Boy, I relate directly to this. I grew up essentially in the ghettos of Baltimore, and my first computer was a Vic-20. I had only a single ripped up 6502 manual, and one of Vic Games programming. I had no datasette in the beginning, and so I started with graph paper, coloring in squares, and computing graphics. I PEEK'ed and POKE'ed stuff directly until I got some primitive stuff going. Later, by reading magazines, I was able to enter by hand, the code for my first machine language monitor, from there things got much better, although I had to be extremely careful not to crash my machine or turn it off, until I could afford a datasette.
Eventually, I got a C64, learned cracking, demo programming, NTSC fixing, and that was pretty much my gateway out of a bad neighborhood into the comfortable spot at Google I have today.
Here's an old compilation I made of some crack/intro screens I made for various groups in the 80s.
I grew up in a similar environment, saw lots of friends and family destroy their lives out of boredom and general bad company.
One of the reasons I hold so much affection for my childhood computers ( Atari 800XL, C64 and the Amiga ) are because they probably saved me from a sad destiny and gave me the opportunity to have a nice profession.
If it wasn't for those machines I might not have been where I am today.
Eventually, I got a C64, learned cracking, demo programming, NTSC fixing, and that was pretty much my gateway out of a bad neighborhood into the comfortable spot at Google I have today.
Here's an old compilation I made of some crack/intro screens I made for various groups in the 80s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aViXXbUg_yU