Very first computer owned

[wolfie]

My understanding is that on the original IBMs (up through at least the AT), the lock was not just a switch to disable the computer, but also a physical lock that would prevent the top of the case from being removed. Clones kept the lock "because it's always been done this way", but toned it down to just being a switch (where you could still open the cover and jumper the lock terminals).

[Ironclad Alibi]

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A..I think we got it around 1984, when I was 6 or so.

The TI-99/4A was also my first computer, bought in 1983.

My second computer was an Apple II/e in 1985.

The PC came along in 1988, and we've had PCs ever since.

[Dreamstalker]

Our very first was a 286, later a 486. Mine (in the middle of the living room so mom could make sure I wasn't up to anything bad...not that we had internet access) was still running DOS while my stepfather had Windows 3.1. Many hours of amusement if his decided to go wonky. I'd fix whatever setting he screwed up through the GUI while he'd decide to use my computer and be hopelessly confused.

When we did get internet, mom handed the phone to 12-year-old me and the tech (I think it was AT&T) walked me though the setup and various modem tweaking...he didn't dumb things down too much which was nice

[Tanasi]

In 197? I had a TRS-80 Model I with 16K and a cassette drive. I later bought the memory expansion unit that took it up to 48K and had interfaces for floppy drives, hard drives and printer. I first bought a SS/SD floppy drive. 5 1/4 inch single side/single density drive that held 80K. I then bought a Okidata 82a dot-matrix printer with a graphics package. Later I added another floppy drive and a 10 meg hard drive. I had a COBOL, FORTRAN and RPG-II compilers for it and a very rare Assembler compiler. I used it until 86 when I got a used Epson Equity I (8086) with 64K, 20 meg HD and color monitor. I soon upgraded it to a very early VGA graphics and a 40 meg HD.
I still have the TRS and it's in it's OE boxes and it still works. It hasn't been put together in over 20 years. I never had a C-64 or it's ilk and I started building my own in 88. The last PC I bought was a bare-bones shuttle. I use my tablets more than anything else these days.

[MadMike]

Trash-- er, TRS-80 Color Computer. Learned BASIC on it.

That was mine as well. My grandparents got it for me for Christmas back in 1982. 16K RAM, extended BASIC, no mouse or modem. You used cassette tapes to save your programs, which was slow. I think they paid $300 or $400 for it.

A year later, they had it upgraded to 64K as part of my Christmas present. Over the next few years, I saved up my money and upgraded it whenever I could. I spent a little over $100 on a monochrome dot matrix printer. I remember that thing was noisy as hell! I think my biggest investment was when I finally saved up enough for a floppy drive. I paid about $300 for it. I got lucky though -- the price had recently dropped from $350.

I picked up a CoCo 3 shortly before they stopped making them, and sold the old one. I used it for a few years until I finally got my first IBM compatible machine. (A Packard Bell. I didn't know any better at the time.) I still have the CoCo 3 in storage, along with all the peripherals and floppy disks. My son found it a few years ago, and hooked it up just for shits and giggles. Everything still worked, except for one of the floppies, which randomly gave I/O errors. But if I remember correctly, that particular disk was always giving me problems. He ended up taking the thing to school for show and tell in his computer class.

[RichS]

First computer I had: I'd asked my parents for a Commodore 64 like what was used at my high school. I was surprised when they got me an Apple IIe with a DuoDisk drive, green screen monitor, and a Brother dot-matrix printer. Even though it wasn't what the school used, I was able to use it for my final programming assignment, as well as writing papers with Bank Street Writer. The DuoDisk drive failed after I graduated, and I don't know what my parents did with it when I moved out.

First computer I ever owned: After graduation, I bought a Commodore Amiga 1000 with an extra floppy drive, color monitor, and an OkiData 20 color printer. It was a do-everything machine, from typing up papers for college to playing games. I still have it, as well as an Amiga 500 that was given to me. My KickStart disks have essentially bit-rotted, so I haven't been able to use it; KickStart was the program that was used to 'boot up' the system before using any programs or AmigaDOS. The original 1000 had to boot from KickStart on floppy disk, the newer Amigas had it as a boot ROM.