• From: Denver, CO
  • Registered: 2009-02-26
  • Posts: 27

Topic: What was your first computer?

I got my first computer for Xmas back in '83. It was an Atari 800 XL. I had it hooked up to a 10 inch black & white TV and a 5 1/4 inch floppy drive. It had a cartridge port but I don't I don't think I ever put a ROM cartridge in it. I did copy games from other people's floppies, after swapping the floppies 3 or 4 times. I also learned how to make a dual-sided floppy by using a hole-puncher to punch another write tab on the other side of the floppy.

So, what was your first computer? And, don't forget to add any interesting quarks that it came with.

Last edited by shortcipher (2009-03-11 00:52:47)

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  • From: Scotland, Cold
  • Registered: 2009-01-17
  • Posts: 850

Re: What was your first computer?

Well.. we have the Amstrad CPC 464 (we had a word processor for it! : D ) various old-school computers (Amstrad MegaPC for example) and various other things.

The first PC we ever had that I remember? It was some black one, no idea of the maker. Probably 333MHz or thereabouts, because the upgrade was an HP with a 500MHz Celeron, which we boosted to having 192MB of ram.

The first PC I was ever an owner of that wasn;t second hand I got last summer, lol.

My laptop has already seen me well though.

Last edited by Mehall (2009-03-10 01:36:16)

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  • From: Beeton, Ontario, Canada
  • Registered: 2009-01-05
  • Posts: 383

Re: What was your first computer?

Commodore Vic-20. 1981.  3.5 k of memory. Completely hardcore! smile

My dad bought the dedicated monitor for me (pshaw on using the household tv). My brother and I used to play games at first mostly. But I got into programming basic - even wrote a kind of caterpillar/snake type game in basic on it. I also got a Commodore telephone (!) a 300 baud modem and a free month or two of Compuserve at the time. I was rockin' the hizzy even back then! LOL We even had a 9pin dot matrix printer at one point too.. bzzzzzzt!

Favourite games - Omega Race, Gridrunner, Paratrooper, various Scott Adams' Adventure Games.

I loved that friggin thing. Without it I'm not sure I ever would have 'gotten into' computers at all. Learned so much from that beige keyboard. smile

Never got to have a C64 even. Skipped that whole generation up until I got my first 386DX machine.

Okay.. reminiscing time is over.. tongue

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  • kBang
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  • From: Calera, AL, USA
  • Registered: 2009-01-06
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Re: What was your first computer?

Amiga 500

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  • From: Denver, CO
  • Registered: 2009-02-26
  • Posts: 27

Re: What was your first computer?

rfquerin wrote:

I also got a Commodore telephone (!) a 300 baud modem and a free month or two of Compuserve at the time.

Did you ever play MegaWars on Compuserve? Kinda of like TradeWars and Yankee Trader. I used to love logging in each day to notice that my planets got obliterated. mad

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  • From: California, USA
  • Registered: 2008-11-29
  • Posts: 8,647

Re: What was your first computer?

First computer I used was an HP Pavilion with an AMD K6 processor...I feel so young hmm

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  • From: Scotland, Cold
  • Registered: 2009-01-17
  • Posts: 850

Re: What was your first computer?

anonymous wrote:

First computer I used was an HP Pavilion with an AMD K6 processor...I feel so young hmm


My Cyrix (Still in use!!!) is that old!

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  • Registered: 2009-03-06
  • Posts: 9

Re: What was your first computer?

Commodore 64. I remember tweaking a 300 baud modem to get all the way up to 450 baud!

I had accounts on Q-Link, CompuServe, Delphi, and GEnie (not at the same time) and helped run a couple of local BBSes.

  • Registered: 2009-02-24
  • Posts: 41

Re: What was your first computer?

Atari 800 circa 1979.  Came with only 16K back then.  Had to upgrade it to get to 48K as they shipped later on.

Did the old acoustic coupler modem (where you dial the other modem manually on the phone, and put the headset of the phone into the modems two suction cups when you hear the other modem answer)!  Fun times.  smile

Did the CompuServe, BBS, Genie, BBS/FidoNet, Internet thing throughout that time as things progressed.

Went from the Atari 800, 800XL, to the 520 ST, Mega ST, Mega STE, Atari TT 030, and finally the Falcon).  Still have an Atari 800, 800XL, Mega STE, TT, and Falcon.  TT has a Crazy Dots II VME graphics card in it.  Loved that computer.  Never really used the Falcon just had a great deal fall into my lap I couldn't pass up.

Wrote various programs for the ST line.  Did a program for Genie subscribers called "Genies Assistant".  Wrote a Caller ID program, Atari Laser Printer Control Panel Extension, and lots of other stuff for the ST line.  Loved the Atari stuff.

Went PC after that and played in the DOS/Windows world until moving on to Linux.

In the DOS/Windows days I wrote an Atari 800 emulator called "Pokey" which I released for free.  It offered things a few other emulators at the time didn't. 

Now I am happy in a Linux world!  Do contract programming for a living which is mainly embedded systems, and sadly some Windows code too.  Keep looking for an idea for a Linux project to do (and open source).

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  • From: Portugal
  • Registered: 2008-11-25
  • Posts: 43

Re: What was your first computer?

My first computer was a speeder ZX81 with a outstanding 1k then a zx Spectrum (16k>48k>128k) after that my dad got a ZX QL, an then it was a great jump to an Atari ST 1024.

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  • Registered: 2009-02-18
  • Posts: 581

Re: What was your first computer?

Osborne (first laptop evermade!) -> ZX Spectrum ->Amstrad 6128 -> PC 486Mhz -> PC Pentium III -> Macbook C2D -> EEEpc 900 big_smile

this is my computer history big_smile

  • GuruX
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Re: What was your first computer?

The first computer I used was probably my cousins Amiga. It had one of those casette tapes instead of floppy. I remember that it took half an hour to load the game pirates.
Then my dad bought a 66Mhz PC. It wass really expensive I remember. It was one of the first computers with a cd reader. The cd was plugged in to the sound card for some reason. I think they both were form Creative.
Then my first own computer was a 400Mhz PII with a Voodoo II card. I remember overclocking it to like 450 Mhz. I was really proud then.
After that I can no longer count how many computers I have built. I think all the hardware I have has been in and out of almost every single of my computers. Yeah, I like fiddeling with the hardware =o)

  • kBang
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  • From: Calera, AL, USA
  • Registered: 2009-01-06
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Re: What was your first computer?

GuruX wrote:

The first computer I used was probably my cousins Amiga. It had one of those casette tapes instead of floppy. I remember that it took half an hour to load the game pirates.

Even the earliest Amiga, the A1000, had a 3.5" floppy drive stock.  I don't even know if a cassette drive was ever available for an Amiga, if so it was an add-on most likely from a 3rd party and for what purpose I have no idea.  Even the C64/128 had 5.25" floppy drives...

Maybe you are thinking of the TRS-80.

I view KDE like I view snow. It looks fun and marvelous, it's fun to play in, but after a while I just want someone to take it all away.
  • Registered: 2009-03-06
  • Posts: 9

Re: What was your first computer?

kBang,

A lot of people who moved from the VIC-20 to the C-64 used the tape drives. I used to copy public domain software to tapes for my daughter's school to use on their Commodore PET computers.  They had a whole computer lab filled with these things (at least 20).

The Amiga did have tape drives available - see this page at bottom. They even shipped a version of UNIX on tape.

  • From: Beeton, Ontario, Canada
  • Registered: 2009-01-05
  • Posts: 383

Re: What was your first computer?

marvin wrote:

kBang,

A lot of people who moved from the VIC-20 to the C-64 used the tape drives. I used to copy public domain software to tapes for my daughter's school to use on their Commodore PET computers.  They had a whole computer lab filled with these things (at least 20).


My first computer class (in grade 10 I believe... maybe grade 9) used Commodore Pet Computers. I still love the green screen terminal look (which is NOT the same as green text on a black background). I used to love working on those things. It was all so new and what would be considered a miniscule task now was such a personal triumph back then for me. smile

Speaking of Old Commodore's.. anyone know of a good Vic20 emulator? I used to have one for Windows but have long since lost it. I know there is DosBox to satiate my 386 days, but is there something similar to emulate Vic-20/C64/Pet computers?

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  • kBang
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  • From: Calera, AL, USA
  • Registered: 2009-01-06
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Re: What was your first computer?

marvin wrote:

kBang,

A lot of people who moved from the VIC-20 to the C-64 used the tape drives. I used to copy public domain software to tapes for my daughter's school to use on their Commodore PET computers.  They had a whole computer lab filled with these things (at least 20).

The Amiga did have tape drives available - see this page at bottom. They even shipped a version of UNIX on tape.

I stand corrected, I actually found a manual for it (3070 tape drive) as a pdf scanned from the original document.  Erudite to be sure, released specifically for the A3000.

I view KDE like I view snow. It looks fun and marvelous, it's fun to play in, but after a while I just want someone to take it all away.
  • From: Glasgow, Scotland
  • Registered: 2008-11-30
  • Posts: 229

Re: What was your first computer?

Can't remember too many specs but mine was from a company called Mesh. It was the same size as the Houses of Parliament, and was driven by hamsters and elastic bands. It connected to the world wide interwibble by carrier pigeon and every time I turned it on, tides turned twice before I got a login screen. Honest. roll

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  • GuruX
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  • Registered: 2009-01-18
  • Posts: 520

Re: What was your first computer?

kBang wrote:
GuruX wrote:

The first computer I used was probably my cousins Amiga. It had one of those casette tapes instead of floppy. I remember that it took half an hour to load the game pirates.

Even the earliest Amiga, the A1000, had a 3.5" floppy drive stock.  I don't even know if a cassette drive was ever available for an Amiga, if so it was an add-on most likely from a 3rd party and for what purpose I have no idea.  Even the C64/128 had 5.25" floppy drives...

Maybe you are thinking of the TRS-80.

Hum, it might have been a C64 then. The Amigas had the floppy built in while the C64 had external 5.25" or casette as I remember it.

Last edited by GuruX (2009-03-11 14:18:12)

  • Registered: 2009-02-02
  • Posts: 547

Re: What was your first computer?

First used: 2000 Gateway Desktop (667MHz Pentium, 20GB HDD, 256MB RAM) - was parent's, not owned by me.

My first: Gateway MX (1.7GHz Athalon, 1G RAM, 80GB HDD)

Mine now: Dell Mini 9 with 2GB RAM

Kinda funny that they all now reside with me, as dad upgraded to an XPS with quad core and ddr3...im jealous!

  • Registered: 2009-01-08
  • Posts: 23

Re: What was your first computer?

This computer!! smile

ibm, 512mb ram, 2ghz ram, 80gb hdd.

My family've got a lot of computers before, but this is my first own.

21 Reply by KFC

  • KFC
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  • From: Luton / London , UK
  • Registered: 2009-01-22
  • Posts: 42

Re: What was your first computer?

My first was a windows 95, pentium II 166Mhz with about 16mb RAM and a 2.1GB hard drive big_smile
That was about 12 years ago or something, but my grandparents have had an even older pc in the meantime running windows 3.1 and the huge bendy floppy disks.

Amazing to think that this eee-pc probably cost about a quarter of what that thing did, but has 10 times the power, and the pc I'll be buying this month will have the equivalent of 80x the processing power 250x the hard drive capacity and half the price tongue

  • From: Wales
  • Registered: 2009-03-11
  • Posts: 27

Re: What was your first computer?

Had a few computers which were the family's but this is my first. Bought it about 6 years ago and it's still working (just about) to this day (although I have had to change hard drive and power supply)
Intel Celeron 2.93GHz
1GB RAM
SiS integrated gpu
2 x 160GB hard drive

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  • Registered: 2009-03-06
  • Posts: 9

Re: What was your first computer?

rfquerin wrote:

Speaking of Old Commodore's.. anyone know of a good Vic20 emulator? I used to have one for Windows but have long since lost it. I know there is DosBox to satiate my 386 days, but is there something similar to emulate Vic-20/C64/Pet computers?

Make me an offer - I have a Vic-20, or a C-64, or a C-128. Which do you want?

you might try these:

http://www.computerbrains.com/ccs64/
http://www.viceteam.org/

  • From: Dallas, TX
  • Registered: 2009-03-05
  • Posts: 24

Re: What was your first computer?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-99 cool

  • From: Leksand, Sweden
  • Registered: 2008-11-26
  • Posts: 13

Re: What was your first computer?

Amiga 500.