How did you get started????

ruffryder · 12-13-2012, 06:29 PM

Oh wow! It has evolved for sure! LOL

I would say I used it first in school. Macs and IBMs were popular in the 90s for school use. I studied Dos and Linux Operating Systems in college. I was getting my associates in Accounting and I remember mostly everything written in journal form. I had one class out of my two year degree that was based on accounting for computers. My other computer class was Intro to Computers.

My first computers were an old IBM and an iMac Bondi Blue and I was using very slow dial up internet. On these computers I enjoyed games and solitare and then I found chat rooms and did some yahoo and aol chat. Found B-F.com then Myspace and LiveJournal. LOL and all is history from there. BFP and FB - the future. Had a couple other mac computers since and a couple different lap tops and love wireless internet now! I've owned some websites and learned some PHP and HTML. I got my bachelors degree all online! I've been able to chat with people around the world and interact virtually. My jobs since I got out of high school have involved using various computer programs, email, spreadsheets, power point, etc. I am able to interact with both clients and my bosses through the internet and computer emails and calendars. I am amazed with how it all has evolved and how phones play a huge role in internet connection now. Next, I would like to possibly start a business on FB and learn some phone applications and widgets.

*Anya* · 12-13-2012, 06:41 PM

Great thread Belle!

I first started using a computer at work in 1985. I think I basically used it for word processing.

My long-term ex and I got our first for the home in 1988. It was a big-ass thing and cost us about 3K.

I remember those giant floppy discs, being on aol and I loved playing the game Myst.

not2shygrrl · 12-13-2012, 07:44 PM

What a memory this has brought back

I worked in Arlington Va for a life insurance company. I was low on the totem pole office assistant and we had a WANG system! Now the woman who was the geek from WANG was OMG I was totally crushing and lusting after her! Affectionately I called her the WANG~BANGER and often would sabotage our system to get a "weekly " visit from her...hehehe

We finally did go out and of course I wished I still at the time was able to have my daydreams of her (which didn't exist after we went out). I just was not into her weirdness, her and revving her engine (an automatic) at stop signs and red lights in her gold Trans Am with a black eagle painted on the hood! We stayed friends but my fantasies were blown out of the water!! After that she was just the Wang lady......

LOL good memories though, and I am where I am in part because of all of my experiences!! Thanks for provoking this memory! <smile>

Ginger · 12-13-2012, 08:19 PM

Way way back in L.A., I had a job from 11 p.m.to 7 a.m. searching for checks on a microfilm and taking "photos" of them that I piled in a basket. I finished my work after about an hour and used the rest of the night napping and rotating among the big empty room, trying out everyone's desk and IBM Selectric typewriter. At home, I put my little Corona typewriter on a pedestal and stood typing.

Shortly after that, I moved to New York and lived with a lover in graduate school who had a computer in 1987. She was the first person I knew with a computer; how early you made each leap in home technology was more class based, then; or at the very least, income based—our incomes were very different. (We went to Europe for two months. She spent her allowance. I spent my life's savings.) Anyway, she had a big clunky computer which seemed amazingly high-tech at the time. I can't remember the brand but I remember she had a dot matrix printer. So I had access to computers earlier than I might have, on my own. Thank you, my long ago Ex!

When we broke up, I lived alone, but eventually moved in with someone else, and had the money to buy my own, first computer.

Again, I don't remember the brand, but I remember using WordPerfect, the precursor to MicroSoft Word.

Then I made a huge leap with a new Gateway, and the big box that was black-and-white like a Guernsey cow sat in our living room like a shrine to the future.

And that's when I got my first Internet email account, AOL, some time in the late nineties. A lot of people over 45 or so still have their AOL accounts; it's like a boomer badge of honor, and I've been sneered at for holding on to it, but my family and old old friends would get confused if I let it go.

Anyway, here I am in 2012 using the MacBook Air they gave me at work, and I also have a Dell PC that is woefully in need of replacement. I'm planning to get an IMac in 2013. I marvel at the changes in how we write, process information and correspond, that technology has caused.

chefhmboyrd · 12-13-2012, 08:28 PM

When I was in Chicago (late 80' early 90's) we had some computerized warehouse inventory tools (picking packing shipping)
it was all proprietary software
then when i came to Nashville i rarely used them until AOL in the mid 90's
didn't own one of my own though
it wasn't until i started working for Ryder in 2003 that i used them everyday.
eventually got one of my own
now i have more computer power in my house then most 3rd world countries.

i recently earned an Associate's in IT and going back for my Bachelor's in Jan.

Teddybear · 12-13-2012, 09:28 PM

lets see i trained in college to b a coputer programmer and learned basic, rpg, rpgII and rpgIII aloing with cobal and cobal2. was told we had to learn basic to learn the other langugages however we would never use it since computers were math based and we would need to know a math based programing language. about half way with school lotus 123 came out and the rest is history as they say.

I had a Tandy 101 however we didnt have internet as a matter of fact it was a tape drive and we had a old cassette tape recordered hooked up to it for the programs.

the next computer i had was the qualcomm on my truck that is kinda like a word processor from back in the day now it is a touch screen that i HATE

my first internet computer if u can call it that was Web-TV. I loved it i had a huge tv and could see it from my couch without have to squint to read it

ruby_woo · 12-13-2012, 10:05 PM

We took computer classes in elementary school. I loved computer day! We used those old Apple computers to learn typing, and played games like Oregon Trail and Math Munchers.

When I was about 11 or 12, my dad bought a computer that ran on DOS, and my sister and I played this silly Barbie fashion game, and a Carmen San Diego game. Eventually we got AOL, and my sister and I used to troll the AOL chatrooms until my parents figured out the parental controls. We figured out how to undo the parental controls, and my mom decided to move the computer from the basement to the dining room, where she could watch us from the kitchen or living room.

Our family would get into epic fights over use of the internet vs. use of the phone, and who wanted to use what and when. Oh, dial-up...

In high school, we used the Mac computers Ruffryder pictured in the school library, and to work on the yearbook layout. This was about 1999 I think? High school teachers were still resisting the internet as a research tool at the time, and emphatically told us that we HAD to cite actual books in our research papers, they did not want us using just the internet.

I received an iBook as a high school graduation present, and have been using Mac laptops at home ever since.

12-13-2012, 06:41 PM	#2
Anya Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: Lesbian non-stone femme Preferred Pronoun?: She, her Relationship Status: Committed to being good to myself Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: West Coast Posts: 8,258 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 39,306 Thanked 40,458 Times in 7,283 Posts Rep Power: 21474858	Great thread Belle! I first started using a computer at work in 1985. I think I basically used it for word processing. My long-term ex and I got our first for the home in 1988. It was a big-ass thing and cost us about 3K. I remember those giant floppy discs, being on aol and I loved playing the game Myst. __________________ ~Anya~ Democracy Dies in Darkness ~Washington Post "...I'm deeply concerned by recently adopted policies which punish children for their parents’ actions ... The thought that any State would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable." UN Human Rights commissioner

12-13-2012, 07:44 PM	#3
not2shygrrl Member How Do You Identify?: as a Lesbian Preferred Pronoun?: she/her Relationship Status: under the cover of starry starry nights...enjoying a warm fire in the pit ! Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: in a cabin in the woods Posts: 636 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 8,068 Thanked 2,454 Times in 546 Posts Rep Power: 21474851	Oh my!! What a memory this has brought back I worked in Arlington Va for a life insurance company. I was low on the totem pole office assistant and we had a WANG system! Now the woman who was the geek from WANG was OMG I was totally crushing and lusting after her! Affectionately I called her the WANG~BANGER and often would sabotage our system to get a "weekly " visit from her...hehehe We finally did go out and of course I wished I still at the time was able to have my daydreams of her (which didn't exist after we went out). I just was not into her weirdness, her and revving her engine (an automatic) at stop signs and red lights in her gold Trans Am with a black eagle painted on the hood! We stayed friends but my fantasies were blown out of the water!! After that she was just the Wang lady...... LOL good memories though, and I am where I am in part because of all of my experiences!! Thanks for provoking this memory! <smile>

12-13-2012, 08:28 PM	#5
chefhmboyrd Senior Member How Do You Identify?: man Preferred Pronoun?: beef Relationship Status: Uncle Daddy Snap Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: nashvegas Posts: 1,607 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 2,411 Thanked 2,846 Times in 898 Posts Rep Power: 14271905	When I was in Chicago (late 80' early 90's) we had some computerized warehouse inventory tools (picking packing shipping) it was all proprietary software then when i came to Nashville i rarely used them until AOL in the mid 90's didn't own one of my own though it wasn't until i started working for Ryder in 2003 that i used them everyday. eventually got one of my own now i have more computer power in my house then most 3rd world countries. i recently earned an Associate's in IT and going back for my Bachelor's in Jan. __________________ what's a cowboy got to do to get a drink around here?

12-13-2012, 06:29 PM	#1
ruffryder Senior Member How Do You Identify?: FTM Preferred Pronoun?: guy ones Relationship Status: ... Join Date: May 2011 Location: chillin' in FL Posts: 3,690 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 21,951 Thanked 9,679 Times in 2,875 Posts Rep Power: 21474854	Oh wow! It has evolved for sure! LOL I would say I used it first in school. Macs and IBMs were popular in the 90s for school use. I studied Dos and Linux Operating Systems in college. I was getting my associates in Accounting and I remember mostly everything written in journal form. I had one class out of my two year degree that was based on accounting for computers. My other computer class was Intro to Computers. My first computers were an old IBM and an iMac Bondi Blue and I was using very slow dial up internet. On these computers I enjoyed games and solitare and then I found chat rooms and did some yahoo and aol chat. Found B-F.com then Myspace and LiveJournal. LOL and all is history from there. BFP and FB - the future. Had a couple other mac computers since and a couple different lap tops and love wireless internet now! I've owned some websites and learned some PHP and HTML. I got my bachelors degree all online! I've been able to chat with people around the world and interact virtually. My jobs since I got out of high school have involved using various computer programs, email, spreadsheets, power point, etc. I am able to interact with both clients and my bosses through the internet and computer emails and calendars. I am amazed with how it all has evolved and how phones play a huge role in internet connection now. Next, I would like to possibly start a business on FB and learn some phone applications and widgets.

12-13-2012, 08:19 PM	#4
Ginger Senior Member How Do You Identify?: Femme lesbian Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: East coast Posts: 2,416 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 5,829 Thanked 12,297 Times in 2,057 Posts Rep Power: 21474852	Way way back in L.A., I had a job from 11 p.m.to 7 a.m. searching for checks on a microfilm and taking "photos" of them that I piled in a basket. I finished my work after about an hour and used the rest of the night napping and rotating among the big empty room, trying out everyone's desk and IBM Selectric typewriter. At home, I put my little Corona typewriter on a pedestal and stood typing. Shortly after that, I moved to New York and lived with a lover in graduate school who had a computer in 1987. She was the first person I knew with a computer; how early you made each leap in home technology was more class based, then; or at the very least, income based—our incomes were very different. (We went to Europe for two months. She spent her allowance. I spent my life's savings.) Anyway, she had a big clunky computer which seemed amazingly high-tech at the time. I can't remember the brand but I remember she had a dot matrix printer. So I had access to computers earlier than I might have, on my own. Thank you, my long ago Ex! When we broke up, I lived alone, but eventually moved in with someone else, and had the money to buy my own, first computer. Again, I don't remember the brand, but I remember using WordPerfect, the precursor to MicroSoft Word. Then I made a huge leap with a new Gateway, and the big box that was black-and-white like a Guernsey cow sat in our living room like a shrine to the future. And that's when I got my first Internet email account, AOL, some time in the late nineties. A lot of people over 45 or so still have their AOL accounts; it's like a boomer badge of honor, and I've been sneered at for holding on to it, but my family and old old friends would get confused if I let it go. Anyway, here I am in 2012 using the MacBook Air they gave me at work, and I also have a Dell PC that is woefully in need of replacement. I'm planning to get an IMac in 2013. I marvel at the changes in how we write, process information and correspond, that technology has caused.

12-13-2012, 09:28 PM	#6
Teddybear Senior Member How Do You Identify?: by my name Preferred Pronoun?: He, him Relationship Status: single Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Here there everywhere. Posts: 2,097 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 4,620 Thanked 6,233 Times in 1,687 Posts Rep Power: 21474854	lets see i trained in college to b a coputer programmer and learned basic, rpg, rpgII and rpgIII aloing with cobal and cobal2. was told we had to learn basic to learn the other langugages however we would never use it since computers were math based and we would need to know a math based programing language. about half way with school lotus 123 came out and the rest is history as they say. I had a Tandy 101 however we didnt have internet as a matter of fact it was a tape drive and we had a old cassette tape recordered hooked up to it for the programs. the next computer i had was the qualcomm on my truck that is kinda like a word processor from back in the day now it is a touch screen that i HATE my first internet computer if u can call it that was Web-TV. I loved it i had a huge tv and could see it from my couch without have to squint to read it

12-13-2012, 10:05 PM	#7
ruby_woo Member How Do You Identify?: queer femme Preferred Pronoun?: her/she Relationship Status: single Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 427 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1,848 Thanked 1,941 Times in 376 Posts Rep Power: 17615392	We took computer classes in elementary school. I loved computer day! We used those old Apple computers to learn typing, and played games like Oregon Trail and Math Munchers. When I was about 11 or 12, my dad bought a computer that ran on DOS, and my sister and I played this silly Barbie fashion game, and a Carmen San Diego game. Eventually we got AOL, and my sister and I used to troll the AOL chatrooms until my parents figured out the parental controls. We figured out how to undo the parental controls, and my mom decided to move the computer from the basement to the dining room, where she could watch us from the kitchen or living room. Our family would get into epic fights over use of the internet vs. use of the phone, and who wanted to use what and when. Oh, dial-up... In high school, we used the Mac computers Ruffryder pictured in the school library, and to work on the yearbook layout. This was about 1999 I think? High school teachers were still resisting the internet as a research tool at the time, and emphatically told us that we HAD to cite actual books in our research papers, they did not want us using just the internet. I received an iBook as a high school graduation present, and have been using Mac laptops at home ever since.