Playing with TechnologyThe Computers That Influenced My Life

Jennifer SrokaA110 Project 5

1980’sAs a child of the 80’s, I grew up alongside the Personal Computer revolution. Several things about PCs in this time period stick out in my mind:

They cost “around a thousand dollars” They required “Boot Disks” to start them up You had to know at least the basics of whatever

language they used (DOS, BASIC, etc.) Monochrome color to 16, 32, 256, all very basic No such thing as a GUI Games! If I broke it, I better fix it!

My first computer…In the Beginning

Graphic from: The Personal Computer Museum http://www.pcmuseum.ca

So, what was it?Released in 1986, the Tandy had:• 256KB of RAM • 7.16 MHz Intel 8088

processor • CGA graphics with 16

colors in Tandy mode• 5.25" drive • Worked with most

IBM software• 5.25 Floppy drive(s)

Info and graphic from: The Personal Computer Museum. http://www.pcmuseum.ca

Tandy 1000

Things we did with the Tandy 1000…

Lots of games! Counter-clockwise from top left:

• Disney’s Black Cauldron• Wheel of Fortune• Police Quest

Graphics from: The Personal Computer Museum http://www.pcmuseum.ca

My schools in the 80’s used the TRS-80 • Manufactured by the Tandy

Corporation• TRS 80/2 released 1983• 0.895MHz of blazing speed• 16KB standard, 16KB

expanded, and 64KB extended memory dependent on model

• Taught BASIC programing• Highly temperamental

components that interfered with each other (i.e., playing a sound locked up the system)

• Nicknames: CoCo, TRaSh-80

School in the ‘80s

Info from: The Personal Computer Museum. http://www.pcmuseum.ca/details.asp?id=295

TRS-80 continued…From the manual

Your TRS-80 COLOR COMPUTER 2 is more powerful and more versatile than most mammoth computers of twenty years ago. Although those metal giants filled huge, glass walled rooms and cost millions of dollars, they couldn’t sing or cipher half as well as your Color Computer can do now in your own living room.Despite its power and complexity, your computer is simple to operate. You alone determine how “technical” a machine you want it to be.

Excerpts taken from “TRS-80 Color Computer 2 Introducing Your Color Computer 2” Manual 1983 – Tandy Corp.

Things the TRS-80 did…

…in other words, very BASIC stuffInfo and graphic from: The Personal Computer

Museum. http://www.pcmuseum.ca

1990’sIn the 1990’s, home and school computing really took off. Some computers allowed us to save programs easier, while others had “hard drives” and retained their operating systems! Three major types of computers entered my life:

o Macintosh’s Apple II and Apple IIeo IBM and IBM Cloneso Pentium-based computers with Internet

Apple IIe Despite being launched in the 80’s, Apple IIe’s were a mainstay of my middle school education in computers. They were popular, plentiful, easy to use and easy to program. We created roleplaying games and saved them to disk, performed mathematic equations, and even took basic study quizzes in subjects like science, math, reading, and social science.Apple IIe introduced me the “Open-Apple” and “Closed-Apple” keys, the “function” keys that became an Apple symbol for special functions

School in the 1990’s

Info and graphics from: Apple II Historyhttp://apple2history.org

IBM and IBM ClonesI remember stepping through the 8086/88, 80286, 80386, 80486 chipsets pretty quickly. They came into our house about a year or two apart.

These chips, and the motherboards that supported them, I watched my uncle and his friends upgrade by hand. I was fascinated, and soaked up the components.

I learned about DOS, the sound card, video card, IEEE cables, IDE controller, power supply, DIMM slots, CMOS batteries, DOT matrix printers, and eventually the game changer, the modem!

At Home late 1980’s – early 1990’s

Graphic from: The Personal Computer Museum. http://www.pcmuseum.ca

A Bag of Chips

Microprocessor upgrades were the most exciting thing, as they meant a significant increase in speed and computer power. It was all about the clock speed!

o 286 – Our first one ran at a spiffy 6 MHz. The last capped at 25MHz

o 386 – We jumped right into the high end with a 40MHz! Did you know some Blackberries used this chip until fairly recently? It’s true!

o 486 – The 486’s we had (2 if I remember correctly) were awesome. Both had “turbo” mode, which clocked the first one in at 66MHz and the second right at the limit with 100MHz. These let us play cheesy computer graphic games to our heart’s content with smooth animation and lots of cool midi music!

We ran Windows 3.1 on all these machines, and until the last 486 upgraded to Windows 95 in 1995.

A bit about Operating Systems

By the 486DX, I knew my way around Windows 3.1 very well. Then one day it was gone and the computer now ran Window 95. I remember the about twenty 3.5” disks that Windows 95 came on. It was a long process sitting through the upgrade using those disks, and doing it more than once when I messed up the OS a few times! CD-ROMs were very appreciated after that!

I learned how to navigate both systems quite well. Left is Program Manager in Windows 3.1 and right the replacement Windows Explorer in Windows 95. I could also still drop into DOS and do minor OS fixes

Graphics from: Electronics Powerhttp://electronicspower.info

BBSBBS, or Bulletin Board Systems, were the first things we explored with a modem. We had a 2400bps-9600bps modems, and used various protocols to access local boards. We read jokes, local computer users exchanged information, and, my favorite, created ASCII art.I still use some of those skills along with DOS commands to troubleshoot some older LED signage we use to display information in our Help Desk

A Hayes 9600bps modem, similar to oursGraphic from: Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com

ASCII ArtGraphic from: Walyou US

http://cdn.walyou.com

The PentiumIn my opinion, the Intel Pentium processor based computers changed what home computers really could do. Breaking the Gigahertz barrier, these computers powered learning applications, powerful word processing, colors, graphics, speed, and ever-increasing storage space with support for bigger and better hard drives. Computers finally really multi-tasked, making use of the multiple “windows” in Windows to run more than one application and even interact with each other. For me, this was the beginning of machines that could truly reach out and embrace the Internet. Graphic from: Maximum PC

http://maximumpc.com

The Internet

In High School, the computers had internet access and we had begun to use them for research projects and resources. As a Junior, I made my case for home internet to my mother and we signed up for America Online using one of the many free floppy disks AOL mass marketed for years. Of course, I had to pay for it.

Graphic from: Vanity Fair http://www.vanityfair.com

AOL

AOL features, news, games and more were fun, but it was the chat rooms that really caught my interest. I met my future husband through an AOL chat room, but that is the only part computer related!

High Speed

With the passing of the years, I have moved along with the times and clicked into high speed internet including:

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Cable Wireless Internet Service (WISP) Ricochet (now-defunct mobile wireless, like

a hotspot) Smartphones (Blackberry, iPhone, etc.)

And I have supported all but the WISP!

CareersWith the computer skills I have learned along the way, I have done the following:

Programed home telephone lines Installed and configured dial up and DSL

internet Completely installed and reinstalled

Windows-based operating systems Provided remote assistance to computer

users Installed security and encryption

software…

Careers

Designed and implemented a Knowledge Management system

Administer incident tracking software on a SQL database

Design and administer LED and Digital signage

Authored hundreds of technical documents and trained users

And I still love it!

My World

Things I use and support!

…and many more!

Today

So, what do I do today?

I’m a Technical Lead for Sodexo, the world’s largest Food and Facilities provider and Fortune 500 company. Entering my 10th year on the Help Desk, I am systems administrator and technical writer for all the Knowledge Management applications, remote assistance

application, digital signage application, auditor for Information Security requests, webinar and departmental instructor for many new releases and upgrades, and assistant administrator for our incident tracking, surveys, and reporting. I wear a lot of hats!

My main computer is full of administrator software and remote server connections to keep things running smoothly and up to date. And it is all because I’ve spent a lifetime playing with technology!

References

Amazon.com. Amazon.com. 28 October 2011. 2011 October 2011 <http://www.amazon.com>.

Apple II History. Apple II History. October 19 2011. 27 October 2011 <http://apple2history.org>.

Electronics Power. Electronics Power. September 2011. 28 October 2011 <2011>.

Maximum PC. Maximum PC. 28 October 2011. 28 October 2011 <http://maximumpc.com>.

The Personal Computer Museum. The Personal Computer Museum . 2011. 27 October 2011 <http://www.pcmuseum.ca>.

Vanity Fair . Vanity Fair . 27 October 2011. 27 October 2011 <http://www.vanityfair.com>.

Walyou US. Walyou US. 28 October 2011. 28 October 2011 <http://cdn.walyou.com>.

Playing with TechnologyThe Computers That Influenced My Life

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