The lack of computer literacy and rotting of it to dumb it down for the brain rotten ipad kids ... did i just sound old? im just 35 xD
It is a serious concern for mine for the humans. My love Noctalon agrees with me.
Nightfox wrote to mary4 <=-
I've had the same thought.. When I was growing up, it was common
wisdom that computers & related technology are here to stay, so it's
odd to me that there seems to be a bit of computer illiteracy with some younger people these days. If anything, I thought people of newer generations would be more computer literate than people in the past.
The lack of computer literacy and rotting of it to dumb it down for the brain rotten ipad kids ... did i just sound old? im just 35 xD
RetroSwim wrote to mary4 <=-
Or to put it another way: The wonder and intrigue we had as youngsters, with computers in their own right, will be difficult to inspire going forward. And that makes me sad.
Setting IRQs and ports on peripherals using DIP switches, getting itInternal modems were not fun.
all right, flipping a big red switch, watching the memory test, then
the longest of pauses, a beep - and a C: prompt.
Internal modems were not fun.
Setting up comports.Internal modems were not fun.
Why do you say that? They were very easy to configure and they didn't use any
extra power outlets. At one point, I had 2 internal modems for my 2 phone lines.
The lack of computer literacy and rotting of it to dumb it down for t brain rotten ipad kids ... did i just sound old? im just 35 xD
I'm of two minds about it.
On one hand, I think it's a shitty idea to gatekeep the benefits of technology behind some kind of arbitrary skill check. For the longest time, effectively using computers was walled behind knowledge of
technical concepts like directories and files. The idea to abstract all that away when iOS and Android rose to prominence was genius. Computing became task- and outcome-focussed, rather than wrangling with the
machine. This is all a "Good Thing TM".
On the other hand, because computers are ubiquitous and accessible to
all, they're just a part of the furniture now, and it's hard to get
young people excited and interested in computers beyond using them as a tool to achieve a task or goal.
Or to put it another way: The wonder and intrigue we had as youngsters, with computers in their own right, will be difficult to inspire going forward. And that makes me sad.
Cheers,
Setting IRQs and ports on peripherals using DIP switches, getting itInternal modems were not fun.
all right, flipping a big red switch, watching the memory test, then
the longest of pauses, a beep - and a C: prompt.
Matthew Munson wrote to Poindexter Fortran <=-
Internal modems were not fun.
Matthew Munson wrote to Exodus <=-
On 4/19/2026 4:06 PM, Exodus wrote to Matthew Munson:
Why do you say that? They were very easy to configure and they didn't use an
y
extra power outlets. At one point, I had 2 internal modems for my 2 phone lines.
Setting up comports.
The thing is, Directories and Files still exist. iOS and Android abstract them away and obscure what is going on underneath. DOS was raw, you dealt with the system as it actually was. With Windows 11, you have a folder hierarchy which doesn't actually represent how the files are stored.
Internal modems were not fun.
Perceptions change. I remember not wanting to use an internal on the BBS because if the modem hung you'd need to reboot the WHOLE COMPUTER to reset it.
Matthew Munson wrote to Poindexter Fortran <=-
Internal modems were not fun.
Perceptions change. I remember not wanting to use an internal on the BBS because if the modem hung you'd need to reboot the WHOLE COMPUTER to
reset it.
Re: Re: Computers Literacy
By: boraxman to RetroSwim on Mon Apr 20 2026 09:00 pm
The thing is, Directories and Files still exist. iOS and Android abs them away and obscure what is going on underneath. DOS was raw, you with the system as it actually was. With Windows 11, you have a fold hierarchy which doesn't actually represent how the files are stored.
How is Windows 11 different in its folder/directory heirarchy? You
still work with files & directories on Windows 11; it's not much
different than DOS, aside from long filenames.
Nightfox
I'm not in front of a Windows box here at home (I don't use W11), but I do use it at work. The issues I have are...
* Can be unclear what is stored on your C: and what is one "One Drive".
* My Documents is where exactly? Going up a folder may or may not take you to the parent folder. I know its under my home directory but going "up" doesn't always just take me to the parent folder, but a pseudo folder with common used folders.
* C: is below My Computer, which doesn't always appear top level.
I'm not in front of a Windows box here at home (I don't use W11), but use it at work. The issues I have are...
* Can be unclear what is stored on your C: and what is one "One Drive
I've been using Windows 11 for a while, and IMO it's not hard to figure that out..
* My Documents is where exactly? Going up a folder may or may not tak to the parent folder. I know its under my home directory but going " doesn't always just take me to the parent folder, but a pseudo folder common used folders.
I'm not entirely sure what you mean here.. Your "My Documents" folder is always under your home directory, which is in C:\Users\<your_name>
I've seen the pseudo folders, and I agree that's annoying, but you can go specifically to your home directory on the C:\Users directory and go from there, and IMO it's not difficult. The directory heirarchy on the hard drive in Windows 11 is the same as it's always been, including DOS. The weird pseudo directory stuff is something Windows 11 does on top of that.
* C: is below My Computer, which doesn't always appear top level.
What do you mean by "appear top level"?
Nightfox
This is just annoying. "Up a level", from the EXACT same folder,
differs based on how you go to the folder in the first place.
Internal modems were not fun.
Why do you say that? They were very easy to configure and they didn't use any extra power outlets.
Maybe its the setup at work, but if I go to "Documents" or "Downloads", which I do often, from the pinned folders, then go up a level, I go back to the pinned folders, which seems to be a One Drive overview. BUT, if I go through Users ->My User ->> Documents, I get the exact same folder, but now going up goes back
to My User.
This is just annoying. "Up a level", from the EXACT same folder, differs based on how you go to the folder in the first place.
Not to defend Microslop (and I won't), but this seems like having a pointer-based file system rather than a hierarchical one. And it's not like the hard drive itself is organized around this.
But I'm not about to defend them on this, because my problem is that I need to be able to address and reliably get to x point, and I think Microslop's approach to this winds up making it harder to find where things are actually living.That sounds a little like Recoll https://www.lesbonscomptes.com/recoll/pages/index-recoll.html
But I don't have examples of things I was trying to do that annoyed me.
On the other hand, I have a half-formed idea in my head where it'd be
nice to have some sort of file database that would help me keep track of where I have files (and backups), along with "last seens" for backup drives, that I could then search among.
And hopefully create some sort of a web for, so that I'm linking things all over the place, since, e.g., my photos from March should be both in
a march 2026 folder and, e.g., a "photos of my plants" set of folders.
But I haven't found any software that does what I've been thinking
about, and the idea is too ill-formed for me to try and create my own.
--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
Re: Re: Computers Literacy
By: boraxman to Nightfox on Wed Apr 22 2026 10:35 pm
Maybe its the setup at work, but if I go to "Documents" or "Downloads which I do often, from the pinned folders, then go up a level, I go b to the pinned folders, which seems to be a One Drive overview. BUT, go through Users ->My User ->> Documents, I get the exact same folder, but now going up
to My User.goes back
Yeah, I've seen that too, and it seems Windows 11 even does that by default when installed on a home computer. I do find it a bit annoying, but I've figured out (like you) that I can go through users\My user\Documents to get to the one on my local computer.
Microsoft seems to want to push OneDrive (among other things), and I suspect it would lead to Microsoft telling users "You're running out of space on OneDrive, but you can get more space (for a fee)!", similar to what Google does with its Google Drive and backing up your phone photos
by default & such..
That kind of thing is one of the reasons why I switched to using Linux full-time on my main PC at home a few months ago. I feel like Windows
was getting a bit too annoying with the stuff it (and Microsoft) is
doing these days. Also, it seems that support for running Windows games on Linux is better than ever these days - I'm able to play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 in Linux using Proton (and I installed it from the Steam store), and it works great. I feel like there's little need for Windows at home these days..
Nightfox wrote to boraxman <=-
Microsoft seems to want to push OneDrive (among other things), and I suspect it would lead to Microsoft telling users "You're running out of space on OneDrive, but you can get more space (for a fee)!", similar to what Google does with its Google Drive and backing up your phone photos
by default & such..
That sounds a little like Recoll https://www.lesbonscomptes.com/recoll/pages/index-recoll.html
It is a search tool, indexes your files so you can search for them like
in a web search. Supports tags I think to, so you may be able to get close to what you want.
I've had the same thought.. When I was growing up, it was common wisdom that computers & related technology are here to stay, so it's odd to me that there seems to be a bit of computer illiteracy with some younger people these days. If anything, I thought people of newer generations would be more computer literate than people in the past.
For a lot of them, the computer is their phone or a gaming device. They don't use a computer for "computing" any more.
On one hand, I think it's a shitty idea to gatekeep the benefits of technology behind some kind of arbitrary skill check. For the longest time, effectively using computers was walled behind knowledge of
technical concepts like directories and files. The idea to abstract all that away when iOS and Android rose to prominence was genius. Computing became task- and outcome-focussed, rather than wrangling with the
machine. This is all a "Good Thing TM".
On the other hand, because computers are ubiquitous and accessible to
all, they're just a part of the furniture now, and it's hard to get
young people excited and interested in computers beyond using them as a tool to achieve a task or goal.
Or to put it another way: The wonder and intrigue we had as youngsters, with computers in their own right, will be difficult to inspire going forward. And that makes me sad.
Setting IRQs and ports on peripherals using DIP switches, getting it
all right, flipping a big red switch, watching the memory test, then
the longest of pauses, a beep - and a C: prompt.
That was ASMR long before anyone knew the term. :)
Setting up comports.do you do that with the multi I/O CARD?? I have some and they have jumpers for the i/o and com1 settings for IRQ4
The thing is, Directories and Files still exist. iOS and Android
abstract them away and obscure what is going on underneath. DOS was
raw, you dealt with the system as it actually was. With Windows 11, you have a folder hierarchy which doesn't actually represent how the files
are stored.
This leads to increased confusions, and an incorrect understanding.
Young people actually are not that good with computers atall. They can bo> use a phone, perform single tasks which hand hold them, but anything bo> more abstract, and they are lost.
Internal software driven modems came strait from the devils asshole, but hardware based modems were fine. I had an internal 33.6K modem for a while it was great.
Rebooting a DOS box took, what, 30 seconds?
i suspect this might be a conversation about softmodems? they took a
cool idea (a fast reprogrammable chip inside of the modem that could be reprogrammed to support newer standards) and used it to cheap out as
much as possible (hide some audio channels like a sound card so they can take care of it in software on the PC.. pretty much why at the end a one card soundcard/modem was common on prebuilts)
The thing is, Directories and Files still exist. iOS and Androi them away and obscure what is going on underneath. DOS was raw, with the system as it actually was. With Windows 11, you have a hierarchy which doesn't actually represent how the files are sto
How is Windows 11 different in its folder/directory heirarchy? You still work with files & directories on Windows 11; it's not much different than DOS, aside from long filenames.
Nightfox
I'm not in front of a Windows box here at home (I don't use W11), but I
do use it at work. The issues I have are...
* Can be unclear what is stored on your C: and what is one "One Drive".
* My Documents is where exactly? Going up a folder may or may not take
you to the parent folder. I know its under my home directory but going "up" doesn't always just take me to the parent folder, but a pseudo
folder with common used folders.
* C: is below My Computer, which doesn't always appear top level.
With DOS, you always knew exactly where in the heirarchy you were, with Windows 11 not always so.
Ditto. Now the Winmodems, those were bad.Winhardware is always horrid
That kind of thing is one of the reasons why I switched to using Linux full-time on my main PC at home a few months ago. I feel like Windows
was getting a bit too annoying with the stuff it (and Microsoft) is
doing these days. Also, it seems that support for running Windows games on Linux is better than ever these days - I'm able to play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 in Linux using Proton (and I installed it from the Steam store), and it works great. I feel like there's little need for Windows at home these days..
it's honestly sad how dumbed down computers have gotten. like i personally think they are far too dumb down for everyone. tbh. They need a bit more challenge. just a slight use of the brain then i am happy mate. They need moar CLI usage. the heavy GUI usage with no CLI is a problem to me. I use CLI all the time as it is very fast and more efficient.
got side tracked. but I dont do alot of media watching because i am very busy with spooky things these days. also hi everyone! :3
Rebooting a DOS box took, what, 30 seconds?
longer if u used floppies to boot a 286 or XT system
| Sysop: | Angel Ripoll |
|---|---|
| Location: | Madrid, Spain |
| Users: | 20 |
| Nodes: | 8 (0 / 8) |
| Uptime: | 25:32:23 |
| Calls: | 1,187 |
| Files: | 1,924 |
| D/L today: |
8 files (10K bytes) |
| Messages: | 67,540 |