A personal history of computing by Josh Rubin http://tincansandstring.net/computer_history.txt Updated 12/4/2022 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.