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Old Pcs in the movies

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bettablue

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I was watching an old movie series with my wife and in the background in one shot, I saw something that caught my eye. It was an old IBM PC or PC/XT, complete with keyboard and monitor. Hmmm... The funny part is that the PC in that form was pretty much obsolete in that form by the late 1980s. And wasn't the first Lethal Weopon made around 1989 or so?

Oh well. I got a kick out of it.

:p
 
As soon as I saw this thread, I immediately thought of Starringthecomputer.com too. I see a bunch of mainframes on my 50's and 60's instructional video movie reels.

There's a bunch of old computers in movies, just got to look hard enough.
 
Going away in a tangent, I always found it funny that in the Ci-Fi movies of the '60s, where the "future" is displayed, there is not a glimpse of the "personal computer concept".

For example, take "2001: A Space Odyssey" ( 1968 ): HAL9000 is a super-mainframe, there are no personal computers at all in that movie. :D
 
The challenge is identifying gear in late 50's and early 60's film and TV.

As far as personal computers go, let's face it--without networking, a personal computer is of marginal use to the average person. We use personal computers not so much to compute as to communicate. On a space station, communication with terrestrial networks is probably not so easy. If you have an omnipresent intelligent computer in your dwelling, why do you need a personal computer? Got a question? Just ask it and the HAL will respond.

I think the biggest technological gaffe (other than the overly-optimistic timeline) was the size if HAL. If anything, because of speed-of-light restrictions, computers are getting smaller as they get faster.

Also, understand that "2001" spent years in the can before it was finally released, so its view was remarkable, being filmed when systems such as the IBM System/360 mainframes were very new. I can't fault it too much.
 
It would be unrealistic (although now with product placement - all too common) for every character in the movie to always have the latest/greatest. ESPECIALLY a police department. At the time of Lethal Weapon's release, the XT was only about four years old, well within reasonable usage range for a government entity - I used one as my primary home PC until at least 1991.
 
But it's interesting that the original Star Trek series used what could have been described as some version of a tablet computer.
 
BuggZ said:
But it's interesting that the original Star Trek series used what could have been described as some version of a tablet computer.
Click to expand...
Indeed it did - TOS Trek featured slabs of featureless colored plastic that the actors would tap away on, trying to look like they were accomplishing something, but that they never actually used to do any of the real work ;P
 
commodorejohn said:
Indeed it did - TOS Trek featured slabs of featureless colored plastic that the actors would tap away on, trying to look like they were accomplishing something, but that they never actually used to do any of the real work ;P
Click to expand...

2001 - A Space Odyssey also featured "tablet" displays showing video. (Really they were TVs under the table with made to look like a tablet on top of the table.) They look remarkably like an iPad, too! (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ8pQVDyaLo.) It isn't shown as being touch-screen, or even interactive at all, but there don't appear to be any visible controls.

Not to mention that the newer Star Trek shows (starting with The Next Generation in 1987) showed touch-screen tablets called... PADDs! (CBS Studios even sells a "PADD" app for the iPad that is a ST:TNG-inspired interface for a Star Trek reference guide. If it wasn't $4.99, and so limited in nature, I'd buy it.)
 
Anonymous Freak said:
Not to mention that the newer Star Trek shows (starting with The Next Generation in 1987) showed touch-screen tablets called... PADDs! (CBS Studios even sells a "PADD" app for the iPad that is a ST:TNG-inspired interface for a Star Trek reference guide. If it wasn't $4.99, and so limited in nature, I'd buy it.)
Click to expand...
Quite so, and ever since TNG went on the air the industry started trying to copy it. Unfortunately, unlike the TOS communicator -> flip-phone inspiration, they didn't stop to ask what the use would be...
 
BuggZ said:
But it's interesting that the original Star Trek series used what could have been described as some version of a tablet computer.
Click to expand...

At tablet computer with a direct connection to a mobile mainframe? I often wondered what the actual computer would look like aboard the Enterprise. It was supposed to be the most advanced computer in the known galaxie, and even when the crew of the Enterprise was assisting a Romulan warbird, they were supposedly giving them another, older computer. supposedly replicated for the purpose. There were so many different renditions of Star Trek computer like products too, from the main computer that ran everything and talked to crew members, to the tabs and then onto the tricorder which seemed to be part computer and part something else. As a trekkie, I could go on, and on...
 
I'd be surprised if none of the Star Trek technical manuals covered that. I have TNG Tech manual somewhere, went into a lot of interesting details from the writers regarding the internal ship details, etc. I just don't recall if we ever saw the ships core computer or if it was just some glowing core type thing with access panel/terminals everywhere.

Apple needless to say was eager to focus on that technology with their ipad, touch screen, and Siri (talking back). Of course computer text to speech and visa versa is nothing new either. Android also already had the voice commands, so did a lot of handheld phones although it always reminds me of my friend telling his flip phone to "call Ricardo", phone dials, friend = "Whas up fool?! Whatcha doin?" other person "What the hell are you talking about?" friend glances at phone, phone decided Ricardo sounded like "dad".
 
Ferris Beuler has an old IBM 5150 or 5160 sitting on his desk in his bedroom.., also the principal uses one in the school to do some things, i may be incorrect on both counts, it's been a while since i've seen it, so confirmation here would be awesome :)
 
Does TV count? And not really old; the PS/2 was current at the time...

doogie.jpg
 
To hell with futuristic computers, I'm still waiting for my replicator! I really did expect to have one by now. I think it's already been invented, but those guys down on Wall Street or wherever are sitting on 'em. They'll never let us have 'em, cos if they did, money would be instantly obsolete, and they'd have no way of keeping score. I WANT MY REPLICATOR!

--T
 
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Never mind the replicator, I want the holosuite! Then we'll have something. Imagine going into a small sort of open roomed house and telling the computer that you want to be in Hawaii, or anywhere you want for that matter.
 
Every time I'm watching a show I'll suddenly shout out the model name of a computer or smartphone I recognize (if it's an uncommon/old one. I don't bother shouting 'iPHONE!' all the time). Middle of a movie and you'll just hear "IBM PS/2 Model 30!" or "Tandy 1000 series!" or maybe "Samsung Blackjack II!".

Annoys the hell out of my parents ;)
 
TandyMan100 said:
Every time I'm watching a show I'll suddenly shout out the model name of a computer or smartphone I recognize (if it's an uncommon/old one. I don't bother shouting 'iPHONE!' all the time). Middle of a movie and you'll just hear "IBM PS/2 Model 30!" or "Tandy 1000 series!" or maybe "Samsung Blackjack II!".
Click to expand...
I do the same with old computers and operating systems. I'll be watching some show or news story and poin out what brand of computer they're using, wheather it's running on Windows 98, XP, Vista, 7, and what version of IE they're using.

I too will point it out in the middle of something that other people are watching, and they'll ask, "That's a TX 6150 running what??" Gotta tell them to go to my room and they'll see a XT 5160 sitting there.
 
I dunno, bout the only thing I ever see in the movies/TV are one flavor or another of old Macs. Those Hollyweed types didn't even know anything else existed, did they?

--T
 
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