curious to know what hard lessons other than a big hole in your pocket....now DVDrom are dirt cheap.
Back then, things were much more expensive. Like what some of the forumers here said, you may need to pay lots to buy computer parts.
Some memories:
1. memorys were in small capacities and you CAN test them on the spot before buying
2. due to the nascent stage of the PC, you do upgrade your pc quite often.
3. I have pulled cards out when the pc was running (!) No prizes for guessing what happens.
4. hardware connections can be reversed. I had to spend lots of time troubleshooting.
5. without the online forums, knowledge was not as widespread. Much was learned the hard way unless you have friends
6. data backup - lost enough stuff to fill 1 litre of tears. was using SCSI, Iomega, etc to backup. one CDRW could cost $35 and I bought a few (feels stupid right now)
7. played with esoteric technologies that did not take off - some were short lived. You can find out what these were.
8. You can subscribe to PC magazine from the States - i treated them like gold then (no internet, remember?)
9. Lots of time and my life was wasted. Lesson learned - treasure family and living things. Not the PC, or the internet (its a little late now - not much love to spread nowadays)