2025-03-01 - DOS Adventures

My First Steps into Computing: DOS Adventures in the Early 90s

It all started with a hand-me-down computer from my dad - an old IBM or AT&T 8086 machine that would become my gateway into the digital world. As a 9-year-old kid in the early 90s, this beige box with its two 5.25" floppy drives was nothing short of magical, even if it was already considered ancient technology by then.

The ritual of starting the computer was my first lesson in computing. Dad showed me the essential DOS commands, and I still remember the satisfying mechanical click of inserting those large floppy disks. The process became second nature: boot up the computer, wait for the familiar "A>" prompt, and type those mysterious commands that would transport me into digital worlds.

What's funny now, looking back, is how long it took me to discover the "dir" command. For the longest time, I relied on memory and trial-and-error, knowing that games would start with "game.exe", "start.exe", or "run.com". It was like having a treasure chest but not realizing you could actually look inside to see what you had! When I finally learned about "dir", it was a revelation - suddenly, I could see all the files hiding on those disks!

The graphics by today's standards were incredibly basic - just CGA with its limited color palette. But back then, those four colors were enough to build entire universes. The blues, magentas, and cyans painted crude but captivating scenes that my imagination would fill in with vivid detail. I didn't have a mouse (pretty sure about that), but it didn't matter - the keyboard was all we needed back then.

One of my earliest programming experiences came from tinkering with QBASIC games. I'd find .bas files and, driven by curiosity, would open them up to peek at their contents. It was like discovering the behind-the-scenes secrets of how games worked. I remember the thrill of finding variables in the code and changing their values just to see what would happen. Sometimes it would break the game, other times it would give me advantages I probably shouldn't have had - but each experiment taught me something new about how computers worked.

The sound... oh, the sound! Today's kids might never understand the charm of the PC speaker. It could only make simple beeps and boops, but developers worked magic with those limitations. The sharp, electronic notes would pierce through the house. Those distinctive sounds are forever etched in my memory, a digital symphony of my childhood.

These early computing experiences shaped my understanding of technology in fundamental ways. There was no hand-holding, no intuitive GUI interfaces - just a black screen with a blinking cursor that demanded you learn its language. Every successful game launch felt like an achievement, every new command discovered was a victory, and every modification to a BASIC program was an adventure that could either end in triumph or a crashed system.

Looking back, I realize how fortunate I was to start computing in this era. The DOS environment, while intimidating at first, taught me important lessons about how computers actually work. There was no hiding behind sleek interfaces; you had to understand the basics of file systems, program execution, and computer architecture just to play a simple game.

That old 8086, with its twin floppy drives and monotonous beeping, wasn't just my first computer - it was my first teacher in the world of technology. It taught me patience (those load times!), problem-solving (debugging my own BASIC modifications), and the joy of discovery (finally finding that "dir" command!). While I couldn't have known it at the time, those early DOS adventures were laying the groundwork for a lifelong fascination with technology.

Today's kids might have more powerful computers in their pockets, but there was something special about those early days of computing. The limitations of the hardware and software didn't restrict our imagination - if anything, they enhanced it. Every beep, every flickering character on that monochrome screen, and every successfully executed command was a small victory in my personal computing revolution. Those memories of my DOS beginnings remain crystal clear, a testament to the impact those early computing experiences had on my young mind. They remind me that sometimes the most primitive tools can provide the most profound learning experiences.

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