dabone
Veteran Member
Lately I’ve been reading a lot of old computer magazines. This got me thinking about my timeline of getting into and learning computers.
I was born in 71 and got to first touch a computer in 3rd grade. It was a TRS-80 Model 1, and I was hooked. So, begging for what seemed to be forever I got my first Vic-20 Christmas of 1982
My first year of computer ownership was learning to type (and type in) programs from early computer magazines and the Vic-20 manual.
This was a long process, as I didn't have any storage device, not even a tape. For writing my own programs, I had a notebook.
But seeing as I only had 3.5K to work with, it wasn't that much to redo when I screwed up.
This apparently showed my parents that computers weren’t just a passing fad for me. So the next Christmas,1983 a C64 and 1541 appeared under the tree for me.
I went and saw my uncle a few weeks later, and he gave me my first pirated game disks.
(Atarisoft? MS-Pac and Donkey Kong)
The next year I remember Fastload being incredible, and just working.
I never learned machine language, but I did write a terrible adventure game in basic that used nearly all the ram.
I kept playing with that machine and learning things.
I spend most of a summer holed up in my room with Ultima 3. And a lot of Jumpman.
During that time period my mother was the Data Processing Manager at the accounting firm she worked at, and they had some accountants join that had Commodore Pets, that they now needed to be able to print the same type forms on all the computers at the firm. In those days, programmers were few and far between. So, they handed me (I think I was around 13) a book with simple basic accounting programs, Amortization of loans, etc. And I converted them to run and print on the Pets and the IBM pcs. And made simple menus for them. I remember that they paid me in blank floppy disks.
Eventually I upgraded to the 128 with a 1571. 80 Columns at home, that was nice.
Along the way, one of my mother’s clients had me assemble and configure an IBM clone for him, because he saw how I was with the ones at her office.
But by 87, I also had my father's hand me down Apple //c, and then he gave me his old pc. Kind of.
My father had access to computers, and some at home, but my parents were divorced, and we never visited our father, he would just show up a few times a year, so the only home machines I had access to were mine.
He brought me the box of parts that he had taken out of his machine when he upgraded and the rest of the new parts I needed, and I built my first IBM PC that was actually mine.
4.77Mhz.... CGA graphics, 10 Meg ST-213 Hard Drive. I was in heaven for the bigger things I could do at home finally. Yeah, the game graphics were crap, but everything else was so much better.
After that, I barely every touched my 8bit Commodores again. So, anything after 87 was a whatever for the 8 bits.
At 17, I started working at a local computer store, and within the year had the job of the technician. And I've never stopped since. (I did end up having and selling amigas in the 90s)
But I’ve always tried to keep up with the curve. Yeah, I’m at little behind at the moment, I’m typing this on my I7-9700k, so I’m a few generations behind at home. But at 51, I'm still on my first career.
(I’m technical support for the technical support guys)
After typing this out and seeing how much my parents invested in my future in those early days,
I can say, I never thanked them enough...
I was born in 71 and got to first touch a computer in 3rd grade. It was a TRS-80 Model 1, and I was hooked. So, begging for what seemed to be forever I got my first Vic-20 Christmas of 1982
My first year of computer ownership was learning to type (and type in) programs from early computer magazines and the Vic-20 manual.
This was a long process, as I didn't have any storage device, not even a tape. For writing my own programs, I had a notebook.
But seeing as I only had 3.5K to work with, it wasn't that much to redo when I screwed up.
This apparently showed my parents that computers weren’t just a passing fad for me. So the next Christmas,1983 a C64 and 1541 appeared under the tree for me.
I went and saw my uncle a few weeks later, and he gave me my first pirated game disks.
(Atarisoft? MS-Pac and Donkey Kong)
The next year I remember Fastload being incredible, and just working.
I never learned machine language, but I did write a terrible adventure game in basic that used nearly all the ram.
I kept playing with that machine and learning things.
I spend most of a summer holed up in my room with Ultima 3. And a lot of Jumpman.
During that time period my mother was the Data Processing Manager at the accounting firm she worked at, and they had some accountants join that had Commodore Pets, that they now needed to be able to print the same type forms on all the computers at the firm. In those days, programmers were few and far between. So, they handed me (I think I was around 13) a book with simple basic accounting programs, Amortization of loans, etc. And I converted them to run and print on the Pets and the IBM pcs. And made simple menus for them. I remember that they paid me in blank floppy disks.
Eventually I upgraded to the 128 with a 1571. 80 Columns at home, that was nice.
Along the way, one of my mother’s clients had me assemble and configure an IBM clone for him, because he saw how I was with the ones at her office.
But by 87, I also had my father's hand me down Apple //c, and then he gave me his old pc. Kind of.
My father had access to computers, and some at home, but my parents were divorced, and we never visited our father, he would just show up a few times a year, so the only home machines I had access to were mine.
He brought me the box of parts that he had taken out of his machine when he upgraded and the rest of the new parts I needed, and I built my first IBM PC that was actually mine.
4.77Mhz.... CGA graphics, 10 Meg ST-213 Hard Drive. I was in heaven for the bigger things I could do at home finally. Yeah, the game graphics were crap, but everything else was so much better.
After that, I barely every touched my 8bit Commodores again. So, anything after 87 was a whatever for the 8 bits.
At 17, I started working at a local computer store, and within the year had the job of the technician. And I've never stopped since. (I did end up having and selling amigas in the 90s)
But I’ve always tried to keep up with the curve. Yeah, I’m at little behind at the moment, I’m typing this on my I7-9700k, so I’m a few generations behind at home. But at 51, I'm still on my first career.
(I’m technical support for the technical support guys)
After typing this out and seeing how much my parents invested in my future in those early days,
I can say, I never thanked them enough...