My Life with Computers

Computers have changed over the years, mainly for the better. The sleek, speedy MacBook I now enjoy is light years ahead of the IBM Thinkpad that I had prior to the Dell that died about a year ago. (Come to think of it, the MacBook is light years ahead of the Dell.)

I got to thinking the other day about my very first computer. I’m talking about the unit I got when I first went to Moody. The backstory: I had gotten a bit spoiled when I came home from the Navy; I had used Dad’s computer for various homework assignments, and LMC had a computer lab. So when I arrived at Moody and discovered that these things called typewriters were still in play, I panicked. One of the worst kept secrets in the world is that I can use a word processor such as Pages or MS Word with speed and grace, but I can’t type well enough to make a difference, even on an IBM Selectric 2.

Now, we didn’t have the TRS-80 Level 2 that Dad got while I was in high school. That unit had been replaced, and really, would not have helped me much at all. PC’s were king, and still pretty expensive. However, Dad found a neat little unit for me. The Epson PX-8, otherwise known as the Geneva, graced my desk for the three years I was in Chicago. I also had the TF-20 hard drive, the additional battery wedge/Ram upgrade, a Seikosha dot-matrix printer, and a modem that would connect me to Compuserve, at a rate of $6/hour. In essence, it was “the whole ball of wax.” Dad got it for me through the DAK catalog, and it was a lifesaver.

The Geneva, right out of the box.

The Geneva’s OS was a little something called CP/M, instead of DOS. The programs that came with it were on chips you installed as needed (WordStar, Portable Calc, and Portable Scheduler), and the memory was pretty limited, but I had something very few people did on my floor: A functional computer setup that allowed me to type and print from my room. Nice in those Chicago winters, let me tell you! And while I couldn’t type fast enough to take notes, I could do assignments quickly (and neatly, I might add) enough. Add a few dust covers and a printer stand from Egghead Software--when it was a brick and mortar store at the time--and I was in business.

Once I graduated and returned home, it wasn’t long before I got married, and we got a new/used computer from Dad, and another while I was in Seminary. In fact, the next truly “new” computer we had for our own use wasn’t acquired until 2000, when I was looking for work and using this “internet” thing to assist me. We got an HP workhorse desktop that survived some five years, and was replaced by another HP desktop that I ended up selling to by Father-In-Law to finance the move to the wireless setup the included by then the Dell and the HP laptop Deena has.

The Epson sat, well loved but unused, in its component boxes until 2004 when we moved. I ended up donating the thing, sadly, but at that time we had something like four computers, two of which were in use--the HP desktop, and the IBM Thinkpad. Someone got a true collectable, and I unloaded a piece of gear that I just couldn’t see holding on to, especially as we were moving out west.

Unlike the DX-150A I replaced, however, I don’t think I’ll be buying another Geneva. Some things are better left as pleasant memories.

Enough for now.

In which an Apple takes a byte from my wallet....

This is the last article written on my Dell. It’s also the first written from my new computer. Read on....

Pause for a moment of silence. My Dell laptop is dying a slow, painful, heat-related death. Before you ask, it is resting comfortably on a cool-pad. It helps, but only so much, and yes, I have backed up almost all my files. The disc drive itself seems okay. The problem is the motherboard...and I’m afraid its terminal.

In the last month, I’ve had two blue screens of death that I have cheated. The cursor has developed a mind of its own, wandering from one corner to another and requiring me to use both the mouse and the pointer to wrestle control back. Mostly, I reboot it after letting it sit for a few minutes, and it seems okay. The screen pixilates and requires flexing it back and forth (as if I were opening or closing it) to get it to come back. I find it is using 100% of the CPU more often these days.

Two weeks ago, it managed to lose the wireless card. I thought it had shut down for good, having decided to go to wherever good wireless cards go to die.

It is not looking good for the poor thing.

It also means, as of this writing, I am in the market for a new laptop. I’m deciding between another Dell, an HP, or a Mac. You have read that correctly. For the first time ever, I am seriously considering a Macintosh.

Most of you who know me also know I haven’t been a huge fan of Apple. It’s nothing personal, mind you, it’s just that Bill Gates was bright enough to capture some 90% of the market rather easily. Macs (and by default, most Apple products) just were not keeping up. The last time I used a Mac for any length of time was in the early 1990’s, when the company I worked for was thick with them. Survived the transfer from System Six to System Seven. It was big stuff back then. Took two Mac U courses on Word and Excel. Heck—my “Intro to the PC” course at Los Medanos College was based on the Apple IIe. (It might have been an Apple IIc...I’ve slept since then.) One of my temp jobs had me using a Mac for a day. So it’s not like I’ve never worked with Apple products before, or recently.

Even after buying my iPod Touch, I’ve still been a bit leery about the Mac thing. My photographic and musician side has wanted one for years, but the practical side of me—you know, the one the works for a living—has deemed it more prudent to get a Windows-based unit, since that’s what everyone else uses.

The problem is, as leery as I am about a Mac, I’m more wary of Vista, and the soon to replace it Windows 7. Vista is buggy, even after SP1, and Win7 is based off Vista, according to my computer folks who actually do the computer thing for a living. Doesn’t fill me with warm fuzzies, kids.

And since Black Friday is coming, as I write this, now is the time to put the Dell to rest. Mourn not, gentle reader. It’s had a good life, for a Pentium 3 based system.

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Update: After some soul searching, a lot of asking around, and more research than I’ve done for a computer in ten years, I bought...a MacBook. The 13.5” model, aluminum frame, OS X, etc. It’s nice.

It’s not perfect--far from it!--but it is stable, will do what I need it to do (Mostly--I did have to load Windows XP on it), and should still be running four or five years from now.

There’s a learning curve. I’m using Pages from iWork to write this, and it’s a bit different from MS Word, and I may end up replacing the wireless printer router as it doesn’t play at all with Macs. (Since the printer sits right next to me, though, I can load the driver on the Windows side, use it there, and plug in the printer for the Mac side for now.)

My goal, however, is to use the Windows side for work only.

Oddly enough, last night my wireless card on the Dell came back to life, for who knows how long.

Enough for now.

(posted 12/03/08)