Week Thirty-Six: My Computer

If you're reading this, you're using a computer or a device that can connect to the Internet, such as a cell phone or other electronic device. And chances are, you own this device, unless you're reading from a public computer or work computer. Technology changes so quickly that it's not unusual to hear someone recall a computer they owned five years ago with the same sort of fondness that they would mention a favorite car from 30 years ago. Let's take a trip down memory lane and talk about your first personal computer, or perhaps your first experiences with computers (if you don't currently own one).

*Tell about your first experiences with a computer? Did you take a computer class in school or college, or perhaps as a part of work training? What kind of computer did you train on? What was the purpose of your learning or training?

*If you use computers at work, tell about the various types you've worked with.

*What was the first computer you ever owned (brand)? What type of operating system did it have? How much RAM did it have? How big was the hard drive and processor? Do you remember what type of backup it had (floppy disks, etc.)?

*What about its peripherals? What type of monitor (brand, pixels, size) did you have? What about the keyboard and mouse? Did it have speakers?

*Did you have a printer? What kind of ink did it use? Did it print on single sheets or use continuous feed?

*Tell about your first internet experience. Unless you've recently joined the technology age, you started out with dialup (and may still use it, depending upon what is available and affordable in your community). What was the first speed of dialup that you used? Who was/were your provider(s)? Do you use broadband now? What type (cable, DSL, etc.)?

*For what did you mainly use your first computer?

*What did you love about your first computer? What did you dislike? What about each of your consecutive computers?

*Tell about any crashes or hard drive failures you have experienced.

*How did you discard former computers?

*Share the progression of your first computer and internet experiences through your present ones. Compare and contrast.

*What is on your wish list for your current computer situation? Is it a whole new system? Some jazzy peripherals?

To read the favorite hardware, software, and websites/blogs that genealogists and family historians use, you may wish to read the 43rd Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy: Technology, which was posted 4 Mar 2008.