Demography?

From: lisard_at_zetnet.co.uk <(lisard_at_zetnet.co.uk)>
Date: Mon Mar 2 14:40:01 1998

since everyone else is at it...

the identity we received at birth is available to anyone who asks, but
we adopted the collective name "communa" a few moths back, on realising
that we're multiple. it's raised a few eyebrows since, but that's life.
we're 23, and our first computer was a second-hand zx81 at the age of 9,
followed with reasonable swiftness by a new zx81 and memotech rampack.
the rampack died after a few years of non-use, and by then we had moved
on and up, and weren't much interested in the zx81 any more (we maintain
that attitude; it was a handy springboard, it was nice to have used one,
but it was the first and only eminently *disposable* computer...)

over the years we also acquired:
* a commodore 16, complete with tally roll printer;
* a memotech mtx512;
* a sinclair ql with serial port - we are currently waiting for a friend
  at work to throw some more bits our way;
* a trigem xt with 40Mb hard disk, hgc monitor and panasonic kxp1170
  printer - faithful workhorse for 5 years;
* an amstrad nc100 that we don't use anywhere near as much as we should;
* an original zx spectrum 48;
* a spectrum +2;
* a 286 motherboard, then a 386sx motherboard, an old case someone left
  behind on doing a runner, a digital vga mono monitor and olivetti
  card, 4 1Mb simms, and a win95 keyboard, for use as a convenience
  system (and for internet surfing);
* an ncr 286 computer that looks like a paving slab and came with ega
  colour monitor and lovely keyboard;

* and there may well be a decstation 3100 going at work if we can
  arrange / wangle it. (plus a ridiculously heavy 300Mb scsi hard drive
  box that feels as if someone forgot to remove the lead casing...)

a preponderance of home computers and odd pcs (with the exception of
this 386, none are particularly standard inside), which we are not very
happy about - hence our published wish list.

for our living, we do things with webs and databases - sometimes in
connection - with a little company based in sleepy gargrave (typical
village - 3 shops, 3 pubs, about 200 houses, pathetic public transport)
and have done for a year, during which time we have seen the depth of
our overdraft *increase*. (hmm...) however, it does mean that now we
have the money to pursue a dream, which is to acquire old and
interesting hardware and write operating systems for them. and therein
lies our interest in classic computers; less for the beasts themselves,
more for the programming challenges and joys that they would present.
hence we'll focus on specific architectures rather than specific
machines. it's also something of a revolt against the trend in the
modern computer market, especially with regard to software.

before that, we studied computer science at bradford university, but
lost interest once we realised that we already knew most of what we were
being told, and didn't particularly want to know the rest. we nearly
failed; we got a degree out of it, just. we'd prefer a job that tallied
better with our interests; on the other hand, there's a novelist here
trying to get out, and we suspect that this would represent our future
career development. (but because of who we are, we don't want to write a
book until we've written the word processor. :> ) and we'd also like to
have more time to ourself and our interests.

oh, and we're devoted to our three cats, firstborn, blackie and calliope
- our babies. they come first in all considerations.


-- Communa (together) we remember... we'll see you falling
you know soft spoken changes nothing to sing within her...

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Received on Mon Mar 02 1998 - 14:40:01 GMT