I disagree about computer repair. Maybe it was different in the US, but in Europe, at no time were there easily accessible repair services for computers. Even w

I disagree about computer repair. Maybe it was different in the US, but in Europe, at no time were there easily accessible repair services for computers. Even with the most easily repaired ones - 8-bit computers - you always had to find some guru who was doing it out of sheer love for the machines rather than for money. Once things went into 16 bits they were too complicated for typical repair shops. Electronics repair shops really only ever focused on (CRT) TVs, radios / (cheap) hifi, mayyybe alarms or door openers, mayyyybe the electronics (only!) inside new-fangled electronic laundry machines (up until ~2000 most of them were mechanical, using clockwork mechanisms similar to old mechanical mains-shutoff timer plugs). It might be surprising from today's perspective but most EE's didn't really deal with computers and had no interest in them. They were more interested in analog electronics and many of them were merely glorified electricians. That said my uncle who taught me the basics of my C128 was an electrician, so there.