Let’s see, you’ve heard of computer programming languages such as DOS and BASIC, but have you heard of APL and of Knowledgeman?  These are all languages that our current Volunteer of the Month has used at various times in his computer career.

Our volunteer for this month is Bob Phelan, who first became a member in the mid-80’s and worked his way up to the office of Treasurer of AlamoPC. He was gone for a while, then returned in 1995.  Bob now volunteers at the Resource Center desk on Thursdays, answering the questions of members and of drop-ins on a wide variety of topics.

He says he first thought in the early 80’s that computers were just toys and good only for a little entertainment.  Then he heard that IBM had gotten into the computer business.  He then decided that if a big company like IBM was serious about it he needed to take a second look. So he acquired his first computer - an early IBM model - in early 1982.

Since then he has had several personal computers, tending to rebuild and upgrade instead of buying a new machine.  This writer also believes that this is the best method for upgrading, and has done that more than once.  Bob says his Gateway case now contains its 3rd motherboard, and has held a variety of cards, memory sticks, and CPUs.  It now has 2 hard drives, a CD Rom, an AMD K6 CPU, and 256 Mb of RAM.  This is a long way from that IBM machine back in 1982!

Some of the older computer programs and machines are still usable, however - just ask some of our “older” members!  Some of them still use DOS and Win 3.1 for certain functions, claiming that they perform as well for those functions as a bloated “Window” does.  And Bob says a similar thing.  He still has copies of (and occasionally uses) QuatroPro for DOS, WordStar 5.0 for DOS, and FoxBase (a dBase II clone).  Do those bring back memories for anybody out there?

Bob himself has also come a long way during that time.  He served in the US Air Force for 21 years.  One of his jobs was as a Computer Systems Staff Officer.  Bob also got into some programming in various languages in his computer career, especially while he was in the Air Force.  They sent him to Stanford University to learn how to work with the IBM 460 and the Burroughs 220.  After retiring from the Air Force, Bob spent about 10 years with Xerox, working with the Project 9 System and the APL computing language.

Bob tells me that he now does a variety of tasks with his home computer: e-mail, word processing, personalized Christmas cards, surfing, and keeping financial records.  He also owns a small business for income tax preparation: C & R Associates.  For some of these activities he uses the DOS programs we mentioned above.  And now you know a little about another of the great volunteers for AlamoPC.