My Computer Background:

I started working with computers at Red Rocks Community Collage, Golden, CO  in 1986.  By 1988, I had graduated with an Associates of Applied Science degree in Digital Computer/ Electronics Technology.  I got my first IBM clone, an 8088 with 640k ram, keyboard, mouse & monochrome monitor in 1988.  I soon upgraded to a 80286 motherboard using sipp ram modules (having to do some alterations to the original case) and was soon using this hobby to help friends.  By 1989, I had purchased my first 80386 motherboard with simm ram modules  Running a smoking 40 MHz and being the first on my block with 8 mb of ram, I was running windows for workgroups (3.11) in no time.  At this point I elected to start my own bulletin board service to help friends collect shareware games and files.  The Buffalo soldier BBS ran for about a year and then a new family started springing up.  Using some of my knowledge, I was employed doing data entry for a downtown Portland firm and idled off on the upgrades.  After some job and family changes, I was living as a hermit with my son James and built my first Pentium computer (missing the 80486 class altogether).   It was a P90 and had just installed my first cd-rom drive then tragedy struck!   When coming home from work one day, I found my house had been broken into and the new computer was gone!!

Starting over:

I saved hard over the next few months and purchased enough pieces to build a new system.  A Viking 2 motherboard with Cyrix 166 MHz processor and 32 megs of DIMM ram.  A simple sound & video card were installed and away I went.  Over the next few years, I upgraded enough to build my son his own system.  Then our family grew with the addition of Theresa and Christopher.  In 1997, I felt that we all should have our own systems and all be able to run Windows operating systems.  I acquired an old IBM 8086 system for Christopher until he was able to type and spell before allowing him a Windows environment.  

In 1999, I worked for an outsourcing firm and did technical support work for Microsoft, Dell Computers, Cisco Systems and EarthLink which upgraded my skills greatly.  We all now have our own Pentium and AMD based machines which are mostly products of my system upgrades and are linked together on our home network system. 

In 2002, A dedicated Server was added to our collection to route our DSL connection, store & share files, games and take some of the shared traffic off my system. 

In 2003 I started doing volunteer work for Narcotics Anonymous web mastering their Portland site portlandna.com. I created the site and maintained it for a 2 year service term, then passed service to another member.

In 2005 I created pcrna.org for the Pacific Cascade region of NA and was their web master until July of 2008 ending a 3 year service term.  In the works may be to create a website for the Rose City metro service committee of NA, more will be revealed.

In 2006, I added a wireless router AND access point (with a 1 1/2 mile range) to upgrade the home network & allow access to some of the home computers.  The server was retired when we moved in June 2006.  There are currently 5 computers (4 LAN/1 Wireless) functioning on our home network at this time.  My home office machine provides all my office and pleasure needs.  This computer runs 24/7, is worked to extremes and kicks ass!.  My laptop is my on the road tool and gets docked to my computer repair station while at home.  Future upgrades and projects for the home systems are always in the works!  More will be revealed as I get them!

My Systems

Home Office Machine:

ViewSonic VP920b 19" LCD Monitor, Aspire X-Cruiser Mid Tower Case, Windows Vista Ultimate,

Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe Motherboard with Integrated 1 gbps NVidia nForce Network Controller, AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Dual Core Processor, Corsair CMX1024-3200C2PT 1 GB DDR PC3200 SDRAM Heat Sink dimm module, Kingston 1 GB DDR PC3200 SDRAM dimm module, EVGA e-GeForce 8400 GS PCI Express video card,

Samsung SH-S182M DVD-RW w/LightScribe, BTC 16X DVD Drive, Maxtor SATA 300 GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive, SIIG USB 9-in-1 R/W + Floppy Disk Drive,

Creative Inspire P5800 5.1 Surround Speakers,

Logitech EX110 Wireless Keyboard & Mouse, *Saitek Joystick and  *Logitech Force Feedback Racing Wheel,

HP 3745 Printer,  HP F4135 All-In-One,

,  HP Photosmart 620 Digital Camera, Canon PowerShot A460 Camera,

Airlink 101 5 port Giga Switch, NetGear WPN824 RangeMax Wireless N Router, Airlink 101 AP411W Super G Wireless Access Point,

And to top off and protect my office equipment, APC ES 725 UPS.  More will be revealed!

Laptop Work System/Repair Station:

Purchased in March 2007 and replacing my IBM ThinkPad 600, I use this system mainly to test  www.pcrna.org site updates, display and update the site at committee meetings and conventions when traveling to Narcotics Anonymous events across the Northwest.  This system utilizes both wired and wireless networks.  When at home, its docked to my computer repair work station which incorporates a KMV switch so I can change to other computers with a turn of a knob without shutting down or swapping connections.

Laptop:  Compaq Presario C504US, Windows Vista Basic, 1.86 GHz Celeron M, 15.4" WXGA HD Widescreen, DVD-RW, Upgraded to 2 Gb RAM, 100GB SATA Hard Drive, Integrated Wireless G & 100Base-T LAN, HP Wireless Optical Mini-Mouse

Work Station:  Inland 4 computer KMV (keyboard/mouse/video) Switch, Compaq Internet Keyboard, BTC Optical Mouse, Envision 17" CRT Monitor, Creative SBS 245 Speakers, LAN & Surge Power Hookups.

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