Blinking square light found in computers

[Bite That Apple]

This is by fare the most off topic and random thing I've ever asked on ulx forums, but does anyone know what this square blinking light is called (if it has a name), that is often found in VERY old computers from 70-80



this is the screen it's from

[sabo]

Assuming it is what I am thinking of it is then it is a Cursor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursor_%28computers%29

[Megiddo]

Yes, as far as I know, it has always been known as the cursor (still in use today and still blinks!).

[iSnipeu]

I never got to use a computer like that, the oldest computer I've used had Windows 95 on it

[Bite That Apple]

I never got to use a computer like that, the oldest computer I've used had Windows 95 on it

I've used DOS before, and it wasn't fun and easy as Windows 95 was. Just to take out MS-Paint, you had to take a floppy disc, and insert it into the port. By the way, not talking about 3 1?2 size discs, I believe they were 5 1/2 or something.

[MrPresident]

My first PC had Windows 3.1 on it. Talk about a throwback.. it DID have a CD drive though. Probably one of the first computers to have them I'd imagine. We got it for $15 at a school auction.

[JamminR]

After I saw that 'it's from this screen' image, I couldn't help but think 'is he serious? or is this a fun joke?'

First used - Commodore 64
First owned - TRS-80 Color Computer - 4k RAM.
One of course blew the other away, but, meh, you get what's handed down at that age.
My aunt, who had owned it for several years before me, had no idea that a cassette recorder could be used to store programs typed into it.
Needless to say, family knew I had a knack for tech when all I did was look at the side of it, saw that a cable from the box had what looked like headphone jacks, the other end which plugged into the side of the pc, and realized cassette tapes could store data from the PC.
That was 1983.

You guys talking about Win3.1 being 'first used' really don't help me feel young.

[Megiddo]

Hey, the first computer I ever used was a Commodore 64, too! It's the system I learned to program on.

[Stickly Man!]

Me three! I wrote (well, copied from a beginners programming manual) my first BASIC program when I was five- It was a for loop, and it was glorious!

.. But yes, in that era my older siblings were getting the dos/win95 PCs, the Sega Genesis, etc., so I'm not *quite* that old

[Megiddo]

Me three! I wrote (well, copied from a beginners programming manual) my first BASIC program when I was five- It was a for loop, and it was glorious!

Wow, I did the same thing at that age. One of my favorite mementos is my third grade journal where I wrote a BASIC program for a "free writing" day. I got many question marks from the teacher, ha ha.

[JamminR]

Actually, I'm sitting here laughing aloud.
That is so much better than what I jokingly imagined, and had told my wife.
I explained to her eariler today this topic thread, and how it made me feel antique.
During that conversation, I gave a basic synopsis of each of our recollections.
At one point, she and I both joked and I said something like "while everyone else was doing BASIC on the C64, Megiddo was probably doing assembly language".

It only fits he was doing free writing BASIC and confusing his teachers.

Code: [Select]

10 PRINT "YOU ARE GOING TO GIVE ME AN A! ";
20 GOTO 10
EDIT-Heeyyyy.....what kind of 'code' BB tag board is this? It's clueless about what BASIC is.

[Stickly Man!]

Haha, I was going through a box of old elementary school stuff a week ago, and I found a paper t-shirt thing where we were supposed to draw things we loved on there, and one of which I put was programming! It contained the following code:

Code: [Select]

10 POKE 53280,INT(RND(1)*16)
20 POKE 53281,INT(RND(1)*16)
30 PRINT "PROGRAMMING IS FUN!"
40 FOR I=1 TO 100:NEXT
50 GOTO 10
Bonus points if you can remember what code like that would do

[Megiddo]

Fun program!

[JamminR]

Strobe flashy flashy
Ahhhhhhh!

[Bite That Apple]

I'm glad that I brought the entire ulx team together to cherish memories. Also, thanks for answering my question previously... xd

After I saw that 'it's from this screen' image, I couldn't help but think 'is he serious? or is this a fun joke?'

I'm only 19 years old, I didn't really grow up in the time of  the commodore 64 age. I was more of the Windows 95, and late Windows 3.1. So this wasn't really a joke, as I knew someone here would assist me, and I was correct.