First Computer?

TheShakoMaster said:
Sorry for the implication, I was using the word 'experienced' to be kind to the people from other generations; tongue-in-cheek. It appears that the only thing different between you and me is that my name isn't Bob. :-)
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no problem... nice to have you on the forum!
 
Let's hear it for the Commodore Vic 20.

I used to dream about getting one, indeed I learned to type by finding a magazine advert showing a keyboard, and tapping my address repeatedly on that.

God, that sounds sad :)

Happy days typing in code from magazines, and ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDING anyone unplugging the machine, as it didn't even have tape backup (at that time)

My PC history:
ZX80
Vic 20
Sinclair QL
Commodore Amiga

Then PC's
 
My first PC was Samsung.

With 80GB Hard Disk,
Intel Pentium 4 Processor
512MB RAM,
DVD_ROM,
Floppy Drive,
And Samsung 14" Monitor.

And now i am using Apple Computer.
 
The first computer I purchased myself was an emachine with a celeron processor running XP, 512 RAM, 80 GB HDD, Nothing special, but that is where I really got interested in computer repair, (shortly after high school) though always loved to tinker. The firs computer I remember using was 486, amber screen running some version of DOS. I also remember using 3.11, 95, 98 and up. Born in '85.....
 
TheShakoMaster said:
I thought it would be interesting to see what peoples first computers were (I didn't see a thread that already existed for this.) It's always fun to reminisce and think about how different things are today (as I write this from a 2012 Macbook Air.)

My first PC:
Maker: Packard Bell
CPU: Intel DX4 i486 75mhz
RAM: 4MB RAM - Upgrade to 24MB later
HDD: 500MB Hard Drive
4x CD-Rom Drive
3.5" Floppy Drive
US Robotics 56K Modem
Shipped with Windows 3.11 but very shortly after Windows 95 came out and we upgraded!

I think we got it from Wal-Mart on a Black Friday sale for $999. What a deal!

Anyways, feel free to post yours, I'm looking forward to seeing what was out there.
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I think this was pretty much the same one we had.
 
The first computer I had was an IBM XT. 640k of memory. 10meg hard drive that was double bay in height and weighed about 10lbs. 4 color CGA graphics, 4800 baud modem. Where I worked was upgrading and were going to throw them out. After a little (with permission) dumpster diving, came out with 3 complete pc's. 5 still wrapped versions of DOS 5.0 a couple of copies of Lotus 123, Wordperfect, and some other software.

I could really burn up those Zmodem downloads at 4800 baud.

those were the days.
 
Back in Junior High around 1984, I started using the schools Commodore PET 4016. I remember anxiously awaiting moving to the High School where they had a fresh batch of Apple 2's and a Teletype (Typewriter with a modem). Shortly thereafter, things like girls, cars, and making money became more important and I kinda forgot about computers till the early to mid 90's. When I did finally get my own first PC...a custom built IBM compatible (can't remember the specs), I do remember playing a lot of Leisure Suit Larry and Duke Nukem.
 
Martyn said:
Ah misread I thought it was first IBM. First computer was a rubber keyboard 48k Spectrum :)
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My first computer was a ZX Spectrum too, then upgraded to a +2, then +3 and then Sam Coupe. I think I was 5 when my parents got me the first Spectrum, (well actually it was for my elder brother, but I got to play on it too). One game that I remember was Bruce Lee. Found a pic on Google:

bruce-lee.gif


I had so much fun playing this, and always fought with my brother over who could play. And my favorite game on +2 was Rainbow Islands. I was so happy when I finished it.

88345-rainbow-islands-zx-spectrum-screenshot-loading-screens.png
88352-rainbow-islands-zx-spectrum-screenshot-some-pick-ups-give-you.png


Still have the +2, +3 and Sam Coupe around in storage, with lots of game tapes and disks. These are all in excellent condition, the last time I used them was around 15 years ago, so might fire them up one day to see if they still work.
 
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My answer to this depends on how strictly you want to define the word "computer."

The first thing I had that you could do any kind of programming on was a plug-in device for my old Intellivision video game system. It had a very limited form of BASIC (i.e. the command for input was INPU), and you could do the equivalent of PEEK and POKE commands in the different memory areas of whatever video game cartridge you had plugged into it. It's this device that I credit with getting me interested in computers in the first place.

That being said, my first real computer was a Commodore 128 my family received from my uncle back when I was about 13. This pretty much sealed the deal as far as my computer interests. :)
 
My first was a TI99-4a .... man I do not miss those days lol. First machine I built myself was a 386DX ( YaY Math Co-Processor ) with a 44mb RLL hard drive.
 
my first pc was a evesham desktop pc. it weight a ton.
intel celeron 2.4 ghz cpu 4
hard drive 40 gb
memory 512mb
media drive cd-rw
floppy drive
windows xp home
it is over 16 years old and till working today
 
I bought my first computer in 1984. It was an IBM PC with a 4.77Mhz 8088, 256K RAM and 2 full-height 360K floppy drives. Most people at the time opted for the text-only, monochrome video card and monitor but I spent the extra money and got a CGA (Color Graphics Adapter) video card and monitor which was capable of 4 of the ugliest colors imaginable at a resolution of 320x200. I also got PC DOS 2.1, a text editor, a very loud dot matrix printer and a box of floppies. I was an IBM employee at the time and with my employee discount the package still cost $2600.
 
Mine was a Gateway (ducks for cover before getting hit by a brick).

It had a 10gb HDD
64 MB RAM
CD-RW
56k Dial-up modem
Windows 98 SE

I remember at the time thinking "10 GB! I'll NEVER fill that up", and thinking that I was a badass with my ability to download a whole song in less than 5 minutes via Napster, AND be able to burn it to disk...

Okay, back to my corner...
 
hmmm going back a bit lol..

Though was in 1996 - built by a shop

  • Cyrix686
  • Quantam Bigfoot HDD
  • Awesome Beige Case

Thats all I can remember, and still have the components. I did add things later on like 3dfx card when those dual 2d/3d cards came out hehe.

I was into the Commodore 64 and Amiga Scene still back then, ahh the halcyon days :)
 
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My first experience with computers was at college:

We learned fortran, Cobol and basic for languages.
ibm-punchcard.gif


I was extremely bored with it because you would write your program out on a legal pad and then go to the computer sciences building and type it into a punch card machine. Then hand the cards over to a tech to run in the "computer". Not a very good start on a computer science degree I admit. I really learned little and got uninterested.

Sometime later a friend of mine set my imagination unfire with one of these: The IBM 8088 with 512k ram and no hard drive (later added the daughter expansion board for memory took us to 1meg of ram and a 10 meg mfm hard drive).

IBM_PC_5150.jpg


We actually started our first BBS (Billboard system) on it called the "lighthouse bbs" in Holland, Michigan. I also ran "The kokomo club" in Kokomo, indiana for probably about 3-4 years when I lived there.

Its amazing how far we have come isnt it? Now I run on a AMD PhenomII X6 with 8 gigs of ram and fedora 17. I divorced myself from windows back when win98 came out. I was mad at their marketing. But I always stayed up on the tech end of it. Just didnt use it for personal use anymore as much as possible.

Sorry to ramble such. Didnt mean to bore anyone :)

Best Regards,

coffee

p.s. --- does anyone remember the command "poke c300" ? lets see if you remember (if old enough) what it did!
 
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