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Who, What, When, Where, Why?



Who - My name is Gregory Hammond and I am a qualified computer technician with 30 years experience

What - I fix commputers, from hardware & software installation to programming and multi-media designs

When - I normally work from 10am - 6pm week days, other times by appointment only

Where - In home servicing, you do not need to bundle it up for transport

Why - Building and fixing computers is fun! Well I think so, most of the time :)


A few people have enquired why I have a different business name. When I was registering my business the clerk looked at my application, did a double take and asked "why call your business such a name?" and my reply was "you noticed the name" to which he thought a moment before saying "your right" gave a smile then stamped the paper.
There you go, I had a business called MISCHIEF COMPUTERS.


I began to learn programming in 1984 through a strange series of events. That year I was a student doing Art & Design at Wangaratta TAFE. After making a few new friends I noticed some other students playing chess in the library. Always having an interest in chess I joined this group and began learning how to play. One of these players was a under 16yo chess champion who began my study with chess, opening strategies for white and black, best defensive practice for mid and end game. After many weeks of annoying this individual he suggested I should play chess on the campus computer. My reply was "whats a computer?" I was an art student and never had exposure to computational devices.

I was introduced to the campus Vaxen mainframe, a massive machine locked away inside an airconditioned room, with access granted by many honeywell 110 dumb terminals. So I played chess and discovered some other games available to play. This piqued my interest, how does a machine allow games to be played, what was required? Asking questions from the current computing students I began to purchase programming books. I subsequently taught myself how to program on a Vaxen mainframe.

My first language was BASIC, followed by DCL (Digital Command Language) and when I finally purchased my own computer, a Commodore 64 in 1985 I began to learn assembly language and machine code. This required I teach myself hexadcimal and binary number systems. I began to program in assembly language, using coding techniques that would move graphics and sprites with vertical blank interrupts for smooth animation.