Nor Gates. Boolean Algebra. Things sure happened marvelously from then on. And there was this marvelous electronic machine, used a language called "Basic". Soon after, more languages...like "Fortran". Oh my!! And about 10 years later, some geeks put together something called a "Personal Computer". I couldn't imagine why anyone besides an engineer would want one. I was wrong.
On Monday, January 23, 2023 at 02:52:27 PM PST, OlRivrRat <olrivrrat@comcast.net> wrote:
On 22 Jan , 2023, at 3:13 PM, Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@SBCGLOBAL.NET> wrote:
happened in late 80’s……. and also the MicroProcessor. Chips. Became available around that time
Just so Ya Know,,, Chips & MicroProcessors have been around since the ‘60s ~
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