Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Very first computer owned
Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
-
My family's first computer was an Apple IIe with two Disk II 5.25" disk drives, Apple green-screen monitor, and an Apple dot-matrix printer. The whole kit-and-kaboodle was handed down to us by a relative in the early '90s, along with an Apple II+ (which became my father's computer, though I don't think he used it for much besides Brick-Out). It was fairly obsolete even then, but IIes were still being used at my elementary school at the time, so it came in handy. Still have it, though I installed UniDisk drives in place of the old Disk IIs, and replaced the green-screen monitor with an Apple color one.
-Adam
Comment
-
Commodore 64C, along w/the OkiMate OkiData 20 printer (which required the Commodore style printer interface,) a 1541-II floppy drive and a 13 inch Maganovox amber monochrome monitor, all came from Service Merchandise. Also had the 1200 baud modem (got that later for Christmas.)
Played Odell Lake until I knew it by heart and used the GeoWrite software until I wore out the first set of discs and had to purchase an off the shelf copy of GEOS 2.0 software.
Many good hours were spent writing stories on that old thing.Human Resources - the adult version of "I'm telling Mom." - Agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo (NCIS)
Comment
-
An Apple "Blueberry." And when I moved back to My Hometown, I couldn't fit it in my car, so had to send it for recycling.
Wish I had booted it up one last time, just to see what was on it. Also wish I'd thought to take all the electronics out and make a kitty bed out of it.
Okay, frankly, I just wish I'd found a way to keep it.Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
~ Mr Hero
Comment
-
Quoth DGoddessChardonnay View PostCommodore 64C, along w/the OkiMate OkiData 20 printer (which required the Commodore style printer interface,) a 1541-II floppy drive and a 13 inch Maganovox amber monochrome monitor, all came from Service Merchandise. Also had the 1200 baud modem (got that later for Christmas.)
Played Odell Lake until I knew it by heart and used the GeoWrite software until I wore out the first set of discs and had to purchase an off the shelf copy of GEOS 2.0 software.
Many good hours were spent writing stories on that old thing.
Quoth Pixelated View PostAn Apple "Blueberry." And when I moved back to My Hometown, I couldn't fit it in my car, so had to send it for recycling.
Wish I had booted it up one last time, just to see what was on it. Also wish I'd thought to take all the electronics out and make a kitty bed out of it.
Okay, frankly, I just wish I'd found a way to keep it.
-Adam
Comment
-
bought in 1983 and had to take out a loan to get it
Apple][+ 64k with Z-80 add-in processor board with CP/M
2 5/14 floppy drivers
green screen
Epson MX-80 dot matrix printer (still have it somewhere)I'm lost without a paddle and headed up SH*T creek.
-- Life Sucks Then You Die.
"I'll believe corp. are people when Texas executes one."
Comment
-
Trash-- er, TRS-80 Color Computer. Learned BASIC on it.
Then a TI-99/4a with a cassette drive (!)
Then a C=64 (M.U.L.E. liiiiives! All of the Gold Box games, too. And Raid Over Moscow. And Pitfall II....Thank Jeebus for the FastLoad cartridge!)
A few years later, circa 1990, I inherited an obsolete AMSTRAD 512K. OS was GEM DOS. (Hey! It ran Hillsfar, at least!). It even had the original up-sell brochure, where they offered...I think...a 40MB hard drive for the low, low price of only $1,500.
Then I got a 486 DX/99 and never looked back."For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
"The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
"Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
"There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
"Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
"Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
"Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me
Comment
-
Quoth EricKei View PostTrash-- er, TRS-80 Color Computer. Learned BASIC on it.
Then a TI-99/4a with a cassette drive (!)
Then a C=64 (M.U.L.E. liiiiives! All of the Gold Box games, too. And Raid Over Moscow. And Pitfall II....Thank Jeebus for the FastLoad cartridge!)
A few years later, circa 1990, I inherited an obsolete AMSTRAD 512K. OS was GEM DOS. (Hey! It ran Hillsfar, at least!). It even had the original up-sell brochure, where they offered...I think...a 40MB hard drive for the low, low price of only $1,500.
Then I got a 486 DX/99 and never looked back.
Using a cassette recorder with the TI-99/4A for program storage was pretty common, actually. About the only way to add a disk drive to one was the Peripheral Expansion Box, which often cost more than the computer did. I recently acquired an example of one, and it's rather awkward to use thanks to the goofy 'sidecar' connector.
The Commodore 64 was a fun machine. Had lots of fun playing Hacker, Red Storm Rising, Impossible Mission, and many others. Have also acquired several Commodore 128s, as well as some Amigas.
I have yet to find anything that Amstrad made. The CPC series was popular in the UK, using cassettes or a wacky 3" (NOT 3.5") disk drive. I know some of their gear was sold in the US, but it wasn't as widespread as Timex-Sinclair computers. The Atari ST machines ran GEM as well, BTW.
A 486DX-33 miditower (remember those?) was our first PC-compatible. Ran Windows 95, and had a cavernous 1GB hard drive. Pretty nice box, though the power supply eventually went flaky.
Quoth TheSHAD0W View PostIBM PC 5150, with the motherboard maxed out at 64K and TWO 160K floppy drives! Also had the monochrome display and the dot matrix printer.
-Adam
"640K ought to be enough for anybody....."
Comment
-
Quoth Lachrymose View Post
First "real" computer after that, not including the Xerox CP/M machines at my dad's office, was an Apple III that he'd picked up for some reason. All of those machines cost more than a new car then
Then came a 486/33 SX in '94. That ran Windows 3.1, had 4MB RAM...and consumed many hours of Doom and Wolfenstein 3DAerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari
Comment
-
I honestly can't remember. I recall having a computer of some sort before I started kindergarten, which was in 1980. How long before, I don't know, and what it was I don't have the first clue.At the conclusion of an Irish wedding, the priest said "Everybody please hug the person who has made your life worth living. The bartender was nearly crushed to death.
Comment
-
All I recall of our first computer is that it was a 486 tower, and it had the 'turbo' switch and a physical tubular lock near the power button. Not sure what that was used for (maybe an early form of parental control to lock out the power button?).Last edited by Dreamstalker; 11-25-2016, 04:47 PM."I am quite confident that I do exist."
"Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor
Comment
-
Quoth mathnerd View PostI honestly can't remember. I recall having a computer of some sort before I started kindergarten, which was in 1980. How long before, I don't know, and what it was I don't have the first clue.
Quoth Dreamstalker View PostAll I recall of our first computer is that it was a 486 tower, and it had the 'turbo' switch and a physical tubular lock near the power button. Not sure what that was used for (maybe an early form of parental control to lock out the power button?).
-Adam
Comment
Comment