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i started out with pdp 11 n stuff but technicaly pcs existed in cpm machines n stuff so i dont qualify (besides i was 8 in 1980) so i don't realy count
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be·he·moth n.
1. Something enormous in size or power.
2. Someone who is abnormally large [syn: giant, goliath, monster, colossus]
3. A person of exceptional importance and reputation [syn: colossus, giant, heavyweight, titan]
Acronym - Definition
BEHEMOTH Big Electric Human-Energized Machine, Only Too Heavy
Well not to be offensive to anyone but WOW!!! I've been working on computers since 1994. Hmm 2001-1994 ... 7 years ... add the remainder ... subtract pi ... Wow I'm only 20. Some people have been working on our technology longer than I've been living. Well so it goes. https://forums.windrivers.com/
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I feel like a little worm on a big f*****g hook.
https://forums.windrivers.com/ Well lets see, Iwas a amature radio operator before I joined the Navy. The Navy needed Avaition Fire Control Techs( I wanted to be an Avaition Photographer) But before I could get to A school they TAD me to work on this new fangled thing called a computer. Not you everyday PC. Massive main frames that were enclosed in building 50' x 75' and had thousands of tubes and boards. No drives, It was programed with jumper boards and could only do one task at a time and took 2 days to change from payroll to Base Inventory. Finally on to AQF school then out to the fleet working on F3s, A4s, F4Hs and F8s. Yeah I am starting to feel old. Finally cross rated to Avaition Photo and managed to avoid anything related to computers until the Atari 400. Bought my first one at Macey's for $900.00 with 4K of mem and no drives. Added two floppy 720k drives @ $325.00 ea. added 32K of mem @$800.00 I used a 17" color TV for a monitor.Later moved on up through all the Atari Stuff stopping with The ST. I remember my 1st hd. 10Mb for 1100.00. I donated the whole mess to the Salvation Army. Jumped into the 286 frenzy had a portable Compaq CP/M machine about 35lbs. I have been working and servicing computers ever since. Yeah I guess I have Tech background.
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If life is a bitch then what is death? I believe I will take the bitch!
Wow! I grew up in the days of Atari 2600, then Nintendo, somewhere in between there my older brother gave me his old Texas Instruments computer (I don't remember what model it was!) Then I bought a Super NES, my mom bought our first computer Zenith 486SX25, 4MB RAM, 5 1/4, 3 1/2, 127MB HD. I kept the 486 through college and then in 96 the MBD went bad. My boss gave me a "potentially defective" motherboard and Cyrix PR150 CPU, with RAM, to get me by until I could afford something better. My girlfriend always screamed and whined when my computer would lock up (which was daily) and I just told her if she was going to yell at MY computer then don't use it! Finally I bought a new ASUS P5A motherboard, and a Cyrix M2 300MHz chip. Eventually bought my current AMD K62 - 550MHz, upgraded to 256MB RAM and 10GB HDD with 40x CDROM and 10x4x32 CDRW. Wow life is good!
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"Wise man say, "Forgiveness is Divine, but NEVER pay full price for late Pizza!" - Michaelangelo, TMNT
3 years ago fellow brought in 2, I believe they were 8000 or 8800 something like that. 1 was to be canniblized to get the other working. I had a terrible experience as the had a massive power supply with huge capacitors that store one hell of a jolt. I was always forgeting to dischare the damn things and was constantly lighting myself up like a pinball machine. I did manage to get the job done thanks to the fact he had a few manuals and papers. was glad to see them go and dont really want to work on one again.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>
https://forums.windrivers.com/ Ouchhhhhh
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If life is a bitch then what is death? I believe I will take the bitch!
Got my start with computers with a TI-80 hooked to my moms TV with the peripherial tape deck used as a storage drive. Went to Amigas from there then an IBM XT (8086). After that, kind of lost interest in PCs for a couple of years. Till that point I only used them for games, so when good game consoles came out (Nintendo) I quit using the PC. Got back into it about 5 years later to learn to do music recording/sequencing and just kind of "accidentally" wound up working as a tech, and now an instructor. Guess if it wasnt for MS making the PC so popular (and finicky!)I would still be working in the Pet Shop cleaning puppy cages...
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Live long, die rich, leave a 20yo widow...
I started on a IBM PC/JR that was my first real computer but I truthfully started on a
TI-99/4a that I got in 1983 so I wouldnt kill my newborn sister....still not sure If I got the better deal https://forums.windrivers.com/
[This message has been edited by Jgold47 (edited March 16, 2001).]
Finally got me to post. Did old radios and TVs in the 50s, Serious school and repair in the 60s, made my living in teching ever since. Almost posted on the heat sink compound, but have learned that experienced viewpoints are not really wanted by quite a few, just confirmation of their chosen beliefs. Think its changed a lot, well, hold your shorts, its just started.
Only a year in it.....feels like forever, and the amount of knowledge gained in that time? Timeless...priceless as well! https://forums.windrivers.com/
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Ever stop to think....and forget to start again?
Does tearing apart ATARI systems count? I started on Donkey Kong and Pac Man then got sucked in further from there. It's the problem solving that does it and the unlimited 'what ifs'
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When in doubt, FDISK and chant PEBCAK.
Crap...i'm a newbie to you guys. I didn't do anything computer related till 10 years ago...my father (COBAL mainframe programmer...heh heh...the masocist..) showed me around DOS and I started scratching out batch files (wooo hoo!)...before then I took apart toasters and calculators...I got pretty good at blenders too! https://forums.windrivers.com/ https://forums.windrivers.com/ https://forums.windrivers.com/ https://forums.windrivers.com/ https://forums.windrivers.com/
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Anything worth fighting for is worth fighting dirty for!!
Product (and child) of the 80s here... got hooked on an Apple IIe and first owned a TRaSh 80. Job-related experience started in 386 and early 486/68K days. Still the platform I have worked the most on is P1.
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it's backwards backwards
Got started in the 8086 / 8088 era. Joined the US Marine Corps they honed my electronics and computer / telephone repair/phreaking skills. Been doing it ever since, although most of my work these days is WAN work.
<big>-D</big><sup>ifranco</sup>
[This message has been edited by Difranco (edited March 16, 2001).]
Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by lurch:
Finally got me to post. Did old radios and TVs in the 50s, Serious school and repair in the 60s, made my living in teching ever since. Almost posted on the heat sink compound, but have learned that experienced viewpoints are not really wanted by quite a few, just confirmation of their chosen beliefs. Think its changed a lot, well, hold your shorts, its just started.</font>
Sounds like we've traveled pretty much the same roads about 10 years apart! I did all the same stuff myself. Got to be people figured if you had to plug it in to make it work, I could fix it! Hey......wait a minute......people still think so! "Hey.....let's give it IS to fix!"
https://forums.windrivers.com/
I started by fixing pinball machines and jukeboxes before computer control came out - it was all controled by relays, cams, and vacuum tubes...
I miss those days
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Difranco:
[b]Got started in the 8086 / 8088 era. Joined the US Marine Corps they honed my electronics and computer / telephone repair/phreaking skills. Been doing it ever since, although most of my work these days is WAN work.
<big>-D</big><sup>ifranco</sup>
Hey is your name after "Ani Difranco"?
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I'm a happy little hippie ...:)...UNTIL YOU TAKE MY COMPUTER AWAY!!! :(
Started with AF computer school in Feb 1976, worked on Mainframes then Minis then PCs every since. My first was an OSI C1P (real keyboard) then a Commodore Business Machine PET. Then the usual, Amigas, MACs, etc.
Never liked DOS, Windows PCs until 95 came out. Then surrendered to the Borg.
Own my own PC consulting company now.
Later
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MCSE, MCT, Net +
Well I guess my teching started as a child when the color tv would act up I would slap it on the side to clear the picture
Then in the mid 80's my friends neighbour got a trs80, I wanted one but I was not rich enough
then my friend got a vic 20 and we played on that
Next was a Comandore 64 that my other friend had,We played good old black and white games on it
Then in 97 I got my first PC , A 133 mhz Packard Bell , I have upgraded and built several diferent systems since , I have learned much during the Widnows era, I still Have the PB , My current system is a 733 mhz celeron unit
I am a newbie compared to some of you guys that have posted, I am amazed at the advances in technology, What is next
Well I plan on starting a home based PC bussiness so hang on ( I have to use my A+ cert for something ) https://forums.windrivers.com/ https://forums.windrivers.com/
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Format c:( I'm givin er all she's got cap'in !!! )
I guess the Navy would be a Tech Job https://forums.windrivers.com/
I worked on stuff that made computers look like Lincoln-Logs...
-RoboTech
Started in C64's, I suppose Commodore have much to answer for. The model of one of my cars is a commodore, must be a sub-concious thing. Bought a C128, I still don't know why. It had a built in reset button from memory, that must have been worth the extra money.
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If the average population of the universe is zero then why do people still surround me?
Got my first puter in '76 I believe it was.
https://forums.windrivers.com/
WOW... I am not even an embryo compared to some of you more 'mature' or 'experienced' techs. I always liked putzing around on Commodore 64s that we had in the classrooms in grade 5 and 6.. for some reason I was the only person that could run anything on those bad boys. Then I got into High School and met some real computer guys. The first computer we had in our house was an AppleII, then we got the Crapard Hell P233, after that I got a job just to buy my own system to keep from using that P.O.S., and bought my own. An AMDK6-2 333 with a VoodooRush vidcard. This was before I realized that most computer shops in my neighbourhood are liars and cheats. Anyway, started poking around, beat my friend out for a tech job, and 2 years later got my A+, now I have 3 jobs in the computer field... and school... so what I lack in experience I make up for in enthusiasm!!
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Remember:Anything that can be imagined is possible ... yes even that!
First 'puter was a Timex Sinclair 2000 (no HDD, 2k ROM). That was 1983. Graduated to Commodore Vic-20, then TRaSh-80. First OS was DOS 3.0, I think (in college).
However, I am just a BABY compared to some of you old geezers. https://forums.windrivers.com/
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"All my life all I ever wanted to be was a gangster" -Goodfellas
While doing intern work in engineering at a defense contractor in 1980, I was given a commodore "pet" to use. Had a brainstorm to use the memory expansion port. A few weeks later, I was testing avionics without a mainframe.
(the old "poke" and "peek" commands !!!)