Tragic Computer

My computer has been something of a touchy subject for me as of late. Well, my current computer hasn’t. Actually, it’s pretty wonderful thus far, but that’s mainly because it’s brand spanking new. However, if you asked me yesterday (most likely you would not), I’d have felt a small mix of rage and shame about it. Travel down memory lane with me, and someday, I’ll make it to the point.

My first computer was a Commodore 64/128, that is, it could handle both types, though without peeking at Wikipedia, I couldn’t tell you the difference between the 64 and the 128. Either way, it was a hand-me-down from a family friend’s son, Oren. (Not O-ren.) Being my father’s son when it comes to technology, this was the utmost blessing. I loved that computer and all its limited abilities. I remember attempting to pen my first novel in its substandard word processing program. I remember playing some hack of Mario on 5.25” floppy disks. I remember Print Shop. I even had access to a BASIC editor, but like Legos, the depths of my imagination never soared in the medium, and I was reduced to copying directly out of a BASIC game book Oren had given me in addition to all the hardware. (I failed also to mention the complementary dot-matrix printer.) Still I had my fun. However, I did not receive this “gift” at an appropriate time. It may have been my first computer, but Windows was already happening around us. I grew out of it, and soon, my father wanted to join the hub-bub himself.

So I received my Macintosh Performa 6300. It may have been 1994 or 1995, but the computer was actually relevant to the year. You may, at this point, wonder how I got from Windows to Macintosh with nary logical leap between one and the other. I also wonder this because I don’t know what provoked my father to buy our first Apple computer. Still, I loved the fuck out of it, and it was my friend on many an adventure only hampered by the limited amount of games available for both PC and Mac. I think the OS was 7.5.1 or something of the sort, but I do recall upgrading it myself up to 7.5.6. (My foolhardy father ignored the recommended system requirements and went to OS 8 and OS 9 after I had moved on thus creating a Macintosh Chug-a-lug.) On my Performa, I used my first copy of Photoshop 3, which was a trial version. In order to save my work, I would do a screen capture and copy it into some other standard program on the computer. My experience with the interweb also began here, as my friend Steven LeVine let me create a username on his account on AOL. I think my first name there was BloodCrzy; my morbid interests are another blog entry entirely. Anyhoo, this computer was my first opportunity to start making graphics and making electric friends, and that lasted me throughout most of high school.

In 1999, I think, I had received my first PC, or should I say, Windows PC, since all home computers are PCs technically. It was a Compaq Presario. I had a new found sense of excitement there, too, since finally, I had Windows like all my friends, and I had access to all the games normal humans did. However, it wasn’t long before the computer proved to be a pile of shit. The Presario coupled with Windows ME proved to be a combo for failure as it was the buggiest piece of crap I ever used. At this point, I cannot really recall what specifically went wrong, but went wrong it did, and I had enough after about a year. My father did, too, but instead of seeking out a new computer by band, he and our neighbor sought it out by part.

From 2000 until this morning, my PC has always been built for me with part repeatedly being swapped out for newer and/or better ones. The only constant throughout all my computer’s iterations was the processor: AMD. Also, the bulk of those years was spent using Windows XP once I had replaced my Windows 98. Complain as you will, but it was probably the most stable of the Windows versions in the past 15 years, though Windows 7 is proving to be popular now. I had always been comfortable with this kind of computer, and it certainly made me more intimately familiar with the insides, which most people have never seen. When it came to worrisome repairs or replacements, I could usually count on my friend, Sam Steele. He’s seriously responsible for 95% of all my troubleshooting for my computer over the years, and even though he’s since moved to San Francisco, he still plays consultant. However, about a month ago, it all went downhill.

My computer died. It had started dying well before then, but I assumed its occasional inability to power on correctly was the cheap-o Dynex power supply that I had purchased. I was wrong! After some back and forth troubleshooting, it was determined that my CPU had died. The very object that makes a computer a computer died. That was disappointing. Consulting with Sam and such about hardware replacements just proved to be convoluted. I won’t go into the thick of it, but in order to maintain what I had going also meant a complete lack of progress in terms of technology. So I bought a Dell! To be honest, my home brew computer was never perfect anyway. For the past 5 years or so, I had it splayed open like a whore in order to keep everything cool.All the panels of the computer were all over the place, and anyone could witness the “we all look like that inside” experience that was the exoskeleton sitting at my desk. It wasn’t an ideal experience by any means.

I got my Dell Inspiron 560 while I was at work today, and thus far, I’m pretty happy. It came preloaded with Windows 7, so I can once again join modernity. I’ve got a Core 2 Quad processor, 1TB hard drive which I’ll never fill, and an nVidia graphics card. Oddly enough, I could not find this combo through Dell’s website or even my work’s discount site. No, this magic combo, which I purchased through Dell.com only appeared when I searched the processor through Google Shopping. I don’t suggest searching for it now, either, since I can no longer find it myself.

I understand this blog entry is pretty mundane, but I guess it’s nice for me to see where I came from. Of all things, I am most amazed by the generations of storage media I’ve managed to witness. Remember ZIP disks? FAIL.