Nostalgic Bytes: My Journey from Green Screens to Sound Blaster Dreams

There are people who grew up with smartphones.

I grew up with floppy disks.

My journey with computers began around 1983, when I was in Primary 3. Back then, owning a personal computer was a luxury. I didn't have one, so every chance I had to use a computer felt magical.

I vividly remember visiting a friend's house to use his IBM PC/XT compatible computer. And my cousin had the more powerful IBM AT.

What fascinated me the most wasn't just the computer itself.

It was the sound of technology.

The loud click of the power switch.

The rhythmic chattering of the floppy disk drives.

The satisfying clunk as the drive locked a 5.25 inch floppy disk into place.

Those sounds are forever etched into my memory.

Before Windows...

There was no Windows desktop.

No mouse.

No icons.

Just a blinking C:> prompt waiting patiently for you to type commands.

You had to know what you were doing.

If you didn't, the computer simply stared back at you.... no screensaver....

C:\>

That blinking cursor was both intimidating and inviting.

It challenged you to learn.

Learning the Softwares.

Fortunately, my uncle believed computers would shape the future.

He sponsored my cousin and I to attend a computer course where I learned PC DOS commands (later became MS-DOS, I think?), Lotus 1-2-3, WordPerfect and BASIC in a classroom full of other students.

At that time, Lotus 1-2-3 wasn't just spreadsheet software.... It was the spreadsheet application for businesses around the world. Nah, din use that much except the chance I had in my uncle's office where one of his colleague asked me to key in some database just to kill time.

QBASIC, on the other hand, opened a whole new universe.

For the first time, I wasn't just using a computer and becoming reactive. I was telling it what to do!

Simple programs. GOTO commands and loops, IF/THEN statements and printing messages on the screen. Making the computer obey my commands felt like magic, abeit, simple.

Little did I know those lessons would become the foundation of how I approached technology for the rest of my life.

Gaming in Four Shades...

Games were incredibly simple by today's standards.

One of my favourites was Serpentine by Broderbund.

No cinematic graphics.

No online multiplayer.

Just pure gameplay.

At first, everything appeared on a green monochrome monitor.

Green.

Bright green.

That's all.

When someone upgraded to a CGA (Color Graphics Adapter) monitor, it felt revolutionary.

Imagine...

Four colours on screen!

Today we laugh at four colours.

Back then, it felt like stepping into the future.

Then came the day my friend proudly announced,

"My computer has EGA!"

I went to his home in Macpherson to his monitor.

Suddenly there were sixteen colours.

The graphics looked richer.

Games looked alive.

To a young boy in the 80s, EGA wasn't just better graphics.

It was proof that technology never stopped improving.

Around 1983, my cousin recieved a used office PC from his dad.

The setup consisted of:

• Intel 8088 processor running at 4.77 MHz

• Around 256 KB RAM

• Colour Graphics Adaptor (CGA), displaying in a big and heavy Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

• Mechanical keyboard that could probably survive a war

• No hard disk for many home users, meaning programs like DOS and game are loaded entirely from the 1 X 5.25-inch floppy drives (360 KB, double density) floppy drives.

  
  

Booting a computer meant inserting a working DOS floppy disk before switching it on.

Without that floppy... The computer couldn't even start.

Around 1986

Technology advanced rapidly and i had a schoolmate this had this spec.

• Intel 80286 processors

• 640 KB RAM (Godmode, then)

• 20 MB hard disks

• EGA graphics with 16 colours

• Faster and smaller 3.5-inch floppy drives with 1.44MB capacity!!!

• Larger monitors in VGA!!! (Video Graphics Array)

Owning an AT-class 16-bit processing computer during this period was considered incredibly impressive, giving one palpable bragging rights and respect. Then, we had school mates giving their pocket money and lunch boxes so that they may play Gunship at his home.

Then Came Sound

For years, games were silent except for the occasional beep from the internal PC speaker.

Different pitches of beeps, buzzes, some melodies and a few other permutations.

That was all we had.

Then, in 1989, Creative Technology from our little red dot changed everything.

They introduced the Sound Blaster.

Suddenly computers could play music.

Real music.

Digital voices.

Explosions.

Environmental sounds.

It completely transformed PC gaming. Suddenly, your desktop requires space for 2 speakers!

The Day I Bought My Own Computer

Many years later, I finally decided it was time in 1992/1993.

I took out my first loan to buy my very first personal computer.

It wasn't an easy decision.

Computers were expensive.

But I knew this wasn't just another purchase.

It was an investment in my future.

One of the first games my friends and I spent countless hours playing was Dune II.

Not simply because of its graphics.

Not only because of its strategy.

But because it sounded alive.

The Sound Blaster Pro filled the room with music that made the deserts of Arrakis feel real.

For someone who had started with a green monochrome monitor and a tiny- internal PC speaker...

It was nothing short of breathtaking.

• Intel 486 DX-33Mhz processors, with a button to double it to 66Mhz!

• 4 MB RAM

• 120 MB IDE hard disks (The well known C:\)

• Super VGA graphics with gazillion colours on my 14" CRT monitor!!!

• 2 X 3.5-inch 1.44MB floppy drives (A: and B:)

• The Godly Sound Blaster Pro with 2 amazing speakers!

• MS-DOS 5.0 with Windows 3.1

• 14,400 bps US Robotics modem!!!!

• 3 button mouse!!!

Not Forgeting the bundled/purchase with purchase accessories

• Computer Table

• Floppy drive cleaning kit (typically free)

• Dust cover for the PC, including standing desktop, monitor and keyboard (typically free)

• Epson 24 pin Dot Matrix printer running RS 232 serial port.

• 1 pack of 10 1.44MB Verbatim Floppy Disks and floppy disk storage box (typically free)

• Screen Filter with spray and cloth

Total damage SGD4.3k back then!!!!

Looking Back

Today's computers have processors billions of times faster than those early machines.

They fit inside our pockets.

They connect to the entire world.

They generate artificial intelligence.

But somehow...

I still miss the simplicity of those early days.

Typing commands into DOS.

Waiting for floppy disks to load.

Watching a game slowly appear line by line.

Feeling amazed by four colours on a screen.

Those weren't limitations.

They were milestones.

Every upgrade felt earned.

Every new piece of hardware felt like witnessing history unfold.

Perhaps that's why, even today, every time I hear the faint grunt of an old floppy drive in a YouTube video, I'm transported back to a small living room in the 1990s...

A curious Primary 3 boy.

A blinking DOS prompt.

And a future waiting to be discovered.