My Computer Memories: Late 90s – Early 2000s (Part 1)

The late 90s marked the real start of my computer adventures: My first PC, Windows and a big selection of software and games were all part of my childhood.

The First Family PC

Around 1997 my father bought our first family PC. It was an AMD K6 system with 166 MHz, CRT monitor, speakers, CD-ROM drive, printer, scanner, joystick, modem and headset; all placed period-accurately on a metal computer desk with tiny wheels.

The computer came with Windows 95. For us, an operating system was a novel concept. Our previous home computer, the C128, simply turned on and off with the power switch and instantly showed the BASIC prompt. So it was only natural for us to continue doing this, until we learned that you had to click “Start” to “shut down” the PC before turning it off.

Freeware, Shareware, Big Boxes and Shovelware

What really made the PC useful was the availability of all kinds of commercial and free software. Over time, our library grew constantly, but initially the new computer came bundled with the Lotus SmartSuite ‘96 office package, that installed wooden drawers at the top of the desktop. I don’t remember much of the Lotus programs, but toggling these drawers was very memorable to me. There was also bundled printer and scanner software on floppy disk and CD, like Ulead iPhoto Plus (that later became PhotoImpact), some random encyclopedias and other shareware to try out. And to protect us from manipulated files and programs we put our trust into Norton AntiVirus (the guy himself was printed on the very yellow box, so it must have been trustworthy!).

I used these “serious” programs for school research, homework and for helping my father typing out letters or preparing worksheets. But I was definitely more interested in the games for MS-DOS and Windows.

Building a Game Collection

I clearly remember the greatest game collection of all time, that was purchased around the same time as the PC: Gold Games 2 with e.g. Broken Sword, King’s Quest VII, EarthSiege 2, Toonstruck, Schatten über Riva and more timeless classics. I played through all of them and to this day I revisit some of those on a regular basis. These games can still run with the help of emulation (DOSBox-X), engine reimplementations/interpreters (ScummVM) or remasters.

My father, sister and I all had our personal favorites from the collection. And with my mother I tried out various education games and programs that she received for teaching purposes.

Games were always a welcome present for me and my father, either on christmas or on birthdays. And Magazines played a large role in discovering new releases through demos or even free titles.

Magazines

Computer magazines (like PC Praxis, CHIP, c’t, Linux-Magazin and Computer Bild Spiele) provided me with an endless stream of new freeware and shareware programs, games, tweaks and full versions on CD and later DVD to try out. There were always treasures on there. I had my regular magazines, but I also tried out new ones from time to time, when the cover looked interesting and on long family vacation road trips, where I absorbed every single piece of information.

Tinkering

Although the whole family used the PC, I didn’t shy away from tinkering with the innards of Windows, its mysterious system folders or the Registry, because I simply didn’t know any better.

My curiosity eventually lead to Windows problems and so my father and I had another reason to put our computer into the car and visit the local computer store from time to time. I remember these Saturday morning excursions fondly. While the PC was fixed (i.e. while Windows was being reinstalled) I browsed the rows of big box software packages and games and we always ended up with new shovelware, software collections or clipart CDs. In hindsight it was a bit suspicious that the computer never came with a proper Windows 95 CD, apart from the boot disk, but eventually we received a burned copy for free from our regular sales guy and one day that changed to the new Windows 98. Over time I also turned into an expert in the art of reinstalling Windows. The second 1,6 GB hard drive made this process a bit simpler, instead of managing stacks and stacks of backup floppies with split WinZip archives. It even allowed me to try out alternative operating systems. They fascinated me a lot.

A Graphics Upgrade: 3Dfx Voodoo 2

A big internal upgrade for the machine was a new type of hardware: a 3D accelerator card that was chained with a VGA cable between the 2D (maybe Matrox?) graphics card and the monitor: The 3Dfx Voodoo 2. Influenced by TV and magazine ads, I begged hard to purchase it. I got the Premier Collection of the original Tomb Raider by Core Design and Eidos Interactive and I saw the night and day difference between the low-res software rendering mode and the 3D-accelerated Glide mode.

More And More 3D Games

I loved the included Tomb Raider II demo (Venice) even more, because it ran flawlessly on Windows rather than MS-DOS and it looked so vivid.

(As a lingustic side note, I still keep mispronouncing “Tomb Raider” in my head in a very German way (with a hard ‘B’ and ‘Rider’ instead of ‘Raider’). That’s because these words didn’t carry any meaning before I had English lessons at school. TV ads were also mostly focussed on the Lara Croft character, so there was no point of reference for me until later in life. That happened with some other game titles as well.)

These early accelerated 3D games (oftentimes using the RenderWare engine) had a distinct smoothness and look, that I find, even today, very pleasing. Some examples from my collection are Sub Culture, Redline Racer, G-Nome or TrickStyle.

I had many games, but I also didn’t mind leaving them unfinished. It was common to look up cheats, strategy guides and walkthroughs. For me it wasn’t always the goal or in my ability to complete them anyway. I sometimes just wanted to play around in the game world.

Cultural Acceptance

I spent plenty of time on the computer, but I also spent my time playing outside, with LEGO, learning an instrument, riding my bike or watching TV. And yet I was very self-aware to not talk about my computer hobby too much publicly, outside of my very close friend group. From my perspective it was much more accepted talking about yesterday’s TV shows, than talking about playing games for an hour in the afternoon. An incident is still on my mind, where discussing games before a lesson backfired, because of an unrelated forgotten homework. I’m definitely glad that this perception has changed and my computer skills became invaluable in later school years.

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