I'd always regretted not keeping my old hard drives when my family left Moscow in 1999. There was the Robotron 1715, which was my first true taste of computing

I'd always regretted not keeping my old hard drives when my family left Moscow in 1999. There was the Robotron 1715, which was my first true taste of computing at home. A Compaq-produced 386-SX box was solely responsible for me having learned GW Basic and Pascal before I was a teen. My daughter, who's retracing my steps somewhat, would have loved to see how I had done it. I sense that seeing her dad's attempts at learning to hack might help her understand how harmful current iPad-esque walled gardens are. Not surprisingly, when I visited Moscow 15 years later, my old hardware was gone, and not a shred of knowledge remained of where it might had gone. My relatives conceded that it might have been stolen. I hope the thieving computer obsolescence club or history museum will enjoy my pieces.