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Changing the CRT resolution from 1024x768 to something actually useful. They made us walk back to the computer lab to switch it back.
Dude, I feel this. We had these nice NEC AccuSync CRTs that could so 1280x1024 @ 85Hz or 1024x768 @ 100Hz. Guess what they were all set to? 800x600 @ 60Hz. Not only could you not see a damn thing, but the flicker from the slow refresh rate would give you a headache. Teacher said it was normal and the flicker was in my head.
We weren't allowed to use USB flash drives because they we're an up and coming technology that they figured would give them viruses, but we were encouraged to have our own floppy disks to save our work on. Not only does this not make any sense, but now your homework could just corrupt on a whim. Anyway, I had a special floppy disk that I loaded with utilities that could bypass the lockouts and allow me to change the resolution to something sensible.
They also had an HP Laserjet with an IR port and in my last year I was one of the first students to have my own laptop (very lucky). I would take notes in class on it and then print them in the computer lab. One day a teacher caught me and I was lectured because it was against policy to plug personal things into their network. I explained that there was no networking involved, it was a local device to device print job, but she wouldn't have it. Viruses you know. The next day they had covered the IR port of the printer with whiteout to protect it.
So my options were buy and carry a USB floppy drive, write to floppy, log into a school computer, print from there or... put a tiny little scratch in the whiteout. Which do you think I did?
All in all it was fine. The good old days of early computers where everyone was just figuring things out. Tech was a lot more interesting then and I don't fault the teachers for not knowing and trying to protect their systems. It was just annoying when you knew more but still had to follow their nonsensical rules.
Actually useful?
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