I went to my parents house and asked my dad if I could borrow his typewriter since he had a computer now. I was looking at getting a typewriter / word processor for myself, but my dad suggested that I use my moms computer. He had bought her a Zenith clone from the university, but she had never learned to use it.
I took her computer home, and got it all setup. It had one of the first VGA monitors with full 256 colors and an Epson dot matrix printer. I don't remember what the word processor was that was on it. I don't believe it was Word Perfect yet, it may have been Wordstar. At that point it really didn't matter, I had a computer in my apartment, and I was able to write my paper. I don't think I ever wrote a paper by hand again.
I used that computer for a little while, but my mom was kind of upset with my dad for basically giving away her computer. My dad took me to a computer store in Ann Arbor called MCRS, and he ordered me a 286 computer. It had a turbo button to make it 8 mhz instead of the 4.77 mhz that was the default with the 8088. The only drawback was that it only had a monochrome monitor. But it didn't matter because it was mine. I didn't have to return it, so I could add on to it however I wanted.
The next semester I took a FORTRAN class. If I wanted to use my own computer instead of going to the computer lab, I was going to need a modem. I remember buying a 120 baud modem card. It was the first time I opened a computer and installed something. There were physical jumpers that had to be configured to set the interrupt and the port. I didn't have any friends who were computer people, so I had to learn it on my own. I got the modem working, and I was able to use it to log into the Burroughs mainframe and code my FORTRAN assignments.
My next classes were Pascal and C. I used Turbo Pascal and Turbo C for doing the assignments on those classes. I don't remember purchasing those compilers, and since I had a modem, I probably got them from a BBS. There were a couple of designers I worked with at that time, and I was able to get a copy of autocad. They gave me an older version they had laying around because it didn't need a math co-processor and it would work on my monochrome monitor. The one thing it did need was more memory than what I had.
I can't remember whether I started out with 512k and added enough to get to 640k or if I started out at 640k and went to 1 mb, I do remember going from 640k to 1mb at one point because I had to pull out 8 16k chips and replace them with 64k chips. It was my first time working with chips and I was scared to death that I was going to fry one. I didnt have a grounding strap on, and I didn't have any other special tools for removing or inserting chips. I had been told to just keep one hand on the power supply to keep grounded. That's what I did, and all the memory worked when I was done. Then I was able to load Autocad and start learning 2D design.
After playing with Autocad for a while, I really wanted to start playing with the newer version that had 3D capabilities. Unfortunately that required a MathCo and at least a VGA monitor. I had acquired a copy of Aldus PageMaker from somewhere, and I got hired to create some forms for a local company in Ann Arbor. This was my first job as an independent consultant. By the time I created all the forms they needed, I had earned enough to get my 287 Math Co-processor and a NEC MultiSync monitor.
I bought the 287 Math Co-processor from an ad in Computer Shopper magazine. This was back in the days before online ordering and two day shipping. I actually had to call someone, and wait a couple of weeks for the package to arrive. When it arrived, I was excited and really nervous. This one chip cost $250, and if I screwed it up, I probably wouldn't be able to return it for another one. This time I did have a grounding strap, but still no tools, and this was a lot bigger than the memory chips anyway. I installed the chip in the socket, then I turned the computer on and went into the BIOS. It wasn't detected. My heart dropped. The chip had been hard to install because the pins were really delicate, nothing like the memory chips I had worked with previously. When I pulled the chip back out, I saw that one of the pins and bent underneath the chip and wasn't seated in the socket. I straightened the pin and reinserted the chip. I turned the computer on and this time the chip was recognized.
I was able to get the newest version of Autocad installed, but I never really learned any 3D CAD. I did learn enough 2D CAD to work in the field for a couple of years in my early 20's though. I could say that investing in the math co-processor was a waste of money, but in the long run this was the real turning point in my life where I gained the confidence to work on computer hardware. After learning these skills I began building computers for myself, family members, and eventually started Kartech Computer Systems.
I don't really remember when I retired the 286 computer that my dad bought me. I do remember having it for quite a while. I remember upgrading it to a 20MB SCSI drive at one point, and I went through a number of modems going to 2400 baud, then several versions of 9600 baud because there wasnt a set standard yet. I can't remember whether I upgrade the computer before going to 14.4k and then 56k modems, but I know I had all of them at one point or another. Just trying to keep my hardware up to date meant learning how to do everything myself.
I guess the one thing that I haven't mentioned is DOS. I am not sure what version of DOS my computer came with. I remember working with 3.1 and 3.3 for a very long time. I also remember when DOS 4 came out, and how much of a memory hog it was. I got really good at using DOS both because I had a lot of peripherals, and because I always needed a lot of memory. Learning to configure the autoexec.bat and the config.sys files was something that I had to master or I wouldn't be able to use the software I wanted to use. These were skills that made me really valuable early on in my career.
When I think back on going to college, I really have to say the thing that really made my career was failing that first economics paper. The programming classes I took gave me a disciplined approach to computers going forward, but the hacking I did at home is where I really built my skill set and started my career.
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