QOTD: What Was Your First Computer?

[bwanaheim]

Z80 based home-build with 16kB of RAM, dual 8" floppies, green screen, running CP/M. My father's first build used paper tape (later upgraded to magnetic link tape), and I remember he had to etch the boards himself and build a cabinet out of an old tv console.

 

[zaratustra06]

C 64

 

[czar1020]

Tandy 1000, no idea on spec's. I just remember having a mouse holder that was in the shape of a cat!

 

[dagorym]

Like dtw I started out with a Sinclair ZX81, 1kB RAM, RCA connectors to a tape drive for storage and my dad splurged and got a 15kB memory expansion unit.

 

[misfit14]

Intel 486-DX2 66MHz
I think it had a 320MB Hard Drive and 128MB RAM.
15" CRT Monitor

 

[jerreece]

My first computer was a "Commadore 64 / 128 Personal Computer." You could set it for 64 or 128 mode depending on the piece of software you wanted to load.

I had a huge box full of 5" floppy disks with some pretty killer games on them too! Glorified Atari basically. LOL

 

[edwilson]

lemme see here the year was 1984 and I was in electronics class, I believe that was a Radio Shack model IV w 2- 5 1/4 floppies. we played Zork until the wee hours.
>GO N
>YOU ARE IN THE DESERT

 

[computerninja7823]

hmm first computer...old e machines:2.8 GHZ celeron D,512MB ram, integrated graphics,40GB HDD,DVD rom drive

then slowly upgraded it to4 2.4 GHZ,1GB ram,geforce 4200Ti,250GB HDD, DVD rom drive

my first computer that i bought and built myself: comp: E6750 @ 3.2GHZ
4GB of ddr2-800 ram,680I MOBO 8800gt, the same HDD, the same DVD drive

 

[computerninja7823]

wow, sorry folks my last post got messed up....thats a Pentium 4@ 2.4GHZ

 

[fuser]

First computer I owned was an Osborne 1 (1981). First computers I programmed were the Victor 9000 and Trash-80.

 

[Guest]

My first computer was the TRS 80 Mod 3, serial no. 89.

 

[IzzyCraft]

Some random computer i was too young to remember specifics but a old dos run computer, with all types of floppys that you had to use a key to start it all i remember is getting diablo to run on it.

 

[g-thor]

An Atari 400 with a 32Kb RAM upgrade installed and an external keyboard hack (from a small company from Oregon, I think) that was excellent - it even had a numeric keypad. This made entering BASIC programs a lot easier than the membrane keyboard. It stored programs on cassette tape drive, but I added a 5.25" floppy later, and used ROM cartridges as well (Miner 2049'er, anyone?). Of course, I also had Star Raiders. That's what sold me on Atari to begin with. The solidity of the hardware kept me with them through the Atari ST. Then, as the line died out, I moved to building my own, starting with a 486DX - don't remember what Motherboard, but I was running a 44 MB (yep - megabyte) removable platter SCSI hard drive, held over from my Atari ST.

 

[Guest]

The first I really used a lot was the Osborne 1, a kind of portable, Z80 based computor. It was running CP/M for those who still remember this.
Talking early 80´s here. First one I bought myself was a 386 40 DX, with ab extra Co-processor specialy needed for Acad...

 

[cknobman]

IBM PS/2
Intel 386 12mhz processor
2 megabyte ram
40 megabyte hard drive
10 VGA monitor

 

[thomaseron]

My first computer was a (don't laugh at the name) Wang 286. It was running at a whopping 10 MHz, with a massive 2MB of RAM, and a very large harddrive of I think it was 20 or 40 MB. I have upgraded it with a 3.5" floppy drive. Original was a 5.25, still mounted in it though.
Aah, memories...

Still have it, and it works. ;-)

 

[topgun505]

A Vic 20. I remember getting computer magazines that had free games in the back of the mag ... which was comprised of pages of assembly language code. I remember spending hours plugging in 0s and 1s to make a game, only to find a mistake was made ... somewhere ... and going back through it line by line. Then saving the whole thing to the modern cassette player media.

Then we moved up to a Commodore 64. Ahhhhhh the swap meets where gamers went to exchange ... um .... nevermind. Let's just say those were happy days when software copy protection did not exist. heh.

Then moved up to an Amiga 500. Still no hard drive ... but it used 3.5" floppy's. Woot.

Then finally in to the modern era with a Pentium 90.

And on it goes....

 

[Avenger762]

Apple IIe baby!!! with the wonderful monochrome green screen. I used to play Choplifter and Seadragon for hours. My next machine was a Commodore Amiga 1000. That was and still is a fun machine to play games on. Still runs fine!!!

 

[jsloan]

sinclar zx80, wow i remember that, i almost bought one, they had this kit you had to put together yourself, ouch

 

[jsloan]

[citation][nom]g-thor[/nom]An Atari 400 with a 32Kb RAM upgrade installed and an external keyboard hack (from a small company from Oregon, I think) that was excellent - it even had a numeric keypad. This made entering BASIC programs a lot easier than the membrane keyboard. It stored programs on cassette tape drive, but I added a 5.25" floppy later, and used ROM cartridges as well (Miner 2049'er, anyone?). Of course, I also had Star Raiders. That's what sold me on Atari to begin with.[/citation]

wow, same here, i attached a keyboard that i hand wired. ah, the good old days, when things made sense...

 

[hchawk19]

My first was a Packard Bell in 1993.
It had a 486 66MHz, which we later upgraded with an overdrive chip to 133MHz. It had 4MB of RAM and a 128 Megabyte hardrive and a cd-rom drive and ran Windows 3.11. I remember upgrading the memory to 8MB and later 24MB (I had to have 8MB to play Doom). The first hard drive upgrade we got was to 250MB, which cost a couple hundred bucks, and then later we got a 1.6GB HD that cost almost the same. It is amazing to look back on how much computer technology has advanced in only 15 years or so.

 

[LuxZg]

OK, this one is hard to answer. If you're asking about first "computing device" I'd say Commodore 64, actualy it was some earlier sub-version, like "64 +4" but I forgot exactly.
First x86 PC I've regulary used was in my fathers company, it was DOS based, monochrome monitor, and I?m not sure if it was 286 or 386. I wasn't that much into hardware at a time
Later on they've went to IBM brand-name 486 PCs networked with coaxial cables, and "huge" 14" color displays.
From there on I've been on Cyrix, AMD K(something), pretty much all Intel CPUs except P4 as I was on Athlons back than etc etc. Currently I'm on C2D, as I'm not going after quads just yet, too expensive for what I trully need.

OK, now let's get back to "first". What have I done on first PCs.. pretty much Tetris at first, few copy/move operations from/to floppy disks and so on. Later on I remember playing Prince, than Win 3.11 and early Corel.. After 486 IBMs I got me a nice Win95 box, and that's where I can count being a true computer user, using most things I use today as well (just not in as sofisticated ways ).

I'm still thinking about those first PCs, and simply can't get my mind set on the CPU.. Except monochrome display all I remember are those huge 5.25" floppy "sheets", and that's it

Fun times, but I like todays hardware and software much more though using UNIX terminals on college was fun, even though at the same time XP was already slowly looming over horizon

Cheers!

 

[flip_x]

some computer some guy made! it was a 486 dx2 66mhz, 12mb ram 2mb video card unknown..diamond sound card that had a ide cable for cd rom.. 33.6k us robotics modem. win 95 14" moniter hard floppy.

 

[Roffey123]

Ah...my first computer experience, with a BBC Micro, back when I started Primary school, and it was 10 years old even then lol. I used to love telling Mr. Potato to prompty bake himself. Many 5-year old laughs to be had.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro - In case you're curious

 

[knutjb]

I started out on a TRS-80 with 16K RAM, cassette tape drive and remembering my high school programing teacher wondering aloud who needs more than that? Yes he was serious. His fun personality drove me away from computers until work forced me to use them and I bought a Compaq with a 200mhz Pentium with 64mb ram, S3 Virage onboard video and a Quantum big foot hdd, sounded fast, at the time. After my second store bought I discovered how much they didn't come with and they didn't fit my needs I went down the build your own path and haven't bought a desktop since. Who knew spending so much money could be so rewarding.