The Brain of a Middle Aged Computer Nerd
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Yes, I am a middle aged computer nerd, which is not to be confused with other kinds of nerds. It’s true that most nerds use computers but that doesn’t mean that they specialize in computer nerdiness. There are science nerds who figure out string theory, there are nerds who are fascinated by the mating rituals of the Tanzanian pigmy worm, and there are nerds that can tell you what Gopher Girl said to her arch nemesis in volume 12 of the comic book Laser Beam Man. There are many types of nerds and even National Geographic hasn’t discovered all of the species.
I’m a hardware and software nerd, which is sort of like being bilingual in the computer world. Starting out working with electronics early on I was there at the dawn of the personal computer age. I remember the invention of the pocket calculator when I was in High School. I had to do formulas in chemistry with a slide rule, and then the next year –just in time for Physics- came the 4 function calculator for $100 Wow, what a bargain! You paid extra to have a square root button. You could do fancy stuff like type in numbers that read “Shell oil” when you turned the calculator upside down.
In the early 80s I remember seeing an ad for a Sinclair ZX-80. Wow the first personal computer that you could purchase for only $200! It had 1k of RAM, which I had to order. With no internet to place the order online I was forced to fill out an order form and send a money order via snail mail.
Nerdy statement alert!
Today’s computers typically have 4GB of RAM, so that’s 4,000,000,000 bytes versus 1000 bytes. A byte = 8 bits, and a bit being a 1 or a 0.
The ZX-80 had no moving graphics, and programs were loaded via cassette tape. I spent hours typing in a hang man program that I saved on tape. The membrane keyboard of the Sinclair ZX-80 was waterproof so if you spilled your beer on it no explosion followed.
Computer equipment used to be very expensive. If I wanted to upgrade my hardware I had to fork over hundreds of dollars. Now people throw away computers because they get annoyed with them. Yes they sometime get rid of them when the break, but sometimes they are simply filled with malware, viruses, spyware and other smelly garbage that some dweeb without the ability to feel empathy turned loose on the world for bragging rights. That would be the malicious computer nerd, not to be confused with the criminal master mind nerd that will try and steal your bank account information.
I like to feel that I’m on the right side of the force (most nerds use Star Wars references), using my light saber with the blue beam to write my Free Software and Computer Help blog. I do battle with the forces of the “Dark Side” that are always looking for innocent victims. I sometimes feel the evil presence of the “Dark Side” breathing heavily while reading my blog and plotting maliciousness to thwart my efforts.
I love giving life back to old machines; giving life back to a once dead machine is like giving life to the Frankenstein monster. Yes, raising the dead is a strange compulsion but no brains need to be collected from the morgue. A better analogy would be like building C3PO out of scraps, and now having a friend who can speak Wookie. Yes there is a point where it just isn’t worth it anymore, but the parts can be recycled to be turned into new computers, or Vespas, it depends on where the materials end up.
Helping someone solve their problem is very satisfying; it’s like giving away the old 1973 camper that fits into the back of a pickup to a family with kids, It makes my heart sing to take away a road block. I stand vigilant always searching for new ways to solve an expensive problem with free software, if I am trying to figure out how to do something with a meager budget then I know someone else is too.
Those Padawan learners that you rely on to solve your tech problems have nothing on me, but they are the future. By teaching them in the ways of the light side of the nerd force, balance will be achieved. The dark side of the nerd force is always plotting to take over the world, but I’m sure the younglings will master new technology for good. If they don’t, then we’re all in for atomic wedgies.
The Brain of a Middle Aged Computer Nerd,
I would describe myself as a father first, and married to a wonderfully supportive spouse that works her butt off for the family. I'm also a writer, techno nerd, and humorist. I always have more things to do than I have time to do them, and have many interests. View My Profile
As far as my writing goes I consider myself an observer of human nature, and a lifelong writing student.
Tags: "You Changed My Life", commodore, computer, Dan LaFollette, dark side, nerd, star wars
I prefer “NASA geek” myself, but you caught my attention with the picture. Our first home computer was a Timex Sinclair. When I tell people that (and I have, believe it or not) I am always met with an astonished, “TIMEX made a computer????”
I was the first kid in my 8th grade computer math class to speak BASIC. And later, the first of my friends to grasp HTML.
In regards to your quest to balance the light side of the tech world,
May the Force be with You!
Hwy Elisa,
The Timex Sinclair was actually a Sinclair ZX81 that had 2K of RAM and I think some of the graphics may have even moved! There was a host of peripherals made for them including keyboards extra RAM etc. I remember when I got my C-64 a few years later. I would type in basic programs that were printed in Compute magazine then save the lame little games to tape. You could purchase games on tape and they took a half an hour to load. If you bumped the tape recorder then you would get an error and have to start again. I eventually purchased a $300 floppy drive. I put a fan on top of the unit to keep it from over heating. Those were the good old days when using a computer was a hobby and truly for nerds.
Ah the good ole days
I will tell you I used mine while sitting backwards on our end table with the computer on the shelf at the back facing the tv.
I’m not allowed to sit on end tables anymore.
I remember the tapes! I thought we were all fancy when we bought a “special” tape recorder for computer programs….
…then I used it as a regular tape player when I went on a church campout and left it beside the campfire overnight and it got rained on.
Apparently I’ve always been a scatterbrained nerd.
I always thought my early computer systems hooked up to the TV and a tape recorder were not quite right.
Those programs on cassette tape were an amazing thing at the time, and I would leave a game loaded in the computer for days so I wouldn’t have to reload it.
Peeking in Dan’s brain!!! *waves around with light saber* I don’t really speak hardware/software nerdism, but I do know a tiny bit
I still do run to my little bro if it gets too complicated and he often looks like this -_-, pushes a few buttons and it’s solved.
I can totally recall the floppy! I have 2 uncles who are into technology one is really into hardware (and gaming. He had the older consoles where I played e.g. Ninja Gaiden on and he taught me about floppy disk) and the other one just loves to follow the trends. My dad can fix almost everything and little bro is studying something technological, but will venture into game technology…I’d have to ask him what exactly as I’m too vague at the moment haha.
I hope more and more people will find you and your site when they need help! It’s so awesome that you are giving your all in trying to find the best solutions without advising people to buy super expensive software!
Atomic wedgies? *hides in the bushes*
Hey TJ,
I remember getting my Commodore Amiga 500 that had a built in 3.5 inch floppy drive. It was amazing you could put the floppy disk in your pocket, and at the time was leading edge technology. For princely sum of $800 you could buy a 20 meg hard drive you could attach to the side. I was so amazed by all of this that I went to work for a company that produced products for my Amiga.
I will be working more on my technology business this fall when my children go back to school. This summer (while the weather is nice) I’m hitting my home improvement projects hard.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the atomic wedgies, the dark side of the nerd force is always busy giving wedgies to themselves all of the time.
I remember a friend of mine had the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, would go up there and spend ages waiting on a game loading and then hitting those tiny rubber keys as hard as you could to make something ‘move’. Then I received the Astro Wars Galaxy hand held computer game and I played it until that thing melted in my hand. Game over. Don’t worry Dan, as the saying goes, the nerds will inherit the earth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvp0i3YjCBM
Hey Garry,
The keys (if you could call them that) on those Sinclair computers were murder. Yeah, nerds may inherit the earth, but the way things are going these days with big corporations calling all of the shots I think we are all DOOMED! DOOMED I tell you… DOOMED!
Very informative. It is nice to know there are good guys still out there, what with all the password hacking and identity theft on the rise. Computers are amazing though. I have a visual impairment and my computer opens up all kinds of possibilities for me.
Great article.
Thanks Dani, I think there are plenty of good computer guys out there, and I’m very glad that technology is helping you with your visual impairment.
One thing that really interests me is the sociological affect of changing technology. I think that people have much greater access to information and expand their knowledge. But other only Look at more information that agrees with what they already believe. So they sit in these echo boxes only hearing what they want to hear. It’s all very interesting.