Your First Computer

[edgeuser99]

From the wayback machine, about 1974...

 

[Stork]

From the wayback machine, about 1974...

You had a DEC PDP-8 as your first computer?! Wow! Now, we had them at work, tough to program, but learned what you could do with a mini computer. Then, we got a PDP-11. Finally, a VAX. With the VAX, we became dangerous airplane designers. (Used the mini's for pre and post processing the mainframe's crunching.)

Sometime later, in the early 90's, I robbed the budget and personally bought a SGI Indy. Still have it. Managed to overcome Y2K. It's now in my museum. Ahhh, the good olde days!

 

[notshy]

Mine was a BBC and I had it before floppy drives were invented. I remember playing games on it by playing a tape deck and also spending hours copying out coding from magazines

I think my second machine was a 386 - I'll never forget the turbo button on the front of the box. I.never quite understood why you wouldn't was the turbo on ...

 

[georgeba]

This is a real blast, remembering my first computer. Of course I don't have my own picture of it, I had to search the net. It was an Altos series 5, with two HUGE 700K 5 1/4" floppy drives, had to buy special high density disks that cost a fortune Remember, this was about 1983, and the first IBM PC had a 320K floppy. (or was it 160?) The Altos ran C/PM 2.4 and never missed a beat. VT100 monitor, Mbasic interpreter on disk and in about 1984 dBase II. I just about wet myself when I got a Basic compiler. Wow, those were the days. Graphics? WHAT graphics?Altos-5.jpg

 

[Stork]

This is a real blast, remembering my first computer. Of course I don't have my own picture of it, I had to search the net. It was an Altos series 5, with two HUGE 700K 5 1/4" floppy drives, had to buy special high density disks that cost a fortune Remember, this was about 1983, and the first IBM PC had a 320K floppy. (or was it 160?) The Altos ran C/PM 2.4 and never missed a beat. VT100 monitor, Mbasic interpreter on disk and in about 1984 dBase II. I just about wet myself when I got a Basic compiler. Wow, those were the days. Graphics? WHAT graphics?Altos-5.jpg

Oh, so true! While I never got that far with an S-100 buss computer, I remember asking myself as I was wire wrapping my CPU card 1) am I ever get done wire wrapping and 2) how am I going to afford a memory and I/O card? I hadn't even got to the point of look at how much a terminal would cost. Boy! Am I glad those days are long gone! I just love my Macs!

 

[the_gael]

Apple IIci

 

[avdo]

My first computer was a Volker Craig terminal lol. My poor dad bought it for me not knowing it was just a terminal

ZX81 was my first love however, complete with "Horace goes skiing" cassette. I used to sit for hours inputting my own games into that badboy.

Remember getting the Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k "rubber key" after that. One of the faulty batch that burnt out on me withing 2 minutes on christmas day

The best thing I ever got for the Spectrum was a Currah "U" speech module. Getting the Spectrum to swear & curse was groundbreaking for me

avdo

 

[moshymoshy]

Sinclair ZX Spectrum, 48KB, with rubber keyboard.

1984.

 

[Neccros]

Yeah Im obsessed with mechanical keyboards... This one posted is the one I used with my 486 till almost current times... LOL

The switches in this keyboard aren't cherrys but NMB's "space Invader" switches... I was told they sound and feel similar to Cherry Blues or Browns.. I cant recall but either way I have yet to find a keyboard I can put my hands on with any Cherry switches. I refuse to drop 140 for a keyboard before i can test it out....

 

[diver]

It was an Apple II, and I don't have a picture of it, sigh.