• Question: Have you ever built a computer?

    Asked by to Sergey, Ian on 13 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Sergey Lamzin

      Sergey Lamzin answered on 13 Jun 2014:

      Depends on your definition of computer.

      Historically (early last century) computers used to be people (mostly women) who worked in computing centres. Business folk would bring them calculations on paper and they would compute them. Since I am male and not capable of giving birth, i’d have to say – no I have not given birth to a computer.

      If you refer to the more modern definition of a black box filled with plastic boards and silicone microchips then yes, I have put more then one of those together. It’s not very difficult, everyone can do it. Once you have the parts there is pretty much only one way they fit together. You should try it.

      A lot of things are computers today. Your phone is a computer, your watch probably is a computer, your TV is a computer, your microwave oven, …
      These are generally a lot more difficult to build. Half the parts are impossible to build in a DIY environment. And in the end it’s way to expensive in comparison to buying a finished product off Amazon.

    • Photo: Ian Simpson

      Ian Simpson answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      Yes I have, good fun and a great way to learn what everything does. I bought this guide book for my Dad when he retired as he was threatening to build one himself :-

      http://amzn.to/UIoZtH

      though I don’t think he ever did, too busy playing golf 😉

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