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I was nine years old when Mom brought home a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model III. It wasn't much to look at but its blocky
black-and-white graphics piqued my interest. I'd sit by the cassette player and listen for the gaps of silence
between programs. If that makes sense to you, you belong here.
The family graduated to the Commodore 64, and that's when my love of computers skyrocketed. Dad subscribed
to several computing magazines, namely Ahoy! and Compute's Gazette. I spent countless hours parked at the Commodore typing in
machine language and listening for checksum beeps.
Archaic as all this sounds, I miss it. A lot. Everything was primitive beyond belief, but that's what forced imagination to
take over. I didn't need every pixel dictated to me. The fun part was filling in the blanks.
I've been a professional software developer for over a decade, including several years at Microsoft. It's safe to say my love
for computers — and computer games — will stay with me forever.
Darren Mart
Checksum Labs
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