OK, how about this then? Two 20 MB Winchester drives (as we used to call them back then) from 1984.
They were used (one as a back-up for the other) with a BBC Master running databases under ViewStore. Anyone (else) here remember that?
ViewStore was not the easiest of database managers to use, but we're talking here about the pre-dBASE era, don't forget. Being for the BBC Micro (and Master
et al) it was in ROM, and therefore had the redeeming feature of being "instant on". I had a play with it again yesterday (for the first time since 1987), and it was amazing how it all came "flooding back", as it were. I was cracking on like a good 'un in no time at all, I can tell you. A bit like riding a bike, I suppose ... once mastered, it's always "there"!
Back in 1985 I built a database of just under 20,000 records using this lash-up ... er,
system. It was definitely a case of "needs must" at the time! Perhaps I should add also that this stuff was not exactly
cheap back then, either. And it all seemed so serious (cutting edge, even) then.
It's always rewarding to step back a couple of decades now and then, if only to remind ourselves how easy it all is
now. That, and wondering in amazement just how "right" those
genius guys got it back then!
