Personal Fiction My First ComputerWow, what an experience it was to see a machine that could think for the first time! This machine could do calculations and display graphics in the blink of an eye and play two-dimensional games (which was all there was back then). This wasn't something you normally saw. It was something straight out of a science fiction movie. At least that's what I thought. So my quest was clear to me. I had to learn how to manipulate a computer. So for starters, all computer nerds (like me) know that to run an old 286 (which is what I had) you need to know DOS. This is the hardest way to start. DOS consists entirely of typed commands. Not like these point and click commands we use in current times. At this point the mouse had just entered production and was not very well known. This is when I started experimenting with DOS. I started teaching myself how to do things like run a program by typing its name and hitting enter (the simplest command in DOS). I also learned how to view the contents of a hard drive directory by typing "dir" and then pressing Enter; the list of things I've learned to do with DOS goes on and on. Then my father brought me home a new computer. Man, I was excited! I waited outside for what seemed like hours before he came home with it. It was a 486 with a 33 MHz processor, a double-speed CD-ROM drive, and a 2400 baud modem. I was finally going to learn this new first summer program called Windows.. When I first put it all together I was in awe. This thing dwarfs my old computer, I thought. But this day was bittersweet. My sister, thinking I had to push the CD-ROM tray to close it, broke it (almost killed her). After that my next goal was to install a new CD-ROM. We sent the old one (since it was still under warranty) and sent a new one. I went ahead and installed my first piece of hardware; it was a wonderful thing. Now I was going. I was finally learning how to install components on a computer.