When My Childhood Attacks

tierandragon posted scans from a 1977 J.C. Penney catalog here.

The horrified flashbacks came shortly thereafter.

Keep in mind when you look at those pics, that was the year the original Star Wars came out and started a geeky cultural revolution of sorts. It was also when punk was in its infancy, and it was never more sorely needed. New Wave hadn't even appeared on the horizon.

Just remember, when you hear some cranky conservative griping about the '60s -- they were better than the dark ages of the '70s!

-The Gneech

GORT Report

For those who are curious, the new computer (GORT) has most of the software installed and running, and seems to be performing just-slightly-better (but not that much) than Tiffany does. The only real problem is that I can't hook up the printer (D'Oh!) or the Wacom tablet (D'OH!!!) due to the egregious lack of ports. So unless I can find some way to hit Best Buy at lunch time, I'll have to stop at Micro Center on the way home and grab a 9-pin Serial to USB adapter, a LPT to USB adapter, and a USB hub.

In case you're wondering why I called it GORT, first is that it has a rounded silver-and-white casing (black and beige machines are both out of fashion this year, it seems). Second, the front ports are hidden by a sliding panel that looks like it should have a laser beam behind it.

-The Gneech

Grrrrf

Wacom does not support serial-to-USB adapter connections, only hardwired serial ports.

Bastards. I've got a strip to finish tonight!

-The Gneech

EDIT: Well, it's silly, but it worked! I used the original drivers that came with the tablet, c. 1998, instead of the new up-to-date Win XP drivers that I downloaded, and just sorta quietly didn't tell the tablet it was on a USB port -- and it worked! Dorky technology.