Your First COMPUTER!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Apr 25 2007, 11:16 AM) [snapback]429838[/snapback]</div>

That was my first too. But mine was a kit that you had to solder together yourself and it only had 1k memory. There was and upgrade for it and you could double the memory. I learned basic and loaded a program called life. Remember that you had to read the programs out of a magazine and enter them line by line.

10 CLR
20 X=1;y=1
30 Print "Cheap! is the Best!"
40 go to 30

Too much fun!

 

I bought Atari 800XL in 1986 and it impacted my further life and career. That time it was almost illegal to possess dolars in Poland.... but the price was in this currency so had to "organize" some bucks here and there.

I remember radio stations broadcasting programs over the air which one could record on a tape recorder. Then such tape was used as en external storage.

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CPU: MOS Technology 6502 1.7 MHz
ROM: OS and Atari Basic 24 KB
Mem: 64 KB (who need more?)
External storage: Tape recorder
Display: 256 colors, any TV

- Piotr

 

You youngsters are all showing off your youth. This was MY first computer, already an antique in 1969:

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I later got an HP-25C programmable calculator in 1974, but I still have (and use!) the circular "slip-stick" in the airplane just to keep the relentless, heeless tide of gate-flow-controlled electrons from overwhelming me completely. How many of you even have, let alone use your first computers?

Mark Baird
Alameda CA

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marlin @ Apr 25 2007, 01:05 PM) [snapback]429887[/snapback]</div>

Same as me! I loved this computer... <sniff> :wub:

I paid Radio Shaft to do my 16K upgrade though--but not before (thinking the upgrade was a scam) guessing at and typing in various "commands" I stupidly thought would instantly upgrade my machine to 16K without adding any hardware... (Hey, I didn't know any better back then...)

Before that, in high school, I got to play around on a teletype machine connected to a PDP-11 computer somewhere. I had the best time playing "Star Trek" on it.

 

Commodore 128




Nice computer, but no software. Fortunately, it was still possible to run old C64 programs on it in 'C64' mode (it also had CP/M mode, too). Otherwise, it would have been virtually useless.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bulek @ Apr 25 2007, 01:07 PM) [snapback]429892[/snapback]</div>

My own personal first computer was also the 800XL. I did a little programming on it, but mostly played games. I still own it, and it still works like a charm, and most of my floppies are still good too. I bought it from a friend for $100 that I earned delivering newspapers.

My family's first however was the IBM PC Jr. with 128kb of RAM. I was SUPER excited when we upgraded to 512kb of RAM because it meant I could play King's Quest.

 

I had the LAZER II which was put out by Sears, I think. It was an APPLE II clone, one of the rare times Apple let that happen.

 

First computer ever used: TRS-80 a friend had. Taught myself BASIC on it.

First computer used at school: CDC Cyber (forgot which model).

First computer used at "real" job: TRS-80 III.

First computer owned: IBM PC Pentium running Windows 3.1.

 

Mine was the Timex-Sinclair 1000 also but instead of the lowly 2K memory I upgraded mine to 16K! Hoot!

Click pic's for info . . .

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I beleive that was late in 1981, although some of the info I have read states 82, a few months later I was working at Computerland in Sioux Falls and was given a Osborne Transportable to learn and use. A revolution in its time but they went bankrupt in Sept. of 1983.

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I fell in love with this beauty and kept it for quite a few years . . .

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That was back in the day of $680.00 double density 360K 5.25" floppy drives and $1500-$5000 hard drives. I was obsessed wtih them spending hours and days studying programs (Spreadsheets, databases) and figuring out ways to make them useful for businesses and professionals. I truly had an infatuation with computers and would actually stay home on weekend nights working on them. Today my relationship with computers is defined as a "Love/Hate" type of relationship; I guess the shine has worn off.

Wildkow

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bulek @ Apr 25 2007, 01:07 PM) [snapback]429892[/snapback]</div>

Ditto.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Wildkow @ Apr 25 2007, 05:47 PM) [snapback]430147[/snapback]</div>

I totally forgot, I had one of these, too. THAT was the first computer I owned (running CP/M).

 

Ahh, a little stroll down memory lane. Picture didn't post, but it was the original 128K MacIntosh. I won it in a raffle in college. The story is that Apple computer named them for the McIntosh apple, but because of a spelling error they became Macs. After the Mac I went off on a PC tangent for a long time, but now I'm back on the path of right thinking, and loving it.

I guess the HP 15C programmable calculator with reverse Polish notation would count too. I got her first, and still have them both, the Mac is Fred and the 15C is Ethel. Ethel gets a lot of use, but Fred is in the basement.

 

I got my first computer comparatively late, about 1994 or so. IIRC, it was a Canon Innova PC, with a 100 Mhz CPU, 500 MB hard drive and 16 megs of memory. It came with Windows 3.11. My friend and I slowly made changes to the computer, upgrading and changing parts. In fact, the last piece was changed about a year ago...the A drive.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(OlsonBW @ Apr 25 2007, 09:55 AM) [snapback]430097[/snapback]</div>

I remember Avalanche. "Ouch. Yuck. Helllllllllp."

Did you ever play Tunnels of Doom? That was my favorite, favorite game, and one of the first true dungeon crawlers I ever played.

I played Dungeons of Daggorath on my friend's Atari computer, too. That game was a bitch. Typing in all the commands (even abbreviated) to move and attack was hard. And the puzzles weren't just cryptic; they were totally random. Figuring out how to use all the rings. I never got far in the game.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Proco @ Apr 25 2007, 12:08 PM) [snapback]429828[/snapback]</div>

This is the first one I owned. I still have the books "Basic Basic" and "Advanced Basic" on the bookshelf.

Also. I paid and extra $300 for a 16KB to 32KB memory upgrade so I could run LISP!

LISP on a Trash-80, beat that!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Wildkow @ Apr 25 2007, 06:47 PM) [snapback]430147[/snapback]</div>

I used to work with a fellow named Rod Canion, the founder of Compaq. He liked to thell the story of how Compaq was almost called "Runner" until they fired the marketing agency.

 

Where I certainly do remember working on the TRS-80...Ah basic! I believe the first computer I ever had at home was the Colecovision ADAM. ( I didn't want the Apple II) As far as I know this was the first attempt to turn a video game system (the best at the time I might add) into a home computer. It failed miserably of course but was a neat concept nontheless.

Here is the Wiki link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleco_Adam

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mystery Squid @ Apr 26 2007, 10:26 AM) [snapback]430452[/snapback]</div>

Very Cool! I wish I still had my ColecoVision I've tried the emulators of course, but they don't do it justice!

 

My first was a Kaypro 2X. It replaced a memory typewriter, which replaced a typewriter, which replaced a ball-point pen. I used it mostly for writing letters, but I also learned to program on it. First Basic, but very soon the limitations of Basic drove me to C.

But like Sufferin', I had an abacus and a slide rule decades before anyone had built a computer smaller than a house. All through my school years I had two of each: full-size ones at home, and tiny ones to carry to classes. When I took my ham radio exams, people had hand-held calculators but I didn't think they'd be permitted, so I took the exams using my small (about 5 inches long) slide rule.

 

It seems early Apples are under-represented here, so I need to chime in. I first used an Atari 400 with the membrane keyboard and cassettes that I taught myself Basic on (Mom was the librarian at school, and they didn't know what to do with the first computers they got, so they were label A/V equipment and stored in the library). I programmed it to show a picture and play "Mary had a little lamb" as my first big real program.

The school then mostly got Apple ][ and Apple II+'s, with the Paper Tiger printer - fast but very noisy! Then they bought Apple //e's, with I think 128KB and 80-characters per screen (e meant extended video memory), and lower case characters even. Hi-res still had only 4 colors (16 colors in low-res?). In 1984 I bought an Apple //c (compact, but not portable), which I still have altho it has a problem with the memory chip and doesn't boot up properly. I have my sister's Apple IIGS and can play the old games on there (my friends and I had hundreds, many of which were not any good). I also found an emulator I can run on Mac OS X, and have some of the basics there: Space Invaders, Galaxy, Asteroids, Lunar Lander (hmm, a theme seems to be running here), Panic, Choplifter, Lode Runner, but we'd also play Conan, Donkey Kong, Pacman, Oregon Trail (the 1970's version, later my brother worked at the company (MECC) that made that game and other educational ones), Montezuma's Revenge, Pinball, Snake Byte, Taipan, Ultima series and our favorite: Sabotage.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Apple_II_games)

My son plays variations of many of these games as Flash games online at nick.com with Sponge Bob characters, etc. He doesn't like it if I tell him almost all of those games have been around for decades.