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Norton's Guide to the IBM PC was my intro to O/S internals and the magic incantations that gave them life. PCs seemed more fun to use back then, perhaps becaus
by randcraw 5y ago
Norton's Guide to the IBM PC was my intro to O/S internals and the magic incantations that gave them life. PCs seemed more fun to use back then, perhaps because, like the text-only Infocom games, they could be a ship of discovery sailing into worlds unknown, rather than what they've become today, a window to the humdrum desktop of a business.
- allenu 5y agoI leafed through that and many other books at the library when I was getting into computing as a teen. I remember the Norton books were as thick as phone books and had just about everything you wanted to know about PCs.
- _0ffh 5y agoI think the PC* environment roughly went through three phases. 1st phase: You must do everything by yourself. 2nd phase: You can do everything by yourself. 3rd phase: You must do everything through the OS. The third phase is much more safe and more convenient, but also much less exciting. * in the wider meaning, not necessarily only IBM clone
- Kye 5y agoOn the other hand, I'm much more effective at the things I actually wanted to do with the computer in phase 3. I think there's roughly two tracks for people who got into computers early: people who enjoyed fiddling with computers and people who fiddled with computers to get to what they wanted. I just wanted to play Wing Commander. The range of things I want to do has expanded, but none of them involve working under the hood (software or hardware).
- _0ffh 5y ago> I'm much more effective at the things I actually wanted to do with the computer in phase 3 I agree, that's what I meant with "more convenient". p.s. Also, yeah, I guess I mostly just enjoyed the fiddling to get the damn machine to do crazy things at my bidding just because I found the right incantations to make it so.