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Thread: First computer you owned?
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06-22-2009, 11:50 AM #1Junior Guru Wannabe
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First computer you owned?
Since there is an oldest domain thread running and I noticed some of us thinking about the old days of computing I though I would start an oldest computer thread. Meaning what was the first computer you ever owned?
I will start. The first one I ever owned was a TRS 80 Color computer but I almost bought a used Timex Sinclair. Still it was the TRS that started it all.
“A story: A boy uses a TRS-80 Color Computer for many years, and he goes to write code. And afterward he turns the TRS-80 in at the local thrift shop, and he believes he’s finished with the TRS-80 Color Computer. But no matter what else he might do with his hands, love a woman, build a house, change his son’s diaper; his hands remember the TRS-80 Color Computer.”
What was your first computer you owned?
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06-22-2009, 12:18 PM #2Web Host :)
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We have done this 3-4 times here but it's been a while
Mine was an IBM PS/1 286/12Mhz, Monochrome Monitor, 640k Memory, 3.5 1.44MB floppy, No HDD and a 2400baud modem.
Second was a 386SX/16 2x 10MB MFM HDD's, EGA Monitor, 1MB RAM and a 3.5 and 5.25" floppy
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06-22-2009, 12:20 PM #3Tom Whiting, WHMCS Guru extraordinaire
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06-22-2009, 12:22 PM #4Web Hosting Master
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Commodore 64
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06-22-2009, 12:28 PM #5Junior Guru Wannabe
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Reminds me of this old physics professor I learned Linux from who said "that was back when men were men, and men wrote drivers."
Funny I did write some lame flight game on my TRS 80 and saved it to tape. Tape I mean WTF.
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06-22-2009, 12:32 PM #6Web Hosting Master
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06-22-2009, 12:33 PM #7CEO & Leading Designer
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06-22-2009, 12:34 PM #8
Thank GOD I got in the Linux game after that. Of course, my first experiment with Linux was back in the 14 floppy (at least I THINK it was 14) days of Slackware.
Yeah, nowadays, we're like WTF? TAPE? Then, though it was the only option to save anything on. I remember that all too well!!!
Of course I blame my dad for everything whenever I can, jokingly, of course, because I was like 8,9 years old when he brought the beast home for us to use. My sister didn't care much for it, but that was the beginning of my addiction, damnitTom Whiting, WHMCS Guru extraordinaire
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06-22-2009, 12:39 PM #9Web Host :)
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I remember tapes and used them a few times I think on Commodore PC's maybe? Still somewhat before my time or at least the period I got into PC's.
I did however have the pleasure of working with what I think were 8" floppies at my first job out of school. Don't remember how much they held but they were some big boys
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06-22-2009, 12:43 PM #10Web Hosting Master
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I think my first computer was a BBC model B, had a whopping 32kB of RAM
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06-22-2009, 12:48 PM #11Web Hosting Master
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My very first computer was an IBM way back.
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06-22-2009, 01:28 PM #12Web Hosting Master
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06-22-2009, 02:12 PM #13Eternal Member
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Commodore Vic-20, then later I upgraded to the ultimate: Commodore 64 with an external floppy drive. Not the floppies you are thinking of, these were actually floppy and were around the size of a CD if my old brain serves me correctly.
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06-22-2009, 02:29 PM #14Web Hosting Master
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Apple IIe
Yeah... wasnt much to it except text based games on 5.25 inch floppies. You could do simple math on it.
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06-22-2009, 02:57 PM #15Newbie
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TRS-80 model I in 1981.
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06-22-2009, 03:04 PM #16Newbie
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06-22-2009, 03:23 PM #17Web Hosting Master
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trs 80...
Can you imagine in like 50 years when this thread is made again and the younger crowd will say:
4x quad core + processor
50gb ram
20tb hd
yeah its a bit slow but it works
lol.Leader of the new anti sig spamming club.
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06-22-2009, 03:24 PM #18Retired Moderator
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I think it was a Pentium 200Mhz desktop. I'm a youngling.
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06-22-2009, 03:26 PM #19Aspiring Evangelist
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First I ever used: IBM PS/2 8530 I think it was, 386SX/25 with 2MB RAM and 40MB HD + a VGA 8513 screen. The friend who owned it was more financially well-off (this was in '95-'96 in Romania), and although it wasn't the best machine around, at least he had one.
That's what got me into IT; he pretty much didn't care what I did with it as long as I got it working at the end of the day. This meant playing around with DriveSpace (and having the HD show up as a whopping 300MB, only to be cut to 150MB after a few-MB Windows 3.1 install (or was it 3.0?)), formatting, reformatting, swapping floppies for hours, bad sector hell, and a nice dose of Jazz Jackrabbit or Supaplex or some other small but fun DOS game to end the day. Instead of running outside and playing soccer all day like pretty much everyone else, I spent my time honing my skills on that machine, until I got the:
First I ever owned: a Fujitsu Pentium 60 (FDIV anyone?) with 16MB RAM and a 540MB HD. Later got a soundcard (ESS1869) and a 32x CD-ROM for it as well. 15" IBM screen; I remember it like it was yesterday. That's when I discovered MP3s, 3D gaming (software rendering and minimal settings but I was smashing cars around in freakin' three-dee man!), Win95 and its problems, Win98 and more problems, the virus that was WinME, and.. unrecoverable BIOS errors.
I remember when I saw the Voodoo I on a family friend's computer... the smoothness and graphics quality blew me away. Never was the same after that. Anyway, funny enough, I saved the HD from that machine and came across it early this morning.. I'm pretty sure it still works. 540MB of glory. Don't even think it does UDMA33. Fun times, those.Last edited by gypsy; 06-22-2009 at 03:30 PM. Reason: spacing or anti-tl;dr, you pick
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06-22-2009, 03:45 PM #20Web Hosting Evangelist
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Hard to remember! Probably an IBM w/ Intel 8088. It was only a couple MHz.
I do remember the jumps from monochrome->CGA->EGA->VGA->SVGA, and upgrading from 8088->8086->286->386->486->...
I also remember going from BBSes on a 300 baud modem up through 1200bps/2400/9600/14.4k/28.8k/56k/ISDN. FidoNet. Then ISPs.
The jump from 1X CD-ROM to double speed was a huge deal. CD writers came out and cost $1000.
I remember downloading the DOOM shareware from a BBS and not being able to run it w/ my 4 _MEGS_ of memory. And downloading MODs/MP2s and never being able to foresee a future where people walked around the street with MP3s players. We felt subversive at the time.
Ah, nostalgia.Jeff Standen, Software Architect, Cerb
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06-22-2009, 03:49 PM #21Web Hosting Evangelist
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Jeff Standen, Software Architect, Cerb
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06-22-2009, 04:06 PM #22Web Hosting Master
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The first that I can recall is the tandy, took the big fat floppies. Had a "turbo" button on the front that I can remember only made a small turbo light come on, there were no turbo boosts in speed. From there I believe we finally upgraded to a p3 slot 1 with 256MB RAM. While using that big piece o junk I remember standing on the dell hardware troubleshooting call room floor when they announced the release of the Zuul. Dell's first 1Ghz platform. Windows 3.11 was the bee's knees. Those were the days.
Dave Parish
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06-22-2009, 04:10 PM #23Junior Guru
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Was thinking of that Amstrad 80286 loaded with Windows 2..
..then i remembered that Hitachi which was running something like DOS 1.01..
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06-22-2009, 04:20 PM #24Junior Guru Wannabe
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06-22-2009, 05:04 PM #25Retired Moderator
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Was a 486 - I think 66mhz - and by the end of its life it had a 200MB hard drive and 16MB of RAM. Was locally built and upgraded. Really heavy metal case and a 8-9" Monochrome VGA monitor.
First "proper" PC was a Packard Bell in 1998 with a Pentium 2. That thing really did fly at the time!Alasdair
Long time ex-host, ex-billing software owner/developer/support staff. Recent lurker.
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