A personal history of computing by Josh Rubin http://tincansandstring.net/computer_history.txt Updated 02/22/2024 about 1962 I have a chalkboard. about 1965 I have a plastic Digicomp I mechanical computer. 1969 I learn to type. 1970 I am fascinated by a clothes washer sized disk drive. 1972 I write a little program for an IBM 1620, on punched cards. 1973 I use a slide rule. 1974 My typing skills are useless. Teletype machines only go a few characters per second. 1975 I use a Brunsviga mechanical calculator. 1976 Apple computers are ridiculous. 1977 I use RSX-11M on a Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-11. Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman invent the RSA algorithm, angering NSA. 1981 The IBM PC is ridiculous. 1982 I test an early Ethernet card. about 1982 A friend and I illegally install Unix on a work computer. 1983 I use VMS on a Digital Equipment Corporation VAX. 1984 The IBM AT is ridiculous. 1985 I repair a lightbulb by jiggling it until the filament ends touch and then weld. 1987 I buy a PC, but DOS is ridiculous. 1988 Microsoft hires Dave Cutler, a major contributer to RSX-11 and VMS. about 1989 I install djgpp on my PC so I can use unix tools. 1991 Finnish student Linus Torvalds buys an 80386 computer and starts writing Linux. about 1992 I use Bix, a bulletin board system run by Byte Magazine. It uses Unix. 1993 They make me use an IBM PC at work for reading email. about 1994 I port some unix utilities to VMS. 1996 I skip Windows 95. 1999 Windows 98 is ok for reading email. 2002 Windows XP works well. I install Cygwin so I can run Linux programs. 2004 I get the domain name tincansandstring.net. It is hosted on Linux. 2006 A private LAN links my apartment with Kath's apartment. 2007 Microsoft is about to stop selling Windows XP. Time to switch to Linux. Linux $0 2 used Dell Optiplex GX110's $0 1 used LCD monitor $0 2 used 200GB disks $70 1 gigabit ethernet switch $25 2 gigabit NICs $50 2008 My Linksys router runs Linux. 2009 Kathy buys a Macbook, which runs the Unix-like Darwin OS. 2010 Kathy buys a used iMac. Lightning fries the ethernet port. 2011 Kathy buys a Cisco Flip video camera. 2012 Crashplan and the Mozilla Foundation drop support for Apple OS X 10.4. (sigh) The Apple Store won't help up us upgrade to a later version. (sigh) 2013 I install Linux on an "obsolete" Apple iBook G4. My Dell Optiplex dies. I buy a new one with Windows 7. Kath buys a Macbook Pro just before the old Macbook dies. 2014 On April 8 2014, Microsoft ends support for Windows XP. May God have mercy on its soul. 2015 98% of all public servers on the Internet run a Unix-like operating system. Our Samsung "Smart TV" runs Linux. 2016 I have a globally routable IPV6 address. 2017 I buy an Android phone for much less than an iPhone. It runs Linux. 2018 Our one year old Brother printer can't feed paper any more. We buy a Canon "small business" inkjet. 2019 The power company installs a "smart electric meter." 2020 On January 14 2020, Microsoft ends support for Windows 7. I buy a refurbished Dell Optiplex SFF and install Linux on my old computer. 2021 My new Android phone runs three days without charging. My new Samsung TV runs Linux. 2022 I buy another cheap Android phone. It runs Linux. Microsoft updates Windows 10 to Windows 11. 2023 Three companies (microsoft, google, apple) want me to do things their way. I'm getting too old to fight. I bought an iPhone. 2024 We switch from Spectrum internet to Frontier fiber. 1 Gbps down and 1 Gbps up, but no IPV6 support (ugh ...)