I'm a computer Whiz... no doubt about it. I have used computers from the age of 3 and since moved on. I like to tell this story before I forget it. I have divided the story into several sections so please feel free to skip any chapters that you do not like.
Chapter 1 Humble Beginnings (1984-1987)
Chapter 2 School and The Decline of Apple (1988-1992)
Chapter 3 New Beginnings (1992-1993)
Chapter 4 Upgrades and Downgrades (1994-1996)
Chapter 5 Internet Explosion (1997)
Chapter 6 Tomorrow's End (1998+)
I can remember distantly in the past when I first saw a computer...it was on the "Muppet Babies" Show that I got the first impression of a computer. One baby used the computer to his advantage; every key he pressed made a beep. I fell in love with it and asked my parents whether I could have one.
I was only 3 years old at that time and I didn't realise the usefulness of that machine. My parents at that time had just moved into my present house and were still repaying the loans from my five room flat. I think they came to a decision to buy the computer knowing that I was lonely at home. (At that time all my cousins were in Malaysia and I was still the only child in the family as my brother came 4 years later) One day, I was taken to a flat in Tiong Bahru (that flat is still around, the government hasn't demolished the flat at the time of writing). There, my father, a 33-year-old Technician had just finished his Poly education had talked to a certain guy... after their discussion. I watched patiently the exchange of money and saw my father carrying a huge computer up to his car. I remember the position of the computer in the house.
It was placed at the exact spot where I am typing now. The Computer was a white Apple II with a monochrome monitor. The computer was very similar to the kind I am using today except there are some differences. Firstly, there was no such thing as a Hard Disk, floppy disks were at their days of glory. I remember bending some floppy disks and ask why they didn't work. Secondly there was NO SUCH thing as colour. I remember the monitor, which was very huge and heavy, compared to today's standards. It only displayed one colour and green was it. The Computer was worked mainly on floppy disks. The early days I remember, was that my father would help me load some games onto it and let me play it myself. The games were not the kinds, which you and me have today.
I remember inserting disks after disks into the 5 1/4" drives. I remember the games of the day. GhostBusters, Karataka and my most favorite game of the system "Miner Miner". I can't really remember how I played it. I think it is made up by moving your boat over some waves avoiding the mines and shooting some helos. I also had frights about some games at that time (who said at that, games had no sense of violence to a four-year-old at that time). I recall I was so scared with the game Kartaka, that I refused to move the character forward to save the princess by fighting the badies but retreat and jump into the SEA!!! The days went by quickly soon... I was in school.
I remember vividly the simple programs that my father made for me. I loved planes then and he made a simple apple program that made aeroplanes fly upwards and my name would fly with them. All I had to type on the prompt was ]run. By the way, the ] there is not an error it was the prompt of those days.(The Apple only... IBM had DOS since I was born.)That was where I made my first "programs". I remember one program that I made. It was a Times Table where you typed a number and you would be able to view the result up to 12. In apple basic I had to input something like this in green letters......
]10 start
]20 print "Test Message!"
]30 END
And the following would be displayed
Test Message!
The computer was not always perfect..My father had to send it to the repair shop once in a while and a golden sticker got pasted on the keyboard that said something like ABC Computers.Tel..etc During the June and December Holidays in 1989, I went to a Computer Course in Bukit Merah at the CAL computer training centre. I completed the course easily even though I was in the class full of primary 5 students (I think I was in the wrong class) I completed the course with 94/100 and placed 2nd. The course gave me an overview of the side of computers that I have never seen before. Colour, Sound (in the form of pathetic PC speaker) was there... I learned a program called "Logo Man"..I do not know the purpose of it except to draw colour things on the computer monitor that can be done easily today by MS paintbrush, and remember folks ..In those days there was no such thing as a mouse...although it existed as a Paddle (shaped like a mouse but moved by twisting a knob on it). Joystick was there... and even the graphic tablet was there. There I learnt that my Apple Computer was never compatible with the PC. The PC had brought changes to me and introduced me to so called educational games...some of which whom I liked. One of them was a very good game about a dungeon going fella who opened rooms by solving maths problems and taking gold away. If he avoided the problems then he would see a dragon and seeing three dragons would lead him being killed.... and if he opened enough rooms and reached the big door then he would be allowed to be freed after solving three difficult sums (too easy by my standards). After the course, My computer broke down and was never again repaired. The computer lay there until 1991, when my Sega MegaDrive came...the computer was dismantled and put into a safe place.
In April 1992, COM-02 was purchased at $2,399 was used as a Teleview Terminal. This marked a new beginning of computers. A 486 DX33 CPU was the highest speed at that time. While most 11 year olds at that time would play their game boys and mega drives. I had the most expensive gaming system in the block. Using this computer reaped a lot of benefits for me. It was here that introduced me to the art of network. I would download shareware from Teleview and run it on my computer. Downloading on a 2.4Kps Modem was not exactly fast and a 1mb file would take 2 hours to download, unlike the 33.6kps modem, which does that in 3 minutes. But the computer also demonstrated a technology that people today don't use often today and that was using the Television Waves to receive data. This method of downloading information is still very comparable to today's modems. A CD drive was added in 1995 to enhance its usefulness until... it became too obsolete.
In 1995, I was devastated by the final exams and was placed in a lower class (thanks to the addictiveness of RED BARON where I played it on the nights before my exams instead of studying) Anyway the following year was a good year for me. In May 1996, I had a $400 grant. With that money, I bought a 486-X5-133, and a new monitor after my old one broke down. Later a graphics card was added to improve the quality of graphics to SVGA. Now no more playing USNF without having to search for the buttons. In December, the final upgrade was up. A 8X CD ROM Drive and a 2.1 GB HDD were added to boost the computer.
In early 1997, I received my first Internet account. But I had been researching for awhile for the use of the net. A new modem was added to replace the aging 2.4 KPS Modem. I can prove it to you that Internet use does NOT lower your grades. My record Internet use was 117 Hours and 17 minutes in March 1997. Scary isn't it?Averaging just over 3 hours a day but was widely expected to be smashed by January. Back to the grades business, my English and humanities IMPROVED as a result of writing numerous emails. The Internet has partially changed my career path. Journalism is added to my vocation list. Anyway my grades were at record highs during the Mid Year Examinations and even HIGHER during the Prelim Examinations. (Now who says chatting is a waste of time?) With the O'level results coming out in less than a month's time, I'm not expecting any miracles as I feel it has reached saturation point.
I have since moved on to study in the Polytechnic COM-3 was aquired but soon after my family had to move to France and along went the Computer. Now I have aquired COM-4 for own personal use. The inclusion of many add-ons has often made the wiring behind my computer very messy. To give you a general idea, my computer is linked up with, Monitor, CPU, USB Zip Drive, Printer, Scanner, Keyboard, Mouse, Modem, TM FLCS, TM TQS, TM RCS, Sub woofer, Ampifier.
Terminal COM-01
Terminal COM-02-A;COM-02-B
Terminal COM-03-France
Terminal COM-04