SATURDAY STORY - DANIEL JACKSON AND DJ COMPUTERS - EPISODE 8

 SATURDAY STORY - DANIEL JACKSON - EPISODE #8

Recap.  Daniel Jackson, when he was 14 created a personal computer in his parent’s basement in Bloomington Illinois.  Dan’s Mom was a physics professor at the University of Illinois, and his Dad was a computing manager at State Farm Insurance.  The word leaked out and soon Dan was assembling computers for others.  When the demand continued, the family created a company - DJ Computers (for Daniel Jackson).  The company took off and became a competitor to IBM, Dell, Compaq, Gateway, and other companies.  

When Dan was 18, he went to college at Purdue University.  Today’s episode starts after Thanksgiving in 1984 and Dan is writing a term paper on Moore’s Law.

*****

Dan’s telephone appointment with Dr. Gordon Moore, CEO of INTEL Corporation at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 30, 1984.  Dr. Moore was the developer of “Moore’s Law” - which said that the number of transistors on a computer chip doubled about every 18 months to two years - with twice the number of transistors and faster processing for roughly the same price as the last chips. For the past twenty years, his observation had been correct.  

In Dan’s dorm room, the phone rang promptly at 6:00.  His roommate, Karl Sieverding, and his girlfriend, Linda Watson sat quickly listening in.  

Dan answered the phone, “Hello, this is Daniel Jackson”.

The voice at the other end said, “I’ve been waiting to meet you, Dan.  This is Gordon Moore.”

Dan replied “Thank you, Dr. Moore!!  It is quite an honor to talk with you.”

Gordon Moore laughed, “Dan, it is quite an honor for me to talk to the wunderkind of personal computing - and one of my company's best customers.”  

At this Dan chuckled too.  

Gordon Moore continued, “So, Dan, as I understand this, you are writing a term paper for your freshman composition class on some aspect of technology.  And you picked the topic of ‘Moore’s Law’.  I assume you know that it isn’t a law of physics but an observation, albeit an excellent observation”.  At this Gordon Moore laughed!!!

He continued, “It seems every year or so, some publication writes an article saying that Moore’s Law is at the end, you just can’t pack more circuits on smaller and smaller circuits; and also that some publication uses charts and demonstrates how Moore’s Law is still valid.

“The computing engineers here at Intel have done an excellent job making me look good.  They are working two to three generations ahead in the research lab and keep proving they can pack more and more circuits for about the same cost.  

“As for the near future, it seems to hold - and a good part of that is due to you!!  Like every business we make money by selling our products when the demand goes up, we can sell more, and we can make more chips with those faster circuits.  When the personal computer market started, we were on the 8088 chips, then the 8086 chips, then the 80186, 286, 386, and the 486 are just coming out, and with every new release DJ Computers and Dell and all the others join on the new chips - and the demand goes crazy and we hustle to meet the demand.  Good old supply and demand.  

“As for the long-range prediction, in twenty years most households in the United States will have a personal computer.  We are making chips for the consumer market with smart toasters, smart cars, smart telephones, and smart televisions.  My guess is that in twenty years, it will be hard to be any computer, any car, or any appliance that doesn’t have a chip of some kind.

***

Dr. Gordon Moore and Daniel Jackson talked longer about the chip-making industry.  Dan was busy taking notes (as was Linda Watson sitting close to Dan).  Dan mentioned Sanjay Modi, one of the professors at Purdue, and Gordon laughed - remembering the time Sanjay worked closely with him and Intel.

He continued, “And, we welcome AMD and other companies - they keep us on our toes and moving ahead.”

“And, changing the subject, Dan, I'd like to invite you to work with Intel this summer in our research and development department.  We’d call it a summer internship, find you a place to stay in Santa Clara - you’d be in the heart of Silicon Valley”.

This time Dan asked, “Dr. Moore, have you figured out how to clone people?  Sanjay Modi wants me to do research with him here at Purdue, my uncle, Steve Jackson wants me back home at DJ Computers, and now I can work for Intel in research and development.  Let me think about it, but maybe after my junior year I can work for you.”

They finished their call.  Dan thanked Dr. Moore for his time and insight, and Gordon Moore thanked Dan for making Intel a success by using its chips.  And, they promised to keep in touch.  

The last thing Gordon Moore said was he liked to see Dan’s term paper and he gave Dan his secretaries electronic mail address and said to send it to her when he finished it.  They signed off.

*****

Linda and Karl had been quiet during the phone interview, but when Dan signed off, they were jubilant.  “Wow - you talked with Gordon Moore for an hour, and he wants to hire you.” was their basic comment.

Dan blushed just a little. He put on an air of superiority and said, “Ah yes, my loyal subjects, Karl and Linda, I have spoken with one of my best friends and I will now lower myself to speak to such peons as you.”  His two friends laughed.

Dan asked “Do you want to go to the snack bar for a Coke?  Then I have a long night ahead of me as I need to write up Dr. Moore’s comments and get them into my paper.”

The three went to the snack bar - next to the cafeteria in Laurel Hall.

*****

Dan worked on his paper until 9:00 p.m. and then bundled up and took a three-mile run around the campus.  It was clear and cold, but Dan worked up a sweat.

Saturday morning, he got up at 7:00, had breakfast with Karl, then did Calculus for half an hour, Intro to Business for half an hour, Microeconomics for half an hour, and Physics for half-an-hour.  He took another run before going back to his Freshman Composition paper.  There was a lot to write.  By noon, he had most of his ideas down but it needed a lot of work.  After lunch with Linda, he went to the library to gather more information from periodicals about Moore’s Law and applications of computers.  By 4:00 he went back to Hawkins Hall and took a nap. 

After supper, he joined Karl and Linda to go to the Electronic Sciences Student Association party at the Isaac Walton Club.  The group charged everybody ten dollars, but that included a bus to and from the party, a part-time cop, and all the beer you could drink.  Dan got a beer, drank a sip, and decided he didn’t like it, but that was all there was to drink.  Karl and Linda had drunk beer before and they made up for Dan’s lack of drinking.  One of the ESSA students was the DJ playing music for the night.  Linda kidded Dan about being the DJ of DJ Computers and yet was not able to be the DJ for the party.

A little before midnight, the first group went back to campus.  Dan had sipped on his beer and had a second one (that he didn’t like any better than the first one).  Karl and Linda both were drunk.  As they got off the bus back on campus, Linda vomited on the sidewalk. Dan kicked some snow and dirt over the top of it.  He walked his two friends back to Hawkins Hall.  He emptied the wastebasket in Karl and his room and put it next to Karl’s bed.  (And, yes, Karl did vomit during the night as well).  

Well, thought Dan, I survived my first college party.

*****

On Sunday, Dan went to the library at about ten to do work, research, and write.  Karl and Linda were sleeping in.  He came back at 12:30 and went to lunch with the two who were hungover.  For the afternoon, Dan was on his computer typing, editing, and polishing his paper.  He took a break for a quick two-mile run.  Karl went to the television room on the fourth floor and watched the Detroit Lions lose to the Seattle Seahawks.  The Chicago Bears were scheduled to be the Monday Night Football game. 

After dinner, Linda and Dan made out at the Hawkins Hall entrance before he went back to editing his paper.  He printed a draft copy and went down the hall to the empty study room and read his paper out loud with a red pen correcting his grammar and other mistakes.  

After a late run, Dan went to bed and had dreams of his paper.  Or maybe they were nightmares.

*****

The last week of the semester was partially review and partially the professors lecturing over what they deemed was important material that they hadn’t covered during the semester.  On Monday afternoon, Dan took his second draft to the writing tutors in the library for help.  The tutor he worked with, Gayle Haverson, was impressed that he had interviewed Gordon Moore.  The paper was okay, but not quite good and definitely far from being ready to submit.  

On Tuesday, he met with Dr. Sanjay Modi from Electronic Sciences to go over the paper.  Sanjay had some great ideas and suggestions.  Unfortunately, it meant a major rewrite for Dan, but that was okay.  In Calculus class on Wednesday morning, Dan fell asleep.  Karl nudged him to wake up.  After class Professor Emmons asked “Burning the midnight oil, Dan?”.  Dan was embarrassed.  But Walter Emmons was well known for his kindness to students, and said, “You’ll make it Dan.  Hang in there just a few more days.”  

Dan made sure that he and Karl stopped in the snack bar and got a cup of coffee with caffeine to make it through the day.  

*****

The Purdue Chorale had a Christmas Concert on Wednesday evening.  Linda wanted to go as a friend from Huntington Indiana was in the chorale and asked Dan to go with her.  

Dan had noticed that Linda had gotten a little more possessive of him since she learned that Dan was the Daniel Jackson of DJ Computing.  Now that she knew he was rich and famous, it affected her attitude toward him.  

The concert was good, and it did help Dan relax, although he couldn’t totally relax as his brain was still working overtime thinking about the Freshman Composition paper.  Although Dan and his family didn’t go to church, he knew the words to some of the Christmas Carols they sang at the end.  He appreciated thinking of “Sleep in Heavenly Peace” from Silent Night - which he would do as soon as he turned in this Freshman Composition paper!!!

*****

Thursday was a day of more classes and more editing on his paper.  Gayle Haverson, his English tutor at the library read over his paper one last time with only minor suggestions.  He went to the gym and ran on the track knowing that as his body produced endorphins he would be thinking and ready to finish it.

That night Dan finished his paper.  He called it “Moore’s Law, the progression of computing”.  He printed it out.  It was 25 papers, and Dr. Nelson had specified 20 pages, but his references took up four pages, so the text itself was just 21 pages.  He thought that might be excusable.

*****

On Friday morning, Dan gave a ten-minute presentation in the Introduction to Business class.  His professor, Dr. Lange had asked him to give his entrepreneurial story.  

Dan swallowed hard as he came to the front of the classroom.  He had tried to be anonymous on campus this fall. He didn’t want to be known as Daniel Jackson, the millionaire inventor of the DJ Computer, but as Dan Jackson, freshman student.

“Hi, class.  First, I have to tell you something.  Four years ago at age fourteen, I assembled a computer in my parent's basement in Bloomington Illinois.  My mother is a physics professor at the University of Illinois and my father is a manager of computing at State Farm Insurance.  I researched the parts I needed and the processing and made a computer.  Some of our family friends heard of this and wanted a computer as well, they told others, who told others, who told others - and boom, DJ Computers was born.  

“I was just a kid, and, of course, now at age eighteen, I am so much more mature.”  He and the class laughed at that.

“I guess it was a case of being at the right place at the right time, with the right parents, and environment.  And, early on, I learned more about business than about computing.  We ran into supply chain issues.  We needed more components - motherboards, CPU chips, memory chips, software, monitors, etc.  We learned marketing - our first ad was in the Bloomington Gazette, and we sold about two hundred from that ad.  We needed more space and got space at State Farm Insurance.  We needed employees.  I was a 14-year-old student and wasn’t going to drop out of ninth grade to make computers, so we needed a manager and a CEO, and my parents and I selected my uncle Steve Jackson to lead the company.  Demand kept growing, and we kept getting components and assembling computers.  We started with an operating system that my Dad modified for the DJ Computer but shortly afterward moved to use MS-DOS from Microsoft.  

“Demand kept growing.”

Dan paused and asked, “How many of you have your own computer?”  Over half the class raised their hands.  “How many of you have a DJ Computer?” This time it was about a fourth of the class.  “How many of you knew that your classmate was the DJ behind DJ Computers?” This time nobody raised their hand.  

Dan continued with more of the business side of DJ Computers - marketing, accounting, finance, inventory, supply chain, Porter’s Five Forces, and other topics Dr. Lange had covered in the class.  It was really a pretty good review for the final test.  

When he opened the floor for questions, there were many good questions and some questions about “Could we buy a computer directly from you?”.  

Finally, Dr. Lange had to interrupt because the class period was already over by five minutes and students needed to leave for other classes.

It was lunchtime and although he normally had lunch with Karl, his roommate, and Linda, his girlfriend, Dr. Lange asked if he could take Dan for lunch.  As Dan was back in classes at one o’clock, they opted for the faculty dining room on campus.  Dr. Lange thanked Dan and asked if he would be willing to speak to his classes next semester.  Dan said he would if it fit into his schedule, but inside he was scared of becoming a big deal and he liked being anonymous.

*****

Right after lunch, Dan went to McAdams Hall for his Freshman Composition class. With the rest of the students in his Freshman Composition class, he turned in his paper at the start of the last class period.  Dr. Nelson then talked about the final test.  It would have two parts - an essay to write, and a sample paper where they would cross out sentences, and correct spelling and grammar. Dr. Nelson stood at the classroom door and shook hands with each of her students as they left.  This had been his most difficult class and the one where he spent the most time.  Dr. Augusta Nelson knew that many of the students were technically oriented and composition was not their favorite class.  She flashed her biggest smile at Dan as she shook his hand.  “Thank you, Mr. Jackson.  I’m glad you were in my class.”

*****

The other professors gave directions for studying for the final test.  Dan already had his Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet drawn up and printed for his final week study schedule.  He had built-in running every day plus time for meals and Linda.

****

The weekend of December 8-9 was almost easy for Dan.  The elephant of the term paper was off his back, he had studied for all of his finals, and this was the final push to finish off the semester.  He had been the top student in Physics and Calculus all semester, and probably one of the top students in the Introduction to Business and Economics class.  English would be what it would be.  

He reviewed his notes, reread the textbook, and made up sample tests.  He got more running that weekend than most weekends. 

On Monday, December 10th he took his calculus final and felt good about it.  He had double-checked to make sure his arithmetic was solid.  Tuesday he took his Introduction to the Business final exam in the morning and was pretty sure he did well, and in the afternoon he had his Physics exam.  Dr. Bunce had indicated that Dan didn’t need to take the test and still get an “A”, but he took the test anyway.  

He didn’t have any tests on Wednesday and was bored.  He did a five-mile run outside as it was sunny and near fifty degrees.  

Thursday he had his Freshman Composition final and Dr. Nelson handed back the term papers.  He was scared to look at his paper - what if he had messed up.  There wasn’t a grade on his paper, but Dr. Nelson had written “Good Job, see me after the test” on the top in red ink. 

When he finished the test and brought his paper forward, Mr. Nelson said “Let’s talk in the hall.”

She asked him point blank, “Did you really talk to Dr. Gordon Moore for your paper?”  

Dan smiled, “Yes, I did.  I found a friend at my uncle’s company who knew Dr. Moore, as well as Dr. Sanjay Modi in the Electronics Research department.”.

She asked, “So then, you ARE the Daniel Jackson of DJ Computer fame?”

That was an easy question to answer.  Dan replied, “Yes I am.”

She had more questions, “How many hours did you spend researching and writing your paper?”

Dan had to think - it had to be close to forty hours - and so it said, “I think I put in close to forty hours with the research, the interviews, the writing, and rewriting.  I had help from an English tutor in the library.  Yes, it was probably about forty hours.”

She smiled, “Do you spend that much time on all your classes?”

Another easy question, “Yes, Dr. Nelson, I do.  This is my first semester in college.  I didn’t do quite as well in high school with my business and I was scared I might flunk out, so I created spreadsheets for studying - and I spent about two hours outside of class for every hour in class.”

Her smile broadened.  “Well, young man, I’m impressed.  Your paper was unusual, both in the topic and in your scope.  It had plenty of research, and the references were solid and in APA format.  It could be published in an academic journal with some minor tweaking.  It was an A paper.”

She continued, “On your first assignment I thought you would be just another student, but each assignment has been better.  I like that you’ve gotten help from the tutors and that you have made a great effort to improve your writing.  If your final test is reasonable, you should be an A in this course.  I do hope to see you in the future.  Stop by my office and keep me up to date.”

She handed him a full-page analysis of his paper and a photocopy of the paper with her embedded comments.

She finished with a grin, “Thank you, Mr. Daniel Jackson.  You’ve helped me get my perspective back”.

She turned and went back into the classroom, and Dan, shocked, stood there a minute taking it all in.  Publishable?  Really?  Maybe he’d go back to Dr. Sanjay Modi and talk about it.  He would send a copy to Gordon Moore this afternoon. 

*****

That afternoon, he had the final exam in the Microeconomic class and he felt good about it.

On Friday morning, he had the final exam in Physics. Beth Jackson was coming to pick her son up at 4:30 on Friday, December 14th.  Dr. Bunce asked Dan when his mother was coming and, if possible, he’d like to say ‘hi’ to her.  Dan told Dr. Bunce about the pickup time.

Dan also asked Linda when her parents were coming.  She said about 5:00 on Friday afternoon.  Her mother was an architect and could arrange her schedule to pick Linda up.  So between Dan, Linda, Beth Jackson, Gary Bunce, and Bonnie Watson, they would all be converging on Hawkins Hall about the same time.  Dan thought maybe it would be okay for the two mothers to meet.  

*****

And meet they did.  The dorm was getting pretty empty by the time Beth Jackson and Bonnie Watson arrived.  Dan had his dirty clothes and things he was sending home in the first-floor hall waiting for his mother.  Linda also had her things there too.  

When Bonnie Watson pulled up, Dan helped carry Linda’s things to the car.  Linda had told her mother that Dan was her boyfriend, but hadn’t mentioned his connection to DJ Computers.  And, immediately, Beth Jackson pulled up.  And, Gary Bunce arrived too.  Dan and Linda suggested Town and Gown Bistro, Gary Bunce agreed, and the five of them went to grab a bite to eat.  Gary rode with Beth and Dan in the front seat and the two old friends from graduate school were having a good time.  Bonnie and Linda took the parking place next to the restaurant and Beth dropped Gary and Dan off and went looking for a parking place.  

They settled in a booth and talked.  Dan introduced his mother and Dr. Bunce to Bonnie Watson; Linda introduced her mother to Dan, Beth, and Gary Bunce.  And, then Linda got to drop her small bombshell.  “Mom, I haven’t told you, but Dan here is the Daniel Jackson of DJ Computers, and his mother is a Physics Professor at the University of Illinois. Dr. Bunce has been our Physics professor and the two of them know each other from graduate school.”

Bonnie Watson’s eyes grew large.  Her daughter’s boyfriend was the famed DJ of DJ Computers.  Oh My!!!

Seeing that it was about dinner time, they ordered burgers, onion rings, and beverages.  They talked for about an hour and then split up - Watsons back to Huntington Indiana, Beth, Dan, and Gary back to campus to drop Gary off, and then back to Bloomington Illinois.

It was a fairly easy drive back to Bloomington.  Dan and Beth had a great discussion time.  

It was Christmas time, it was the end of the fall semester, and God only knew what spring would bring.

*****

On Christmas Eve, Dan got his fall grades in the mail.  He did get all As including an A in Freshman Composition.  

************************

End of episode 8.  We’ll move a little faster in the next episode.

What will happen next?  Will Dan and Linda still be an item at the end of the spring semester?  Will Dan take up the offer to work with Gordon Moore for the summer or with Sanjay Modi on campus, or at home with DJ Computers?

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, APRIL 8, 2023