In the late-80s, 8-Bit computer gave way to 16-bit and then 32-bit computers. These new computers all looked the same and were synonymous with IBM. IBM PCs (and their compatible clones) started taking over the desk space in offices and homes all over the world. Running something call DOS, these Personal Computers learnt from the 8-bit experimental computers and standardised on a configuration comprising of a CPU housing that included a disk-drive, a monitor designed for reading text, and a QWERTY keyboard.
I remembered little of these period of computing history as I was busy with school and later with preparations for the PSLE. I do recall how my VIC-20 was replaced by a NEC Computer that has a huge keyboard with telephone wire-like cables. To use the computer, (mainly for games) we had to boot it into DOS which was just a black screen with a prompt like a C:> character. We then loaded in our floppy-disks and type a command to start the program. Something like A:start game.exe. Sometimes we had to insert multiple disks to load a game either at the start or sometimes in the middle of a game.
Just for reference, the A & B drives were assigned to the floppy disks; The C drive was the internal harddisk. When CD-ROMs appear much later, they would occupy the D drives. E drive was a external thumb-drive and F drives was the first network drives synonymous with file servers.
The computer at home became a gaming console to me then. There were little to no software that was targeting students like me, nor were computers part of the education system nor required in schools. With the demise of 8-bit computers, computes became very business-y and uninteresting. Games were still created for these PCs, but other than gaming, I didn’t look at computers with the same kind of excitement I did the VIC-20. It has become a tool like the typewriter, not like a robot companion from Star Wars.
How Software Piracy Sold More Computers
Everyone knew that a computer is only a box to run those amazing programs we want to use. Whether it’s games, office tools, or utility programs, everyone knows you can often get a pirated version of the software from one of these pirate-software shops for a fraction of the price that businesses have to pay due to stricter IP laws. The pirate-software business boomed and came up with new ideas to compete with one another. Some bundled this pirated software together with new computers purchased, while others allowed you to choose 10 programs to be copied onto a floppy disk for a fee. The business was so good that retail space at the two Computer Centres in Singapore ran out and pirate-software shops started opening at places such as Beauty World Shopping Center, Coronation Plaza, Paradiz Center, Katong Shopping Center, Far East Shopping Centre, and even Sembawang Shopping Centre. Students and working people would visit these stores to browse freshly printed catalogs of newly pirated software to buy.
A Window Opens to a 3D World
In 1985, a software company called Microsoft which made DOS, announced a graphical user-interface software call Windows. Instead of a black screen with text, you can now navigate your computer file system graphically with a mouse. It was quite a big novel thing at that time and many bought new computers powered by Pentium CPUs to handle the demands of running Windows.
Windows got better quickly and I remembered how we bought the new Windows 3.1 which came in 32 3.5 inch floppy-disks. I had to sit through the installation which required me feeding the PC most of the 32 floppy-disk (depending on some options) during the whole installation process. After almost half an hour, the new Windows 3.1 appeared in all its glory and we all got super excited over a free game called Minesweeper.
Besides Minesweeper, there were a lot of innovation introduced during the same early 90s period. Colours were much nicer on the new Windows 3.1 and so were the UI elements. Creative launched its Sound Blaster 16 and made sound a ubiquitous part of a Personal Computer just like the mouse. Monitors got bigger and better transitioning from 640×480 VGA to 800×640 XVGA, and all these upgrades made Personal Computer interesting again.
Video Games Goes 3D
But the most interesting innovation came from a company called ID Software. Wolfenstein 3D, the world’s first First-Person Shooter (FPS) introduced the world to 3D games played in the POV of the players. Combined with 3D surround sound, Wolfenstein 3D was the most immersive game I have ever played at that point. There was an instant I recalled that I literally fell off my chair when some mutant nazi jumped out from behind a pixellated column and attacked me. The entire screen flashed red and I was forever re-bitten by the computer bug again.
Gaming aside, Windows 3.1 also saw a new version of Microsoft Office which at this point have captured a lot of the market from Lotus 1-2-3 and Ami Pro. But these were inconsequential to me as schools were still not using computers unless you’re an office worker or you’re one of the first few students taking Computer Science as a subject. Computers was still mainly about games to me and after Wolfenstein 3D, I started paying attention again to video games and got to play a lot of the best titles released during the early 90s.
Here’s just a few of the games I got to played:
- Wolfenstein 3D
- Lemmings
- Sim City 2000
- Myst
- Doom
- Star Wars: Dark Forces
- Star Wars: TIE-Fighter
- Quake
- Civilisation 2
- Diablo
- Duke Nukem
- Command & Conquer
- Baldur’s Gate
Like Computer Games, Entertainment goes 3D
It was also the late 80s to early 90s period that Hollywood started using computers to create CGI a lot. CGI created by the likes of ILM started appearing in a lot of movies such as The Abyss, Terminator 2, Toy Story 1 , Dragon Heart and the ground-breaking Jurassic Park. It was a period in human history that patrons were picking movies based on the new CGI techniques used in the movie! Computer Graphics was just beginning to get good and that created a new renaissance in my interest in what computers were capable of.
