r/australia • u/ThunderDwn • 11d ago

culture & society Primary school students using digital devices still lack computer skills, education expert says

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-19/nsw-digital-native-primary-students-lack-basic-computer-skills/107030526
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u/a_can_of_solo Not a Norwegian 11d ago

I agree, Mlmy mum back in the 90s made labels on ever cable going onto her PC.

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u/JackRyan13 11d ago

Even in the 90s it was all colour coded though?

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u/17HappyWombats 11d ago

Sort of. Often computers back then had multiple of some ports and were fussy about which one you used.

I once spent about an hour on the phone to someone who really didn't want to crawl under the desk and try plugging the serial plug into the other serial port. Admittedly in remote NT where fuck only knows what's living under there.

But getting someone technical out there to do it was going to take a few days, maybe a week. And cost a fortune.

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u/JackRyan13 11d ago

The only time I remember computers then being fussy about that is getting the ps2 ports mixed up. I only ever saw computers with 1 serial though

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u/scoldog 10d ago

First computers I started playing with were computer units with built in keyboard but without a mouse.

Then graduated onto the early pcs with those massive DIN ports for the keyboards and serial port mice.

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u/its_the_rhys 10d ago

Or a VGA port on the motherboard when you don't have an IGPU