What was your first computer?
- Thread starter Skippy722
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A no name windows based desktop bought via mail order in 1990. It had the lovely 5.25 inch floppy disk drive.
Sinclair ZX-81 - before they sold to Timex. Almost bought the kit vs. the assembled model, but I'm glad I went with the assembled model since it was returnable and I wound up doing that relatively quickly.
Fast-forward about 7 years and my next computer was a Gateway system, which I still have, but don't use unless I need some historical data off of it.
Fast-forward about 7 years and my next computer was a Gateway system, which I still have, but don't use unless I need some historical data off of it.
1st was a spanking new Commodore VIC-20 (5K of RAM) with a tape drive in 1982. Moved to a Commodore 128 in 1985, then went to work for Commodore-Amiga in 1988 to develop more Amiga products. Wonderful computer system and very advanced for that time (including the multitasking OS). Those were some heady days...
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QLT Futura 100
Targa video capture device
KODAK Flashsync 4000 Digital Camera
4mb system ram
12.5 MHz Motorola 68010
120mb SCSI HD (later upgraded)
Panasonic Omniflex high speed color t-shirt printer
(Later upgraded)
No mouse but had a 14x14 stylus
Fouroudja LD100 Video Scan doubler/converter
Magnavox Amiga broadcast style monitor
Sony flatbed video scanner
Set my folks back about $25,000 back in the day
And they used it until 2015 when they quit doing shows
Having this machine allowed me to make unusual for the time school projects.
Still have it.
Targa video capture device
KODAK Flashsync 4000 Digital Camera
4mb system ram
12.5 MHz Motorola 68010
120mb SCSI HD (later upgraded)
Panasonic Omniflex high speed color t-shirt printer
(Later upgraded)
No mouse but had a 14x14 stylus
Fouroudja LD100 Video Scan doubler/converter
Magnavox Amiga broadcast style monitor
Sony flatbed video scanner
Set my folks back about $25,000 back in the day
And they used it until 2015 when they quit doing shows
Having this machine allowed me to make unusual for the time school projects.
Still have it.
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Tandy CoCo Colour Computer 3. (Similar to a TSR-80) It was a Basic system that you could hook up to the TV or a CGA monitor. It also was capable of cartridge / tape based games and later had a 5.25" floppy drive to cartridge adapter. I learned a lot about programming on that Basic system before moving to a 386 later on. I was 8 at the time.
![[Linked Image]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/CoCo3system.jpg "[Linked Image]")
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Originally Posted by 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.
Oh yeah, I had one of those too. Bought a 386SX-40 motherboard cheap at a computer show. I always figured it was actually a 25 or 33 that had the clock boosted to 40. But when I got rid of, I took off the heat sink and it was actually a 16 that they had clocked to 40. With PC's started out with homebrew turbo PC's, had a Nec V20 at one point too.
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.
Oh yeah, I had one of those too. Bought a 386SX-40 motherboard cheap at a computer show. I always figured it was actually a 25 or 33 that had the clock boosted to 40. But when I got rid of, I took off the heat sink and it was actually a 16 that they had clocked to 40. With PC's started out with homebrew turbo PC's, had a Nec V20 at one point too.
Originally Posted by 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.
I remember thinking how cheap ram was when it was $1 a mb.
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.
I remember thinking how cheap ram was when it was $1 a mb.
My first was TRS-80 Model 4, but I had worked on Commodore PETs and Vic-20s previous. They weren't mine.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Originally Posted by tnt31
Radio Shack Tandy 1000 running SCO Xenix.
First PC I built used a Cyrix 5x86 CPU.
This one is just for you:
![[Linked Image]](https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/attachments/usergals/2019/05/full-21028-32270-img_0245.jpg "[Linked Image]")
Radio Shack Tandy 1000 running SCO Xenix.
First PC I built used a Cyrix 5x86 CPU.
This one is just for you:
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by tnt31
Radio Shack Tandy 1000 running SCO Xenix.
First PC I built used a Cyrix 5x86 CPU.
This one is just for you:
Thanks. I remember those. My second build was a Cyrix 6x86. I went AMD for all personal builds after that until my current build which is an Intel Core I5. I liked supporting an alternative company trying to promotte competition. The AMD Ryzen was just a little bit too late coming to market. Must have been out of my mind but if memory serves I think I paid about $350 to $400 for a 2X Burner and SCSI interface card for that Cyrix build. No idea how i afforded that then...........
Originally Posted by tnt31
Radio Shack Tandy 1000 running SCO Xenix.
First PC I built used a Cyrix 5x86 CPU.
This one is just for you:
Thanks. I remember those. My second build was a Cyrix 6x86. I went AMD for all personal builds after that until my current build which is an Intel Core I5. I liked supporting an alternative company trying to promotte competition. The AMD Ryzen was just a little bit too late coming to market. Must have been out of my mind but if memory serves I think I paid about $350 to $400 for a 2X Burner and SCSI interface card for that Cyrix build. No idea how i afforded that then...........
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Originally Posted by tnt31
Thanks. I remember those. My second build was a Cyrix 6x86. I went AMD for all personal builds after that until my current build which is an Intel Core I5. I liked supporting an alternative company trying to promotte competition. The AMD Ryzen was just a little bit too late coming to market. Must have been out of my mind but if memory serves I think I paid about $350 to $400 for a 2X Burner and SCSI interface card for that Cyrix build. No idea how i afforded that then...........
When I was in high school a buddy of mine bought one of those complete NEC computer systems. Came with Windows 95 IIRC, a Pentium 200MMX and 8MB of RAM. I remember him saving up for the Adaptec SCSI card so I could put a CD-R drive in it. Drive was a Plextor 4X IIRC, and if you did ANYTHING while it was burning, you risked buggering the disc. I later built him a dual Celeron system using the venerable Abit BP6, to which we moved the same Adaptec setup. It had 32MB of RAM and was, comparatively, a rocket ship. Abit later released the VP6 which allowed essentially the same setup with PIII's, but unfortunately was forced to utilize a VIA chipset for that one, which made it far more quirky and less reliable than its Intel-based predecessor.
Getting into the early 2000's, one of the most popular swaps was to take your old Pentium socket 7 rig in and have the board and chip swapped out for a K6-II and gain AGP. You could retain pretty much all of your remaining hardware, which made it pretty cost-effective.
Personally, I've pretty much exclusively owned and built for myself Intel rigs.
Thanks. I remember those. My second build was a Cyrix 6x86. I went AMD for all personal builds after that until my current build which is an Intel Core I5. I liked supporting an alternative company trying to promotte competition. The AMD Ryzen was just a little bit too late coming to market. Must have been out of my mind but if memory serves I think I paid about $350 to $400 for a 2X Burner and SCSI interface card for that Cyrix build. No idea how i afforded that then...........
When I was in high school a buddy of mine bought one of those complete NEC computer systems. Came with Windows 95 IIRC, a Pentium 200MMX and 8MB of RAM. I remember him saving up for the Adaptec SCSI card so I could put a CD-R drive in it. Drive was a Plextor 4X IIRC, and if you did ANYTHING while it was burning, you risked buggering the disc. I later built him a dual Celeron system using the venerable Abit BP6, to which we moved the same Adaptec setup. It had 32MB of RAM and was, comparatively, a rocket ship. Abit later released the VP6 which allowed essentially the same setup with PIII's, but unfortunately was forced to utilize a VIA chipset for that one, which made it far more quirky and less reliable than its Intel-based predecessor.
Getting into the early 2000's, one of the most popular swaps was to take your old Pentium socket 7 rig in and have the board and chip swapped out for a K6-II and gain AGP. You could retain pretty much all of your remaining hardware, which made it pretty cost-effective.
Personally, I've pretty much exclusively owned and built for myself Intel rigs.
Apple IIc, my grandma got one for me and one for my cousins through some credit card reward program. Mine ended up at my aunt's house in Florida and still worked, had Wheel of Fortune for it. My cousin's one I think probably got sold for drugs or something.
I only remember my first computer was running the then brand-new Windows 3.0.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Originally Posted by tnt31
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
tnt31 said:When I was in high school a buddy of mine bought one of those complete NEC computer systems. Came with Windows 95 IIRC, a Pentium 200MMX and 8MB of RAM. I remember him saving up for the Adaptec SCSI card so I could put a CD-R drive in it. Drive was a Plextor 4X IIRC, and if you did ANYTHING while it was burning, you risked buggering the disc.
Personally, I've pretty much exclusively owned and built for myself Intel rigs.
Yep. If your screensaver even came on you ended up with a coaster instead of a disc.
Yup!
Apple II. No hard drive, 3.5 floppy only. 1200bps modem/apple phone.
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