Hobbies

My three hobbies include: --

• Computers

• Sailing

• Genealogy

Computers

Computers, and especially microprocessors, have been a hobby of mine for years. My first computer was a Motorola MEK-68 Microprocessor Evaluation Kit purchased in 1975. This single board computer had a whooping 128 bytes (no, not 128K, but 128 bytes) of RAM, a hexadecimal keypad for I/O and was supposed to store it's data on a audio cassette recorder. The cassette interface never worked, but a company in Dallas, called Percom, made an external cassette interface for the kit. I purchased a Teletype Model 15 and wrote a printer driver to do memory dumps of hexadecimal code. The driver had to convert from ASCII code to 5 level BAUDOT code for the Model 15 and the interface used a 60 ma current loop to transmit the data to the printer. Later I built a video display terminal from scratch for the kit. I kept this computer until I stored it in a rented storage building and it was taken by someone who stole everything out the building one night in 1991..

In 1979, I purchased a used Southwest Technical Products Corporation (SwTPC, San Antonio, Texas) 6800 Microcomputer from someone in California who was abandoning the Motorola microprocessor. To this system I added an ADM-3A terminal, two floppy disk drives, an interrupt driven disk operating system called INDEX, and a Teletype Model 43 terminal for use as a printer. This printing device was operating at a blazing 300 baud and furthermore, used ASCII instead of Baudot. I had really moved up in the world! Regardless, I did use this computer to collaborate in the design of several imbedded microcontroller systems including one alarm controller which dialed a telephone and reported the alarm condition by digitized voice. The year was 1981. My partner continued to use the same operating system design in another controller for several years thereafter while continually updating our basic design.

In 1982, I purchased a single board XEROX microcomputer with two floppy drives. I didn't buy the entire unit with a video display, so I had to design an interface to use a modified ADM-3A terminal as a video display unit. The system used the CP/M operating system which I though to be a real step down from the interrupt driven DOS I had been using on the 6800 machine. However, the XEROX PC also came with a spreadsheet program called SuperCalc. I fell in love with the idea of doing real calculations without having to write a BASIC program.

In 1984, I was introduced to the IBM PC and the Apple Macintosh. I found the MAC to be fun but I saw real potential in the IBM, probably because it's DOS used a similar command line interface to that of my CPM computer. I became interested in networking about that time and installed my first network in 1985. It was an Orchid network that allowed print and file sharing. Later in the year I would install my first Novell network. Unfortunately, neither of these networks were mine, but I enjoyed the hours I logged making them work.

My brother used to say of me, "the only difference between John at work and John at home is the location of the computer he is using." I suspect he may have been right.  My current computer system involves 6 workstations in my three bedroom house. Actually, four of the workstations are in the same room. One is a laptop that I use throughout the house as well as outside. The PC's are used as follows:

1. Pentium 3/800 Mhz - This is my primary workstation and is running Windows 2000 Pro.
2. HP Kayak XU Pentium 3/550 Mhz  running Windows 2000 Pro. This PC is my secondary computer in another room set up as an office.  I do some word processing and a little record keeping on this machine.
3. HP Kayak XU Pentium II/450 Mhz - This PC is running Windows 98 and is becoming my genealogy computer. I've a 24" plotter attached to this computer that I use for creating genealogical charts.
4. HP Kayak XA Pentium II/300 Mhz - This PC is my home automation box running Windos 98 and the HomeSeer program that controls the house functions and also the web server that presents status and control on my LAN via a web browser.
5. IBM PCServer 330 Pentium 330 Mhz  running Redhat Linux 8.0 - This PC is being used as a test bed for my web application development.
6. Dell 4000 Laptop Celeron/600 Mhz
7. 3Com Audrey connected to the network for remote home automation control.

This network is connected to the Internet via a cable modem from AT&T Broadband Internet. (That's their name this week.  Who knows what it'll be called next week. Oops.. now it's Comcast) Behind the model I have D-Link 10/100 Switch separating the two TCP/IP nodes AT&T ... er, Comcast supplies.   I have an SMC 7004 10/100 Wireless Router interfacing the network using NAT.  I'm working with No-IP to put my web servers online despite the DHCP addressing provided by Comcast.

Thanks to a doctor friend I met while he treated me in the hospital, I've become pretty interested in home automation.  I recently bought an X-10 starter kit and have started to automate some of the house functions.  I've acquired a 3Com Audrey Internet Appliance and have begun the process of using that to control via my home network some of the lighting functions around the house.  From any of my computers I can view an intranet web page that allows me to control the status of various lights in the house, play Internet music, etc.  Also, my remote control will control lights as well as the TV, satellite system, etc.  My next project is automating the HVAC portion of the house.  That will include not only the thermostat control but fans in the various rooms as well.

Sailing

Sailing was a hobby for a while but with the loss of my right leg due to amputation, I've given up sailing for a while. For years, I had known the benefits of sailing as a stress relieving activity. I had a Sunfish for a couple of years and later I purchased an old Hobie 18.

The boat was a 1978 model and has been abused somewhat by having been left uncovered outside for several years. I had a fair amount of work to do to get it into shape for sailing. It needed a new jib sail and some repair to the main sail. I spent a lot of time reworking the trailer for the boat to replace some of the wooden pieces which had rotted over the years. Fortunately, I also enjoy woodwork.

The boat described above has been sold. While I'd love to have another, handling such a boat with a prosthetic leg would be a bit of a challenge. I still love sailing and would love to have a larger dry sailer soon. Maybe after the motorcycle I'd love to buy.

Genealogy

I have been active in genealogy for about 15 years now after getting introduced to it by a friend whose computer I upgraded. Elaine even located some information on the Ghormley family while doing research on her own family tree. I am lucky that a great deal of research on the Ghormley family has be done and cataloged. However, there is much to do on the other branches of the tree. I enjoy learning about my roots and wish I had the time and money to devote the energy to the hobby I would like. It is enjoyable making contact with people I don't really know to learn more about my own family.

The Ghormley family came to America in 1759 from Northern Ireland. Hugh Ghormley settled in Pennsylvania. The family migrated to Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. From the eastern part of Tennessee, my great-grandfather, Pleasant Napoleon Bonapart Ghormley, son of Pleasant Miller Ghormley, brought his family to Texas. They settled in Eastland County, Texas where my grandfather, James Edward Ghormley and his wife, Tygelia Grace Low, raised a family of three girls and two boys. One of the boys, James Dewitt Ghormley, was my father. My father met my mother, Beatrice Opal White, while working as a truck driver for her father, Lee Mitchell White of Rising Star, Eastland County, Texas.

The picture at the right is of my mother and father, Beatrice and Dewitt Ghormley. The photograph was taken in 1932 assuming the 1928 model Chevrolet shown had a current license plate. The date on the plate is 1932. I have seen this photograph all my life as the original was kept in a trunk containing memories of my mother until my father's death in 1984. Mother died in 1948, not quite 2 years after I was born.

Here is a genealogy of my family, with a list of the surnames, including DENNIS, GHORMLEY, LEE, LOW, WHITE, and many others. I'll appreciate any additional information you may supply and I'll happily supply any information I have to an interested genealogist.