What was your first computer?

[Prometheus]

As the topic title says, what was your first computer? Not what came after it, just the first one!


Mine was a Commodore 64 (the later, off-white-coloured version, known as the "C64C"), which I got when I was about five or six years old.


I had actually wanted a NES at the time, but I have been very grateful ever since that my folks trusted me to take proper care of a real computer at that age. Whilst I never got my head around programming, it got me off to a good start, and it got me set up with basic skills and usage-related common sense that I've been able to transfer to every computer I've ever used since.


I still have that C64, too!


So, come on, share with us what your first computer was.

 

[WizardStan]

A vic 20 at the age of 3. I apparently wrote my first program by copying it letter for letter out of the manual, and then my mom fixed it, because I was 3 and mistakes happen. I "wrote" many a program that way, eventually to the point I didn't make mistakes any more. I had no idea what I was typing, just that at the end of all this copying it would make a ball go up and down. Or so I'm told anyway, not that I can remember.

 

[gruso]

Oh how I was jealous of you Commodore-toting superkids in the 80s. My first was an IBM XT clone when I was 12. My dad was in a local usergroup through work, and all the software I could ever need came on a new 5.25" floppy every month or so. One such disc was loaded with GW Basic and a bunch of .bas games. I spent many, many hours "improving" them with squawking soundtracks and other modifications.

 

[Zuk]

Oh how I was jealous of you Commodore-toting superkids in the 80s. My first was an IBM XT clone when I was 12. My dad was in a local usergroup through work, and all the software I could ever need came on a new 5.25" floppy every month or so. One such disc was loaded with GW Basic and a bunch of .bas games. I spent many, many hours "improving" them with squawking soundtracks and other modifications.

I had an IBM from that era too... I don't know if it was an XT or a 286 or what with dual Bernoulli drives. I spent countless hours programming in line basic on that monochrome screen. That's why I still love mechanical keyboards to this day.

 

[skeezix]

We had an Atari 2600 first, but thats not a computer; still, used to trudge on down to the local hardware store (nails, cement mixers, 2600 carts...) to rent games for a fiver each week. I really wanted to bump to a Colecovision I think, since it had such a wicked port of Donkey Kong Jr.


One day my dad came home and said, with great impact upon the rest of my life, .. somethign akin to "boy, I think its time you write your own games". I'm not sure where he got that from.. someone at work (he worked at GM making cars or what .. or just an idea in his head to save money from buying games?


So one day, instead of a Coleco, he came in with a Commodore Vic-20. And the rest, as they say is history..


(and ignoring Prometheus, I naturally wanted an Amiga from all the ads in "Compute!s Gazette" magazine with the type-in MLX programs in the back) but Atari was vastly cheaper, so I became an Atari ST nutjob forever.)


I will never forget how that single decision my dad made set the road of my life..


jeff

 

[diligentcircle]

My dad was in a local usergroup through work, and all the software I could ever need came on a new 5.25" floppy every month or so. One such disc was loaded with GW Basic and a bunch of .bas games. I spent many, many hours "improving" them with squawking soundtracks and other modifications.

Those sound like disks, not discs (optical media).


Anyway, first computer... er, I was a kid in the 90s. So... yeah, I can't relate to most of you. First computer I ever used was a Compaq PC running Windows 3.1 and OS/2 (which we still have, but with Windows 98 instead of Windows 3.1). I think it's also the first computer my family owned, but it wasn't the first one my dad owned. I think his first was an Atari computer.


Anyway, I first used our old PC when I was 2-3 to play Lode Runner: The Legend Returns and a silly kid's "game" called "Ready for Letters". And the Jump Start games a bit later. We also had (still have) "The Even More Incredible Machine" on it, and a King's Quest VI CD that I guess came with it.


The first computer I personally owned (and still own) was (is) a cheap Toshiba Satellite laptop (can't grab the model number right now as it's at a shop for repairs) running Windows Vista (and I've got Linux Mint on it as well). Of course, though, that was very recent, so it probably doesn't count for anything.

 

[gruso]

Those sound like disks, not discs (optical media).

Thank you for the ongoing tedious pedantry.

 

[dgame]

Timex Sinclair 1000

 

[Prometheus]

One day my dad came home and said, with great impact upon the rest of my life, .. somethign akin to "boy, I think its time you write your own games". I'm not sure where he got that from.. someone at work (he worked at GM making cars or what .. or just an idea in his head to save money from buying games?


So one day, instead of a Coleco, he came in with a Commodore Vic-20. And the rest, as they say is history..

Wow, that is one awesome story.


As for the writing your own games thing, could it possibly have had anything to do with the ads for the VIC-20 that were fronted by William Shatner?

Those sound like disks, not discs (optical media).

Thank you for the ongoing tedious pedantry.

Hahahaha! :lol:

 

[TrashyMG]

Timex Sinclair 1000

Ditto

 

[dgame]

Timex Sinclair 1000

Ditto

With the 16k expansion pack and a cassette recorder. I had my own 13" B/W TV at the time that I had found on the roadside and fixed myself. My dad and brother brought the Sinclair home from a garage sale.


The joys of typing in pages upon pages of Sinclair BASIC code only to have the 16k pack take a dump on you. :angry: :blink:

 

[DaMummy]

Commodore64 here as well, when i was...6 or 7 years old, one of the weird memories of that time, was watching my dad playing strip poker on it and me and bro cheering him on sometime shorlty after, he also rented us a NES for 2 weeks and we had a blast using that. than we got a amiga to use until me ad bro started buying our own consoles starting with snes than n64. because of constant, forced, moving we did during childhood, i dont have any of these consoles anymore. worst part is, there are amiga and c64 games i remember, but dont remember their names, nor if its c64 or amiga games. wish i still had all of that history, but sadly, no

 

[diligentcircle]

Those sound like disks, not discs (optical media).

Thank you for the ongoing tedious pedantry.

It's what I do. Get used to it.

 

[TrashyMG]

Timex Sinclair 1000

Ditto

With the 16k expansion pack and a cassette recorder. I had my own 13" B/W TV at the time that I had found on the roadside and fixed myself. My dad and brother brought the Sinclair home from a garage sale.


The joys of typing in pages upon pages of Sinclair BASIC code only to have the 16k pack take a dump on you. :angry: :blink:

Mine was a hand me down. my Dad bought it, didn't like it and upgraded to an Apple IIe.. Since the keyboard was that annoying flat surface he figured it was pretty child proof if liquids were spilled.. It was 1983 and I was 4 years old.. so I was really just monkeying around on it, but managed to memorize how to launch a few games. but mostly I remember typing garbage on it and asking if I spelled a real word..


It was the start of it all for me.. I later moved on to Commodore 64, Tandy TRS-80 Model I, Tandy Color Computer (1-2), Apple IIe/IIgs, IBM PC.. Then onward to IBM clones..


If we're talking Consoles my dad didn't like toys.. but believed that I could do what I wanted with my money.. Saved up a small bit of money and bought a used Atari 2600 off of a Neighbour and this was well into the era of the NES. I believe that same year I pooled up christmas money from relatives with my brother and picked up the NES, my dad wasn't thrilled about it.. but it was our money.

 

[Darkknight512]

400 Mhz Celeron


192 Mb of ram


Intel Integrated Video


Upgraded to


3.0 Ghz Overclocked E4600 (2.4 Ghz) -> later 3.0 Ghz Overclocked Q8300 (2.33 Ghz)


4 GB of DDR2-800 Ram


ATI Radeon HD3850 - Overclocked from 668/720 to 800/950


Gigabyte P35 - DS3L -> Dead board -> now Gigabyte EP43 UD3L


160 GB Hitachi Drive + 1 TB WD Green

 

[Jourdy288]

I'm not sure, actually, but I was around four or five years old... And I think it was running Windows 95.


But I've been using computers since before I could read (with difficulty, mind you).


Some part of me wishes I learned to use MS-DOS for the sake of saying I used a CLI... And for the experience. Ah well.

 

[DrKlaw]

Tandy 1000 EX

 

[TrashyMG]

Tandy 1000 EX

The Tandy 1000 HX was my third computer, it was essentially the same but had a 3.5" floppy disk. I learned the most about DOS on that computer. I loved making music on the Deskmate music program.

 

[DrKlaw]

Tandy 1000 EX

The Tandy 1000 HX was my third computer, it was essentially the same but had a 3.5" floppy disk. I learned the most about DOS on that computer. I loved making music on the Deskmate music program.

Same here. Good old Canon in D. Come to think of it, mine was an HX, too, not an EX.


I still am trying to finish Ultima 5, which I started on that box.

 

[kojack]

My first one was a Rockwell AIM 65


It wasn't that useful though, it had a 20 character 1 line led screen and a thermal printer. It's hard to code (it had basic and an assembler built in) with just one line visible, plus I was only around 11 at the time.


Then I got a TRS-80 Colour Computer 2. All my friends had C64's, and spent their time copying and playing games. I knew nobody else with a TRS-80 and couldn't afford to buy games (I was still around 11), so I spent all my time learning to code instead.


My first games console was an Intellivision. An Atari 2600 followed, but I preferred the Intellivision.


I still have the trs-80 and intellivision in a box somewhere, should still be working.


Just last week my sister drove past a house which had a roadside garbage pickup pile (maybe that's an australian thing. The council sends trucks around a few times a year on certain dates to pick up large garbage that won't fit in your bin like fridges and chairs) and she spotted ontop of the pile a C64 box. It contained an almost brand new C64 with all accessories, several games (some unopened), 4 joysticks (2 unopened). So she grabbed them. She's bringing it over someday soon so I can see if it's in working order.