…okay, there might be more to it than that…
Assembling a 5150-clone computer from a box of parts in 1983, throwing the big red switch, the error ‘no operating system‘ glowed on a tiny green screen. That was the start of it, seeking the elusive answer to the question: what the heck is an operating system?
There were no books about it, sitting in a lawnchair next to a telephone booth with a TRS-80 Model 100 ‘laptop‘ dialed-in via a 300-bps connection to a wacky network of DEC PDP-8, 11, and 15’s arrayed as a network service called CompuServe, then locating and reading technical manuals and trade magazine articles. All of this combined with a hillbilly accent, gradient-tint glasses, and those flowery-Hawaiian style shirts I preferred meant standing out a little bit maybe, drawing attention, sometimes people asked questions, so the outward appearance was just like one of those old-fashioned black-and-white tv’s with knobs, you know, high-contrast and frequently low brightness, because I truly did not know.
‘I.T.’ wasn’t really a thing, but somebody had seen me with a soldering iron in hand and a computer nearby, made some assumptions, handed me an expensive dot-matrix printer that was broken, and I gave it back to them fixed in about 20 minutes (no iron necessary), landing my first paid Computer Guy gig.
It did not take long for me to recognize that this skill had value pretty much any place that I cared to go. And, with an unquenchable need for all things mountains, trees, and water – let me tell you – go I have indeed.
System 1 and 2 on a 128k Macintosh along with Windows 1 and MS-DOS on a PC were not ready for business and the most frequent question about computers was but, what do you -do- with it?, neither of which kept everybody from buying, all-in, translating into a lifetime of work that has included hardware repair, onsite services, end-user support, software development with C and SQL databases, and an endless series of projects matching service providers with customers to provide business solutions.
From Oscar Meyer, Nextel, Washington Mutual, Scott Paper, SeaFirst, Charter Communication, BJC Health Systems, Deaconess Health Systems, the EPA, NOAA, Washington University School of Medicine, Boeing, Mack Trucks, and the State of Washington, to Rueben’s west-Missouri wood-planked country store and a local fish co-op in Alaska, working with people face-to-face at all levels of business from Nova Scotia to Baranof Island, Alaska, the foundation of finding and contracting work independently has been communication, engaging people directly as a pro since I was a kid.
Right there at the very beginning of the personal computer revolution and still helping others as a professional, but it seems like my collection of Mac’s and PC’s gets used more and more for the most meaningful stuff, you know, stuff like photos, poetry and writing in general, along with learning and practicing constantly how to ‘play‘ and record them as musical instruments – sequencers, synths, percussion – next to my guitars and the natural sounds of the sea, skies, and forests of this enchanting, enticingly endless Great Land, now a home. In the process, perhaps, discovering my own answer to that question from way back: but, what do you -do- with it?
Mark (just another computer guy)