what was your first computer?
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Amiga 1000
Sort of a color Mac with a windows operating system that Microsoft didn't catch up to until Windows 98.
Amiga was basically Commodore's Beta vs Apple and IBM's VHS. Clearly better, but lost the marketing battle.
Sort of a color Mac with a windows operating system that Microsoft didn't catch up to until Windows 98.
Amiga was basically Commodore's Beta vs Apple and IBM's VHS. Clearly better, but lost the marketing battle.
We got the commodore 128 when it came out. We did use commodore 64s in school and I believe there were a couple Apple Macintosh's in school. Had a ton of 5.25 floppy disks with so many different games and stuff on it.
Circa 1995, a locally built tower that the shop put together for us. I kinda gave him some parameters and he had fun with it, because he could soup it up a bit. In the end, it was a waste because I never have been a gamer, which would have benefited from the better sound board, memory, etc... he installed. I just used it as a glorified word processor and web portal. Like others mentioned, it was crazy expensive in today’s market.
Once I started travel for work, we got a pretty good Dell laptop, circa 2000. Musta weighed 5 pounds. I accessed the web at motels via the local phone number of some now defunct provider (earthlink maybe). Called into an 800 #, (with a then fancy new technique called a mobile phone), got a local #, hooked up via the phone cord on the room’s landline, and listened to those familiar modem sounds connect me to the www.
Once I started travel for work, we got a pretty good Dell laptop, circa 2000. Musta weighed 5 pounds. I accessed the web at motels via the local phone number of some now defunct provider (earthlink maybe). Called into an 800 #, (with a then fancy new technique called a mobile phone), got a local #, hooked up via the phone cord on the room’s landline, and listened to those familiar modem sounds connect me to the www.
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Same here. I used a tiny black and white TV as a monitor. I used the same TV to watch Letterman after finishing what I was doing with the computer.
My first "real" computer was a Gateway.
Cost about $2,400 with all the software. I was making probably $200 a week at the time.
acer bought at best buy--windows 95/16 gb ram/2 gb hd/14.4 modem--I think I paid around 2k/ internet hookup was around $30 a month
Kaypro II, early '80s. State-of-the-art. Had an internal 300 baud modem and two floppy disk drives.
I wanted one of those. But a tech-nerd friend set me up with a sweet $3,000 computer that could emulate the NCR computers that I use for development, which made more sense.
My first was an Apple III.
Timex Sinclair 1000
Same. Never managed to get the save to cassette tape to work on any program I ever coded in. Finally stopped trying.
I graduated from Iowa in '93 with a BS in Computer Science before I owned my first PC, an IBM 486
I never even got that far. I think O wrote a few scripts or whatever using BASIC and was amazed at that.
Something like 2kb of memory if I recall.
A few years later we got an Apple IIc and could do word processing and play some games.
After that I didn’t have a home computer until a few years after college. Used a typewriter at FSU.
Damn, are you my brother? I brought the Apple IIc to FSU - I was quite popular come report time as the computer lab at Cash was always full.
Commodore 64. Received Christmas 1984.
Load"*",8,1
Lot of time spent playing Summer Games, Summer Games II, Winter Games, Microleague Baseball, etc.
Load"*",8,1
Lot of time spent playing Summer Games, Summer Games II, Winter Games, Microleague Baseball, etc.
My parents got a Commodore 64 and within a week it fried. So they got a replacement and a week or two later it also fried. Then they got a refund and picked up a Trash 80 CoCo from Radio Shack and that thing lived forever. In fact it still fired up last year when I gave it a try.
So I suppose technically my first computer was a Commodore 64 but really I learned everything on a Trash 80 CoCo.
So I suppose technically my first computer was a Commodore 64 but really I learned everything on a Trash 80 CoCo.
Oh yeah. I remember that you have a pretty good collection of “early” electronics. Kewl. I always try to squirrel away stuff that has survived intact, much to wifey’s chagrin.My parents got a Commodore 64 and within a week it fried. So they got a replacement and a week or two later it also fried. Then they got a refund and picked up a Trash 80 CoCo from Radio Shack and that thing lived forever. In fact it still fired up last year when I gave it a try.
So I suppose technically my first computer was a Commodore 64 but really I learned everything on a Trash 80 CoCo.
Me too. Was able to buy it thru my employer, interest free, with a little taken from my paycheck each month. I went whole hog and bought the 20mb hard drive.
DOS based 286 circa 1986 I think
We didn't have the upgrade to a standard keyboard, ours had the original "chicklet" keyboard just like the ZX Spectrum/Speccy that took over Europe which is why to this day I "hunt and peck" at a keyboard rather than type like a normal person, I just do it really quickly.
Meanwhile most of the Europeans my age learned on this thing
Damn.....some familiar names on that screenshot.Here’s what HROT would have looked like back in 2003 on a lot of our old computers
Fill out dozens of these and run them over to the U of I lab to solve a math problem I could do in my head in 20 seconds...usually miss punched a hole and had to start over...
Yep. I pounded out some of those cards as well.
Fill out dozens of these and run them over to the U of I lab to solve a math problem I could do in my head in 20 seconds...usually miss punched a hole and had to start over...
To this day I am thankful that, pre computer days, I took several required typing classes in middle school and high school. I hunt and peck as do others when the full keyboard is not available.We didn't have the upgrade to a standard keyboard, ours had the original "chicklet" keyboard just like the ZX Spectrum/Speccy that took over Europe which is why to this day I "hunt and peck" at a keyboard rather than type like a normal person, I just do it really quickly.
Meanwhile most of the Europeans my age learned on this thing
Not that much for the Kaypro 2(I sold them) but still around $1500. Kaypro 4 was around $2000. We also sold Epson CP/M computers that were in the $2500 range.
Fill out dozens of these and run them over to the U of I lab to solve a math problem I could do in my head in 20 seconds...usually miss punched a hole and had to start over...
My dad worked in personnel in the USAF.
Your military life was on one of those cards.
When we moved back to the States we got our first home PC.
Leading Edge, 8086 processor, 512k of RAM.
I was introduced to Leisure Suit Larry in monochrome glory, but Zork is what taught me to type.
I remember when dad bought the 20MB hard drive.
I no longer had to swap between 7 floppy disks to play Pool of Radiance.
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