My journey into computers began in 1969 at Carleton University where I took computers 101. The course was on a mainframe and the computer code was entered using Fortran as a language and punch cards for input.
10 years later I was teacher in my first year in 1979. I was making $10,500 a year and I decided to spend 20% of my salary to purchase a Commodore 2001 Series Pet ($2,100). It featured an 8 bit CPU (6502) and 8K of memory. Storage was on a cassette tape and drive and the conputer language was Basic. I soometimes stayed up 24 hours straight learning on this computer. I sold it after a year for $2,000 and today it is worth sold much more as it is a classic.
The computer appeared in the Star Trek TV series as well as the Star Trek 2 movie, the Wrath of Kahn.
Over the years I have gone through countless computers and I currently use a Lenovo ThinkStation which is very powerful. I have 3 monitors hooked up to it and it does everything I need to do. BTW, it is cheaper than my original Pet :-)
However, what I use for my hobby are single board computers and micro controllers which are way more powerful than my Commodore pet.
The Raspberry Pi was about $80 with the LCD screen and the micro controllers are about $25. All 3 have wifi and bluetooth and can connect up to the internet. The small microcontrollers are battery powered and can run webservers that can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
I program them in C++, Python, and Javascript. The jouney has come such a long way and there is no end in sight for me, other than my longevity. What once was an expensive hobby is now quite inexpensive, and the uses are endless, only limited by my imagination.
It is going to be a white Christmas here in Ottawa. Merry Christmas to one and all.
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