The Rural Voice, 1989-09, Page 30r
E1 EUIOE TO UYII1JI3
YOUR FIRST CIJ[flFUTER
S
o you're thinking about
buying a computer. If you've got past
the "just thinking" stage to the "just
looking" stage, you'll have run into
the first of the many hurdles lying in
wait for the unsuspecting first-time
computer buyer. You don't speak the
language.
When you venture into a computer
store, all you want to know is what a
computer will do and how much it will
cost. The salesman (it is usually a he)
starts talking about ports and printers,
drivers and disks. He can't help it.
The management may have sent him
to a seminar on first-time computer
buyers, but it won't have done any
good. He'll be midway through an
explanation of the difference between
a parallel and a serial port when
someone will come in looking for an
EPROM burner or a logic probe and
he's gone.
Buying a computer before you
know how to run one is a bit like
buying a car before you know how to
drive. You will be told: "Find the
software you want, then buy the
hardware to run it." This is believed
by computer people to be helpful
advice. For the novice, here is a
introduction in plain English, offered
to ease the transition to computer
literacy.
( RULE NUMBER ONE
Talk to everyone you know,
and many people you don't know,
who have — and use (an important
distinction) — a computer. Don't
hesitate to make a complete fool of
yourself; this is no time to be timid.
Computer magazines regularly run
funny articles about idiots who phone
up computer users on the flimsiest of
excuses — "I heard from the ex-
husband of a friend of a guy I used to
work with that you know something
about computers ..." — to pester
them for advice about what computer
to buy. Never mind. Just grit your
teeth and carry on. You have no
choice. The alternative is to sit at
home with a $5,000 machine you've
just taken out of the box only to dis-
cover it won't do what you wanted it
to do.
When I called a computer
consultant friend for advice he just
laughed and said it didn't matter what
I bought for a first computer. Every-
one always bought something else six
months later.
Don't be discouraged. At this
point, other computer users are your
best source of information and advice.
And those are two things you will
need.
Other excellent sources are the
computer magazines you may have
noticed proliferating on your local
newsstand. At first they'll be hard to
understand, but as you become more
familiar with the systems and the
language, they'll become more useful.
You could also try your local library
for books about microcomputers.
Computer guides tend to become
outdated quickly, so anything more
than two or three years old may be
unreliable. Of course, you could
always sign up for an introductory
computer course, but why do things
the easy way?
RULE NUMBER TWO
Get acquainted with the two
basic types of computers: the Apple -
Macintosh systems and the IBM -type
system. These are two basic "fam-
ilies" of computers. Years ago they
were very different in their appear-
ance, their operation, and the pro-
grams they could run, but in recent
years they have come to share
capabilities more closely, and many
popular programs are available for
both systems.
The Apple -Macintosh computers
originally were easier to use, better
suited to graphics and desktop
publishing, and more popular with
children, but thought not quite power-
ful enough for the business world.
IBM-PC types, on the other hand,
were the first choice for business, but
were more difficult to learn, and far
less suited for graphics. In the past
few years these differences have been
minimized, so that the capabilities of
each are quite similar, but the oper-
ating style and "feel" of each remains
unique. You need to try both to see
which fits you better.
In a recent survey done by the
Agriculture Extension Computer
Laboratory at the University of
Guelph, the IBM-PC system was by
far the most popular on farms. At this
point I should explain that by IBM-PC
types, I mean the IBM-PC system
which uses DOS as its operating
language, and for which there are
dozens of imitations, called clones, or
IBM -compatibles, on the market.
In fact, IBM no longer makes its
PC, and is now marketing a new sys-
tem, yet the original system remains
the most popular on the market. Most
popular programs are available for
both systems, but not all, so that's
what the experts mean when they
28 THE RURAL VOICE