How many posters/readers had Tech jobs before the advent of the PC? I started in 1970 as a TV Repairman and have been involved in "technology" ever since.
Any other "lifetime" Techs around? https://forums.windrivers.com/
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How many posters/readers had Tech jobs before the advent of the PC? I started in 1970 as a TV Repairman and have been involved in "technology" ever since.
Any other "lifetime" Techs around? https://forums.windrivers.com/
I started out in 1975 as an Aviation Fire Control Technnician in the Navy working on A-6E aircraft radar as a bench tech. Since I got out in 1981, I've been in Field Service. Haven't regretted any part of it.
DonJ
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Hey, it's all FM to me!
No offence guys, but aren't you really asking "Who here is older than modern technology?" Just kidding - I got involved in the XT days.
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Death is lighter than a feather - duty heavier than a mountian.
I have been involved in PC's for the last 10 years, so I am a 'Newbie' compared to some of the visitors here https://forums.windrivers.com/
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'I won't deny ya, I'm a straight Ridah, You don't wanna f#@k with me'
Tupac Shakur
'*****ionz as a Ridah'
All Eyez On Me
CD 1 Track 1.
got involved when the trs 80 came out
joined navy
also a aviation electronics tech
got out of navy and have been having fun working on these things ever since
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Perception: Our day in, day out world is real.
Reality: That world is a hoax, an elaborate deception spun by all powerful machines of artificial intelligence that control us.
I WAS BORN holding a Commode 69 (Commodore 64)! Nice machine, anyway, I was bashing around on it playing Paperboy when I was 1 YEARS OLD!!! So, those kids in high school at the moment who think they know all because they can use the internet. But don't even know what voltage to run a Pentium 133 off, (3.3V by the way)! CAN GO SUCK MY WALLET! Better not, Bill Gates has sucked my wallet dry already, dame ME!!! LOL!
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I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.
i got h ooked on computer in the early 1993 when i left college from video and music editing .. where we were using them there . and then i got my own .. got sick of asking for help how to fix this and that then one day after reading peter nortons help books i realized i wanted to be a tech ... so bamm .. and now i made my 500th POST woow only took 15 months .. hehehe
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I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together
Geez!!! I wish!!! Some days I feel older than 'ancient technology.' Got into an argument with a client today...he was trying to tease me about the new grey hairs since I last saw him a year ago...I took offense and told him so...I DO NOT have ANY grey hairs!!!! The ones that are still attached and no longer brown are WHITE!!! LOLQuote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by cyberhh:
No offence guys, but aren't you really asking "Who here is older than modern technology?" Just kidding - I got involved in the XT days.
</font>
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Ya never know, ya know?
Don't ask me!
I'm a newbie compared to some of you guys!
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"Matter is passive. In spite of its power, it can't be controlled without the human mind." - Sokrates
My Hardware Info, Hardware Media and Computer History page
Same here....I started around the XT/286 ERA, when I was 12.
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Is it because light travels faster than sound that some people appear bright until they speak????
Started on the Sinclair ZX80 & ZX81. They were FUN !
Must have been where the term 'CRASH' came from.
(Think I've still got one in the loft)
Martin https://forums.windrivers.com/
[This message has been edited by Tech Head (edited March 14, 2001).]
Re-enlisted in the Army in 1979 to be a Computer Operator. Worked on IBM mainframes in Germany. IBM 360/40 and IBM 370/138.
I am also a newbie....first PC was a 386sx/16...though most of my tech work has been on 486s doing upgrades and troubleshoot problems.....
Does smacking the tv repeatedly to get it to work count?
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If life is a waste of time, and time is a waste of life, then lets get wasted and have the time of our lives.
Got out of college in 76 with a degree in telecomm. Work as a Radio-Shack sales/tech for 4 yrs. Was there for the first Trash 80
(pc built into the keyboard).
In the pc business ever since.
Worked with:
VT-180 (Dec VT-100 with retrofit XT board)
Osbournes, Kaypro, TI, Sinclair, Altos,
the newcommer IBM (that wont last) and just
about everything since the good old days of CP/M.
Climed the ladder with different cies.
I now manage projects and people. No longer
have to do the work, just supervise and help
the new kids, how dont even know what dos is
nevermind a batch file.
(why do I feel so old suddenly ? )
So to be called a new member anywhere (including this forum) is very nice thing.
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As the Borg says: "Resistance is futile"
As I say: "C'est la vie..."
It all started with a Commodore 64 and proceeded up with the advent of the 80888 and up to the modern day Pentium 4. It has been a wild ride and I am looking forward to the next big leap in chip technology.
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"What we have here is failure to communicate"
My first computer was a commodore 64 which is where I figured out how to program in basic (I poked and peeked everything to death). I then moved up to an 8086 and upgraded my skills to gw-basic (damn monochrome!). Then I got my first p200 with mmx mind you...now I'm up to a couple of computers in different places, work as an network specialist and run my own side business as a network specialist.
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Your mother looks like a hampster and your father smells of elderberries!
Degree in Electricial Engineering AS, started playing with MSDOS in college, then stated building systems for other students,then:
Win 3.1
Win95
Win98 & se
Win me
WinNT Server & workstation
OS2 Warp
AS/400 Operator/tech
So it goes since 1994.
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Computer Shop Owner A+ COMPTIA Lifes a Beach
Hey, has anyone of you Veterans ever actually worked on an Altair machine?? I'm curious...
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"Matter is passive. In spite of its power, it can't be controlled without the human mind." - Sokrates
My Hardware Info, Hardware Media and Computer History page
Yes it does! When I first started Teching, we called that the RTW test (rap, tap and wiggle).Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Kyr0n:
Does smacking the tv repeatedly to get it to work count?
</font>
I am a newbie comapared to some of y'all. Only been working with computer for about 5 years, since I got my first one. But the funny part is, even with my small amount of knowledge and expreience compared to some of you guys, I still know more than 99% of the general population (like how to plug the damn thing in).
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Life isn't one damn thing after another, it's the same damn thing over and over.
I started on the ZX81 in 1982 age 8 (poking & peeking 2 get more out of that 1k)and had to compete with the vic-20 then moved on to the Spectrum +2(with tape drive)competing with c64. After that came experience with a mighty phillips 8086. Then my dads work 286 ps/2(space quest, police quest, lsl & finding out about perpetual loops). after crashing that machine a few times I got my own 386, 20 in 1991 and went from there(a lot of machines, experience & games) to 1997. At that point I started charging for my knowledge.
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"IT BURNS...IT BURNS"
I started vocational high school in 1979. We had huge Data General Servers and terminals. PC’s were just starting to hit the retail market. I Didn’t get into PC’s until the early 90’s though.
Olden days working off my dads 386... was great fun learning how to alter batch files to play a kangaroo mario game rip off he had hehe
Hughes Air Craft Grounds System Group
worked in a room 36X48 nothing but reel to reel and main frames and a (one) keyboard
one 5"X5" screen oh and my chair desh two file cabnets, and the 200 miles of printouts each morning.
Next door was the card room Remember inputing data with cards ?
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Sarcasm is just one more service we offer!
Yep, but fortunately, time has healed those wounds....Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by AlienDyne:
Hey, has anyone of you Veterans ever actually worked on an Altair machine?? I'm curious...
</font>
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Ya never know, ya know?
I started in 1994 with a 486/16 and win3.11,
tried nearly everyting since (except ME)and now run a small but successfull PC consulting & repair service from my home. wouldnt trade this line of work for anything.
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CoreLogik - "I Control Your MotherBoard"
Emotion Is Irrelavant
Dale Earnhardt (1951-2001)
May He Rest In Peace
[email protected]
I started back in 1988 with an Apple IIe, writing BASIC on the ] prompt, using BankStreet Writer and AppleWorks. I would have killed for 256k of ram then, now I have minimum 256MB in my machines.
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OS/400...At least it's not Microsoft.
Dont remember the eighties, but I think I started playing with old 286 and 386.
Anyone still running any of those...
In ninthe grade; worked at an engineering firm repairing lawnmowers and copy machines but I couldn't stay away from the firm's new Wang microcomputer 3600. It had a tape drive and a monitor! Over the course of my summer job, the firm actually started paying me to write accounting programs in BASIC because the engineers were strictly Fortran and cardpunchers. The wang was installed in a climate controlled room and had to cycle off one hour in four. The year was 1976.
I have my first computer in the year 1995, it was a 486 DX/2, with windows 3.1 and upgraded it into pentium 166 MMX with windows 95 (1997), and my final computer a AMD 400 k62 with windows 2000 pro. https://forums.windrivers.com/ https://forums.windrivers.com/
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- Randolph - Win 95/98/NT/2000 error 683 : Timeout Error - Operator fell asleep waiting for system to boot into Windows -
Lets see, I wasn't even born in 1970, so I guess you would say I'm a Newbie. I've been messing with computers for about 15 years or so. My first computer was the downgraded version of the Commedorre 64. I think it was called the Vic 21 or something like that. I remember staying up half the night when I got it writing hundreds of lines of commands so I could play a cheesey skiing game. Thought it was pretty cool at the time though!
I started with a Commodore Vic20 back in the 80's with a cassette tape drive. It was hooked up to a black and white TV. I think back, and man, what a P.O.S. that was! It took forever to load anything off the tape. It quickly fell into disuse when we got the Nintendo. After that, a Tandy 1000 SX with dual 5-1/4" floppies, then an AST 486SX25 which I completely upgraded, then a P100 I bought used and upgraded from spare parts, up to my present day P2/233 which again is upgraded to the nines. What will tomorrow bring.....?
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Tech: "You need to pack up your entire computer and bring it back in to us."
Customer: "Why?"
Tech: "BECAUSE YOU'RE TOO STUPID TO OWN A COMPUTER!"
Well I guess I would be considered a newbie but back in 1983 my Uncle got me a Commodore 64 for my Bar-Mitzva and I was making my own games instead of playing the ones they had out there. One day it broke and that was the end of it. I then Joined the fun world of Sex Drugs & Rock N Roll and became a male escort for Lonely Rich Women. Then once I decided that being a whore wasn't for me I went where the money was and got into construction. After a few years of that and owning my own business I got hurt and was forced to do something a little more easy going so I went to computer school in '95 and I am now an IT Professional. How about that......
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If you think I'm standig here as the world goes by. You're thinking like a fool 'cause it's a case of do or die. Out there is a fortune waiting to be had, if you think i'll let it go your mad You've Got Another Thing Coming
Right on man... my first machine was a TRS 80 too! Then I had an old IBM 8086 that my father gave to me (he worked for IBM). The darn thing had a processor, VERY little memory, and two 5 1/4 floppy drives. That's it (no HDD even) I'm a newbie in comparison... only 20 yrs. old... but I was born, and raised to be a computer tech =)Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Mustang:
got involved when the trs 80 came out
joined navy
also a aviation electronics tech
got out of navy and have been having fun working on these things ever since
</font>
https://forums.windrivers.com/
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If it doesn't fit, force it...If it breaks, fix it with duct tape.
I got my first 'puter in '79 (OSI C1P) and was in Jr. High School. Flipped burgers until I put myself into the PC world in '90.
I did build Pay-TV cheaters and repaired car stereos, does that count? ;-)
Kenny P.
I became involved with the technology with my Atari, oooooh a blistering 48k of Ram, When I wasnt phreaking the Bell system ,I still have my Field phone but im getting to old to climb poles.
My vocation used to be heavy equipment repair. Computer work sure beats diesel fuel and dirty finger nails.
All this and get paid too!!!!
[This message has been edited by Hidn (edited March 16, 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Hidn (edited March 16, 2001).]
I started as a PC tech. I was a EE major at Northeastern before I started in this feild. I don't know if that counts. https://forums.windrivers.com/
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Relaxing in the corporate world!
I am also a newbie....first PC was a 386sx/25. I started my tech days by working on poeople's PC's and telling them if I screw it up... don't yell at me... Then I was the "tech" for my highschool, and I got my first computer job at a mom and pop shop... and now I work for Shell as a Tech Lead https://forums.windrivers.com/ I'm a NEWBIE compared to you "Veterans" https://forums.windrivers.com/
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Scott H. Ptak
[email protected]
EDS
Thank God my best friends dad had money. Every time they got a new computer I got the old one. That would make my first computer a Timex Sinclair 1000. Then on to a TI-99-4a. Then my long love affair with basic and the Commodore series. Vic 20,64, and then the all powerful 128. (That I ran in 64 mode almost exclusively.) Miss those days sometimes. Emmulators are great for reminiscing.......
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"It ain't no sin to be glad your alive" -God (Bruce Springsteen for those of you that don't know)