The Intercom

300-baud modem, check. CompuServe, check. Better yet: bulletin board systems.

WarGames at the theater, check. Top Secret!, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Tron.

Teenager in the 1980s, check.

Atari 2600. TRS-80 Model III. Commodore 64. Activision — for crying out loud.

Internet Relay Chat in the Texas Tech library basement in 1987. A Mac Plus in the Carpenter Hall computer lab the same year.

None of those things seemed like “computing history” while they were happening. They were simply the machines, networks, games, and places that made computers irresistible. The intercom was whatever system let one discovery point toward the next.

Wasted youth, check.

Good grief, I’d do it all over again.

Originally published July 27, 2013. Revised in 2026 with light context while preserving the original compact form.