Computer

Back to the roots

At this column I would like to present computers which do not glaze because of their brightly colored desktops, their over clocked processors, their huge amount of memory, a very power consuming graphics board or other bits and pieces. This will be the place for cheap, energy efficient devices being suitable for the acquistion of programing knowledge. Spirit and purpose is to use computer as computer and not as toys. A dude named Bill Gates is said to be the originator of the slogan that more than 1MB of memory in a computer would be an absolute waste of resources...

Figure 1:
My first computing vassal was an AMIGA 500 (which can be observed inside my RoboSpatium). 7MHz clock frequency of the main processor, 512kb of RAM and 3.5Zoll discs with a capacity of 1.2MB as "hard disc". I learned my first programming language called "Basic"with the help of this device. Those old bucket was absolutely sufficient to learn the basics about the working principals of digital machines.
Some later I also learned how to add self made hardware to those Computer. During all those years inside my hobby room, the appearance of my AMIGA became a bit unattractive until it was once stored at my attic. According to those treatment, it doesn't look brand new any longer...

Today even the cheapest devices are equipped with more computing power and you should learn how to use those "opulence". Therefore some examples of what to do with those "mainframe computers" will be treated at the following chapters.

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