Subj : Re: Hi all!
To   : Digital Man
From : Gamgee
Date : Sun Aug 31 2025 10:00 pm

-=> Digital Man wrote to Nightfox <=-

 > It seems to me that's the case these days.  When I was growing up, computers
 > still seemed like a relatively new thing, and it seemed that there were more
 > people (like myself) who were curious about how they work.  I like to build
 > my own desktop computers, and I feel like I grew up in a time where a good
 > number of people did that, and know how to fix things that go wrong.  These
 > days, even though a lot of people use smartphones & other computer
 > technology, it seems a lot of people don't really have much idea about how
 > it works or even a curiosity about it.  It seems a bit counter-intuitive.

 DM> Same here. My first tech "job" was building and selling computers and
 DM> LANs. I got bored of that pretty quick, but it was a start. Now when I
 DM> hear a proud parent brag how their child is so tech-smart because they
 DM> "built their own computer", it turns out they're just buying gaming PC
 DM> components from amazon or newegg and assembling them. Sure, they've
 DM> learned *something* through the process, but they're a long way away
 DM> from turning that knowledge into a career. When I was building
 DM> computers, it was still just a lot of assembly work, but you still had
 DM> to know how to use 'debug.exe' to invoke the expansion ROM firmware of
 DM> a "Winchester" controller, know how to low-level format a drive, know
 DM> the differences between MFM and RLL encoding, platters, tracks,
 DM> cyclinders and clusters and why it might matter for the customer, etc.
 DM> Chips and cables weren't "keyed" and you had to know where pin-1 was
 DM> and why it mattered. Nowadays, all those details are abstracted away
 DM> from the system builder. And the software stack is much higher now than
 DM> back then, so the chances of one person knowing it all is even less
 DM> likely, even when they do know enough to have a job in the field. I
 DM> enjoy blowing the minds of youngsters when I'm able to demystify things
 DM> and explain why things (in tech) are the way they are. But I also feel
 DM> bad that they may not really retain the knowledge since they didn't
 DM> "live it" and that could be a big handicap for the generation(s) taking
 DM> over.

And don't forget -

1.  Setting jumpers/dipswitches to select IRQs/ports/DMA for expansion 
cards.  Had to be right or they wouldn't work.

2.  Juggling the order (and command line switches) for device drivers in 
autoexec.bat and config.sys for maximum free memory (via "loadhigh", 
"devicehigh", EMM, EMS, etc.  (This assumes we're going all the way back 
to MSDOS days).  ;-)

3.  Swapping out the UART chips on the MB (or expansion serial card) to 
use the high-speed 16550 UARTs, to properly use 19200/33600,56K modem 
speeds.

4.  On my first PC (a Kaypro PC), I upgraded the 8088 CPU to a VIC-20 
and it was a noticeable speed increase.

5.  Numerous tweaks to BIOS settings and hardware (math coprocessors, 
VESA-bus (?) video cards, and more, to try and squeeze out a little 
better performance from games like Doom and Duke Nukem 3D.

6.  Massive, complicated batch files to run a mailer and BBS package for 
FidoNet.  For me it was FrontDoor (and later Intermail) and PCBoard.  
LOTS of errorlevels and branches for mail/callers/doors/maintenance.  I 
still have my masterpiece batch file that made it all work together.

Ahhhhh - the good old days!!  :-)





.... I didn't know it was impossible when I did it.
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