Hi, as one of the original founding nerds in computer society, I was born into the pre-micro society of dial phones, and dial televisions with only 3 or 4 channels.  The wireless was something the police used and very rich people with car radio telephones.  I was fortunate to come into the micro age when I was in my 30's, and because I have Asperger's (unknown at the time) I didn't flourish until the mini-computers came out: TI99/4: Timex-Sinclair, and most importantly the Commodore 64, from which I learned Machine Language on my own.  Back when Operating manuals were guidelines and very little information was available in enough detail to do anything worth while, which at times is still true today. 

A CRACKER IS BORN - although we were only called hackers in those days.
I began my career, if it could be called that, with the hacking of C64 games I couldn't afford. Most of us justified that by helping our friends break the code because we "wanted to make backup copies", wink wink, nudge nudge.  This was really possible back then because protection was only a week or two of real time till one got to the 'good' code".  I consider myself, according to old standards, "A master switcher of the world", and spent most of my time developing machine language routines to support the existing hard wired code, and a little bit of Blue Box stuff.   I was some of the first to find the sub calls addresses for the C64, and calls to most of what would be called today, the machine's OS, such as it was.  part of the first MMRPG known as Dungeons and Dragons, the original editions, and still have the books; and was a DM or as they're often called today, the GM (Game Master).  My first major program I wrote was called "The codex of sagely conduct", and it accounted for almost all the stats in D&D including encumbrance.  The helper also had the ability to add modules, like the paper ones that could be bought for the game.  Submitted to TSR (D&D guys), they immediately rejected it, and made their own!

One last glory days story, and I wish I could remember the 'exact' name of the game was my crack of the uncrackable Submarine game for the C64 called something like "Silent Running" or something like that  and it was a WWII Submarine based game about major Sub battles in Europe, and the Pacific Arena.  Perhaps I could go into the details of that cunning protection at some other time.  By moniker in the C64 cracker world was "The Cheshire Cat", and my calling card was the introduction at load time of an Image of the Cheshire Cat, who disappeared leaving on his smile.  Thank goodness the statute of limitations has long since expired! 

Today, I have written in more programming languages than I can remember, and have forgotten more than I know.  When it comes to computers, I am a JOAT (Jack of all trades), and master of some.  I followed the Microsoft line; shunned Apple, and later learned a lot of Linux.  Mostly I go by Guru!, and I understand completely what it takes to take a stack hostage.  But... <--- White Hat!  And, to my detriment, I still love BASIC in all it's forms; but, kicking and screaming developed object oriented programming techniques in the late 80's and embraced OOPL early.  A list of languages I've used would be boring; perhaps I'll put it in my personal profile one day.

I came here hoping to find that old Submarine game I hacked years ago.  And saw, Submarine Commander, and will play it to see if that was it.  I have a complete C64 system including drive, (only one), and it worked when stored away.  I have a bunch of old floppies, and don't know what I have, as I'm sure they're no good anymore.  But, have recently heard there are places and people who are trying to restore them.  Happy nostalgia! 

This site is amazing, even though I haven't moved around in a "BBS" for a long time!  I'm managing. I'm a big hearted spirit; and love anything dealing with Science.  I even began developing my own version of a string theory back in the late 70's, I call Phase Theory, and when I decided to see what the world had to say about Quantum Mechanics discovered Phase Theory is kind of like String Theory, and Bohmian Mechanics.  (OFF TOPIC?) but, it is part of who I am.

I love MMO's (or as they used to be called MMORPGs) like WoW, which I played (until she developed wrist problems) with my wife of 30+ years, and STO (Star Trek Online).  I am always willing to help anyone in need, and a prolific writer.  Lately I've been learning Blender, a 3D drawing and animation program (Open Source, of course!), working with developing a Free Energy Device (QEG) and others, and have never stopped playing with computers... ever.

This looks like a place I might fit in, or be able to help; I hope to visit here often, and contribute the best I can.  Today, I go by Cyberchipz and Cyberchip, and there is a 88% probability that anything you find on the Internet with that name, is linked to me.  My real name is Chip which is because I originally was a chip off the old block; but, today,  I'm Computer Chip, the former owner of a computer business called Computer Chip's.  (Chip's, because my motto was I treat every machine like it's  my own.)

So... HELLO, and... see ya around!

Cyberchipz : Welcome and have fun my friend !

Well then, that's quite a resumé. I was intrigued by your thread description because I myself am a programmer, but my experience is very limited, and I only know some C# and some Java (curse you, Java! what a waste of time that was). So yeah, I couldn't hold a candle to you in terms of tech knowledge. lol And I hope you do post a list of programming languages you know, as I for one would find it very interesting.

Well anyway, very nice introduction thread, Chip. I hope to see you around the forums some. Enjoy the site!

Welcome to the site!! Man, my hangover headache just got worse by seeing so many technicalities

That was an impressive presentation. Normally, people don't say that many things about themselves, it's nice you weren't shy to share your life with us. Seems that you will adapt very well to this site, stemming from all your knowledge and experience in programming. 

I must thank you personally for that lesson of history you taught to the youngsters like me. Have fun, and don't hesitate to contact the staff should you need help in anything!!

Cyberchipz : Welcome to the site! Always glad to have a true old school gamer/tech guy on the board. Having been one of the oldest active members on the site until now, it's always nice to have company lol.

Great job on your introduction thread! It's always nice to really feel like you get to know someone in their intro thread, which sometimes can be rare around here!

I hope you have fun and enjoy the site! Please fee free to PM me directly if you have any questions regarding site issues/etc. Always happy to help!

I think this is one of the longest new member introductions vizzed has ever had, which isn't a bad thing

Welcome to the site! It's always nice to have tech-savvy people here! There's a forum here for computers and other technology

If you need help with anything, feel free to contact us staff!

Good day, fellow white hat wearer. I'm obviously not as good as you (given the age) and I'm still not done with my BS Computer Science studies (I still have one year left) but I'm always glad to see other programmers around the net. Have fun on vizzed and I hope you don't change your hat color!

Cyberchipz : You are a VERY interesting newbie. Welcome to the forums! I just hope you'll stay and continue to interact with us. Don't worry, we don't bite...much. I'd love to hear more about you, your knowledge of computers, and your cracking escapades.

Cyberchipz :  I have to agree with NovemberJoy with that being a very interesting story even a bit educational lol, I've been thinking about learning more about programming and software cracking but I'm pretty much a noob and was thinking of learning about it more as a hobby but busy with other things and don't really know where to start.

But that's besides the point, welcome to the site! You seem like a really cool guy, I'm pretty big into MMOs myself (MMORPGs in particular) I've played all kinds of them(though mostly low spec ones though because I own a laptop with an intergrated graphics card >.>) so that's pretty cool. I hope you'll enjoy the site, there's a lot to do here like playing retro games and talking to people on the forums, chatting with others and there's even a minecraft server if you're into that.

Hope to see ya around, and if you have any questions/problems with the site as others have said don't hesitate to ask,