HIstory of the Computer

This week has been really interesting learning about the history of the computer. I grew up in that era. At the time the creators of Apple were tinkering in their garages, I was typing away on an old Royal typewriter, waiting to get my chance on the electric one. And when I first went to school and heard about computers, I never thought I'd be able to afford one, let alone see the use they had in society. At that time, Visicalc hadn't been invented. What a change they had made in our lives.
Now I'm looking under the hood and discovering the motherboard of circuitry and a whole new language. It's amazing that we have come so far in such a short time.
This wasn't the first time I'd been inside a computer. The first time was when I was going to school in Eau Claire. We had to look inside an Apple II. At the time I thought there wasn't much to it, yet didn't fully understand how the chip could do so much and hold so much information. It still boggles my mind. I like the convenience of having my work done somewhat faster, especially when fixing up papers, checking out materials, searching for answers on the Internet, communication, etc.
When I did the boot process, I was able to access some information from this website http://www.watchingthenet.com/how-to-find-your-computer-bios-version-in-windows.html
to find out how to get information for my home compaq computer. Then the following link, http://blandname.com/2006/09/20/wheres-my-mac-bios-how-to-get-into-openfirmware-easily/ helped me with understanding how to find the information about the bios for my Macbook. It's no wonder I couldn't find it, as it's completely different from the IBM PC.
I know I'll be able to use this information when I talk about the history aspects of technology with the library classes. In some classes, I actually get to talk about historic events of the computer. This information will be very helpful. Another area it'll be useful is when I have to find out what's going on with my computer. I can find out how much memory is actually left, or if there's another problem. I never knew the start menu had those resources associated with it in the school setting.