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What Was Your First Computer?
- Thread starter CrazyChef
- Start date
Did we spark something for you Chef?? 
My first PC was actually a PC passed down from my step father, I got it when I was 9 years old and since then I have loved computers and other tech goodies. I blame him for my job and the future that this one device led me into
It was a Toshiba 100CS...I dont have any pictures of it since cell phones, digital cameras and other devices were insanely expensive or didnt exist yet...
Here's a pic of one that is similar to the one I had:
My first PC was actually a PC passed down from my step father, I got it when I was 9 years old and since then I have loved computers and other tech goodies. I blame him for my job and the future that this one device led me into
It was a Toshiba 100CS...I dont have any pictures of it since cell phones, digital cameras and other devices were insanely expensive or didnt exist yet...
Here's a pic of one that is similar to the one I had:
Gateway in the cow packaging.
Probably 1995 or so.
Probably 1995 or so.
CrazyChef
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My Progression was:
- Tandy TRS-80 CoCo II
- Commodore 64 (Original Style)
- Commodore 64 (Updated Style)
- Amiga 500
- 386DX-40 Running MS-Dos 3.0/Windows 3.0
- Turned the above into a Linux Box running Linux 0.99 Beta-PL14 (Slackware Distro)
- Multiple MS Windows based computers since then
- FUTURE: SICK of MS Windows - Intend to get a Mac desktop (I need to sell $2500 worth of coils, ASAP)
I couldnt tell you every PC Ive owned..Half of them were pieces, FrankenPC's and other were home builds...The latest few Laptops were Dell Inspiron, Asus X551, a Sony Vaio Netbook, a HP Envy 17, and the Latest is a Alienware M14x R2 Extreme...
Window 7 Pro on all of them except the Asus ran Kali, so did my Ps3
(Dual Boot)
IBM PC AT with MS-DOS V.1.2 at first.
AndriaD
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I had a Tandy 1000 HX, then a 1000 SL, with both 360k and 720k floppies, and 640k! Damn I was stylin'. When I borrowed someone's 20mb hard drive (huge heavy thing!), I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
Then I had a Gateway 2000 386-SX, and later upgraded that to a 386 DX motherboard. Then a Pentium/win95, P2/Win98, celeron/winME, before I finally got a P4, which I kept and used for a long time (9 yrs!), till I got the current Acer i5/win8.1.
Andria
Then I had a Gateway 2000 386-SX, and later upgraded that to a 386 DX motherboard. Then a Pentium/win95, P2/Win98, celeron/winME, before I finally got a P4, which I kept and used for a long time (9 yrs!), till I got the current Acer i5/win8.1.
Andria
Don't remember how to use one of these anymore.
I've built every computer I've had with the exception of the latest, a 1990 model, six-core, 3GB Asus w/8GB RAM which just died. I'm limping along on a 17-inch Acer laptop 'til I figure out what's next.
Barely started with DOS when the early GUI saved me from really learning anything about it. An early interest in graphic design drew me to computers anyway and along the way, I was an early adopter of anything and everything until I learned better. 'Can't remember specs over the years but there were quite a few boxes. Yes, all Win. Every tome there was a new OS out of Redmond, I had to have it, even to the point (this'll getcha, Chef) becoming an Beta tester for Msoft (along with 10,000 others) prior to the release of Win Me. For slogging through that,I received the finished OS on disc but unlike every other user, never had a problem with it. I did in-home Windows user guidance service for a while, but lost my ass on it. I tell little old ladies I could show them how to do whatever they wanted in an hour or so, then spend four hours explaining what a mouse does.
Get this: That's when I started telling these sweet old dolls that to copy and paste, just highlight the text, right-click and choose 'Copy.' That puts the text in the mouse so you can put it wherever you want. And it worked.
Eventually I figured out there was no wisdom in installing a new Win version as soon as it came out. 'Slow learner, I guess. A new box will be on my desk in the next couple of weeks and, yeah, it'll sport a Win OS. Msoft is giving users little choice about it so Win 10, I suppose. I've been considering a new monitor array as well but have a trio of Sammies that are working fine so that may be a future upgrade.
Anyway, disjointed as it was, that's my computer history over the past quarter of a century or so. I registered my Domain and built my first website 18 years ago, which reminds me - it's due for renewal!
What was the question again?
Barely started with DOS when the early GUI saved me from really learning anything about it. An early interest in graphic design drew me to computers anyway and along the way, I was an early adopter of anything and everything until I learned better. 'Can't remember specs over the years but there were quite a few boxes. Yes, all Win. Every tome there was a new OS out of Redmond, I had to have it, even to the point (this'll getcha, Chef) becoming an Beta tester for Msoft (along with 10,000 others) prior to the release of Win Me. For slogging through that,I received the finished OS on disc but unlike every other user, never had a problem with it. I did in-home Windows user guidance service for a while, but lost my ass on it. I tell little old ladies I could show them how to do whatever they wanted in an hour or so, then spend four hours explaining what a mouse does.
Get this: That's when I started telling these sweet old dolls that to copy and paste, just highlight the text, right-click and choose 'Copy.' That puts the text in the mouse so you can put it wherever you want. And it worked.
Eventually I figured out there was no wisdom in installing a new Win version as soon as it came out. 'Slow learner, I guess. A new box will be on my desk in the next couple of weeks and, yeah, it'll sport a Win OS. Msoft is giving users little choice about it so Win 10, I suppose. I've been considering a new monitor array as well but have a trio of Sammies that are working fine so that may be a future upgrade.
Anyway, disjointed as it was, that's my computer history over the past quarter of a century or so. I registered my Domain and built my first website 18 years ago, which reminds me - it's due for renewal!
What was the question again?
I think the first one my dad bought was a Hewlett-Packard desktop. This was in the mid 90s. I think it had like a 4 or 8 mb hdd and 256k of ram.
CrazyChef
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Kinda reminds me of the dreaded PEBCAC error I had to tell people I "fixed".
Problem Exists Between Computer And Chair
Now that is one sexy dinosaur!Ohio Scientific 4P, 64K Memory, Z80 processor, CPM Operating System, 180K 8" floppy disk drive
The first computer I ever personally owned was fairly recent. It was a cheap Emachines laptop I bought around 2009-2010 on Black Friday at Walmart for like $200. Lasted me for a couple years and last year I got another laptop that I forget at the moment.
I was like 24ish when I bought my first computer lol, but Ive had computers in my household since as early as I can remember. I was about 5 and I remember my dad always working on computers and my mom always playing games. Some of my fondest early childhood memories are sitting next to my mom watching her play games like Ultima 7 and Might and Magic. Ultima 7 has a special place for me, I even bought a copy a bunch of years ago and play it from time to time.
I remember we got a state of the art Sony Vaio when they were the absolute shit and cost like $2000+. This was when the original Napster was brand new and I had a little side business in middle school burning people mix CDs for $5 a pop. I remember my sister tried to get into it and accidently added the entire computers file directory to the Napster program and I deleted it all from Napster thinking it would just delete it from Napster...well it deleted the files completely. Dad was PISSED when he got home to a black screened computer with no files. Yea, we werent allowed to use the computer for a long time after that lol
I was like 24ish when I bought my first computer lol, but Ive had computers in my household since as early as I can remember. I was about 5 and I remember my dad always working on computers and my mom always playing games. Some of my fondest early childhood memories are sitting next to my mom watching her play games like Ultima 7 and Might and Magic. Ultima 7 has a special place for me, I even bought a copy a bunch of years ago and play it from time to time.
I remember we got a state of the art Sony Vaio when they were the absolute shit and cost like $2000+. This was when the original Napster was brand new and I had a little side business in middle school burning people mix CDs for $5 a pop. I remember my sister tried to get into it and accidently added the entire computers file directory to the Napster program and I deleted it all from Napster thinking it would just delete it from Napster...well it deleted the files completely. Dad was PISSED when he got home to a black screened computer with no files. Yea, we werent allowed to use the computer for a long time after that lol
My Dad used to check my AP Calculus homework with one, Except his was circular.
Ruh-ro.
My first two were a Commodore 64, and a TI 99 (I think that's what it was called). My first PC was a Gateway 386Sx that I upgraded to a 386 DX66. The next two comps I had I built myself ( a Pentium 2, and an AMD Athlon) Now using an AMD A6-3620 x64 machine. I have had a computer in one form or another since 1982.
That's about when I started too.
Worked in a distributors' warehouse, so they gave us cheap pricing on the goods.
Super cheap it turned out... I bought a Ti 99/4A and took it home. They screwed up and shipped me a second one. They didn't even care... said keep it. LOL.
Programs on cassette tape... booyah. Anyone see one of those Panasonic tape players anymore?
Too many home comps since then to remember... probably fifteen or so.
I have many fond memories of sitting up late at night coding on my Commodore 64 and playing around on the local BBS at a blazing 300 baud. My, how times have changed!That's about when I started too.
Worked in a distributors' warehouse, so they gave us cheap pricing on the goods.
Super cheap it turned out... I bought a Ti 99/4A and took it home. They screwed up and shipped me a second one. They didn't even care... said keep it. LOL.
Programs on cassette tape... booyah. Anyone see one of those Panasonic tape players anymore?
Too many home comps since then to remember... probably fifteen or so.
AndriaD
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ROFL... DOS Power Tools saved me from post-partum depression after my son was born ('89, when he was a year old). He never had much interest in watching me play with DOS or batchfiles or text BBS's.
Andria
CrazyChef
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Yup, 300 baud was my first modem speed, also. You could actually read text files as they came through using the X-Modem protocol.
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Yeah, I used to run a BBS in the very early 90's called "Metropolis Online!" using PCBoard v14.5 by Clark Development. Man, those were some good times! I was the liaison hub for RIME between Boston and western Massachusetts. For some reason, FidoNet never really grabbed my attention.
I can remember when having a 1200 baud modem was like having a cable modem today.
Running on a very nice though not quite top of the line PC now, bought it for games, and of course a few months later, I simply stopped playing, too much else going on. Surprisingly I shopped out all the parts, was ready to order and build and thought I'd just price check it against what I could buy prebuilt... saved $100 and got a free monitor by going through ibuypower... can't argue with that.
Did I make you feel old?
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I ran TAG, Telegard, Maximus, and finally Renegade, which was a local port of Telegard with a few extra features -- I LOOOOOOOOOVED fidonet, ran FrontDoor to get echomaill; in fact I made quite a tidy sum over a few years' time, setting up Frontdoor for other people, or installing high-speed UARTs for them and setting up the FOSSIL driver to lock the port at 19.2k. Ah, those were the days.
Andria
I had a throwback to the good old days several years ago when I ran a node on a VHF/HF amateur radio network.
AndriaD
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I started out with a 2400; ran a BBS on that for quite some time, and FINALLY got a 9600 when they got cheap after everyone else was at 14.4. I was offline for a few years, and when i discovered the internet in '99, my first was a 14.4, but soon discovered that a 14.4 is just not up to a graphical interface -- even the 56k I finally got had a hard time with it! When I first got DSL, I was all WOOHOO! by the time we moved and I got cable internet at 6mbps, I thought DSL was slow (1.5mbps I think). Now I'm at 125mbps and I can't figure out how I endured all those slower interfaces.
Andria
Wait for Google Fiber, Im hearing soon to be 700mbps-1GBPS speeds...I started out with a 2400; ran a BBS on that for quite some time, and FINALLY got a 9600 when they got cheap after everyone else was at 14.4. I was offline for a few years, and when i discovered the internet in '99, my first was a 14.4, but soon discovered that a 14.4 is just not up to a graphical interface -- even the 56k I finally got had a hard time with it! When I first got DSL, I was all WOOHOO! by the time we moved and I got cable internet at 6mbps, I thought DSL was slow (1.5mbps I think). Now I'm at 125mbps and I can't figure out how I endured all those slower interfaces.
Andria
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Still be limited to the speed of the server that the site is on, though. When I had a really slow modem, I didn't worry about that -- when I finally got a faster connection, I had to find a webhost with fast MySQL servers.Andria
Well for the price its pretty ridiculously good, I was paying 200+ a month for comcast and I was supposed to be getting 105/mbps and I was only getting 60mbps, they didnt have a reason and/oir a excuse and the following months I had them rack up $800 of devt out of no where. Im with Fair Point right now with a steady 25mbps and I am pretty impatient for Google Fiber or Fios to come to the area....Hell Im looking forward to 4G which was supposed to be up almost 2 years ago here...
Andria
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Comcast is truly the antichrist. We're currently paying them about $211/mo, but as soon as our promo deal for $2/mo cinemax runs out, next month I think, I'm switching back to DirecTV and just keeping comcast for the internet and phone.
Andria
Be very careful closing with them, act like you will be staying forever...if you like your credit numbers how they are and not owing them for anything...I really wish someone would buy them out and just burn everything to the ground.
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Lucky guy!
He's rather indifferent to my computer thing, until he starts cussing at Windows and I have to go figure out what the problem is and pacify him.
Shoulda seen me trying to explain to my mom why she couldn't retrieve old data from a crashed hard drive.
Andria
Naw naw naw, the worst, my coworker...He's rather indifferent to my computer thing, until he starts cussing at Windows and I have to go figure out what the problem is and pacify him.
Shoulda seen me trying to explain to my mom why she couldn't retrieve old data from a crashed hard drive.
View attachment 43267
Andria
Them-"I can't get this thing to turn on"
me-"ohh no, did it crash? what happened?"
them-"I'm flipping the switch on and it's not turning on"
me-"Flipping the switch?"
them-"Yeah the switch in the back"
Sad thing, not the first person I've met who didn't know how to turn the computer on but worked with them daily.
Allen_Arnold
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Commodore +4. Now that's old school
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The first programming experience I've had was with my father's Sinclair ZX81. My father was an old school computer guy. Therefore, he wrote his own OS (in machine code) to be loaded from a tape, in order to be able to access a single density 8" floppy drive, that he had hooked up to it.
The roles are reversed in my house. My wife is asking me for help, when anything is wrong with her computer, or "smart" phone (also running Windows).He's rather indifferent to my computer thing, until he starts cussing at Windows and I have to go figure out what the problem is and pacify him.
Andria
If it were just my computer, I'd be running Linux instead of Windows. BTW, who came up with the name Windows? They should have called it Reboot instead.
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I always thought they should have just named it "Beta" since we're the beta testers for their buggy software.
I've given a lot of thought to Linux; I have to interact with it to some degree, with my webhost, but truthfully, I'm just not interested in learning yet another command-prompt OS; DOS took me a WHILE, and I really didn't have much else going on at the time other than changing diapers. And now I've spent all these years learning how to make Windows do my bidding, so I'll stick with it.
Andria
(ETA: I don't do mobile phones; my husband is on his own with that. He's a www-dot-idiot, and I'm a non-cell-speaker.
)
Lots of ID-10-T errors from your husband?I always thought they should have just named it "Beta" since we're the beta testers for their buggy software.
I've given a lot of thought to Linux; I have to interact with it to some degree, with my webhost, but truthfully, I'm just not interested in learning yet another command-prompt OS; DOS took me a WHILE, and I really didn't have much else going on at the time other than changing diapers. And now I've spent all these years learning how to make Windows do my bidding, so I'll stick with it.
Andria
(ETA: I don't do mobile phones; my husband is on his own with that. He's a www-dot-idiot, and I'm a non-cell-speaker.
I'm the same way though, can't help but feel the complaints about windows are overexaggerated as I've not really had many problems. I mean Linux is amazing in it's own right, but worth the effort to perfect, ehh not for me yet. I did do quite a bit of dabbling with it out at college, mainly though in creating a flash drive where I could load my own Linux OS off of so I could go from computer to computer and have things set up just how I wanted, made it easy to bounce around and do work. Like having a thumb sized laptop on my keychain. I got through all my computer programming classes by mainly being the debugger for other groups of students (almost always group projects so I just got added to the list).
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He actually does ok with his G5; the one thing he can't seem to figure out is how to email pics with it -- the camera in his phone takes much better pics of our cat, without giving her the "spotlight eyes" that my camera's flash does, but then he has a hard time sending them to me. He figured it out once, but never since then.
Once I got off of winME, I've been happy with windows -- had XPpro for 9 yrs, and it was a great piece of software. 8.1 isn't too bad, seems fairly stable; I think I've had only 1 or 2 mysterious "freezes" in the year that I've had it.
Andria