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| Thread ID: 38621 | 2003-10-13 02:59:00 | How did you learn about computers? | caffy (2665) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 182779 | 2003-10-13 12:28:00 | Started on a pre XT computer and have basically taught myself. Have several times bought books but have usually found them to be of limited use. | mikebartnz (21) | ||
| 182780 | 2003-10-13 14:09:00 | Came to computers 3 years ago...couldn't turn one on. Now with the help of 'PC World' & 'PressF1' can manage that task. And, turn it off ! Which is not always easy with 98SE !! BTW....I'm not all that young either! |
DUNK (1527) | ||
| 182781 | 2003-10-13 18:00:00 | > have been around computer from the age of 8 and blew up my first computer at age 12 I fried my first one when i was 7 |
ilikelinux (1418) | ||
| 182782 | 2003-10-13 19:10:00 | Same as DUNK.Except for the spell I had with a new Amstrad,the one with the green screen and the tape loader,the one I had to adjust the heads to get it to read certain tapes,then remember which way to adjust it back to read the others!!!Swore then that I'd not touch another till it got easier. | Neil McC (178) | ||
| 182783 | 2003-10-13 21:46:00 | Caffy, I've been around computers since the age of 4 too. I guess if you're really interested in it then you'd go out of your way to learn all that you could. I remember the first things I learnt was probably the 3 finger salute (ctrl+alt+del) when watching my dad in frustration. I thought that was a cool thing :P, I thought my dad knew heaps about computers, but when you get older you realise he knows just the basics and that's when I decided to take things further, and at the age of 9 or 10, the computer was broken, due to the external cmos battery leaking acid over the motherboard, they took it to get repaired but the tech said they couldn't fix it :/ confusing really because all that would have needed to be done was replace the motherboard, but I guess they went the easy way out and tried getting them to buy a new computer. So with this broken computer I took it apart and looked at it in awe, so many components, so many cables, so much I wanted to learn about it that I hit the books and started getting an idea of what was what. I was a bit disappointed that this computer was thrown away though, didn't know that I could have salvaged parts from it, but I now know that even if computers are broken you can still rob it of parts. The net wasn't available to me then, but lots of books in the library, I then looked into programming in GW-Basic and started writing Choose your Path games. I was considered a Computer Whiz by the teachers of my primary school and a computer geek by my peers :P, I setup and installed the software on the school computers, and was made to show people how to operate them, especially the teachers and installed a few games that they never knew of to play :P From then on, I found that I was made to help people on the computer from Primary all the way through to High School, I was also fixing and building computers by then. Then dropped out to get qualifications as I felt this would be better if people saw that I was qualified to fix computers, and in the end, it works out if you advertise yourself. |
Kame (312) | ||
| 182784 | 2003-10-13 22:42:00 | You learn by the way humans always kearn best. By trial and error. Reading books is okay but you really need to get hands on experience and actually do the things you read about to make it stick. |
Big John (551) | ||
| 182785 | 2003-10-13 23:36:00 | I got into computers when I realised I wasn't popular :( I have friends now, but I'm still interested in computers. My first introduction to computers was a friend's commodore 64. Then had a tinker with an Amstrad CPC464 (I think) in standard four. Got to use Commodore 286 IBM clones at high school with monochrome monitors (one had a CGA card! ooooh....) The first computer I owned was a 2nd hand Dick Smith VZ200, with a green screen. Tried to get an old tape unit up and running, but my wiring skills weren't up to par. Then I conned the old man to buy a 2nd hand Amiga 500 (in 1993) for $500. That was a big step up - 4096 colours on a stereo monitor and actual joysticks! Two disk drives! 1MB RAM! :)) Sold that and got an AMiga 600 with 120MB HDD!!! it just kept getting better... even had a 2400bps modem for bulletin boards... Then, when uni came around, and sensing the need for a serious computer that could handle the internet with speed, I splashed out and purchased (brand new!) a P120 with16MB ram and Windows 95... That became the first computer I zapped :( You learn about computers by looking at them, thinking, and then trying stuff out. Friends who know are helpful, magazines that know are helpful, but it's an ongoing process (as with life), and you won't ever know it all. People who think they know everything know very little in fact. (Socrates - paraphrased) |
Lizard (2409) | ||
| 182786 | 2003-10-13 23:39:00 | I've been learning about computers since the early eighties, and like most of you I've learnt by experience. I'm not going to reveal my age but let's just say that I grew up going to gary glitter and suzi quatro concerts !! I'd say that my biggest learning curve was being ripped off by some supposed computer boff that sold me a new motherboard, cpu, and ram for £500 ($1200) when I only needed a new cmos battery. Since then I've gone on to run my own pc workshop for the last five years in the UK and also a technical support phone line. For anyone new to computers I'd recommend using the internet as the first port of call. Most software problems can be solved by a simple google search - there's normally a dozen other people around the globe with the same problem. More importantly if you really want to learn about pc problems and how to solve them - you're already in the right place ! Long live PF1 | pompeymike (4601) | ||
| 182787 | 2003-10-14 00:45:00 | Go the Amstrad users! My first puter was an Amstrad CPC6128, had no harddrive and everything was loaded off floppy discs that cost about $12 each. Also had a great dot matrix printer that printed at about .0003 ppm. Have also played on Commodore 64, Amiga 500 and then 1200 (I think it was), 486, then Pentium 1 (with MMX mind you) and now have a P3 800. Im lucky though as I get to play around with lots of computers at work, latest hardware e.t.c. I still cant believe that I get paid to play on computers, its great. I think the stage where I really started to learn stuff was when I pulled my computer to pieces the first time just to see if I could put it back together. Its good to read about stuff but theres nothing like hands on experience. You'll probably break some stuff but thats the price of experience. Its funny that the more you know, the more you realise how little you know. Enjoy learning. B. |
Barnabas (4562) | ||
| 182788 | 2003-10-14 00:55:00 | I confess that my original feelings towards computers were of cynicism. I knew people who spent huge sums of money on office systems, only to buy new equally expensive systems 3 years later. Keeping up seemed to be required in order to be at the forefront of business. It still is for many. Happily we moved to computers about 7 years ago - and the NET. What fun. Actually it took a while to develop an interest but I have always needed to know how things worked and what would happen if you did this.... oops. From there I just experimented and as others say, developed knowledge. A long way to go though. Jetstream has made a huge difference to online database searches and our machines seem to be faster although that doesn't make any sense. |
Winston001 (3612) | ||
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