Computer stories # 1 - My first computer || IBM 8086 || Venezuela || English

bostonblake (59)in Steem-BRU (BY-RU-UA) • 4 years ago

_{An IBM 8086 (referential photo) Image Source: Click to GO}

MY FIRST COMPUTER SETUP

Back in 1984 i had my first experience with a personal computer. It was a Commodore VIC-20 that a friend of mine bought and of course, i wanted one too. I was barely 13 years old and didn't realize that it would cost lots of money and of course my father didn't have enough to buy me one, and i just settled in.

After that, i knew for sure that i would become a computers technician, or a programmer, or something related with computers business. I was fascinated on how one person could, through coding, create solutions for almost anything that crosses in its path. And yet we're talking about someone who was still in his early teenage years, and no one, absolutely no one could have foreseen the explosion the informatical era was about to begin.

_{This is a referential picture of exactly the same computer setup i had back in 1987. Image Source: Click to GO}

And then, when i was 17 and just got graduated from High School, my parents came to me with a big surprise: they bought for me my first personal computer: an IBM 8086. For me it was like Glory, for real! it was like a dream coming true. It was a basic setup but i felt myself as if i had HAL (remember? 2001: A Space Odyssey?) It came with a green phosphorous screen, two 5 1/4" floppy disks, a keyboard and an Epson FX-80 Printer, nothing else.

_{5 1/4 Floppy disks from Memorex, made in Venezuela in the 80s and 90s. These pictures are from my personal files and were taken by myself.}

First things first: it was a basic setup. Back then there were no mouses, no videocards, no soundcards, harddrives were too small and too expensive (a 10Mb HDD could cost up to US$2000) and all printers were impact PRN. But you couldn't miss what didn't exist yet, right?

On her (I called her Anastasia, Анастасия, honouring Czar Nicholas II's minor daughter) i learned how to program in BASIC, had my first experiences with a word processor (WordStar) and an spreadsheet (Lotus123) It ran under DOS 1.1 and of course i could play some games on it, but first i had to load a graphic emulator because this particular PC had no graphic card, but you could use its integrated graphic chip to deploy graphics. It was fascinating and of course, educative.

_{Anastasia Romanova. Image Source: Click to GO}

When i started to assist to University i changed this setup for another one, this time a Intel 386. This time it had a 20Mb hard drive, an EGA Videocard, a 3 1/2" Floppy Disk , Mouse, and a Citizen impact Printer (can't remember the model, sorry) It ran under DOS 3.1, and Microsoft Windows was just releasing its 1.0 version not as an Operative System but as a program that ran under DOS. I had to sell this PC because i crashed my car and needed the money, so...

After that, a few months later i was able to buy my third setup: it was an AMD 586 with a separated coprocessor. This was my first computer completely under Microsoft Windows 95. It had a VGA videocard, a 4Gb harddrive, 3 1/2" Floppy Disk, Mouse, Soundcard, speakers and an Epson Inkjet.

_{This is a referential picture of a 90s PC setup under Win95. Image Source: Click to GO}

Those were my first personal computers. On them i became the professional i am today. I graduated as a Computers Engineer, and i'm specialized on IT Management, Networking, Servers, Communications and Development. I'm 50 years old right now.

It was a pleasure to let you know a little about myself. Спасибо всем вам, друзья SteemIt.

#computerstories #steemexclusive #steemit #tech #venezuela #english