Computers

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`"I programmed my home computer To beam myself into the future..."`

- Kraftwerk: 'Home Computer' (1981)

Machinery

Uses

You can find *lots* more computer-related links and stuff about GNU/Linux and HTML in my massive Bookmarks file.

A Brief History...

My first introduction to computing was learning BASIC on a Sinclair ZX81, aged ten. But it wasn't until two years later when I got an Acorn BBC Microcomputer Model B that my fascination really developed. I subsequently owned a Yamaha CX5M (MSX music computer) and an Atari 520ST, but for me they didn't have the power of the Beeb. Later at college I used the Acorn Archimedes, Apple Macintosh and IBM PC's and mainframes, discovering the Internet and learning PASCAL, Modula_2, C, C++ and Java. Yet I still harked back to the old days of colourful text on black screens and non-bloated software, before Microsoft took over the world with Windows and all its grey GUI squareness.

As the PC and Microsoft began to dominate, I lost all interest in this toy computing, until reading in 1999 about a new operating system called GNU/Linux which had been developed by enthusiasts since the 1980's as a free version of UNIX. At last, after a decade of MIST OR WIND OF COWS banality, I found that Real Computing still exists and is thriving. So I borrowed an old 486 computer and set about learning the skills and knowledge needed to build a machine to produce music with. Hence this website was born.

I later acquired some Pentium IIIs, and an Acorn Archimedes from a friend, which is a classic; what fun to be able to run BBC Basic again! Inspired by this, I rescued my old BBC Micro from Mama's loft, but that's a different story...