Personal computing discussed
Moderators: askfranklin, renee, emkubed, Captain Ned
captaintrav wrote:There's a couple of ifs but installing Ubuntu is possibly even easier than Windows. ie, "if" you have supported hardware there's no hunting for drivers ; whereas Windows only has the in-box drivers which are quickly outdated, the install media for Ubuntu is likely only a couple of months old.
Redocbew wrote:Didn't you make exactly this same thread a few months ago?
Delta9 wrote:I did when I was 11 years old (1990). A family friend worked for a large telecom company here in North America. His job was to maintain, repair and upgrade workstations. They didn't fix anything, just threw it out. I asked if he could get me a computer and her brought over 3 AT&T PC6300s (true 8086 7-8Mhz), each having a defect. He gave me the binder it came with and told me to use the main board in the one box because it had 1024k memory expansion kit, and he handed me an NEC hot rod 8086 at 12mhz. I disassembled and reassembled them into one machine with a 20MB MFM hard drive. I installed DOS, and topped it off with Geos, as I was also given a proprietary 3 button mouse. Did it all myself, however I did have a ton of DOS books and info available around the house. It also helped that I had every conceivable upgrade an accessory for the PC 6300, which was a rebranded Olivetti. Kids today have it easy.
NovusBogus wrote:Of course there are, but so what? Child prodigies are not a new phenomenon; Mozart was composing and performing for the European elite when he was 8 or 9 years old too.
farmpuma wrote:I pulled all five tubes and tested them with the grocery store tube tester.
Redocbew wrote:Exactly the same.Didn't you make exactly this same thread a few months ago?
farmpuma wrote:My earliest electrical experiment involved a ceramic surface mount light socket, a ceramic surface mount switch, and an AC plug. I wired them all in parallel. With the switch off I plugged it into a wall socket and light came on. Humm ... I flipped the switch and all the lights in the room went out. Parallel circuit lesson learned.
An uncle gave me a dead AM radio from his milking parlor. I pulled all five tubes and tested them with the grocery store tube tester. Replaced the bad one and WLS Chicago plus CKLW Detroit/Windsor became nightly entertainment.
farmpuma wrote:First kit was a very nice Allied Electronics VOM until I decided to measure the current in a wall socket, poof. Replaced with a Heathkit VOM. Followed by a Heathkit stereo cassette deck, a dwell/tach meter, and a timing light. Still use the last two for mechanical ignition tune-ups.
Captain Ned wrote:farmpuma wrote:I pulled all five tubes and tested them with the grocery store tube tester.
I am old enough to remember the once ubiquitous tube tester gizmos. Wasn't a grocery store item here in VT, but every Rat Shack had one back when there was a Rat Shack in every town.
JustAnEngineer wrote:Redocbew wrote:Didn't you make exactly this same thread a few months ago?
Exactly the same.
Topics merged. Please do not create duplicate threads.
just brew it! wrote:A few years later, that TV became the first major piece of electronics I scavenged for parts.