Owen Robertson wrote:
> I've had a few experiences like that. But my little brother is 8
> years old, and he knows what an 8" floppy is.
My little brother is 13 years old and his PC has a 5.25" floppy drive fitted
:-)
> I even had him using
> them on a TRS-80 Model II once.
Quite an achievement. I often get asked to remove "that piece of junk" (the
5.25" drive) from his machine. I would if I had a blanking plate...
> He's quite familiar with what most of
> the things in my collection are, and can tell the difference between
> the PDP-11/34 and the PDP-11/23.
I don't have a PDP-anything, nor do I have the room for one. I would like to
learn my way around the DEC operating system used on VAX machines (sorry,
the name escapes me), and maybe get a MicroVAX or something small to start
out with, though.
My collection tends to center around oddball machines, singleboard
computers, microprocessor trainers, that sort of thing. I'm currently
building a COSMAC Elf (or I will be when the wire-wrap tool and CDP1861 VIDC
arrive).
> And he was smart enough to know that
> the two very large things on the floor that kept him from getting to
> his iMac for several months were disk drives. RK05j's to be exact.
I'd kill for a PowerMac. If only I had the space...
Another thing I want/need is a 10baseT Ethernet card or StrongARM CPU
upgrade card (and Risc OS 3.7) for my Acorn Risc PC600. I want to put it on
the local network and use it as an internet access/software development
platform.
> I recently promised to teach him Pascal.
Planning to teach him C++, too? :-)
I've been using Pascal since age 9, C++ since age 15. I despise C++.
> I recently promised to teach
> my father how to turn a computer on. :-)
I tried to get my father to let me teach him - his response was "There's no
point". He quickly changed his mind when his new job dictated that he write
reports using a computer. His employer found out he didn't even know how to
switch a computer on, so they sent him on a "basic computing" course. I've
promised to teach him how to use the Internet on my network.
> I've always thought that computer literacy classes in schools should
> teach computer history.
Me too. One of my previous IT teachers knew how to work M$ Word and that was
about it. The janitor managed to bring down the network by pulling the power
brick for the hub out of the wall. The IT guy spent 20mins the next morning
(during my IT "lesson") looking at the settings on all the machines ("One
machine's bad settings can corrupt the whole network"), then gave up. I
noticed the hub was unplugged, plugged it back in and the fan in the hub
started whirring. A few click-clunks from the hub later and the network was
back up.
Later.
--
Phil.
philpem_at_dsl.pipex.com
http://www.philpem.dsl.pipex.com/
Received on Fri Oct 11 2002 - 14:50:00 BST