The Naive Joneser - Rants and Raves and Vents from the Grave

[CHESSTUR]

So, if I’m comprehending the category for this thread correctly, this is where one might make a contribution of sorts to a collective BLOG, kinda/sorta perhaps even establish a pseudo-blog in a collective of blogs culminating in one huge BLOG. Well, I can work with that.

That means I’m back. [Insert creepy, ominous horror movie music here]

It also means that I sifted through, read a lot, scrolled a lot, and digested a little of all those unread threads just because…

I had a considerable amount to scroll through and I noticed that a large part of it was really old, if not dead content. Admittedly, that is to be expected. It’s been a while.

For those who don’t know what a Joneser is I will explain. A Joneser is basically a sub-category of a generational group known as Baby Boomers. That’s me. I’m a Joneser. We grew up in the 60’s. We were born in the late 40’s and 50’s. Unlike the Xenials of Gen X we are at the end of our generation group. The Xenials are located at the beginning of the Gen X timeline.

Anyone reading this might be thinking, “So, what does this have to do with technology?” and although that is a fair and forthright question, the short answer is: ALOT. You see, we really are that generation that grew up drinking from the garden hose. We witnessed the advent of colour TV. Our elders were often traumatized by WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. Life really was simpler back then. We didn’t have computers in school. Those of us who could afford a calculator when they finally came out were regarded as among the privileged. Most of us remember the Apollo moon landing. We recall when cassette tapes were the latest deal in audio. We also remember those hardship years of the early 80’s. Then suddenly TECH exploded.

Technology made advances like we’ve never seen before in history. Some of us jumped right on the band wagon. Some of us did all we could to avoid it. And then, there are the Johnny-come-latelys. (That’s me.) Thirty-five years ago I wouldn’t even think of touching a computer much less using one. Thirty years ago I had to get a Commodore 64 because my children needed to have access to a computer to further their education. Twenty five years ago I got a Tandy. I learned how to park a hard drive. (Fortunately not the hard way.) Finally, at the turn of the millennium I purchased my very own Windows PC. Life has never been the same.

This here mini-blog will be my contribution (admin permitting) to the collective. It will touch on some of those humorous challenges that some of us Jonesers have with technology, how one Joneser in particular is coping with PCs and struggling to learn how to use them effectively.

WARNING This composition will be highly opinionated, prone to error, biases, prejudice, etc.
It will by no means necessarily reflect the ideas, standards, views and opinions of others nor any of the staff @ LEVELONETECHS.

This is a general overview of some of the challenges, experiences, ideas, in the Saga of one lone Joneser struggling to establish some position in a world of technology as a Johnny-come-lately. It might even read as a tragic comedy. We shall see.

Coming Next Week - One of my ongoing projects and how it came to be.

[CHESSTUR]

We are frequently told that necessity is the mother of invention. In nearly all cases I would imagine this to be true as even things discovered by accident are still determined by a need to discover.

I discovered my need for a computer late in life. When I was 30 years of age I didn’t have a computer. The internet, as we know it today didn’t exist back then and an ISP was a bottle of something you used to clean out the carburettor in a gasoline powered engine.

I was a Johnny-come-lately. A Johnny-come-lately is a bit like and arse-end-Charlie except old Charlie never seems to pick up the slack. Johnny picks up the slack but he’s late in the game. That’s me.

When I grew tired of the crime and general apathy of folks in the big city I moved to a tiny little town in a remote wilderness area in Northern Alberta, Canada. I was looking for a place to raise a family. Little did I know that because of the oil industry the internet was on its way and not long after I moved it found its way to my little town.

About a decade later I was running high speed internet in the middle of nowhere with no clue what I was doing. Give it another decade and I’m learning about networking and building my own PCs. By this time I was servicing other people’s computers for them and was an avid enthusiast. I also was raising another brood of youngins as my first two had spread their wings and flown off to horizons beyond, hundreds of miles away. I enjoyed fatherhood and I still do despite being in my mid-sixties.

During the course of this time I had to decide on what sort of PC suited me best and also would address the needs of my growing family. Since I was already networking I decided on a home server/networking/semi-conventional sort of thing. I also needed sleds because I serviced other people’s PCs in my community. Experience had taught me that before I purchased a system board I would do well to determine what sort of case it would call home. I settled on the ThermalTake Level 10GT. It gave me the the airflow, space, flexibility, versatility, and of course, sleds.

Well, it’s been another ten years and I have to say the case has served me well. In fact, I can’t really find another case today that provides all of the options this one has. The irony here is that it is still a project. I have upgraded over a dozen times and I keep on upgrading and modifying but the one thing that does not change is the case. And so, our saga begins here, with the case:

Coming Next Week: How to clean a filthy, dirty, computer

[regulareel]

I remember this model. It was the hotness back then, crazy expensive and cool looking. You are doing a disservice by not showing the modular stuff on the side. IIRC the PSU had sort of a different housing than the rest of the system.

I wanted to have this case a some several years ago.

[Susanna]

You said you went from Commodore to Tandy (meaning either a PC clone or a Z80 machine comparable to the C64 but able to run CP/M) to Windows (PC clone after that stopped being a relevant term). Was the Macintosh ever on the radar? It was my understanding that north american schools exclusively used the Apple II well into the 90s. Did Canada use C64 instead, or did you just want something more modern for your children?

[CHESSTUR]

More pictures are coming.

[CHESSTUR]

Actually, I had a C64. The Tandy came a few years later. Apple may have been the standard in USA but the schools in my part of Canada used Windows in the mid 90’s. I had no offspring attending school in the 80’s. I moved from the city in 1994 and my children were in elementary school at that point. Computers in the school were reserved for later grades back then, but I purchased those older model PCs to familiarize my children with basic computer skills before it became available to them in a public school system.

[Shadowbane]

I find your blog very interesting keep writting. This blog is a trip down memory lane. I too remeber the Moon landing, and when I was a young man a friend of mine father purchased an apple 2. Intel as a company did’t even exist yet. I am a few years youger than you. Unlike you I purchased my first PC when they first came availible. I remeber paying almost $2,000 in cash for it. That was a lot of money for me to save back then. That $2,000 dollars was about 6 months of my yearly salary then. If I was maried and had a family and didn’ t live with my parents I would’t have been able to save so much.

[ucav117]

Reminds me of my great grandmother. She was born in the 1800’s. Died in the early 90’s. My dad told me one of the most profound memories he has is watching the moon landing with her. She said, “My god I have lived through it all.” and basically she had. She witnessed two world wars, the rise of America to become THE world power, the transistor and personal computing, moon landing, etc.

All this to say, ok boomer, welcome back to the forum

[CHESSTUR]

Thank you for the encouragement. I remember when 2k was a lot of money too, but then I also remember when chocolate bars were 10¢ apiece (5¢ for the small ones). I also remember Woodstock but wasn’t quite a teen yet so I wasn’t allowed to attend. I purchased my PCs when they were affordable but used. I’m always grateful that I never have to worry about parking the hard drive anymore. The advances in technology are amazing. My first brand new PC was a Sony VAIO purchased back in 1999. It was also my very first Windows operating system licensed in my name. Windows Mistake Edition was a challenging OS to learn on but it made life interesting. I used my Boss’s PC before that and so I was familiar somewhat with Win 95 and later on, Win 98. I wasn’t entirely lost when I got Win ME but I certainly had much to learn. TBH I still do.

[CHESSTUR]

Wow. I’m certain your great grandmother had many exciting and thrilling tales to tell you. I know my father did as he grew up in WWII, running from the Red Army. He made it to Canada with my grandfather and the shirt on his back. That’s it. That’s all. Thank you for the warm welcome back. It is greatly appreciated.

[Susanna]

@CHESSTUR

running from the Red Army

You do realise what that implies?

[Technomage1943]

Good to see you again, Chesstur.
C-64? That seems like a common theme for many jonsers. I just call myself a War Baby, since I was born in the heat of it, in 1943.
I remember ration cards, and wooden toys, because metal was all going into the war effort. I was five before I ever got my first metal toy, a little tricycle. I was a very wild child at five.
It seems like it was a very long trek from tricycle to computers.
A lifetime, actually! 1964, came home from the Army and hired right on with NCR, fixing all sorts of mechanical devices. But, when they discovered that I had a knack for Electronics, they fast tracked me into their Computer program. On my very first computer service call, I carried a Tube Caddy, full of vacuume tubes. After that, I got trained on the first all transistorized accounting systems, then the first all integrated circuit systems, before I finally quit NCR in 1974.
It would be several years more, and experience with CB Radio, Ham Radio, etc, before I would acquire my first personal computer, the lowly Commodore 64 at the Peoria, Ill Hamvention.
True to my nature, I got right in to C-64 repair and C-1541 repair and modification. I developed a “Quiet Stop” for the C-1541, and I re-wrote the OS for the C-64, to improve performance.
I went as far as I could go with the little C-64 and decided to branch out to the IBM compatible PC. I was not able to buy one, but did manage to scrounge enough parts from several sources to build my own. It came out to be a PC-XT-Clone, with 64 megs of ram and a 20MB Seagate HD.
From that humble start, I was propelled into the PC building and repair business, from which I have only recently retired, after ~ 40+ years.
I have not only repaired electronics at the board level, but I’ve also designed and built those boards too. From which I have also retired.
I hope I’ve not taken up too much time and space.
TechnoMage

[ucav117]

That he wasn’t a communist and didn’t want to get conscripted?

[Susanna]

“Wasn’t a communist” is one way to phrase it, another is “was probably a fascist”. Non-communists as a whole didn’t have anything to fear from the Red Army, but those who had collaborated with the nazis did. For example the majority of Ukrainians who fled to Canada following the end of the war were either outright Banderites or at the very least guilty of collaborating with the occupation forces under the Reichskommissariat Ukraine, making them culpable for countless atrocities against Poles, Russians, and Jews.

Every single person who had to “flee from the Red Army” is someone you should view with a lot of suspicion, because most such people were literally nazis.

[CHESSTUR]

Welcome to the community, TechnoMage1943. Yeah, my father was a war baby too. I believe they call this “The Silent Generation”, children who grew up through WWII. Dad was into all those things you mentioned and was also a Hammer, but he was a mechanical engineer with more of a hobbyist’s interest in electronics.

[CHESSTUR]

Red Army

One of the things I learned from people who grew up in the war is that things were not always as Hollywood and History books portray it. My grandfather was not a fascist, but neither the Red Army nor the Nazis had much room for pacifists as I understand it. I disagree with your statement, Susanna, but I’m not going to belabour this on my blog. The last thing I want is for my blog to turn into a war zone.

[CHESSTUR]

ucav117cyber deviant

That he wasn’t a communist and didn’t want to get conscripted?

You nailed it!

[CHESSTUR]

I didn’t purchase the 800 dollar model as it didn’t fit my budget and the more affordable model actually had better air flow. That aside, this has become my ongoing project and each time I give it an upgrade I modify it a little more. It will still accommodate most system boards. I have never regretted buying it.

Futurelooks Previews the Thermaltake Level 10 GT Chassis

[ucav117]

Damn just coming in and being an asshole for no reason. You are talking about the man’s father.

[CHESSTUR]

lol No offence taken. I remember when I was a young idealist and made oversights often. Even if Dad was a fascist at that time I don’t think it would have made much of a difference since he was around 7 years old when they left Poland. But gramps was a civilian and he hated the war. He was a peaceful farmer and he missed his farm and his orchards. The Red Army was notorious for raping and pillaging all that was in their path when they went through the villages; but that all happened a long, long time ago. I think most here would agree that the only ones who prosper in times of war are corporatists and banks.