What was your first computer?

[Gareth]

I think this could be a fun thread.

Mine was the Commodore Amiga 500. What a great piece of hardware!

Wikimedia Error

Look at that sleek design! Its no secret where Apple got their sense of minimalist sexy hardware design!

I blame this for my video game addiction too. It was my step sisters computer that she got as a gift from her Grandmother. I guess I must have played the shit out of a couple games on the thing... Super Ski and Mini Golf... then my Dad came over to visit from Singapore and he gives me a NES. Poor old Amiga didnt even get a look in after that! (kinda makes me sad thinking about )

Dont ya just love nostalgia!

So Gene, how exactly did those punch cards work?

 

[PhantomAce]

Commodore Vic-20 hooked up to a 19" Zenith Trinitron.

 

[bobheck]

Texas Instruments TR-99/4A

I can just hear the sound of the cassette tape now, loading that 400 line BASIC program that I was so proud of.

Funny, you could almost type in the code as fast as that cassette could load it!

Also, even before the computer, I had what I still think is one of the coolest calculators ever, the programmable TI-59

For those of you not familiar with that one, take a quick look at the Wiki on it. Man this was one cool machine.

Wiki on TI-59

Neat thread! I love it.

 

[methshin]

don't remember the specifics, but my mom had a IBM 486 with a 33 mhz processor. I can't remember the hd size, but it was used in the humble beginnings of autocad. I think she bought it in 1988.

 

[Gareth]

Pretty sure the 486 wasnt around until about 92/93.

Maybe it was a 386?

Yep according to Wiki -- Wikimedia Error the 486 was 92 with the 386 in 91.

Maybe she had a system and upgraded it?

 

[methshin]

Pretty sure the 486 wasnt around until about 92/93.

Maybe it was a 386?

Yep according to Wiki -- Wikimedia Error the 486 was 92 with the 386 in 91.

Maybe she had a system and upgraded it?

Quite a possibility, I was 4 when she got it, but used it up to 94. I also remember it having a turbo button on the front of it.

 

[subject x]

My first computer? I'm typing on it now. A Mac G5.

I know.....what a noob!

 

[Bixyboo]

God, I can't remember, think it was something like Texas instruments? But I was typing programs on it for my dad when I was a teenager! It had a cassette player involved, I do remember that.....lol....

 

[Ron Collins]

TRS 80 Model III with a 300 Baud Modem and 48K RAM!

It looked so futuristic with the keyboard and monitor in one hard grey shell. The modem had 2 cups to accommodate the the speaker and receiver of the old pale green phone I had. The phone I'm talking about is like the red one in the image. God I loved that phone.

 

[Schuyler]

First one I owned was an Apple ][ minus (with Integer Basic instead of Applesoft Basic) serial number 32,128. This was 1979.

The first one I worked on was the University of Washington's CDC 6600 which used 80 column punched cards and the attendants wore white lab coats. It had core memory that really was ferrite cores. This was the exact same computer Bill Gates worked on when he was a teenager. We also used a suitcase sized 300 baud modem where you plugged the telephone into rubber cups. This was 1973.

 

[Decker]

In my case, my first computer was a lot like my first love. A Tandy (Radio Shack) 1000 EX, one 360 K floppy drive, 384 K memory, in essence a keyboard with internal floppy and a monitor where I could count all the pixels.

My first laptop was a Tandy 102, almost computing on the fly ... ah, the good old days!

http://darkmattersradio.com/?m=200903

Decker

 

[Schuyler]

TRS 80 Model III with a 300 Baud Modem and 48K RAM!

I remember what those things smelled like. The only reason I got an Apple was that it had 116K drives and the Trash 80 had 80K drives. I still love the smell of wafting polymers.

But Ron. This thing came out in about 1977 or 1978. And you just had a baby daughter. I guess she'll be calling you 'My Old Man,' huh?

 

[ddd999]

ZX Spectrum 48k That was in 1984...I was 10. Still have it... my precious.. mmmm....

But the one I realy loved was Amiga 1200

...

 

[TClaeys]

Apple IIc. About 1984ish I think. Couldn't tell you much about the hardware other than it couldn't do shit. I could type some school reports and do a little basic programming so it was really worthless.

Now the Atari 2600 game system (after wearing out our video pong), well thats another story.

 

[DrLogic]

My introduction to computers was this little beauty when I was 2 years old, even had a colour monitor no less, good old Amstrad CPC 464:

 

[Schuler]

My first computer was a Microdigital TK-83, the Brazilian clone to the ZX-81 computer. It had a 2 KB RAM memory. No problem, you can expand it to a full-64K with an expansion cartridge!

I still have it. And it works perfectly. :

 

[bobheck]

In my case, my first computer was a lot like my first love. A Tandy (Radio Shack) 1000 EX, one 360 K floppy drive, 384 K memory, in essence a keyboard with internal floppy and a monitor where I could count all the pixels.

My first laptop was a Tandy 102, almost computing on the fly ... ah, the good old days!

http://darkmattersradio.com/?m=200903

Decker

Decker, in describing your first love, you used the word 'floppy' twice. I'm just saying.

 

[Schuler]

Then there was the MSX-compatible Sharp HotBit. I didn't really own one of those, but all my friends did. My school used to have a few, too.

I still remember the ads:

David, I know you're fluent in Spanish since you lived in South America for a while, but how good is your Portuguese, if there's any?

 

[Ron Collins]

I remember what those things smelled like. The only reason I got an Apple was that it had 116K drives and the Trash 80 had 80K drives. I still love the smell of wafting polymers.

But Ron. This thing came out in about 1977 or 1978. And you just had a baby daughter. I guess she'll be calling you 'My Old Man,' huh?

Luckily I started early, I'm 35. My father was a programmer and technologist. He worked for IBM, EDS, the bank of Hong Kong, and later Perot Systems. I inherited the TRS80 in '81 (the same year my mom got her new Monte Carlo I also inherited as my first car). My father ran a BBS out of the spare room of his house for many years. I was active on the board from about 7 to 14 when he closed it. We had 2 of the model 3's and a model 1 that he let me mess with. I loved the look of the model 3 and was able to convince him to let me put it one in my room. My first meaningful PC was an olivetti 286DX running windows for workgroups or something. I remember my Father laughing at me at the time for my choice. He's still an IBM guy at heart.

 

[Bixyboo]

I don't know if I should start my own Thread on this or not, let me know if so, but all this talk of first comps reminds me of the first 'cordless home phones' ya'll remember those? Here's when my mom got hers for Christmas when they first came out, we thought we were all that and a bag of chips having that thing, lol!