About Anand

Who am I?

The date, April 2nd, 1997. What is so significant about that date? Yes, it was the release date of AMD's killer new chip, the AMD K6 Microprocessor, however that date has more significance than simply the release of a high end processor. April 2nd, 1997 was the very date the idea of starting a hardware testing site struck me, and this is the story of what events led up to that influential decision in my life.

The release of E.T.

Anyone remember when the famous movie E.T. came out? It was during the week of June 26 in 1982, my birthday. I was born and raised in the small but lovely town of Northampton, Massachusetts. Yes, that means that Anand Lal Shimpi, the webmaster of Anand's Hardware Tech Page, is a teenager, currently at 16 years of age. However, I believe and have always felt that the Internet is a place where all differences can be set aside, a place where age, race, sex, and religion don't matter and where a person's true self is the final and only judge of things. Call me an idealist, however that is what I believe and I stick to it. Regardless, I was born to two wonderful and loving parents, who instilled in me all the values and morals that I carry with me to this date. When I was in the 3rd grade, my father, a Computer Science professor at a college in Keene, New Hampshire decided to introduce me to his choice of profession by enrolling me in one of his College Level Computer Science classes, CS101 - Introduction to Computers. Although I was a tad bit young at the time, I enjoyed the class, scoring very highly I decided that I liked the world of computers. However back then it was mostly games and DOS for me, I never really got into hardware until we moved down to Raleigh, NC.

My first computer was an Apple II E, a computer I still have, although it is currently used as a plant stand in my bedroom =) After that, I had an amazing IBM 8088 which I can't remember ever a time when I wasn't using it. Quickly after the release of the 286 we had purchased a Dell 286-16 with one nice monitor, however we soon outgrew that model in favor of my last store-bought computer, a Packard Bell 386 SX-20. The 386 SX-20 was my first ever experience with computer hardware, I was constantly opening it up and tinkering with the little gadgets inside. I upgraded the RAM on that machine from a horrid 2MB to an amazing 10MB (my first memory upgrade) and took the 130MB Seagate HDD and made it the slave of a Western Digital 540MB drive. That computer was sufficient to last me through my early programming days with Basic and even some minor experience with C++, however with the release of Win95 (yes I ran Win95 on a 386 SX-20!) I soon discovered that a new computer was necessary. I immediately decided that Packard Bell wasn't going to cut it with their 486 line, so I ordered an AMD 486 DX4-120 on a FIC motherboard for my first home built system. That system turned out to be a huge disaster, the motherboard had some of that wonderful fake L2 cache on it, however the naive 13 year old I was when building it, I didn't really care. At this time I thought that I had the knowledge and the skills to start up my own hardware company, I may have made that decision prematurely but it helped me move to the point which I'm at now. So, following my dreams, I decided to start up an in-home business, Anand Software Co., in spite of the name, a computer hardware business. I custom built PCs, repaired them, upgraded them as well as did customizations to fit my customer's needs. That business began to grow and slowly but surely it gave me the experiences I needed to eventually start up my own hardware tech page. I still own and operate that business, however it doesn't take precedence over the rest of my life. It is a small hobby that I decided to partake in on the side. After that, I went through a few more upgrades the biggest one being my purchase of the Cyrix 6x86 PR-150+ processor, a purchase I will never forget. I had a much more pleasant experience with the 6x86 (hence my email address which I still use), mostly because I actually knew what I was doing with that computer. Unfortunately this new system was plagued by cache related problems yet again! I was stuck with one of the PCChips M525 motherboards, if you all remember from the time of the very first 6x86's which produced those wonderful spontaneous reboots as a direct result of a cache timing problem between the motherboard and specifically the Cyrix 6x86 processor. Eventually I upgraded that board to a much more stable San-Li model, however I still craved a bit more. By this time I had branched out into the field of programming, I began to leave Basic behind in favor of C++, however I really wish I had migrated to Pascal first since C++ scared me to death. In the end I became a fond lover of C++ and its attributes, the next step for me? Assembly...

On April 2nd, 1997, the release date of the AMD K6 as I mentioned before, I was truly inspired by the events that took place on that very day. I woke up from a nice rest, made some breakfast, and powered up the good 'ole 6x86. What I was about to do would change my life from that day forth, and it did. I intended to watch the entire AMD Press Release, via Real Video, of the AMD K6 processor, while doing so I waited eagerly for the release of the, in my opinion, best hardware journalist's AMD K6 Review. As you might be able to tell by now, this was Dr. Tom Pabst's ( Tom's Hardware Guide> ) AMD K6 Review which took the world by surprise. However, his dedication and his determination took me by surprise instead of his review. I immediately decided to, at that point, to combine my limited knowledge and abilities of the computer hardware world with the vast sea of the Internet, 24 days later, on April 26th, Anand's Hardware Tech Page was born. I never officially released the web site to the "net - surfers" until the next day but on April 26th Anand's Hardware Tech Page was fully operational. I originally intended the site to be a standalone AMD K6 review which would document fully my upgrade from a Cyrix 6x86 to and AMD K6. That would have been the case had the AMD K6 not been such a scarce product. I am now very glad that it was since I would have otherwise just stuck to the AMD K6 review and left it at that. My first week of being up I received over 1000 visitors, however I never expected to even pass 10,000 that month, I started the site because I love computers and the thought of a hardware testing site was something that I had dedicated myself to doing. From April 26, to May 26, I received over 30,000 visitors, something I had never imagined that could be possible. 30 days ago a few hundred people knew me, but now 30,000 did...by June I had over 50,000 visitors and before moving my site away from its Geocities location to Pair Networks I had over 80,000 visitors.

But who is the REAL Anand?

Are computers my life? I don't believe so, my free time, although limited now, is spent getting as far away from computers as possible. My most beloved sport is of course, basketball (if you recall, that's how I injured by arm, my back, and just about every other part of me ;)...). I have always loved the game, and the thrill of playing it is 100x better than the rush you get while watching it. Although I'm fine with watching football or tennis if I REALLY have nothing to do which is very rare (I'll find something to do rather than watch tennis all day =) ).

I don't usually have time for TV, although there is a nice entertainment center right next to me in my testing room just in case the need ever arises or if I happen to rent a movie. Favorite shows of mine? Well I'm not into any of the serious dramas or anything on TV today, for me, something relaxing or funny (can't get enough laughter into your life) like Seinfeld (sorry to see Jerry go) or the Simpsons (you've gotta love them, c'mon...admit it...hehe) is just fine.

While I work I usually listen to some music, what type? Well, I like to think that I am a very open minded person, I listen to just about any type or style of music, including but not only Classic Rock, R & B, Jazz, some Rap, Rock, Alternative, and just about anything you can think of. I have even taken up listening to a tad bit of country courtesy of a wonderful and influential friend of mine =)  My academic interests include Math and Science for the most part, however recently writing and English in general has been something of a passion I have taken up. We all remember the classic Wuthering Heights now don't we? Well that was probably my most remembered novel I have read since it was the only real novel that challenged everyone who read it, of course, myself included.

Want to find out even MORE about me and those closest to me? Well, in that case, lets take a look at some pictures of me and my friends shall we?

You might recognize this shot, it's a picture of me in Vegas at the 1998 Fall Comdex, and below is a picture of me with ABIT's own Jeremy Smith as we toured the city of Vegas before our grueling week at Comdex.

Here's the good ol' Physics class, there's Mrs. Draughon at the right smiling because she knows I'm about to take one of her nice and difficult tests ;)
Here's my loving girlfriend, Amy whom I have mentioned from time to time. She's the one that keeps me "in line", and she has definitely supported me all of the way, with the site, and life as well.
This is where I spend 45 minutes pretending I know how to speak German, yep, it's my German IV class.
My angry computer science teacher...I wasn't programming when I took this picture...I should've been programming ;)
Here are a few people from my lunch crowd
As you can see, Ben and I are hard at "work" in Math class
Here's the unsuspecting Math teacher
...and Suzanna, also hard at "work" in Math class
Finally...we have my Computer Science teacher once again...he's definitely not happy...poor Dennis...

Well, that's about it, you now know a lot about who I am. Ok, enough social talk...back to work everyone =)