Once upon a time, microcomputers weren't all-in-one devices. They were put together from standalone components, each with its technical merits -- and we had to know all about every one of them, I wrote back in 2015.
https://www.informationweek.com/digital-business/11-things-computer-users-will-never-experience-again
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@estherschindler I remember loading programs via cassette.
Building my first 486. Assigning IRQ's and ports. Pleading for drivers for my first Slackware box.
I had a customer that had designed his hardware and software to run on DOS, but now wanted several pentium4 win xp boxes. I had to dig to find P4 main boards that still had Isa slots. Ahhh... the memories.😜