Enterprise Networking Planet: Ziggy Admin and the OS from Mars

“This crusty old curmudgeon started futzing with computers in
the 1980s, way back in the days of 5.25″ floppies, DOS and DOS
batch files. When I started messing with personal computers, it was
because someone walked up and took away the typewriter I used as a
secretary and replaced it with a Radio Shack TRS-80 (aka
‘Trash-80’) Model III. It had two 5.25″ floppy drives. It was the
latest technology and no one in the office knew how to use the
thing including me. So, I set about learning what made the thing
tick, learning first to install and use the software that was
necessary to do my typing and other work, then how the operating
system (TRSDOS) and floppy drives worked. I was eventually the only
one in the office who had a clue how to operate the machine and I
trained others. Being the opportunist I am, I put this experience
on my resumé. The next job involved even more computer work,
including an old DEC PDP 11 and the humongous disk packs it used.
They held 67-256MB of data, I believe, which was a lot at the time.
We also had a few IBM Personal Computers in the office–again with
some DOS-based word processing programs and a couple of floppy
drives. This experience also ended up on my resumé…”

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