Hello Rob!

** On Saturday 27.03.21 - 00:40, you wrote to me:

..It also wasn't until a few years after I got here that,
on local calls, we had to dial more than 4 digits. These
days a local call requires 10 digits..

Just 4 digits? I thought it was a minimum 7 digits since the
50's everywhere in Ontario. I still remember the phone number
my family had when we lived in Toronto in the 60s.

I remember when a 10 MEGAbyte hard drive was Huge..
Who'd ever need anything bigger than that ? B)

I used an external Jumbo 250 tape system for backups. A 100MB
tape seemed to take a long time to back up a modest 30MB drive.

I think I gave up on the external unit after a while, but I
still have a brand new internal model (still sealed and shrink-
wrapped) and a bunch of tapes - some used, and some completely
new.

--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.49
* Origin: my little micronet point (618:510/1.1)

August wrote:

Hello Rob!

** On Saturday 27.03.21 - 00:40, you wrote to me:

..It also wasn't until a few years after I got here that,
on local calls, we had to dial more than 4 digits. These
days a local call requires 10 digits..

Just 4 digits? I thought it was a minimum 7 digits since the
50's everywhere in Ontario. I still remember the phone number
my family had when we lived in Toronto in the 60s.

Back in England in the late 70's we had a 4 digit phone number.

Later in the 80's when dialing locally you could get away with dialing 6
digits and not have to put the 4 digit area code. For other local exchanges there was a 2 digit number to make 8 numbers in total.

Last time I checked, they added a digit to the exchange so now they have 11 digits in the UK for long distance dialing.

I remember when a 10 MEGAbyte hard drive was Huge..
Who'd ever need anything bigger than that ? B)

I had a 10MB for my BBC Micro. Couldn't get close to filling it.
--- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
* Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (618:250/19)

Just 4 digits? I thought it was a minimum 7 digits since the
50's everywhere in Ontario. I still remember the phone number
my family had when we lived in Toronto in the 60s.

Until the past 10 years or so, certain exchanges here locally could still
do 5-digit dialing. I am not sure if they still can or not.

Mike


* SLMR 2.1a * Give me chastity and continence, but not just now.
--- SBBSecho 3.12-Linux
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (618:250/1)

..It also wasn't until a few years after I got here that,
on local calls, we had to dial more than 4 digits. These
days a local call requires 10 digits..

Just 4 digits? I thought it was a minimum 7 digits since the

>50's everywhere in Ontario.


Likely the Bell box my phone was (and is) attached to was at least that old
but I guess the network finally outgrew the 4 digit dialing, then later
outgrew the 7 digit.

I used an external Jumbo 250 tape system for backups. A 100MB

>tape seemed to take a long time to back up a modest 30MB drive.

I never got around to trying out tape backups. The first back-ups I got into,
I paid a small fortune for a CD Burner and about $10 each for blank disks. Recently I paid $9.99 for 50 blank DVD disks.. B)

I think I gave up on the external unit after a while, but I

>still have a brand new internal model (still sealed and shrink-
>wrapped) and a bunch of tapes - some used, and some completely
>new.

It sounds like you may have the same 'problem' I have. I tend to buy extras of a lot of hardware (and blank disks) in case I need them. I have things like Windows 98 era motherboards that are brand new, and cost quite a bit at the time, but will likely never be used now. New keyboards they don't even make adapters to USB for anymore, not to mention drawers and boxes full of modems and joy sticks and memory chips and old printers and scanners and 6 or 7 old computers (i.e. a still working Laptop running Windows 3.1 on 2 meg of Ram).
It will break my heart but, some day, I'm going to have to 'clean house'..

---
* SLMR Rob * I'm heavily armed, easily annoyed and off medication
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (618:250/1)

Hello Rob Mccart!

** On Monday 29.03.21 - 00:26, Rob Mccart wrote to AUGUST ABOLINS:

..It also wasn't until a few years after I got here that,
on local calls, we had to dial more than 4 digits. These
days a local call requires 10 digits..

Just 4 digits? I thought it was a minimum 7 digits since the

50's everywhere in Ontario.

Likely the Bell box my phone was (and is) attached to was at least that old but I guess the network finally outgrew the 4 digit dialing, then later outgrew the 7 digit.

I used an external Jumbo 250 tape system for backups. A 100MB

tape seemed to take a long time to back up a modest 30MB drive.

I never got around to trying out tape backups. The first back-ups I got into, I paid a small fortune for a CD Burner and about $10 each for blank disks. Recently I paid $9.99 for 50 blank DVD disks.. B)

I think I gave up on the external unit after a while, but I

still have a brand new internal model (still sealed and shrink-
wrapped) and a bunch of tapes - some used, and some completely
new.

It sounds like you may have the same 'problem' I have. I tend to buy extras of a lot of hardware (and blank disks) in case I need them.

wrt the tapes, I only bought as many I needed to do 3 full
backups up for the two pcs that I had in the house (one that my
mom was using for biz, fidonet, internet), and my own (for the
bbs and everything else). I thought that the portability of the
backup tape machine was all that I needed. Eventually, I decided
that an internal unit for the one of pcs would be convenient -
but that project never completed for some reason.

Whenever there was a sale on diskettes in the brand that I
liked, I bought some more. But eventually I stopped when I
didn't need to copy from pc to pc as much.

Infact I went through a sort of purge many years ago of at least
a cubic foot of diskettes:

http://kolico.ca/fidonet/echos/win95/#diskettes

I have things like Windows 98 era motherboards that are
brand new, and cost quite a bit at the time, but will
likely never be used now.

I have a brand new mobo: GA-586T2 PCI-ISA BUS by Gigabyte. It
was intended for a self-made upgrade.. but I never got around to
it. It has all the parts and ribbons, sans CPU. Breaks my
heart to throw that out. eventually.

New keyboards they don't even
make adapters to USB for anymore,

I think you can still find PC to USB adapters.

not to mention drawers and boxes full of modems...

I have a modest line up of modems that I stopped using. Most
still work. But considering that a storm could easily wipe out a
modem, I tended to buy another one as a spare, just in case.
And now I have a mix of Winmodems, external modems, and 2400kbps
to 55kbps.

...and joy sticks and memory chips and old printers and
scanners and 6 or 7 old computers (i.e. a still working
Laptop running Windows 3.1 on 2 meg of Ram). It will break
my heart but, some day, I'm going to have to 'clean
house'..

Maybe there is a computer museum in your area that would be
happy to do something with all that.

I have a Logitech Kidz Mouse that actually looks like a little
mouse. The last time I checked on eBay, people were asking
$100+ for one of those.
--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.49
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointface (618:250/1.9)

I have a brand new mobo: GA-586T2 PCI-ISA BUS by Gigabyte. It

>was intended for a self-made upgrade.. but I never got around to
>it. It has all the parts and ribbons, sans CPU. Breaks my
>heart to throw that out. eventually.

The one thing I never stocked up on and regretted were power supplies. I have at least 3 computers that were given to me only because they blew the power supply, and for a while there you could buy decent ones for under $20.
Now the old type are very hard to find and often about 5 times that price.

New keyboards they don't even
make adapters to USB for anymore,

I think you can still find PC to USB adapters.

How abount full sized DIN to USB.. I could do it with 2 apators linked
together I suppose but that's a bit cluttery..

The only reason that's only an issue is because I usually bought high quality keyboards. One, like I described above, was worth $125 and is brand new.
Two other *used* IBM ones I have were $400 and $170 new.
The one I am typing this on I mentioned on here somewhere earlier, is about to celebrate it's 30th birthday in daily use, so buying quality does tend to pay off in the long run. It started off life on a 386DX system..

not to mention drawers and boxes full of modems...

I have a modest line up of modems that I stopped using. Most

>still work. But considering that a storm could easily wipe out a
>modem, I tended to buy another one as a spare, just in case.
>And now I have a mix of Winmodems, external modems, and 2400kbps
>to 55kbps.

Yes, same here, although in all my years on computers (1983+) I've only had
one modem fail for any reason, and it was only a partial failure behaving like noisy phone lines rather than not working at all.

It will break my heart but, some day, I'm going to have to 'clean house'.

Maybe there is a computer museum in your area that would be

>happy to do something with all that.

Ironically I was in a computer shop last year and they had an 'antique' Laptop on display in a glass case, and it was identical to a working one I still
have at home.. B)

---
* SLMR Rob * Send lawyers, guns and money
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (618:250/1)