The Rhode island Computer Museum, now over 10 years old,
has amassed vintage computers representing nearly every nation of the world. To
many donors working with a computer has been a self-discovery, and an exciting
learning realization.
If you would like to share your own Computer history story, submit pictures and
a discussion of your early times learning about and using computers. Please contact us.
|
;)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Charlotte Plotsky Autobiographical Summary of Computer-Related Activities
Conducted by Charlotte Plotsky of ACTS Institute, Inc., a nonprofit tax-exempt
Illinois-based organization. Charlotte first became interested in new technologies for her small
consulting and technical assistance business in the ‘70s. Charlotte bought the first VCR on the
market, an RCA VHS monster (compared to later VHS recorders) and a Commodore 64
PC. She used the latter primarily for word processing and some data
base management, e.g. for mailings, and adapted a very simple address mailing
label software program to inventory educational materials. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stephan Richard Borden
1970 - 2003.
Stephan Borden was born on April 2, 1970, in Andover,
Massachusetts. His exposure to computers started with handheld game
toys that were introduced in the early 1980s. He soon graduated to a
Sinclair Timex. It didnt take long before he felt the need for
something more challenging, and he easily talked his father into a
Commodore 64.
Steve started out with action games like Jumpman on the C64 and
eventually moved on to more cerebral games like Zork and Hitchhikers
Guide to the Galaxy, which he quickly mastered. He was a voracious
reader and taught himself Basic and machine language programming,
writing several utilities for the C64. During the summer of 1987,
between his junior and senior years of high school, frustrated with the
slow display of graphics files on the C64, Steve wrote a program to
greatly speed up the display and dramatically increase the graphics
power of the C64. While his father nagged unsuccessfully to convince
him to get a real summer job to earn some money toward college, Steve
stubbornly continued to work full time on his computer program,
eventually developing V8. This program, through software, effectively
added the power of seven VIC-II chips to the one VIC-II chip in the
C64. He wrote an article on V8 and in 1988 sold it to COMPUTE!s
Gazette. It was published in the July 1988 issue. Although the $250
Steve received for the article wasnt a significant contribution towards
college, the on-going royalties and sales of the program netted far
more than he would have made bagging groceries at the local
supermarket. Upon graduation from Andover High School in 1988, Steve
was awarded the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics
Association Fellowship Award for excellence in academics and a
demonstrated interest in a technical career. In addition to a
scholarship, the award carried with it a summer job with a defense
contractor member of the Association. There were no arguments about
summer jobs that year. Steve spent the summer at Dynamics Research,
Inc., in Andover working with a team developing ADA for the U. S. Armed
Forces.
In the fall of 1988, Steve left home to study computer science at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, taking his
Commodore 64 with him. By the time he came home for Christmas, he had
come to the conclusion that he needed a more powerful computer. When he
returned to RPI in January, the C64 stayed behind, replaced by a new
Amiga 500.
Steve added every available hardware and software upgrade to his Amiga.
It served him well, and it continued to be his primary computer for
many years. Even when he had Macs and PCs available for his use, the
Amiga still remained his favorite at heart.
Steve died unexpectedly in October 2003. His Amiga system, his
software, and his books and magazines were donated by his parents to
the Rhode Island Computer Museum in 2004.
browsing. Return to the Computer Crypt can be accessed by the following
link:
Computer Crypt |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
