Where to go for education

[Sky-Knight]

I actually have an old 486 in the garage somewhere that is RLL/MFM/IDE capable... I really should throw that thing out.

 

[GreyWolf]

486 pc's = gold and if you need a space warmer there you go =)

 

[Porthos]

In my opinion, speaking as someone who does 99% home user break/fix based on what I see over the last 4 years you need to know these things.

How win 10 works and how to reinstall it in the most time efficient manner.
How win 10 licensing works and what is eligible for upgrade.
How to replace a hard drive (sata and M.2). (including what to do with a failing one to preserve data)
Replace laptop screens and keyboards.
Replace desktop power supply's (choosing a quality brand)
Replace the occasional motherboard. (know when to just replace the system)
Order and install compatible ram.
Know where to acquire quality refurbished computers. (knowing the big difference between business claas and consumer)

This is for the most part all I have had to do in the last few years.

 

[Markverhyden]

But... what about RLL and MFM?

Now don't leave out SCSI just because it sounds funny....

 

[Sky-Knight]

Now don't leave out SCSI just because it sounds funny....

Well SCSI / SAS is still active too...

 

[Diggs]

Im all ears...

If you see one of those, cover those ears and run!

 

[fencepost]

I think we may have a full-height SCSI drive of some generation sitting on a shelf.... That's a scary looking beast.

 

[trevm999]

Was the Technibble Unconvention discontinued?
There's MangoCon and SpiceWorld

Just recently there was an Azure conference nearby me, as well as I'm regularly invited to some conference put on by a big local MSP that invites a lot of vendors.

Sometimes it can be mostly marketing by vendors and networking.

 

[frase]

I actually have an old 486 in the garage somewhere that is RLL/MFM/IDE capable... I really should throw that thing out.

nooooo

 

[Markverhyden]

nooooo

Packrat. I know what that is.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Packrat. I know what that is.

I have a small collection of ancient stuff as a sort of personal history. At one point I had every generation of Intel CPU from the 8080 on up to the 2nd Gen iSeries.

But I am scrapping and paring down now, I'm actually not 100% certain I still have that 486... it might have gone to the scrappers over this past winter.

 

[fencepost]

If I find my old CGA card in cleaning I'll be sure to post about it, pretty sure the rest of that computer went a long long long time ago.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@fencepost, I'm younger than most that remember this stuff. But I got into the industry stupid young... programming at 5 young.

So I'm sitting in a basic hardware class in college back in 99, and we're doing the basic A+ style hardware identification game. People were passing out hardware around the room in a loop, and along comes this thing that the teacher tossed in specifically to stump everyone.

This thing gets to me I take a hard look and just started laughing. At this point the entire class turns to me, and I look at the instructor and ask him... Where the heck did you manage to get an old IBM XT clock card in 1999? He laughed, took his museum piece back, and told me to never come back to his class I've got an A... there's nothing he can teach me.

Later he pulled me aside and told me he'd been doing that class with that card for almost 10 years, and never had a student ID the thing before.

Gosh... the days when computers were so stupid even the system clock was an expansion card!

 

[nlinecomputers]

Every tech should have and read this book:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0789756102/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0