To help keep the median age down:
I became on 1971 (34)
First PC was a VIC-20 in early 1982, because my Dad would not let me buy
an Atari 2600. Fate just seemed like a mean Dad back then. Paid for it
myself. $300 got me the unit, 2 games, no storage. Played the games,
put it in a box, and forgot about it until late '83, where I found my
7th grade homeroom filled with VIC-20's. The math teacher (it was his
room) took me under his wing, showed me the PET 8032's in the high
school with a 300 bps direct connect TNW-103 modem. Dialed my first BBS
at the time. That was the start of the love affair. Bought a 64 in
1984/5, and used it until my senior year in college, 1992, where I had
to break down and get a PC. The University of Illinois got me exposure
to Sequent (undergrad accounts) IBM RT-11, RS-6000, and PLATO, for those
who know what that is. Used to dial into the local modem bank to the
machines from the C64 using Novaterm to do homework, and had a PLATO
emulator for the 64, but can't find it anymore. I also developed a
taste for UNIX in college. I managed a student lab at one point. Before
I took over, we swapped out some funky 80186 3Com server hardware
running the lab for OS/2 1.3 (No workplace shell). Later, MS came and
talked to us about the greatness they felt was Windows NT for powering
the labs.
Left UIUC with a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, but
software jobs paid more, so went that route.
I skipped the Amiga train (paid for AmigaWorld magazine for years, but
never got an actual unit), so mainly I collect CBM 8-bit stuff. I had
some Northstar stuff for a while, but never got into it. I try not to
buy new PCs, creating Linux boxen at the house from parts I get
upgrading other's people's PCs. They make great peripherals for my
CBM units.
I've never seen a real PDP of any vintage, though I did get a private
tour of the NCSA building with the Cray and the Thinking Machines
hardware (NCSA hired undergrads to admin the boxes)
Jim
--
Jim Brain, Brain Innovations
brain_at_jbrain.com http://www.jbrain.com
Dabbling in WWW, Embedded Systems, Old CBM computers, and Good Times!
Received on Sat Feb 26 2005 - 16:24:45 GMT