This, really. And I remember my first ever mod, too - adding Norwich to the selectable teams on the original Football Manager (and I've not played a football manager since, I'm proud to say! )
At school, we got a couple of computers in the staffroom. I noticed what other staff were producing and asked them to teach me.
The government-last one-set up a training scheme where we had twilight sessions. It was absolute rubbish. The providers were paid hundreds of pounds for each person on the course-money for old rope! Personally, I'd have preferred to have been given the money so that I could have bought a computer and played with it at home.
At school we have an excellent computer suite used one morning a week by UTA. It was a course for 6 weeks but is still going 3 years later.
obviously you must know something about computers but did you learn yourself or did someone teach you and how ?
im just curious because i came up with an idea for a job to teach people how to use computers and i wanna know if people prefer to be taught in a class or one on one ?
and is it true you really need a teaching qualification to do this? Even if its with people you know ?
I taught myself. I've had a computer for 30 years.
You need a PGCE to teach as well as pass a medical and a CRB check.
When I started primary school in 1989 we had a BBC computer with the big floppy disk. We only had 3 computers in our school. We just did basic stuff on the BBC computer. I think there were spellings and some sort of game we could play. In year 5-6 (1994/95) we had a PC of some description. Quite basic but we learnt how to write letters on it and program it. We also had a game called "Crystal Rainforest". In secondary school we had loads of computers and we learnt how to use word and excel, how to improve on letter writing etc. We still had a BBC computer for our German lessons as it had a spelling game on it. For technology we had CAD and we made circuits on screen (found that really boring). At Art college we had macs and we were left to work out the software ourselves
haha, me too! Loved my Vic 20, my Father came home with it for me, when I was little. Taught myself as no one else knew what to do with it.
I loved mine too. I can remember coming home after school in 1983 to a lovely Vic 20 and being the envy of all the other kids as no one in the Avenue had one.
Oh my lord, you have no idea how much I love you right now! We used to play that game about 20 years ago, and for about the last 10 years I have thought about this damn computer game I used to have at primary school in Australia. I never got to finish it so it's pissed me off for that long, but after a while I forgot the name. I remembered it was something to do with a garden and maybe a witch. And I remembered a puzzle with four different coloured dragons. But every time I tried to find it I came up with nothing (since I don't remember much about it) and as soon as I saw that name I actually squealed.
You're my hero of the week now.
You're welcome
I remember the dragons... and, it's still possible to play it on a modern PC (and yes, I have had another go!). Better not say too much about that though...
Years ago if you had a pocket calculator you were regarded as owning a computer. The line in the song 'Picture This' by Blondie, released in 1978, which says 'Get a pocket computer, try to do what you used to do yeah' is obviously referring to a calculator as there wasn't a computer small enough to fit in someone's pocket at that time (correct me if I'm wrong please).
The first real home computer I ever had was a 16K Spectrum. I used it mostly for learning how to program on at first, and later had the memory upgraded to a 48K, after which there was an abundance of software available for it. I only ever learned how to program in BASIC, I had a couple of books on machine code programming but it was far too complicated for me to pick up.
Has anybody on here managed to master machine code?
I am self taught and know enough to get by without calling on IT friends or technical support.
I bought a PC on a spur of the moment in 1998 (from Tiny, remember them?), bought a Voodoo Banshee graphics card from Game and then thought "what do I do now?"
Prior to that, my only experience on a computer was this...
10 PRINT "Dave is a complete bellend"
20 GOTO 10
RUN
My brother was given a Sinclair ZX Spectrum (or Rainbow as I used to call it). He was bored with it enough to leave it lying around. I adopted it and played Tennis, Tetris, Pac-Man, The Dark Half, Ghostbusters and Grange Hill (:D) on it.
Then I talked my parents into buying me a 286, just so that I could play Alone in the Dark, Prince of Persia, Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, Laura Bow and Shadow Runner among other games. And again, a 386 for Scissorsman and such. After this, my dad basically said, "You want a new system? Buy it yourself." I obviously didn't have the money to buy a 486DX, which I needed to play Gabriel Knight.
So I built one from scratch, with a lot of help from magazines, newsgroups, friends' older brothers, guesswork and money from New Year, birthday and part-time jobs. In spite of having bald spots on my head, I managed to get it up and running. DOS and Windows? All OK. My finest hour.
But I couldn't run Gabriel Knight on it. A mystery I never managed to solve. I did get it to run some games (I can't remember titles correctly now). I was one of only three kids who took their computers to school every term. I couldn't bear the idea of being away from gaming while at school.
My gaming days ended when I left for university. My knowledge of Windows and PC technology is less extensive nowadays, too.
I pre-date the PC - for the general home user anyhow.
1983 - 1985 BBC Micros at school, and a spectrum at home.
1985 -1989ish using DOS machines ACT apricots and sirius (pre PC). I remember when our first PC arrived and we all sat looking at it. It had a thing called a mouse and instead of typing commands it had windows. When we turned it off we had to run a program to park the heads.
Then on to ICL and IBM mainframes and the explosion of PCs
My brother was given a Sinclair ZX Spectrum (or Rainbow as I used to call it). He was bored with it enough to leave it lying around. I adopted it and played Tennis, Tetris, Pac-Man, The Dark Half, Ghostbusters and Grange Hill (:D) on it.
Then I talked my parents into buying me a 286, just so that I could play Alone in the Dark, Prince of Persia, Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, Laura Bow and Shadow Runner among other games. And again, a 386 for Scissorsman and such. After this, my dad basically said, "You want a new system? Buy it yourself." I obviously didn't have the money to buy a 486DX, which I needed to play Gabriel Knight.
So I built one from scratch, with a lot of help from magazines, newsgroups, friends' older brothers, guesswork and money from New Year, birthday and part-time jobs. In spite of having bald spots on my head, I managed to get it up and running. DOS and Windows? All OK. My finest hour.
But I couldn't run Gabriel Knight on it. A mystery I never managed to solve. I did get it to run some games (I can't remember titles correctly now). I was one of only three kids who took their computers to school every term. I couldn't bear the idea of being away from gaming while at school.
My gaming days ended when I left for university. My knowledge of Windows and PC technology is less extensive nowadays, too.
Ironically it is easier than ever to run games on Windows today, provided your computer meets the specs.
I remember the times it would take days to tweak memory management software/autoexec.bat and/or config.sys enough to get a particular game to run. And half the time your new settings would screw up that other game you loved.
Or the joys of buying a new game and finding it didn't support your particular graphics card, or even your sound card.
Today, as long as you have a decent Nvidia or ATI/AMD graphics card it's normally just a case of sticking in the disc, installing the game and running it, although you might have to take the resolution etc. down a bit.
I started on a Dragon 32 and gradually progressed from there to the computing dimwit I am today.
Wow, you were the other person that owned one?.
:D
I loved my Dragon 32, I was addicted to one game that was a top down view maze game. I can't remember the name, but you wandered around a maze solving puzzles, collecting things and battling or avoiding monsters.
I've also had Spectrums, an MSX, an Atari ST and then PCs.
Today though gaming is done via the Playstation rather than the PC.
I loved my Dragon 32, I was addicted to one game that was a top down view maze game. I can't remember the name, but you wandered around a maze solving puzzles, collecting things and battling or avoiding monsters.
I've also had Spectrums, an MSX, an Atari ST and then PCs.
Today though gaming is done via the Playstation rather than the PC.
Yep, it was me I used to sit for hours with my tape recorder waiting for games to load. Was the maze game Devil's Triangle?
I couldn't be arsed with Xbox One and PS4 this time round, so recently bought a gaming rig that has a graphics card more powerful and expensive than either console and will be running in 1440p.
I had a Spectrum ZX81 though I'm not sure how much that may have helped.
I did have a word processor which was, in it's way, both a help and a hindrance.
I really knew nothing when I first started and people would tell me to do this or that but I couldn't.
For example, I was told to go into 'Paint' to do something (I forget what) but, it seemed to me, I didn't have a programme called 'Paint' basing things on the word processor.
I eventually worked things out by what people told me and things that were asked on various forums.
I think one of my biggest wind ups was being unable to post pictures. That was really frustrating.
Over time I learned a lot but I still seem to have this habit of going all around the houses to accomplish something that's dead simple.
Comments
This, really. And I remember my first ever mod, too - adding Norwich to the selectable teams on the original Football Manager (and I've not played a football manager since, I'm proud to say!
A trip down memory lane - http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2011/08/zx-spectrum-plus-user-guide/
The government-last one-set up a training scheme where we had twilight sessions. It was absolute rubbish. The providers were paid hundreds of pounds for each person on the course-money for old rope! Personally, I'd have preferred to have been given the money so that I could have bought a computer and played with it at home.
At school we have an excellent computer suite used one morning a week by UTA. It was a course for 6 weeks but is still going 3 years later.
I taught myself. I've had a computer for 30 years.
You need a PGCE to teach as well as pass a medical and a CRB check.
I loved mine too. I can remember coming home after school in 1983 to a lovely Vic 20 and being the envy of all the other kids as no one in the Avenue had one.
You're welcome
I remember the dragons... and, it's still possible to play it on a modern PC (and yes, I have had another go!). Better not say too much about that though...
The first real home computer I ever had was a 16K Spectrum. I used it mostly for learning how to program on at first, and later had the memory upgraded to a 48K, after which there was an abundance of software available for it. I only ever learned how to program in BASIC, I had a couple of books on machine code programming but it was far too complicated for me to pick up.
Has anybody on here managed to master machine code?
I bought a PC on a spur of the moment in 1998 (from Tiny, remember them?), bought a Voodoo Banshee graphics card from Game and then thought "what do I do now?"
Prior to that, my only experience on a computer was this...
10 PRINT "Dave is a complete bellend"
20 GOTO 10
RUN
any emmerdale fans will enjoy this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0SzX7M5HRA
Then I talked my parents into buying me a 286, just so that I could play Alone in the Dark, Prince of Persia, Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, Laura Bow and Shadow Runner among other games. And again, a 386 for Scissorsman and such. After this, my dad basically said, "You want a new system? Buy it yourself." I obviously didn't have the money to buy a 486DX, which I needed to play Gabriel Knight.
So I built one from scratch, with a lot of help from magazines, newsgroups, friends' older brothers, guesswork and money from New Year, birthday and part-time jobs. In spite of having bald spots on my head, I managed to get it up and running. DOS and Windows? All OK. My finest hour.
But I couldn't run Gabriel Knight on it. A mystery I never managed to solve. I did get it to run some games (I can't remember titles correctly now). I was one of only three kids who took their computers to school every term. I couldn't bear the idea of being away from gaming while at school.
My gaming days ended when I left for university. My knowledge of Windows and PC technology is less extensive nowadays, too.
*like*
1983 - 1985 BBC Micros at school, and a spectrum at home.
1985 -1989ish using DOS machines ACT apricots and sirius (pre PC). I remember when our first PC arrived and we all sat looking at it. It had a thing called a mouse and instead of typing commands it had windows. When we turned it off we had to run a program to park the heads.
Then on to ICL and IBM mainframes and the explosion of PCs
Ironically it is easier than ever to run games on Windows today, provided your computer meets the specs.
I remember the times it would take days to tweak memory management software/autoexec.bat and/or config.sys enough to get a particular game to run. And half the time your new settings would screw up that other game you loved.
Or the joys of buying a new game and finding it didn't support your particular graphics card, or even your sound card.
Today, as long as you have a decent Nvidia or ATI/AMD graphics card it's normally just a case of sticking in the disc, installing the game and running it, although you might have to take the resolution etc. down a bit.
Even easier if you use Steam
Wow, you were the other person that owned one?.
I loved my Dragon 32, I was addicted to one game that was a top down view maze game. I can't remember the name, but you wandered around a maze solving puzzles, collecting things and battling or avoiding monsters.
I've also had Spectrums, an MSX, an Atari ST and then PCs.
Today though gaming is done via the Playstation rather than the PC.
Yep, it was me
I did have a word processor which was, in it's way, both a help and a hindrance.
I really knew nothing when I first started and people would tell me to do this or that but I couldn't.
For example, I was told to go into 'Paint' to do something (I forget what) but, it seemed to me, I didn't have a programme called 'Paint' basing things on the word processor.
I eventually worked things out by what people told me and things that were asked on various forums.
I think one of my biggest wind ups was being unable to post pictures. That was really frustrating.
Over time I learned a lot but I still seem to have this habit of going all around the houses to accomplish something that's dead simple.
Yep. I was a champion at winding tapes with an HB pencil if they were able to be saved