I was looking through old backup media and stumbled upon this picture.
This is a picture from my office at my first computer job in the 1990s. This is where my career started and I put my first Linux server on the internet.
I worked as a tech for a small computer services company that had downtown offices. Conveniently, due to the location of our office, a local ISP offered us free access to their T1 in exchange for a place for them to locate some of their equipment. For my employer this meant free access to the internet. For me this meant my own static IP on the internet on a super fast connection for free! At a time when consumer grade high speed connections didn’t exist and 56K dialup was the only way to get on the net it was amazing to have such high speed access.
My first Linux server can be seen in the picture, it’s the tall tower to the left. This machine was cobbled together from spare parts and as a result wasn’t exactly blazing fast (486 @66mhz) but it sufficed for running a Linux server. I remember staying after work until the wee hours of the morning exploring Linux and the still evolving internet.
I carted that machine around with me for years until I finally got rid of it in 2003, long after it had any practical use. I have nothing but fond memories of those times, it was a great time to be a geek.
Those that know me will spot the Tim Hortons cups and see that nothing has changed.