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Weekend Open Forum: What was your first computer?
And there's probably no better way to get you started than by telling my own story...
If memory serves me well, my first hands-on experience with computers started with an Atari 800XL at home and a HDD-less IBM PC at school. With the former I basically just played games, and with the latter I was taught how to browse through DOS directories, in other words, so much for hands-on computing!
Eventually we got an actual PC at home which was a clone powered by an Intel 386SX CPU running at 33MHz, 2MB of RAM and a whooping 80MB of hard drive space. The machine served me well for a while until it got upgraded to 4MB of RAM, a 486SX CPU (40MHz) and a multimedia bundle from Creative Labs that was comprised of a soundcard, a pair of speakers and a CD-ROM drive. I ran Windows 3.1 along with DOS which I didn't drop completely until I was forced to do so in later Windows releases. The use for this computer was very basic as you can imagine. I always played whatever games were available at the time using the keyboard, but word processing and overall tinkering with the machine was the most typical use this computer would get. With the faster processor and optical drive a whole new world opened, there was Wolfenstein 3d, Doom and a plethora of shareware applications from which I remember one of the earlier versions of Paint Shop Pro, which got me started with graphics editing. Of course, the first digital encyclopedias were all the rage at the time as well.
I don't quite recall how much the original machine cost but I believe it was somewhere in the $2,000 ballpark, only to be sold years later for a fraction of that. My next step up was a big one to a Compaq Presario 9240 mid-tower, a Pentium 133 MHz machine of which I also have a dozen tales to share, but I won't bother you with that :).
So, what's your story? Discuss.
User Comments: 70
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My first "computer" was a Timex-Sinclair 1000... tape loaded programs, tiny "chicle" keyboard, 8K memory which for only $129, I upgraded to 32K and had the tiny printer that made a "grocery store tape". As soon as I could get it to behave, I itemized a garage sale and printed out receipts for my customers! About 150 items with receipts! They were amazed and I was ecstatic! The world had finally caught up to me... I thanked my 4th grade teacher in my mind again for making me learn to type. Call it sentimentality, but I moved up to the TRS-80 Model 100 Portable with Write ROM which I still have and show off every once in awhile. You know, computers used to turn on instantly! Then I went thru the Commodores and finished them with the Commodore PC-10. Since then I just buy a bunch of parts and throw one together and use it until I have to move on to something faster. From where I sit right now I can see 10 tower cases and three laptops that will eventually end up in a beginners hands if I can ever get time to get them finished. Here in Costa Rica, there are a lot of poor kids that when they get a Pentium 90 or such start with games, learn to type but soon move on to more practical work and then a few years later, they are whizzes or someone in their house has taken over the Mystery and moving ahead real fast. Its been a great ride!
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My first was a TI-49A with a cassett recorder for storage & a small portable color TV for a monitor. I learned to program in "Basic" with this one.
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Big Board, which was hand built from a bought motherboard with a chip count of 119 and over 2000 solder joints. It featured a z-80A 2.5Mhz, 64Kb of main RAM and 2Kb of static video RAM. It ran CP/M on a 256Kb 8" floppy. It took 5 mins to load up the memory with a 60K program. Lighting fast compared to the cassette tape drives of the day. Graphics? Bah! who needed graphics, it still was a big deal because it had lower case characters. The upgrade to a z-80B a 4Mhz processor was a big deal.
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[b]Originally posted by Badfinger:[/b][quote]Mine was a Commodore Vic-20 with 2k of built-in RAM and a cassette drive for storage.I had a 16k RAM expander and a 16k game called Sword of Fargoal, which at the time I loved, took 15 mins to load! I had it hooked up to a TV and it's RF modulator was terrible.I did learn basic programming on it and played a lot of games, cartridge based and SoF were pretty good back in the day.The Vic-20 was $247 and the cassette drive was another $99, I think.Games were about $15-$30 range if I recall, I got my Vic-20 in 1980.This was an all in one keyboard, no mouse system, with a large cartridge slot in front.[/quote]Awesome! That was my first computer too! I was born in '82... I remember getting it when I was a very young kid and learning to get it to print stuff on the screen and such. 10 Print "Hello"20 GOTO 10hahaha
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My first was a Commodore 128 with a 1571 hard drive and an RGB monitor running 40 col color and 80 col green screen. This was followed by an old Compaq CPM computer a fellow gave me when I wrote him a basic program to bill his customers from his Hardware store. Since he couldn't figure out how to do this on his Compaq, it became mine but I sold it and used the funds to pick up a Zenth 386 SX20 running DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1 along with several other programs a buddy gave me on floppies. I soon joined a shareware club that sent me software on floppies that we played for hours. Then when I became injured and Workers Comp sent me to college, I picked up a ATT 486 SX 50 to use for college work and sold the 386 to a student shortly after I had installed a pirated version of Windows 95 (Floppy).I still feel bad about that, since the old 386 just didn't have the horse power to run 95 but the gal was happy with and tied my 4.0 gpa throughout the entire two years of paralegal training.Then it became one system after another, and I began building my own and picking up used mac's on the side to play with. Right now I think I have fifteen or twenty old machines laying around, a couple of months ago I gave away thirty machines most of which ran to folks who were home schooling and needed systems.
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The first computer I had in my fathers garage was an IBM 370/158 mainframe. Perhaps I pioneered the first computer at home. It had 512K of IBM memory and 4 and 1/2 M of Intel memory (they produced mainframe memory in those times). The 5 meg of memory itself took up space the size of a walk in closet. It had 8 model 3330 60M removable disk drives. I paid $20,000 for it used from the University of Illinois at Chicago, which I attended. New it would have cost over $1 million. It was not water cooled, but required 400 amp 3 phase electric power which took the electric company 3 years to put in, since it was underground service. It ran a mainframe OS called MVS-multiple virtual storage, which can still be used now.
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My first PC was a Leading Edge IBM PC AT clone, had 640k RAM, 2 5 1/4 floppy drives, and at first an amber but not too long after that a color monitorMom was in Tech school at the time ~84-85, and as a teen I got a chance to play on the original IBM PC, PC AT, and PC Jr, also did some binary "programming' on some NEC terminals the school had.
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My first computer was a Sinclair ZX81 - ( [url]http://oldcomputers.net/zx81.html[/url] ) No sound support No color support The built-in BASIC programming language can deal only with whole numbers The keyboard is a membrane-type, a flat plastic surface which is difficult to use and wears-out rather quickly Very slow program execution - there are no video chips, the CPU performs all of the computer functions I paid about $100 for the computer and a 16 K memory card. There was a display converter that allowed you to use a b/w tv for the monitor. Data input was by audio tape recorder. It took almost 7 or 8 minutes to load a program and you didn't know if it actually loaded until the very end. I have spent (thanks to bad connections at the tape player) over an hour trying to load 1 program.I actually was able to write a program in basic that determined how much a telephone cable would sag if it were incased in ice. Just before I started using a Texas Instrument Professional (MS/Dos PC) I hard wired a standard keyboard into the Sinclair. It worked for about a month before I accidentally shorted it out.
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My first computer was an Apple IIci. I bought it to play Castle Wolfenstein. There was this war type game that I have forgot the name of but I used to play that a lot too. I was addicted to that game. I wrote a lottery simulator in BASIC on that computer as well. It sure showed me how hard it is to get a 6 number match. My next computer was a clone IBMxt that I bought to run a BBS on. This was before the internet became public.
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My first hands on was with an Apple II-e in school, first home computer was an Apple II-gs, since then I have been through every stage of x86-6x86, and a good sampling of pretty much every style of processor from Pentium, and AMD. I've had an amiga, & few of those briefcase sized dos portables. I went through my days of building the best computers I could out of whatever parts I could scrape together, and disassembling the non-working parts down to component level just to admire the craftsmanship involved in creating these amazing machines.Computers & electronic devices have became so commonplace now that most of us, especially those of us to young to remember the days of a whopping 5MB hard-drive that took up two 5.25" bays in a state of the art 8086, that many people do not fully appreciate the sophistication of our modern machines.
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Can't remember the brand, bought it in 1976. Came with a tape as the drive...
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First computer: Tandy Model IFirst "real" computer: Kaypro "Transportable" w/ CPM OS.First keeper: IBM 5160 "XT"Gawd, we've come a long way, huh?Pete
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Ok, you're all newbie's let's go back to just after the dinosaurs died, while in the USAF in 1965 I was part of the maintenance team that maintained the SAGE AN/FSQ-7 which was a VACUUM TUBE computer that used punch cards [no white out if you goofed] and magnetic tapes for input. Since back then the Russia's were coming any day the system could handle multiple interceptor plots on each operator [USAF for Air Traffic Controller] consoles. Several dumb terminals with B/W monitors. In 1967 after discharge I worked for Burrough's , bet you never hear of them their part of Unisys now after IBM proceeded to destroy one company after another, at the Federal Reserve Bank check processing center maintaining the computer complex first integrated circuit B5500 computer, I/O was the same as the AN/FSQ-7 but a whole lot faster double word [32bit] processor. For storage a magnetic drum then early disk drive with platter 2 foot in diameter. Then on to the FAA/NAS computer complex IBM 360 [32bit] and IBM 365 [64bit] both used Solid Logic Technology [SLT] which was a hybrid between discrete components and integrated circuits on playing sized cards plugged into a hardwired back-plane while 64KB magnetic core memory @ 500ns R or W [Basic Operational Memory] or 'Bombs' as they were called as still being used for cache. BTW we had to troubleshoot with oscilloscopes and logic probes and there where 1000's of the SLT card on swing out gates. The power tub as we called it weighed over 200lbs [3 phase was converter to hi-frequency square wave DC and fed many separate single voltage power supplies. Many a good screwdriver bears witness to discharging P/S capacitors and melting the tip. Now for microprocessors remember the Z80 CPU in the Superbrain PC and the 8 inch floppies 384KB SS and 784KB DSDD with an acoustic coupler at 300 baud. For an OS CPM, Wordstar [now Wordperfect], Aston/Tate dBase III, for apps. Wowie, now I was able to purchase my own 'computer' a Z80 Morrow running CPM with 256KB RAM and a whopping 5MB WD hard drive, 5.25" floppy, orange screen monitor, 2.4Kbps modem. and Epson dot matrix printer for $10,000. The was no internet just bulletin boards run by user groups like BUG [Bay Area User Group] While at work a new IBM 3070 was replacing 4 IBM 360's and large 4GB disk drives spun away and a new band printer that printed 2500 lines a minute on 66 line fan fold. If the cover was open it sounded like a Gatling gun and if the paper separated it would fly across the room like a flying carpet. Later when I was sure MSDOS, Bill Gates was still a 'kid' then operating out of a garage, was here to stay, I purchase an clone [don't here that much anymore] IBM PC-AT with a blazing fast 80286 CPU with a Turbo Speed button. One last thing some other companies PC came out with a bitten apple logo, a tiny B/W screen with little thumbnail pictures on it, a funky little enclosed 360Kb floppy, all in a cute beige case with a handle built in, and a Scottish sounding name and a gadget that looked a rodent!
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Commodore 64 with a plug-in cartridge containing a spreadsheet, database and word processor. Monitor was an old TV set. Big floppies and a printer. I forget how these were plugged into the keyboard. I actually did work on it.The first real computer was the first machine my local Radio Shack sold Don't remember the model number. The computer was all in one piece with monitor and keyboard. 10MB Hard drive and a large floppy.
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First computer was purchased in 1984 and was a used Compaq Portable Plus (lovable luggable), among the first portable systems far removed from the laptop. The green high resolution monochrome screen was 9" and hardly useful for graphic art programs. I'd bought it from an in house programmer at an escrow business who had installed a virtual card which caused it to parody check (7) on each boot. This finally stopped after the incompatible hardware was removed, but not until I'd spent $200 to replace chips for thinking they were the problem. The system cost a whopping $500 which was a bargain considering they sold for $3,500 new. It saved many long late hours in a computer lab, so was in my mind a God send, and as a female this meant I no longer risked being the only one in a dark school parking lot at 11:00 pm, frightened to death.Had that computer many years, and it served as a teacher of DOS. allowed me to learn BASIC, programming and logic, everything short of the school's UNIX system and in between. It also provided an in with the school geeks, a primarily all male crowd in those days, all good people. People like Bill Gates, WOZ, and Jobs were my heroes, as I admired them for creating what I'd seen as our future. That computer became sentimental, I took great care of it, the case and keyboard kept pristine, interior spotless, could not bear to part when replaced by a Compaq Presario. It remained stored safely (I thought) in a closet at my parents house until a jealous brother found and threw it out behind my back. Hard to forgive, and I'll probably never forget it, so I console myself in knowing it would not be very useful today other than as memorabilia. Almost bought another on Ebay once to sooth the pain of my loss, but came to my senses and moved on to a Dimension 8200, and now XPS 730. Things have sure changed since the Portable Plus, and much like the difference between an old and new car it's hard to grasp some of what's under the hood of my latest, but comparing the two is like day and night.Weight: 28 pounds.CPU: Intel 8088, 4.77MHzRAM: 128K, 640K maxDisplay: 9" monochrome monitor built-in 80 X 25 text Color graphic cardStorage: Two 320K 5-1/4" disk drivesPorts: 1 parallel (expansion card)OS: MS-DOSHere is a link to more information on the Compaq Portable Plus: [url]http://oldcomputers.net/compaqi.html[/url]
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Sunnyvale High School class of 1976 we had a 'computer' class. I remember it being very noisy. It was the punch cards and big tape reels left over from somewhere, with a Alpha-Numeric card sorting machine. (that was cool to watch) My school had a lot of Hate, Race Riots, just plain mindless Violence. 'Peace and love' apparently had been canceled or replaced by the time I got there. The admissions dept. suffered a minimum one third unexcused absenteeism. I don't know how many hundreds of students each day that was but it was costing $ 8.30 per missing head. So back to first computers mine had punch cards that represented the student body. One card...one student. As long as I could pull the whole gangs cards by Tuesday 3rd period we would go to Santa Cruz Beach for the week where it really was 60's groovy and Safe from that insane campus. I have fond memories of the very large and loud computer that may have saved my very life. Anthony Feuerhelm
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A zx80 was my first own computer, only 1 kb ram, yet I remember using a mags listing and spending time to enter the basic code, was the first tennis game on computer I saw, then in 81 got a Microbee 64 made in Australia, neat little critter, colour had to be added with a separate board, again spent hours typing code for my games,a year after jumped on a Comodore 64, real fun started, could make music with a keyboard addon the top of the keyboard, could use a floppy drive, was as big as a brick, but fast comparing to the tape drive, then in 89 I bought the first real IBM compatible an XT machine, after that tried a 286 then a 386 and super dupper a 486X66 that was real cool, speed, with a real big 8mb video card I had top class graphics,then I started with pentium, got a bit of all , my first pentium was built from the ground up, I was very proud of it, after that it has been a race, well sort of, from my first 1.5 gHz on I build all my machine from scratch and my family's too.My computing experience is a most pleasing and frustrating at the same time, yet I wouldnt miss it for all the Gold in the world.Reynald
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[b]Originally posted by optimusprime:[/b][quote]i was one of the lucky ones that had a comadore 64 and then moved onto the apple II gs playing where in the world is carmen san diego..lmao that was more than just a few yrs ago..my buddy actually has an old k pro that still works and we goof around wih it every once in awhile..[/quote]I remeber playing where in the world is carmen san diego, what a great game
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A Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K (yes kids, that's 48 KB) back in 1983. Followed by a 128K in 1986.So many of us sat on the lounge room floor, LOADing games in from cassettes, typing in BASIC programs we hoped would RUN the first time
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A Samsung 386 16MHz. RAM unknown. 40MB HDD. I begged my dad to buy a 486, but the 386 cost $2500 (Australian dollars), so my begging fell on deaf ears. First games were Karataka, then Lemmings, then King's Quest V. Many secretive late nights and falling school grades (I was 13). That was 1994 and the machine still works flawlessly. I plugged it all back in a week ago and found KQ5 complete with saved game ready to go!!! Somehow, nothing quite compares these days. I'm now a 5th generation PC owner, with a Q6600, 2GB RAM, 2X 500GB HDD, and 8800GTX feeding a 50 inch Pioneer plasma. I find computers to be like drugs. The hits get bigger and bigger, but the thrill will never be the same again.
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Hhhm... I don't know what my first computer actually was...I think it was an HP 286 or something like that
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Some of my friends had VIC20's and similar computers, but that's not how it was in my home. When everybody else was buying an Atari 2600, we were buying Pong. I didn't learn about computers until I joined the Air Force, but even then didn't buy one because I had them available at work. In 1998, I got my first PC, a Gateway PII 350 with Windows 98.
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After seeing all these, mine seems like an absolute beast! I'm only young though, so forgive me. The first computer that was actually mine was a Pentium III 866MHz. It had 512MB PC133 RAM, a GeForce3 THD 64MB and a 20 gig drive, all working together on Windows XP. It was okay and actually was pretty powerful for a first PC; I ran quite a number of games on it, including Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and Far Cry. After that for a little while I had a Compaq Celeron 1.3GHz, but it didn't have AGP and the integrated chip was extremely weak. Then my third computer jumped for Celeron, all the up to the Core 2 Duo bandwagon, and it flies! xD
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My first computer was a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1 serial number 00455. It came with Tiny Basic and 4K of RAM. In those days memory was very expensive and my first upgrade to 16K of RAM cost $125. Everything was lost when you turned off the power except the bootup that was stored in ROM. We learned how to modify TVs for use as monitors and tape recorders for mass storage. If my memory still serves me we coaxed 300 baud out of those old tape players. I later figured out how and installed 2 47K disk drives which made this a really fine computer during these days. The next computer I messed with was a Heath H-8 that was equally archaic with it's own Benton Harbor Basic but you had all the schematics and we modified them to do real-time chores. I had a commercial radio station that used an H-8 for all their word processing and to que up commercials. Those were the days of real code writers and I got pretty good at machine language, for all you newbees that was writing code from memory zero which was fed directly to the CPU. Next I had a Heath H-89 that came with the almost unheard of 64K of ram, WOW what a screamer. I also had 3 floppy disk drives installed on it and I believe they each stored about 125K. I used this one to hone my skills in assembly language programing. I never liked Benton Harbor Basic. My next machine was light years forward because it was a Packard Bell that came with a color monitor, hard drive (2MB), floppy, and 256KB of RAM (what to do with all this RAM). With this computer I had WordStar, dBaseII and Basic. I also ordered a HeathKit dot matrix printer and had a really fine computer. Leading edge of technology. Next up was a Compaq 286 with a hard drive, 2 floppies and 2 MB of RAM . Entire businesses were being run on this computing giant and we could only wonder what would be next. My next was a Gateway 486 and then a Gateway Pentium. From this point I decided to build my own computer because technology was rapidly running me out of money because it was just moving too quick. I built my next computers based on the Intel PII then the P4 on up to my Intel dual core 3.4GHZ that I am still using although I plan on building my next "last Computer" based on the Intel Core Duo Quad core sometime later this year. As you have probally guessed I am an old fart but I still get a twinkle in my eye and a flutter in my heart when I read about the latest technology and realize that if I had the machine I have today during the 1960s I could have beaten NASA to the moon!!!
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Started with a Commodore VIC-12...moved to a Commodore 64 with tape drive...Commodore 128...Mac Plus, firs w/o hard drive, then with Syquest drive...Mac SE30...then homebuilts. Now using an AMD 3700+ on an ECS board in an Antec P180B case.They were all good. Like my current setup and probably won't change until it dies--or I do
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