15 Coolest Vintage Tech Ads

[n0iu]

http://oddee.com/item_97232.aspx

Only $3400 for a 10mb hard drive -- sweet! I'll take a dozen!

[kf0rt]

Cool ads, but I think the $3398 was for a computer that included a 10mb hard drive. Text starts "Included with the system...".

As I recall, 10MB 5-1/4" hard drives were about $600 when they were first introduced. That's probably a Seagate in the photo.

And why don't girls dress that way any more? <oink>

[n0iu]

But this one doesn't even come with a monitor... or a mouse!

http://i676.photobucket.com/albums/vv124/scottaschultz/tandy5000_1.jpg

[W1GUH]

Those are priceless. Was that Apple ad a reference to Coleco's Adam computer?

Here's another batch of computer promotional material (http://www.lileks.com/institute/compupromo/index.html), even earlier. The guy who does that site writes great commentary on the images.

That's only a small part of his site (http://www.lileks.com/)-- it's worth a few wasted hours of enjoyment!

[kf0rt]

That's cuz it had that new 'lightning fast' 80386. :snicker:

[kf0rt]

Those are priceless. Was that Apple ad a reference to Coleco's Adam computer?

Here's another batch of computer promotional material (http://www.lileks.com/institute/compupromo/index.html), even earlier. The guy who does that site writes great commentary on the images.

That's only a small part of his site (http://www.lileks.com/)-- it's worth a few wasted hours of enjoyment!


“Machines don’t lie, Mindy. There is a seventy percent chance a bundt cake resides under that lid, and a 35 percent chance your hair is actually an exploded Jiffy Pop container painted black.”

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

This is gonna have to wait for later.

[n0iu]

Those are priceless. Was that Apple ad a reference to Coleco's Adam computer?

Here's another batch of computer promotional material (http://www.lileks.com/institute/compupromo/index.html), even earlier. The guy who does that site writes great commentary on the images.

That's only a small part of his site (http://www.lileks.com/)-- it's worth a few wasted hours of enjoyment!

My sides are hurting!


From 1971, the Control Data Cyber 70 Bosom-Goggler, which automatically stares at the secretary’s breasts, freeing up the busy executive so he can stare at her legs.

[W1GUH]

Yea, Lilek's site is a classic. You found my favorite, the Bosom-Goggler!

[W1GUH]

OK, all you computer professionals....'fess up. I KNOW this is where you get your education...


http://www.lileks.com/match/gallery/1/computer.jpg

[n2ize]

And why don't girls dress that way any more? <oink>

Wow,,, yes,,, Actually I wish they'd get back into 1940's-50's styles again.

[NQ6U]

I got mine here:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/Aidrawme.jpg

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

I learned computer programming from an IBM coloring book they gave out at the 1968 Worlds Fair.
AT&T had a cardboard thing that you could move but did not really teach anything but how the stack works.

[W4RLR]

In college, I remember using the DEC computer in the Science lab. You loaded a program with Hollerith cards.
In the Air Force, working in the public affairs shop, I got to be quite the Wordstar guru.
Seeing as I couldn't afford an Apple, I got an clone, a Laser 128 that would run the Apple II software. I drooled over the Macintosh computers at the Patch Barracks Audio/Video store. I wrote batch files that would automatically get the e-mail traffic for my boss when she turned on her IBM XT. You would have thought I hung the moon.
I bought my first Mac when I got back to the states. There are now eight Macs of various vintages in the house.
Boy, did those ads bring back memories.

[W1GUH]

Hello.

I learned computer programming from an IBM coloring book they gave out at the 1968 Worlds Fair.
AT&T had a cardboard thing that you could move but did not really teach anything but how the stack works.

It'd be great to see a scan of that. Have you searched the web for images. That'd be great to see today.

[n2ize]

I wish we could go back to those old systems.

[NQ6U]

I wish we could go back to those old systems.

Me too:

http://eileen-lian.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/abacus-1-AJHD.jpg

[W3MIV]

I got mine here:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/Aidrawme.jpg


Ah, the memories. A very dear friend of mine, with whom I worked in the early 1960s, was a graduate of Famous Artists School correspondence courses. He became a superb illustrator; he was a diligent worker -- which is the only way to get through such a series of course. Alas, he is now long dead. He was a partner in a studio for which I worked. The other partner was a grad of the Philadelphia Museum School of Art. He was a talented designer, but couldn't draw for shit. They made a good team.

I took the ICS art courses starting in the late 1950s. I found them tedious, though not necessarily unrewarding. Finally landing a job in the real art studio (cited above) as a staff artist produced better and faster growth. I learned far more and had the benefit of many voices critiquing my every action every day. As in most other areas of life, praxis trumps theory. I eventually opted out of the courses just before my rich uncle called me to service. Never looked back.

[NQ6U]

I never was that great of an illustrator myself, Albi, except maybe as a technical illustrator. My real strength lay in typography, which I've been fascinated with since I was a nerdy little kid. I'm pretty rusty now but there was a time I could easily identify any of hundreds of type faces and I still get annoyed when I see poorly laid-out text in a published work.

[W1GUH]

I wish we could go back to those old systems.

http://hampage.hu/pdp-11/kepek/pdp11-20.jpg

http://oldcomputers.net/oldads/nov/pdp-11-70.jpg

http://www.atarimagazines.com/v4n6/Vax.jpg