when I was a Unix admin, the 1st bit of knowledge was learning about tty (the teleteype protocol became the way to write to text based screens), serial terminals were all tty1, and tty2, etc.. never used an actual teletype, but I did have a couple of very fancy band printers that could print on 24x18 green bar paper, and produce massive reports every month.. quite a racket they were usually stuck in a closet somewhere..

 

75 this year.
My avatar is deliberately misleading: I'm not female, black,young or beautiful. None of those!

My first experience of computers was as a student: punched cards and Fortran. My first "personal computer" was a Commodore PET, with its BASIC interpreter. My first microprocessor was a National Semiconductors SC/MP, which I programmed in hex.

 

we used to dream about having Fortran, we had to get by with Twotran and they kept promising an upgrade to Threetran, but the company went out of business before it ever got delivered.

 

Welcome to Boomer Central, where I know more than you about everything and my musical taste is more sophisticated than everyone else's.

 

DELETED over reaction to previous post.

 

Last edited: Apr 8, 2025

so many old people, they must be making them in a factory somewhere. The old can read. the young mostly scroll.
some young people are still curious,but most aren't.

Growing up as a wee lad, we wanted to stand out, be different, find our own path.
today's youth, want to blend in, an online life means one wrong word or phrase and you can be obliterated, its a linguistic minefield with meanings sliding and slipping and few gray zones, if you stumble into no man's land, its difficult to get back.
every one is clumped together like a bacterial film for protection and sharing of neuroses.

Its got to be strange living life with a phone in one hand always, always tracking,always watching,always listening and your a pariah without one, raised with an electronic hamster that turned into a leash,always asking for your attention, your time,your life. its no wonder there is so much passive/aggesive about a situation they can't find a way out of..

 

One can only encourage young people to think more critically about smartphones, etc., and to acquire knowledge through reading (the advantages and disadvantages of cell phone use) in order to then adapt their own behavior to the device's use.

Those who are too stupid and uncritical live in digital prison with all its negative consequences. Don't wait for the manufacturers to warn you about this, because that's definitely not going to happen.

 

@Garamondo Furbish Your words are wise, but here's the problem I don't know if @DontKnowJack is being ironic or just very ill informed. If its not ironic, then its a sad day when a bunch of older dudes can't have a good blather on the internet without being accused of elitism. I hate the internet for this, its such an imperfect communication medium lacking in subtilty and nuance. Think I'll go back to lurking, too old for this shit

 

Hate doesn't get you anywhere, and if you can't change people, you have to change the way you view them. You see, it's all just in your head and based on different reality tunnels. Some people are truly a nuisance, but they're also part of the human family, and somehow we have to put up with them. So broaden your horizons; there are truly classy people here too, with great ideas and insights. Please stay here...and don't leave the field to the stupid.

 

just like being a musician or a writer, you have to learn to have the hide of a rhino. There's always someone better than you, or thinks they are, usually its best to let it fall on deaf ears. we'd get nowhere in life if we listen to the noise instead of the music.

 

Not a good cross-section of age groups... Anybody over 45 is grouped the same?!! Yet the youngest group is 13-19? I am 64 so 19 years older than 45... The groupings should be tighter all the way up to get a better idea 5 year spans or maybe 10 years at most MAX...

 

This shows you that the thread starter is a very young man, and everyone over 45 is already old...!
He can't imagine that, hence his incorrect grouping. Thank you for your classification, I agree with you.

 

I'm 250 years old & I just received my 185th social security check.

 

If you're from Europe this poll reads:

13-19:
20-29:
30-44:
Your country's average age or older: