Found my 1998 toolkit in my dad's basement last month, now I question everything I learned since
Last month I was clearing out my dad's basement and found the metal toolbox I used in my first computer repair gig back in 1998. Inside was a 3.5 inch floppy drive with a boot disk, a parallel port cable, and a screwdriver set I thought I lost in 2005. The thing that got me is the mindset. Back then I had to know IRQ conflicts, jumper settings, and how to read a beep code pattern from a motherboard speaker. Now I just swap out a board and move on. The last time I set a jumper was probably 2007. I opened the kit, saw a loopback plug I made for serial port testing, and remembered spending 3 hours on a Friday night chasing a COM port conflict for a client in downtown Portland. Today I just ran a remote diagnostic and fixed a printer issue without touching the machine. Totally different trade in a lot of ways. But I wonder if we lost something. Kids coming up now would not know what a master/slave drive selector even does. Is there anyone else here who still keeps old equipment just to remind yourself how the basics work, or am I just hoarding junk with sentimental value at this point?