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before 1983
I had a strong interest in computers and electronics. I purchased a number of expensive semi-programmable calculators in the early 80s, and outfitted others with simple digital circuits that would make them perform simple operations under external automatic control. During this period, I increasingly became familiar with digital electronics, soldering, breadboarding and wiring.
1983
In August, I bought a VIC-20 from the Staunton K-Mart for about 85 dollars, money I had saved all summer long. The computer had 3K of user RAM and no mass storage. I programmed it to do some simple things using only audio feedback, since I had no television or monitor. After much additional saving, I bought a cheap black and white television for about fifty dollars several weeks later. Later I built my own tape interface.
1984
I bought an additional computer from a friend (a 2K TS-1000, based on the Z-80) and another at deep discount from Radio Shack (a 3K MC-10 based on a 6800 family microprocessor). Upon both of these I performed some limited electronic experiments.
1985
I began doing more intensive electronic experiments on my VIC-20, expanding its memory using 2K static RAMs. I bought a C-128 computer and (somewhat later) a 360K double sided floppy drive. This was to be the most powerful computer I was to own until the 1990s.
1986
I became obsessed with expanding my VIC-20 in all sorts of custom ways. I added numerous digital circuits designed to provide many banks of RAM in various nooks and crannies of the VIC-20's address space. One circuit even allowed the character ROM to be swapped out of 6502 address space (while remaining visible to video circuitry) so RAM visible to BASIC could be swapped into its place. Many custom I/O chips were added that could do things like speak numbers or synthesize touch tones. In the Summer of 1986, the modifications were so complex that when a failure happened, I was unable to fix it. This was a crushing loss.
the Oberlin College years (1986-1989)
I did not bring my C-128 to college, but I purchased a Radio Shack Color Computer soon after I arrived. I used a limited terminal program on the CoCo to communicate with Oberlin College's minicomputer network. This was useful even though it was limited by my 300 baud modem. For serious word processing, I used Zenith 8088-based PCs in college computing centers, though I was known to occasionally use typewriters, including (on one occasion) a manual one. I used EMACs on my VAX-750 UNIX account to edit my 1987 Winter Term report on topographic tree distributions. From 1986 until mid-1987, I was a frequent user of the VAX-750, eventually becoming a sort of UNIX hacker, getting in trouble with authorities on at least two occasions. My interest in computers waned greatly during the late 80s.
the immediate post-college era (1989-early 1990)
In the Summer of 1989, I did a little word processing for my father on the C-128 using a word processing program I wrote for myself in BASIC. In late 1989, I was hanging out at Oberlin College, using their Zeniths as word processors. In November, I began to use Macintoshes more seriously, and by February 1990, I was using Macintoshes almost exclusively.
mid to late 1990
In May 1990 I obtained a Macintosh SE with a 1.4 Meg Superfloppy, 1 Meg of RAM and a 20 Meg hard drive. During the following months, I did much word processing on this machine for both my father and myself. I also mastered ResEdit.
1991
After destroying my old C-128 in the course of a series of experimental hardware modifications, I obtained one of the Zenith 8088-based PCs with 640 K of RAM and a 20 Meg hard drive. I used this mostly for experimental purposes as I slowly learned the nitty-gritty of DOS. In late 1991, I was given a new 120 Meg SCSI hard drive for my Mac.
1992
In September I obtained a Mac IIsi with 5 Megs of RAM and gradually began to learn the basics of 680x0 assembly language. I began to modify After Dark's "Flying Toaster" screen saver in numerous ways.
1993
I taught myself how to crack copy-protected Mac Software and hacked many programs. I was most proud when I finally cracked Mathematica. My friend Bruce told me of resources available on the Internet, especially via anonymous FTP, and I began to make extensive use of Fetch. I also learned PC hardware in intimate detail, extensively modifying the Zenith 8088. At some point I obtained a 386 SX machine with 2 Megs of RAM and 100 Megs of hard drive.
1994-1995
I dumpster dived lots of PC equipment, including several 286 machines. My interest in computers faded to almost zero, though I slowly found myself using the Internet (including the newly-emerging World Wide Web) with increased frequency.
1996
I got a job at Comet.Net, a local (now defunct) internet provider, and became acquainted with Pentium machines running Windows 95 and flavours of UNIX. After quickly mastering HTML, I began building this website (using mostly Macintosh computers to edit images and HTML). I did not have a computer for my exclusive personal use once I moved to Charlottesville, but there were plenty in the town to pick from.
1997
I dumpster-dived numerous PS/2 Model 80s and one 486-level machine. The latter became my personal machine during the Summer. By Fall, I was sick of its lethargic pace, so I bought a IBM PR200+-based motherboard, which I paired with a 2.1 Gigabyte hard drive, a 33.6K modem, 64 Megs of RAM, and an advanced All in Wonder video board. After I lost my job with the bankruptcy of Comet.Net, I did almost all of my web work from home using a modem connection.
1998
I upgraded my main machine to a 4.4 Gig hard drive and a 233 MHz K6 microprocessor. I installed LINUX on a secondary 100 MHz Pentium equipped with the old 2.1 Gig hard drive and 16 Megs of RAM. When I lost my free internet access, I had to resort to UVA computers (Macintoshes, mostly) to upload web pages edited mostly on my home Windows 95 PC.
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