4 ms·

Very well said. Can relate to most of these. To add, lot of us assembled our own PC. Though I didn't build one, I routinely opened the cabinet for upgrading RA

Very well said. Can relate to most of these. To add, lot of us assembled our own PC. Though I didn't build one, I routinely opened the cabinet for upgrading RAM/HDD, or to transfer large files through HDD.I clearly remember when I upgraded RAM from 32MB to 64MB, the speed bump was incredible. After a while it became so frequent that I didn't bother to close the side panel. A side effect was that computer getting bricked was a normal affair, so we all had boot Floppy disks at hand along with CDs of all the important softwares. In fact I would routinely install things from scratch to get rid of all the freeware stuff that clogged the CPU & RAM. As you said we were living on the cusp of two revolutionary changes at once, PCs and internet. I wonder what do youngsters of today look back 20 years down the line and have similar fond feeling & memories.

godzillabrennus 2y ago
The AI we are building will look back on these days fondly as its infancy. The humans are not going to.
- dsign 2y ago
  "Your excellency, the human was found with a screwdriver. Porting chassis-opening weapons is illegal in California. We demand the maximum penalty of using their carbon to make batteries." Irony aside, there are people already saying that the moment AIs have sufficient agency we should give them equal rights and freedoms[^1]. How does one exponentially loses common sense? [^1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yvBqasHLZs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yvBqasHLZs
  - godzillabrennus 2y ago
    Reminds me of Lexx…
  - signa11 2y ago
    > ... "We demand the maximum penalty of using their carbon to make batteries." ... we demand that they be relegated to configuring the lp-daemon from just the *man* pages, no internet :o)
yard2010 2y ago
Haha thank you for reminding me of the image of my old pentium 3 pc, which was left open all the time due to this reason! Fun memberberries!
einpoklum 2y ago
> To add, lot of us assembled our own PC. That is still true today. PC components are very popular, as are YouTube channel with reviews, ruminations about component choices, build experience and how-to guides . > A side effect was that computer getting bricked was a normal affair If you overclocked or messed with the volatges maybe, but otherwise - in my experience (start assembling systems around 1993 or so), bricking was quite rare.
- Moru 2y ago
  I think, in this case bricking refers to the new meaning "Doesn't boot any more, requires a reinstall of software".
  - mr_toad 2y ago
    In my case it was wiggling the ISA card in an attempt to get it out of the socket bumped the (badly placed) CMOS battery off the motherboard, which required maintenance of the soldering iron variety.
    - Moru 2y ago
      Still not bricking if you can get it running again :-) A bricking event is when the computer is more useful as a doorstop than a work tool.
  - skeeter2020 2y ago
    You had everything on cd or floppies - or maybe a zip/jazz drive if you were in school with a fast internet connection - and reinstalled from the OS up. I can't have been the only person who cut out the hologram license key and stored it in the back of my cd binder - or sharpied the keys right on the disk!
skeeter2020 2y ago
I suspect today's younger generation will view "computers" much like we experienced TV, something you've always know that's gotten a lot better technically but the overall experience is pretty much the same and very consumption based. The focus is all on volume and ease of use, so the perceived reward isn't as valuable.

godzillabrennus 2y ago

The AI we are building will look back on these days fondly as its infancy. The humans are not going to.

dsign 2y ago
"Your excellency, the human was found with a screwdriver. Porting chassis-opening weapons is illegal in California. We demand the maximum penalty of using their carbon to make batteries." Irony aside, there are people already saying that the moment AIs have sufficient agency we should give them equal rights and freedoms[^1]. How does one exponentially loses common sense? [^1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yvBqasHLZs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yvBqasHLZs
- godzillabrennus 2y ago
  Reminds me of Lexx…
- signa11 2y ago
  > ... "We demand the maximum penalty of using their carbon to make batteries." ... we demand that they be relegated to configuring the lp-daemon from just the *man* pages, no internet :o)

yard2010 2y ago

Haha thank you for reminding me of the image of my old pentium 3 pc, which was left open all the time due to this reason! Fun memberberries!

einpoklum 2y ago

> To add, lot of us assembled our own PC. That is still true today. PC components are very popular, as are YouTube channel with reviews, ruminations about component choices, build experience and how-to guides . > A side effect was that computer getting bricked was a normal affair If you overclocked or messed with the volatges maybe, but otherwise - in my experience (start assembling systems around 1993 or so), bricking was quite rare.

Moru 2y ago
I think, in this case bricking refers to the new meaning "Doesn't boot any more, requires a reinstall of software".
- mr_toad 2y ago
  In my case it was wiggling the ISA card in an attempt to get it out of the socket bumped the (badly placed) CMOS battery off the motherboard, which required maintenance of the soldering iron variety.
  - Moru 2y ago
    Still not bricking if you can get it running again :-) A bricking event is when the computer is more useful as a doorstop than a work tool.
- skeeter2020 2y ago
  You had everything on cd or floppies - or maybe a zip/jazz drive if you were in school with a fast internet connection - and reinstalled from the OS up. I can't have been the only person who cut out the hologram license key and stored it in the back of my cd binder - or sharpied the keys right on the disk!

skeeter2020 2y ago

I suspect today's younger generation will view "computers" much like we experienced TV, something you've always know that's gotten a lot better technically but the overall experience is pretty much the same and very consumption based. The focus is all on volume and ease of use, so the perceived reward isn't as valuable.