What was your first computer?

[Vuflanovsky]

Influenced by a friend who was a programmer, my first computer was a Mac Classic in 1991 with an 8 Mhz Motorola CPU and an add-on 40MB external HD that cost me $175.00...I think that was the first Mac to cost under $1000 so they broke the price barrier!!! LOL. I still have it in a custom padded carrying bag that I schlepped it to Kansas City in a few months after I bought it. For a dinky computer that bag was pretty dang big when you put everything in it.

I had a Pong game circa 1972-73. I almost think of that as my first computer as that was pretty representative of things to come.

 

[JeffKeryk]

IBM XT clone, 286 chip, 64 KB, dual floppy drives. Early 1980's...
Fastest thing at the time.

I wrote C and Pascal programs, even BASIC.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
IBM 5155

Aside from school work and learning to program I used it to play:

MS Flight SIM
GATO
Adventures in Serenia

I also installed a 900 baud internal modem.


I've run into those at various offices over the years. Back then, the concept of portable was that if a battalion can move it, it's portable.

 

[jcartwright99]

IBM Clone:286 in 1989. Just command line DOS for a while until I was able to score a copy Windows 3.1 for Workgroups. I actually had the specs which are laughable but cost a whopping 2400 in 1989 money. My dad must have liked us. I was 12 and configuring sound cards and other hardware so I could play video games.

 

[Dave Sherman]

First computer of any kind was a Commodore 64. Typed in lots of programs from Compute!'s Gazette in my youth, and had several games for it. First had the Commodore Datasette to store programs, but eventually we got the 1541 floppy and it was way faster - until the games got much bigger and you had to wait a few minutes for programs to load. Mom and Dad still have it all packed away, they are planning to ship it to me since it's taking up space in their house.

First PC was an original IBM PC/AT that Dad snagged after it was being disposed of. Had a whopping 40MB hard drive, CGA monitor, and 512K of RAM. Still served me for the first couple years of college until I upgraded to a brand new 100MHz Pentium with 8MB of RAM.

 

[MNgopher]

An Apple IIgs, which we nicknamed Apple II Goes slow.

 

[JLTD]

My first computer was a hand-me-down from my brother, who has built numerous desktops over the years. I don't recall anything except it was a 386.

First one I bought was an HP laptop, lasted from '06 to '13 when the motherboard fried itself.

Then I got my current mac - no moving parts and zero issues. Never going back to a PC.

 

[Trav]

No idea but it used 2 x 5.25 floppy drives, no HDD. I got the thing from a military DRMO sale.

 

[csandste]

Commodore VIC 20. I see somebody on Etsy is selling a VIC-20 case to put a Raspberry Pi in. Why anyone would want to do that is beyond me--dis on the Vic not the Pi.

 

[oldoak2000]

Apple ][ 1983 8kb memory 300 baud modem cassette-tape storage color-tv screen.
later upgraded memory to 48k and modem to 1200 baud and thought I was on Top of the World!!
later put a z80 card with 256kb - learned CPM, then 'there was nothing I couldn't do'!

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

Originally Posted by sloinker
Sinclair

I was wondering if I would find Sinclair. I eventually had 3 of them. After the boys and I got all we could out of them, we upgraded to firesale Pc Jr's. Talk about a labor of love to learn pc's .

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
IBM 5155

Aside from school work and learning to program I used it to play:

MS Flight SIM
GATO
Adventures in Serenia

I also installed a 900 baud internal modem.


I've run into those at various offices over the years. Back then, the concept of portable was that if a battalion can move it, it's portable.

I still have one of those. Still works fine.

 

[Mantooth]

Does the first Atari gaming console count? If not, then Commodore 64. I remember writing basic programs that would loop text on the TV screen. I would always write a program with some inappropriate text containing a friends name and then run it when they came over. I still have the system in my parents' attic. Keyboard and the immensely large floppy drive. I miss those years.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
IBM 5155

Aside from school work and learning to program I used it to play:

MS Flight SIM
GATO
Adventures in Serenia

I also installed a 900 baud internal modem.


I've run into those at various offices over the years. Back then, the concept of portable was that if a battalion can move it, it's portable.


Indeed. The freaking thing weighed 30 lbs !

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted by Oldmoparguy1
Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
IBM 5155

Aside from school work and learning to program I used it to play:

MS Flight SIM
GATO
Adventures in Serenia

I also installed a 900 baud internal modem.


I've run into those at various offices over the years. Back then, the concept of portable was that if a battalion can move it, it's portable.

I still have one of those. Still works fine.


What do you do with it?

 

[E150GT]

I don't remember. We got a computer as kids that was already old and we pooled our Christmas money to upgrade it. Only thing I remember that it cost $300 for 8mb of ram from the CompUSA.

 

[WyrTwister]

Originally Posted by knerml
IBM 360/60 programmed using PL/1, WATFV and punch cards. 1973.



I did that , about that time . Used IBM FORTRAN 4 ( good ) . PL/1 ( a pain ) . Was taking IBM 360 Assembler when I dropped out of school .

Took COBOL ( good ) on the NCR 200 .

Played with 6502 assembler a tiny bit . Then Basic on Atari , Commodore & MS DOS . Had a Franklin ( Apple II clone ) in there too .

 

[racin4ds]

Custom built 386DX4 back in 1994. My grandfather worked for IBM and got this for me for my 15th birthday. I was hooked! Windows 3.1 and AOL trial CD's to get online!

 

[WyrTwister]

Originally Posted by Mantooth
Does the first Atari gaming console count? If not, then Commodore 64. I remember writing basic programs that would loop text on the TV screen. I would always write a program with some inappropriate text containing a friends name and then run it when they came over. I still have the system in my parents' attic. Keyboard and the immensely large floppy drive. I miss those years.

I had an Atari 400 with a cassette tape drive .

 

[nthach]

An old generic 386SX-40 soldered onto a MSI mobo with 2MB of RAM, a Sound Blaster 16 card, 540MB Conner HDD and Windows 3.1 on top of MS-DOS 6.22. In the 1990s, Silicon Valley was dotted with mom and pop computer stores ran by Chinese or Taiwanese immigrants and they co-existed with Fry's. Way before Best Buy, FAANG and apps.