My history with computers

I have a long history with computers. I saw my first computer in 1992 when I was in 2nd standard. My dad had got it for replacing the old typewriter in the office. Back then I did not know anything about it at all. I was only interested in playing games. The first computer was just brought for a trial and all I remember about it that it had a green screen with command prompt. Apparently that cost about Rs 1 lakh. That computer was replaced by a computer which my dad actually bought. Along with the computer a dot matrix printer was also there. That dot matrix printer was strange in the sense that it also had a keypad. You could both type just like that without a computer or you can print using a word processing software.

I don't remember the make and other details of the computer. All I remember was that it had no hard disk. Everything including the OS had to be inserted through the floppy disk. You used to have big floppy disks at that time. Initially there was the boot disk and that had to be inserted. Next you had to insert any other floppy disk which contained your applications. The computer vendor had just given a single boot disk and you had no idea how reliable a 5 inch floppy disk was!! The boot disk was protected with the greatest of care. I had 3 favorite games. I only the remember the name of one game, "digger". It was a nice game where you had to dig through ground and then find treasures. Other game was one in which you had to traverse squares and after each level the number of squares doubled. You were also chased by enemies and had to avoid them.
The third game was paratroopers which is quite popular.

We had that computer till 1998 after which that computer started becoming obsolete. The word processing was done using Wordstar and it was kinda nice. Everything had to be done using keyboard since there was no mouse. Printing used to be a problem. So we decided to go for an all out upgrade. We got a new computer with Windows 3.1 and a brand new dot matrix printer. They gave a new CD with animated rhymes. I was playing cricket and chess in that computer. After some time we tried to install windows 98 on that computer and there was a big problem and none of it worked out. So in 2000 we got an upgrade and the computer had 5GB hard disk and 32MB RAM. I was using that computer till my 10th standard results after which I wanted to install AOE. With difficulty I was able to play AOE and close combat on that computer. The encarta CD was the most educating and that was my wikipedia for almost 5 years,

In 2002 we junked that computer and brought another good computer. This was state of the art at that time. We also got the BSNL netone connection. The early days of the internet was quite good. There used to be yahoo directories and I was searching there for the information I need there. I saw the website of  NITK first time in 2002. I did not have an email account and I thought having an email account was a big thing!! However I saw AIEEE,2nd PU, IIT, CET results all online.

I went to NITK in 2003 and I used to browse in CCC. There was NITK squirrel mail. My friend first showed me some email forwards in 2003 and I was quite enthralled by it. I  first saw Windows XP and liked it quite a bit. I quickly became conversant with it. I used to C programming in the old Borland C. Soon I wanted Windows XP and I got it installed in my home.
In 2004 we got the BSNL dataone broadband which offered 2MBPS speed which was amazing then. (The sad part is even after 6 years it is still 2MBPS). In 2004 I first encountered linux.

2005 was a phenomenal year for my computer skills. I got to learn MATLAB better and I also played around with VHDL. I did my first linux installation in my home and that was pretty horrendous with the GRUB and all that. I had become conversant with Windows XP and I installed/reinstalled changed drivers and played around with it a lot. I also did some basic Java programming for my internship in CDAC. I also got to know more about the hardware as I opened up the computer myself and examined the mother board, changed the hard disk etc.

I got my first laptop in 2006 and I tried to install linux on it. That was one big headache and finally managed it. But the linux installation went waste as I could never install magic(Layout tool) and SPICE on it. I deleted LINUX using windows recovery  tools and did it without reinstalling windows. I also learnt P2P networks and file sharing using torrents and eMule. NITK got internet in the hostels and I was busy modifying IP addresses to get better speed. I also learnt about wireshark and other network analyzers.

In 2007, NITK got a firewall to block some unwanted sites. I was able to connect to proxy servers and break open the firewall. This was quite an accomplishment. Then I also caught hold of amazing key loggers and I was able to get many passwords discreetly.

In TI I encountered the Solaris OS which was absolutely old school. I got to know some Unix commands and remote logins and simulation firing. I did not do much except some Perl programming and some file copying.

In 2008 I got my first Vista computer and from then on things have been a downhill as I never had to do anything drastic with the comp. I think slowly I will loose out on the fun part of tinkering with the computers