What was the first OS you ever used?
- Thread starter Julio Franco
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The Talking Tech
Posts: 1,154 +2,686
Windows 95 S.E with USB Support....that was a big deal!...but Windows XP and Windows 7 were the best experiences, at least they allowed you to turn off the pesky Windows Updates.
I started on an Acorn System 1 in 1978. It didn't have an OS or any languages. You programmed it directly in 6502 machine code using a hex keypad and an LED calculator style display. I upgraded to an Acorn Atom a couple of years later which had an assembler as well as a fairly fast basic. I recently found the Atom in a box in my loft and it's now at the national computer museum - which makes me feel a bit old 
brunocasarini
Posts: 155 +494
Back in 1992, I was 14 when my father bought an 286 with 4MB of RAM, 80MB HDD and 2 floppy disk drives (one of each size: a 5,25" and a 3,5"). It came with MS-DOS 4.01. Luckily, I already knew enough English to read magazines and even a DOS user manual to learn what to do with the operating system.
First computer was a dial-in (literal dial and acoustic modem) at school into what I think was an HP 2000 series. Later, they had some Apple ]['s. At home, the first computer was a TRS-80 Model I.
LetTheWookieWin
Posts: 216 +456
Probably TRSDOS or LDOS. Both were operating systems for the TRS-80, and I believe Tandy eventually bought LDOS and turned it into a later version of TRSDOS.
My dad bought a TRS-80 Model I when I was very young, then a model 4, before getting a Tandy 1000 with MS-DOS 2.x. While I used the TRS-80’s briefly (mostly to play Super Star Trek), the Tandy 1000 and Microsoft GW-BASIC got me started with programming.
For those interested, here’s the source code for Super Star Trek. My dad copied it line by line from a magazine article.
www.vintage-basic.net/bcg/superstartrek.bas
My dad bought a TRS-80 Model I when I was very young, then a model 4, before getting a Tandy 1000 with MS-DOS 2.x. While I used the TRS-80’s briefly (mostly to play Super Star Trek), the Tandy 1000 and Microsoft GW-BASIC got me started with programming.
For those interested, here’s the source code for Super Star Trek. My dad copied it line by line from a magazine article.
www.vintage-basic.net/bcg/superstartrek.bas
My first OS? DOS running on a Zenith Heathkit 8088 that my brother and I received from our uncle for Christmas back in '83 (though I'm not sure what version it was). After that, MacOS in college (because there were more Macs in the computer lab than Windows machines) and most versions of Windows.
BabyFaceLee
Posts: 197 +115
I remember I had an Amstrad CPC 6128 back in 1985/86. It ran on AMSDOS (Amstrad DOS) with Locomotive BASIC. I bought various games on 3 1/2" floppy disks and messed about with writing code etc... those were the days [sigh].
Windows 95 on a Intel Pentium 2 266Hz CPU. I miss that PC
Mowserx
Posts: 26 +24
First computer I ever used was probably an Apple IIE in elementary school (Oregon Trail). Though around that time my friend’s family got a Radio Shack Tandy that we tinkered with. Another friend had a Commodore 64. My family did not own a computer until summer before freshman year of high school. A Packard Bell 286 with 2400 baud modem running MS DOS 4.
Mowserx
Posts: 26 +24
*shudder*
I do NOT missing screwing around with Autoexec.bat, config.sys, IRQs, etc.
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Well, it wasn't a Microsoft OS. Called CTOS: Convergent Technologies Operating System. This was 1981.
CT was wall streets darling for a while. Every Big Iron computer company was a CT OEM: IBM, DEC, Prime, and a raft of others. I was the smallest OEM.
And, BTW... the first CT workstation I bought had a 5MB (megabyte) 5-1/4" Hard Drive and 384K of RAM and a green monitor. No mouse then. $14,000 thank you very much!
CT was wall streets darling for a while. Every Big Iron computer company was a CT OEM: IBM, DEC, Prime, and a raft of others. I was the smallest OEM.
And, BTW... the first CT workstation I bought had a 5MB (megabyte) 5-1/4" Hard Drive and 384K of RAM and a green monitor. No mouse then. $14,000 thank you very much!
My first computer was a Commodore 128. I ran native programs and also ran some apple programs on it using CP/M. My next few PC's all ran Amiga DOS. It wasn't until the mid to late 90's I build my first PC.
Update: I had forgot that in high school (1978), I had learnd to do some COBOL prrogramming on a Honeywell mainframe. I believe the OS was called GCOS: General Comprehensive Operating System, and it used punch cards. Also used a DEC PC which ran CP/M-96 at my parents business in about 1980.
Update: I had forgot that in high school (1978), I had learnd to do some COBOL prrogramming on a Honeywell mainframe. I believe the OS was called GCOS: General Comprehensive Operating System, and it used punch cards. Also used a DEC PC which ran CP/M-96 at my parents business in about 1980.
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Burroughs mainframe, FORTRAN, IBM punch cards, 1979... HP41 calculator, Radio Shack MC10 with 16 Kb RAM, BASIC programs, hand entered, saved on cassette tape, 1982... MSDOS on an 8088... Beat that, kids!!! From there, it was 8086, 286, 386 etc. running MSDOS then Windows 3.0, 3.1, 3.11 etc. No prebuilt machines, all custom built myself. IRQ jumpers, autoexec.bat, msconfig.sys, manually installing drivers for a $240 CDROM that was NOT a burner! Today's system - AMD 9900X, 64 GB DDR5, AMD 7900-XT, Samsung 9100 and two 990 SSDs, 32" OLED monitor, external DAC/preamp-headphones amp, KRK professional studio speakers, subwoofer, multiple expensive headphones, etc. My god, what have I done...
From there, it was 8086, 286, 386 etc. running MSDOS then Windows 3.0, 3.1, 3.11 etc. No prebuilt machines, all custom built myself. IRQ jumpers, autoexec.bat, msconfig.sys, manually installing drivers for a $240 CDROM that was NOT a burner! Today's system - AMD 9900X, 64 GB DDR5, AMD 7900-XT, Samsung 9100 and two 990 SSDs, 32" OLED monitor, external DAC/preamp-headphones amp, KRK professional studio speakers, subwoofer, multiple expensive headphones, etc. My god, what have I done...
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obsidian76
Posts: 68 +53
TI BASIC / ROM-based console OS on a
Texas Instruments TI-99/4A circa 1981/82
Texas Instruments TI-99/4A circa 1981/82
arrowflash
Posts: 735 +983
The first computer I ever used, first at my primary school lab and about a year later at home, was an 8-bit MSX with MS BASIC. The ROM-based BASIC was the OS. Mine even had a 5.25-inch floppy disk drive, which back then was considered a bit of a luxury for the MSX.
On IBM compatibles, my first OS was MS-DOS 5.0. Later, MS-DOS 6.22 + Windows 3.1.
BASIC wasn't intuitive at all and it was kind of frustrating to use as an OS (as an interpreted programming language it was fun), even after taking classes and reading documentation. Syntax for tasks like managing files and loading binary programs was very strict, not intuitive and error messages were very simple and unhelpful.
Compared to MS BASIC, I think DOS was a lot more user friendly and easier to use and understand. The syntax was more intuitive and easier to learn, and error messages were a bit more helpful. Of course it took me many long years of troubleshooting and frustration to understand things like autoexec.bat and config.sys, and even today I occasionally still learn something new about .bat file scripting.
I still play with DOS, early Windows and OS/2, emulating old PCs in PCem and 86Box.
On IBM compatibles, my first OS was MS-DOS 5.0. Later, MS-DOS 6.22 + Windows 3.1.
BASIC wasn't intuitive at all and it was kind of frustrating to use as an OS (as an interpreted programming language it was fun), even after taking classes and reading documentation. Syntax for tasks like managing files and loading binary programs was very strict, not intuitive and error messages were very simple and unhelpful.
Compared to MS BASIC, I think DOS was a lot more user friendly and easier to use and understand. The syntax was more intuitive and easier to learn, and error messages were a bit more helpful. Of course it took me many long years of troubleshooting and frustration to understand things like autoexec.bat and config.sys, and even today I occasionally still learn something new about .bat file scripting.
I still play with DOS, early Windows and OS/2, emulating old PCs in PCem and 86Box.
OortCloud
Posts: 2,137 +3,086
Yes and NT is my second favourite OS. Shame these people are no longer running the show and NT has become so saddled with terrible, burdensome middleware.
MS DOS back in the early 80's
The first computer my father bought me was a 286 clocked at 16MHz, with 1MB of RAM, and a mighty 50MB "fixed" hard disk drive. The PC AT clone came with MS-DOS 5.0, which I quickly updated to MS-DOS 6.0 as soon I was able to navigate the complexities of the command prompt environment.
Man, what fun I had trying every sort of shareware program, collecting floppy disk magazines, spending nights by going through weird txt documentation about memory management tricks, undocumented DOS calls, and why the PC was a very shitty platform for games compared to the "multi-processor" based Amiga :-D
Man, what fun I had trying every sort of shareware program, collecting floppy disk magazines, spending nights by going through weird txt documentation about memory management tricks, undocumented DOS calls, and why the PC was a very shitty platform for games compared to the "multi-processor" based Amiga :-D
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