The Past. — My first computer was bought in the early eighties and was Commodore Vic 20. This had 3.5Kb RAM and was basically a games machine. I did attend some lessons on the computer language "Basic" and wrote the usual "hello World" type programmes to prove I had learnt something.

I then upgraded to an Amstrad 6128. This has more ram and a "disc drive" making loading of games etc. much faster. It was much nicer to use and better for serious type of programmes. I ran the motorcycle business accounts on this printing invoices etc.

I then moved on to IBM compatible computers starting with a 286 CPU, 1Mb RAM, 40Mb HDD and an orange mono screen. This was upgraded once or twice until a lightening strike killed off most of it.

I put in a claim to my insurance company and with the proceeds was able to build a new and better computer. This consisted of a 386DX CPU, 4Mb RAM, 100Mb HDD and a colour VGA screen. This cost me around £1,000 at the time !!.

This computer was then upgraded and upgraded until it looked nothing like the original. It is like the old brush joke... "I have had this brush for twenty years, it has only had three heads and two handles".

The case stayed the same for many years and so it looked like the same computer but the inside became better and better. Due to our move to Romania I seem to have misplaced my favourite keyboard, (A very old real IBM clicky keyboard) so I am now typing on another. Now nothing is the same as the original.

Above the shelf.

My present computer set up — The pictures show my set up at present. I have three base units doing three jobs, and lots of peripherals sorting the in's and out's to keep them happy.

Looking at the top picture you will see the monitor with web cam on top and speakers to either side. The keyboard is a Toshiba ? and adequate. Mouse is an old Packard Bell and to the right is the USB phone used for talking to people over Skype. The two boxes at the back to the right of the lamp are the card reader on the bottom and a switch that was supposed to switch a normal phone between Skype and cable. This has never worked properly.

Below the shelf.

The next box is a Pentium 2 300 CPU, 384Mb RAM and a 10Gb HDD. This is for testing purposes and I regularly test various flavours of Linux. At present it is running Ubuntu Studio. I am looking at whether I can link my guitar to this to see if I can "make" music ??

The last box is a Pentium 3 600 CPU 512Mb RAM and a 30Gb HDD. This runs my main Linux setup and is running Ubuntu quite easily. If I could get rid of Windows altogether I would but I need one or two programmes that only run on Windows so will have to stay with Win 2000

To the left is my scanner and behind that is the four way KVM switch, four way router, cable modem and serial switch to switch my parallel port between the printer and scanner. I did have two printers, the scanner and a fax machine connected to the switch in the UK. Above the base units is my trusty Tally 9108 laser printer, still going strong and with it's original stickers saying "designed for Windows 95".

The remote control is for the TV card in the Win 2000 machine.

When I travel I have a Celeron laptop which has a duel set up of Windows XP and Ubuntu 7.04. This was my first attempt at setting up a computer with a duel boot and all went well. If I am going on a short visit and I know I am going where there are computers I use my U3 memory stick. If you don't know what a U3 memory stick is just click on the link. I find it fits better in my pocket than a laptop.