About Me - Photographs, information, history. Anything else you wanna know, get an email to Me, or use ICQ (61410527), AIM (ashingtonpc), Also using Skype: ashingtonpc

Maybe I'll organise what I put here, then again, maybe I'll not bother, I mean, what's the point? It aint like I drive buses or anything, so what the heck's a pic of Me on a bus got to do with anything? lol  Anyway, here's some pics of... ehm... anything I take pics of while I'm designing the site, and anything else I wanna put here.... in no particular random order!

Hi, I'm Steve, currently living in Northumberland, England, I've been involved with computers for what sometimes seems like too long, anyway, here's the 'about Me' part of the site,

probably bore you to death, but, what the heck, here goes................

It all started in 1981, I got a Sinclair ZX81 for Christmas, only thing was, the tape deck didn't work with the computer, so found that only way I could use it, was to write My own programs until I got a tape deck... which I did, and got such a buzz out of it :) I remember in school (probably the first computer lessons ever at that time!), the teacher was going on about commands that go together, I added to his list by mentioning GOSUB/RETURN (bet you don't know what they are, lol), and he seemed impressed... another buzz, I could actually convince people that I knew what I was doing, lol

Upgraded to a Commodore VIC 20, with a tape deck and a massive 3.5K of RAM (Memory). Hey, I could even load up commercial software now.... and I could take apart that commercial software and see how it worked, anyway, I'd already touched on writing in Z80 machine code on the old ZX81, now for something completely different, 6502 machine code. Just seemed like suddenly I knew this code, I guess it must've been because it was completely logical, so made sense to My logical way of thinking. Amazing what you can do in 3.5K, even better when you upgrade to 16K, lol but then...............

I got a C16/Plus4, extra colours, RAM, and extended BASIC programming language, oh, and not forgetting the built in assembler/disassembler which made machine code a lot easier :) Moved from this to an MSX, and back to delve in deeper with Z80 coding, then back to 6502 with the Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga where I first had a go at 68000 assembler, and then Atari ST which I had HOURS of programming enjoyment from, Me and Gor coded some mad stuff on this machine, lol

PC's.. The first 'PC' I got near, was when I was about 11, a guy who lived local was involved in the production of what were to be the first 'hard drives' anyway, Me being one of the very few people who were into computers, he asks Me to take a look, wow was I impressed, can't remember the specs, but we got the drive working, that was probably My first look at the insides of a computer.

I guess My first PC was an old CP/M thing, can't really remember the specs, but it had a monitor, and a case that looked more like they do today, and loads of network ports! these were 8080 processor based if I remember correctly. My first REAL PC was an 8MhZ thing, yes I said 8! and a massive 640K of memory.

Anyway, from there I just kept upgrading to where I am today, I've learned a lot, and continue to on a daily basis... and continue to upgrade when I need to, I have a passion for new technology, so when something 'new' comes out, I like to be in there knowing how it works :)

Not that I've always just done computers, I have also sold double glazing door to door.. now that was funny... When I got bored, I'd change the sales pitch, along the lines of 'Hiya, sorry to bother you, we're just calling round from 'Arthur Daley's Hot Garden Gnome Company'.. How we work is, we steal a gnome from one side of the estate, paint it's hat a different colour, and sell it to you at a good price, we get some cash, you get yourselves a cheap garden gnome.... interested?'... One sunny day, I used this sales pitch on an elderly woman in Stakeford (nearby town), I was very amused when she called through for her husband, and they then proceeded to tell Me how they were wanting a wishing well for the garden.... and they could tell Me just where to get one!!! lol. Also, when Karaoke first hit the UK bars, I got hold of some gear, and presented karaoke at many venues, as far South as Durham, and as far North as Thropton (Northumberland). Thropton was one of the best gigs I did, got there and the place looked derelict (Thropton memorial hall), anyways, called the guy who'd booked Me, and while he came down to open up, we went to buy beer at the local off license, I mean, that place is NOT gonna have pumps, lol... turned out it did... too much beer, and a darn good gig (from what I remember! lol!).

Now, it's mainly computers, at times I've been tempted to start doing the Karaoke's again as a sideline, maybe I will, a lot more people are doing them now (When I was in that game, there was about 2 other people in a 50 mile radius), and I guess they're not quite as popular, then again, beer prices in the UK are so high now so maybe it holds people back... Computers will always be the main thing, I can't get bored with them, cos they change all the time, Me likes change :)

Updated October 2006