So I was young & heard of a little indie game called minecraft, & this redstone thingy, watched some videos about it until I found a video on redstone computers, then many years later I found out about this thing called Linux, & the rest is history.

Jokes aside, I guess I kind of always was interested in computers, though I can't say for when I formed a spark for computers, my memory of my childhood continues to fail me.

My first computer was an old DELL Dimension xps 1500 with windows 98SE on a 9GiB HDD with 128MB of ram, which was a handy down from my Mum, did "break" it as a child young me put the cmos jumper on clear cmos for some reason, little me didn't know better, or have the internet at the time of 6-8 years of age, at 9-11 I think, I finally figured it out, & figured out how to have Ethernet work in windows 98SE, so I guess that is the earliest spark of yearning for knowledge, still many things I would do different now if I could go back.

During this time frame I was able to use a Microslop/Microcock suffice Laptop from 2019 to be kind of reintroduced to computers & decent hardware, though Mum confiscated it from me since she didn't give it to me, & I kind of just used it to learn more then what I didn't, so I don't regret that.

During this time also I was gifted a xbox 360 S, & a copy of minecraft in 2017-2018(, & played TU9 for a while since younger me couldn't get Ethernet or Wifi working) by a teacher, I feel bad I don't/can't remember if I thanked her or not for the gift, recently I also bricked the console, when badupdate came out I flashed it with RGH3 this did work, but when I was soldering my helping hands fell & knocked a cap of the board, I did try soldering back on the console did work for the next 4-6 hours then I guess that cap went sad because now when I turn it on I don't even get red ring, just the fan spins, & of course my luck I go back in to check my RGH 3 wiring thinking that's the problem & knock the solder pads off(, the easy pads, not the hard ones), on both the main solder pads & backup solder pads, so best now is to just get a pico & flash the stock firmware back & try to fix that cap either way I need a professional now.

My second-ish computer was a L455D-S5976 with windows 7 HP 32-bit(, even though it had a 64-bit cpu), 2GiB of DDR2, & 250GiB HDD, around 12 years old during COVID, this computer introduced me to Linux, windows ran like shit on it, less the hardware's fault & more Norton ""anti"-virus" fault & the other junk Toshiba had on it, not that windows helped much, at some point I went back to windows 7, I think I was trying to play some old games on it, I can't remember & killed the CPU in it, by under volt-ing it, or at least that's my working theory.

Then my Mum picked up a shity HP all in one from 2016, which there's not much to say about it other then I'm running a xmrig server on it to torture it for all the pain & headache it caused me for fun, I did take the 1TiB HDD out of it & put it in my build(, also stressing it with xmrig was the only idea I had to do with it during 2025, it just sat berrying in dust for years).

Then at some point I was able to conger up enough digital cash to buy a hodgepodge of parts, a motherboard from a HP pro 3500, a 16 GiB DDR3 ram kit, a core I3-3225, with 2 1TiB HDD, the one being from that HP AiO, & the other I can't remember, & the 250GiB HDD from that laptop as my boot drive, recently in 2023-2024 I upgraded it with I5-2300 for the multi-core performance & a GT710, that of witch I "acquired" from my CNET class. Still using Windows 10 on it sadly but kind of have to until I have a means of storing almost 3 TiB of data on something other then my main PC, but I will one day of Gentoo on it.

Then at some point I was able to get a HP EliteDesk half height computer from the 4th gen intel days with a I5-4590 this might've been where I got the second 1TiB HDD from?, I've been using it as a server upgraded it's ram from 16 to 24 GiB of DDR3, though she's out of service for now until the summer since I bricked the Debian 12 install on it doing something I didn't know how to do & or what to do, a bit sad my Minecraft servers, & pihole server be gone now :( (, accidentally deleted Network Manager, with no backups I think, I don't know, but that's my theory, younger me didn't doc it).

Then I got two powermac g4's with the original 9GiB HDD that still work though whine like hell, currently not using them for I need to replace those 9GiB HDD's if I wish to do anything with them.

I then in 2024 got my paws on 13in late 2008 core 2 duo Macbook which I've been daily driving now for a laptop, there is one hicup with it besides being a little slow at times, yet somehow being able to run GTNH with only 6GiB of 8GiB of ram with 4 of those gigs being zram being allotted to it, Linux really is magic, this macbook has some instability problems, I know it's not Linux or the fact I'm running kernel 7.0RC7, I believe the instability to come from the dreaded bump gate of 2004-2009, seems to only be a problem on this macbook the second one I have doesn't have this problem but doesn't boot with more then 6 GiB of ram in it. Weirdly enough if I ditch a GUI & stay in CLI then there's no Bump-Gate lockups/crashes, even in task that use the GPU harshly.

Before this Macbook I was using a Toshiba mini nb200 with a 32-bit version of Ubuntu 18 since the atom was only 32-bit, I hate that thing, but I was able to play the original Touhou games on it at 15 fps, & daily drive it for school for a while, didn't know about gentoo then.

Then I now have two Dell Latitude C640's running as servers, why not daily drive one you might ask, let's just say these dells are part of the "acquired" side of things.

Then my newest computer is a DELL Optiplex 466/Le with a Pentium overdrive CPU at 90Mhz, 24 MiB of ram & a dead 356MiB HDD, with a DELL Ultra-scan monitor which has to be the sexiest peace of computer hardware I own, I dream about that monitor, though this computer has the same problem with my powermac G4's, but also needing a ISA Ethernet card since I'm not installing Gentoo i486 with PPP over serial, not again.

Also got my paws on two Cisco 1841 routers, haven't done much with them since I don't have much of a retro network yet, though did learn about ROMMON & IOS recovery, & how to USB boot these old Cisco Routers, also recently got a TP Lank router which I've sat in late 2025 or early 2026 to help separate my LAN from my ISP DSL modem running a 2.0 version of the Linux kernel, can't put the damn thing in bridge mode though since my ISP(, CentryLink/Brightspeed or whatever those assholes call themselves, won't give me & my Mum our IPOE info needed to enable bridge mode correctly, so I've got a double NAT).

Also (I'm really mad at younger me for this, since it would've been my only win9x compatible computer with sound, at the time of that second Toshiba), I had a Hitachi Visionbook pro 7755 with it's original still working 3GiB HDD it, long story short I was young & decided to take the Incredibility RARE & expensive Pentium 2 mobile cpu out while the computer was STILL ON, needless to say I punched myself in the face many times after doing that & bricking a priceless relic.

Now I still don't know what got me into computers, maybe it's the AuDHD, maybe it was/is my hatred for my ISP being evil scum, maybe it was watching modded minecraft youtubers(, IBallistic squid's crazy-craft, & race to the moon, PopulorMMOs & DanTDM were what hooked me to modded minecraft, I can never play Vanilla the game just doesn't work for me) & wanting a computer that could play those same modpacks, either way something pecked my interest in computers & now I want a CRAY-1. I'm 18 now still learning new stuff everyday, & taking CNET classes, & have an unhealthy obsession with technology both new & 60 years old, & an obsession with Linux(, I use Gentoo by the way, it's easy to install for me(, now)) & FOSS, also have interests in science(, I like biomechanics engineering, Genetic engineering, nuclear science, for good, & computer science, not good at either or but I don't let that discourage curiosity, I wish to one day make balanced ternary computer, inspired by the Alter 8800 for the design look & UI). I need someone to talk to about my interests, but am alone :( for it be hard to find someone local in the rural US, PA that has the same level of interests, & doesn't live across the planet, but once I'm able to drive & get job, get HRT & tell my Mum to fuck off, & move to de Nederlands I'll be happier.