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   > CP wrote --   
   >> What's an old "commie"? Commode Odor?   
   > Yea, a Commode C64.   
      
   I had a Vic=20 I got in 1984 with my sod farm summer job paycheque. $50.   
      
   I loved that little thing! I had so much stuff stored on cassettes! (I was   
   old  school(& broke); I was teaching muyseof BASIC programming, using the   
   little  manual that came with the computer (I started by writing short   
   programs to  recreate every ereror message & another set using each BASIC   
   command singly &  in an exemplifying manner.   
      
   I was acing all 3 grade 12 exams after only 2 weeks (I was in grade 10,   
   having  skipped 9, as I was busy for a year, & grew too big to be allowed in a   
   cohort  of grade 9s by the time I decided to try school again (I had   
   wanderlust)   
      
   I went off on more adventures & lost connection to computers until 1991 when   
   I  trook a ciomputer course so tough that we had to, in our first 6 weeks,   
   learn  touch typing to 30WPM or more, learn DOS, Win 3.1, Wordperfect 5.0, &   
   create &  print our own manual for WP5.  The year following I researched   
   Wordperfect type cvourse in  Vancouver & the closest I could find would take   
   18 months to teach  what we learned in 6 weeks! & typing would be up to us   
   separately. As would job interview skills, also included in that 6 weeks!   
      
   We were all permanently & mostly freshly so, disabled & trying to move on to    
   new work/career paths. & their approach was wonderful: no mollycoddling &    
   treating us as weaker., but push us to our utmost, so we could go on to   
   compete evenly with able bodied job seekers, & beat them, without special   
   (e.g,.  quotas) considerations.   
      
   Most coll.ege computer courses had, at best, a 20% success rate (grads   
   gaining  FT employment in the field they trained in); this program, had a 91%   
   success  rate!   
      
   The federal goverment closed it the year after my graduation, in spite of the    
   evidenmcde preesebnted that each person not able to go through the propgram,    
   would vcost the governmemt $1M or more in public money over their lifetime.   
   (no longer collecting money to live on,. but instead contributing into taxes.   
   The  difference between the two was that high in '92!)   
      
   Short-sighted idiots running(& ruining) everything -- nothing unusual to see    
   here. . .   
      
   I got a 286 given to me in '92, & I had a short BBS list I'd saved from, my    
   experiments online during my course, & I & my 2400baud were off, never   
   looking  back!  As you'll recall, the public internet was still new &   
   controlled by  portals (AOL, Compuserve, & a couple others) in the mid 1990s.   
   A roomie was  experimenting with getting out of the free floppy portals &   
   exploringh the real internet -- I learned, too, & had fun, alongside my   
   addiction of 12+ hours/day  on the BBSes.   
      
   Eventually I had two computers side by each on a big table; in front of me   
   was  my DOS machine (80386 for the longest time), to its right was a 1G   
   Pemtium that was online, usually I was bulk collecting multimedia which I'd go   
   through the  nesxt mornjing while doing my QWK & SOUP(newsgroups via an old   
   dial-up service  we had, was freecycle until some yutz stole the term &   
   charged $5K+ to use it,  even to pre-existing users of it) mail packets --   
   good fun -- kept my time  filled wen I didn't have job interviews to deal with.   
      
   Peolpesaid I needed to get a life & expand my hobbies, I pointed out that I,   
   in the ease & comfort of my own home, was participating in their equivalents   
   of,  at least weekly:   
   Collections (art, music, movies, wit & humour) Cinema   
   Bowling   
   Going out with friends (daily)   
   Taking classes on interesting subjects at local colleges Reading books   
   Watching TV   
   Job Hunting   
   Dating   
      
   Obviously sometimes I'd leave the house for acrivities, but overal, I was    
   satisfied with the niche I'd carved for myself in the online universe, most    
   loved being BBSing+Fidonet.   
      
   > I got my Commodore in 1986 and around 1988/89 my first modem, a 300   
   > baud, after I found out about local boards and later the wider world of Fido.   
      
   If I'd stayed in my home town I'd have been part of a Commodore Club that   
   built their own equipment from scratch from Radio Shack bits & pieces,   
   including  mother & memory expansion boards & modems.   
      
   But I was off following the beat of my own drum that I'd cobbled together   
   from  scraps & had no idea of how to play. . .   
      
   Had a grand adventure & learned much about people & the real world. . . :)   
   (IOW, i learned to realize what an idiot I was in the grander scheme of things)   
      
   Dang, that's a painful lesson to get fully learned!   
      
   > I used the Commie until c. 1995 when I bought a used IBM 286.   
      
   My IBM 286 had a 40Mb HD, & I loaded it within a week, evenat 2400 baud! *LOL*   
      
   I'm filing any new storage medium I get just as fast, but now Io have actual    
   doewnload speed & bnandwidth -- I got my first 2Tb external drive & had it   
   full within 3 weeks (my ISP technically only allows 50Mb/month download   
   bandwith,  but I negotiasted -- turned off my uploading in P2P (& later,   
   torrents) & they  didn't bother me as I downloaded a anything I wanted to   
   watch or hear as the  thought took me!   
      
   > Around 1998 I got a used 486, with Window 95.  The case had been damaged   
   > but the innards were fine.   
      
   I've always reused old crumby looking cases witgh the new systems -- burglars    
   go for the shiny -- so they'll steal that 286 I got to the side holding some    
   old,. but dispensible, files, & ignore the 486 that has all the good stuff!    
   (worked for me! Especialy living on the first floor)   
      
   > Around 2000 I got a used 486 with Win98.   
      
   Oh, I miss Win98 & SE. . . it never recovered after they left it. . .  Vista   
   must have been done on purpose just to be a poison pill.   
      
   The first thing I noticed was when I closed my browser (when done), a popup    
   "Windows Explorer has closed... restarting..." & yes, t he SOB would load   
   right back up again!   
      
   ME was even worse, as far as speed went. I think ME stood for "Mussel-speed    
   Edition"   
      
   > I've only brought two new PC's, a HP in January of '09 and this one last   
   > February, also a HP.  IIRC the 486 was a HP.   
   > To me HP's are the best.  But then that's a Ford/Chevy thing.   
      
   I haven't bought too many -- usually only since working, as I need to have    
   working equipment to a certain standard (VOIP capable to talk to clients a    
   world away without annoying them with lag); so my new computer always had   
   fast  RAM & modem/account.  By this time the BBS world had died out, with my   
   last    
   local favourite going down when the sysop died. :'( RIP, Gordon "PDK"   
   Lewicky.  . .   
      
   >> My main jokes & puns collection is on my IBM(true blue) DOS 486, that I need   
   > help connecting back up (c/w a new 21" CRT for SVGA graphics)   
   > Maybe you can find someone with one to transfer all that over.   
      
   I have a transfer kit(paralel port to same) here but I need help getting the    
   computer set up first. & will likely need to move data off via floppy first   
   to  make room to install the DOS end of the software. & hope I can run the   
   Windows  end (I think it might be Win95 era)   
      
   > I recall wondering how in the world a little 3.5 could hold as much   
   >information as a 5.25 then later how in the world could a thumb hold more than   
   > a   
   > 3.5?  If this keeps up it will someday be how much information can be held   
   > on a grain of sand.  :)   
      
   Oh, yeah, if you layer up the actual data from any modern storage, into 3D    
   databasing, you could pack a LOT onto a piece of rice sized storage bullet,   
   I'm calling it. . .   
      
   Our brain's not 2D, so why are we only looking at 2D solutions for storage    
   media?   
      
   I remember the joy when a 5.25" could now hold 1.2Mb! & then a 3.5 holding    
   1.44, & with a compression utility, it could hold 2.8Mb!   
      
   & my buddy had a buddy who worked at Seagate in Seattle who could get him a    
   12Gb Hard diosk at cost ($300) & we were drooling over how much storage that    
   would be & how long it would take to fill it!   
      
   It fell through, & soon enough I got sa 6.8Gb cheaply enough & filled it in   
   no  time! *LOL* & my buddy was filling up his 40 Gigger just as quickly! (a   
   BBS  will do that!)   
      
   Now I'm finding a Tb to be almost too small & useless!   
      
   Gonna stock up on 640Mb USBs as I get the funds extra, to put my movies & TV    
   onto, as we can plug them right into our DVR & play them.   
      
   Once I find a way to convert the files to an MPG standard from 8 years ago!   
      
   Otherwise, got to get a wireless HDMI setup & play the USBs off our   
   downstairs  PC (just a basic one for the kids to use for research & games) in   
   KMPlayer.   
      
   ahh, TV, i grew up with a 25" wide body hunk of furniture in the living room    
   that had the family portraits on top, & I can still recall the rabbit ears    
   being a necessity before cable arrived in our town!   
      
   My first TV was an already obsolete 21" CRT colour console I got cheaply    
   enough. ($25, as the other guy's wife wanted to clear the behemoth out &    
   replace with a skinny one & more empty space in the living room--he sold it   
   to  me; I did not go behind his back, of course)   
      
   I'm not against the big CRT consoles -- we got a 38" one from Freecycle in   
   this place when we first moved in & my old 21" portable(paid $800 for a $350   
   tv on  rent to own) finally bit it(after 8 years)   
      
   This 38" one we perched on a small ebnd table we fond & it was not going any    
   where (required 4 adults to barel;y lift it an inch or two, so our son's    
   climbing up on it was not going to move it anywhere!)   
      
   It finally died a few years ago because my wife wanted a flatscreen, & didn't    
   stop our son touching his big magnet to the screen!   
      
   The flatscreen seems to be holding its own, but I don't trust its longevity    
   like I did for the CRTs!   
      
      
   --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-5   
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