Strolling down Memory Lane - in IT

I distinctly remember my first foray into programming. It was a Vic20 that I borrowed from ????? This, obviously, had 20Kb of memory (that's just 20,480 bytes of memory :eek: ) Wow... I never did it at school (that was for geeks), but always had an interest. I remember punching in the code(s) line-by-line, making mistakes, correcting, running etc etc. It took forever. I'm fairly sure it was BASIC. Didn't have a clue what I was punching in - this 'stuff' was the realm of scientists, the highly intelligent, blah blah. That day watching my father walk in and stare at the TV as if something was wrong got me hooked. My father actually thought I'd stuff the TV. I remember upgrading to an XT (it had a 20Mb hard disc - this was BIG). I also remember purchasing an AT with 640K base and an extension card that took it to just over 1Mb. Now this machine was FAST! It had a better HDD and a nice EGA screen (upgraded from CGA). It cost me just over $4,500. Today I have a laptop with power that would have been beyond imagination 20 years ago. It cost me a little less than the AT. I still have some early PC Mags, and the kids sometimes hear me chuckle and watch me shake my head when I flick back through them. :)
 
Our form 6 maths teacher took the perforated cards into Geelong once a week (mid 70s), and returned with the print outs so students could correct their programs and prepare them for the next weeks run. Not for me though, I was doing straight maths/science and we didn’t get anywhere near computing/computers. The first time I saw/used a computer was at uni, where we would mark the cards with a pencil (and rub out mistakes later – of course the eraser bits clogged up the card readers), line up in a corridor and feed our cards in. Then we would have to wait for the print out to be collected by the admin staff and placed in pigeon holes.

And then there was the time I did work experience where we started the small car sized computer by loading a bootstrap program by setting a row of switches to on or off, and loading each instruction by flicking a switch. I guess we were lucky, because the program loaded the full boot program from an 8 inch floppy disk! No wonder I still can add in binary and hexadecimal
 
My first experience with computers was in 82 yr 9 at high school, Digital VAX with the VT terminal that had the keyboard and monitor all in one. Nice little green screen. Did some BASIC programming.

Had an Apple IIe clone, probably around 83/4. Mid to late 80's Mum & Dad bought a 286, real specy one with 40MB HDD and a 14" VGA monitor. Did a lot of resumes on that thing with Wordperfect 5.1

Eventually did a Bachelor degree with IT Major. Got introduced to servers with Novell 3.1, stuffed around in retail for a while and eventually did a CNA and went contracting in late 90's.

Got sick of the tech training, MCSE, CNE always having to update certs. :mad:

Have spent the last few years supporting Windows and Novell servers.

Resigned on Friday.
I'm out of IT for now.:D

Cheers
quoll
 
Last edited:
Back
Top