What was your first computer?

[davec]

I love these retro threads, brings back a lot of great memories.
So what was your first computer?

Mine was the almighty Commodore 64, arguably the greatest truly "personal" computer ever. Great sound and games, sure I would've liked an Apple II but who had that kind of money. My buddy and I spent endless hours playing Spy vs Spy.

In school at the time we were lucky to have the TRS 80's to use in our Basic Class. Those were the days when computers each had their own distinct personality and enthusiasts of a certain brand would have nothing but disdain and contempt for clueless owners of other brands. Sob! Those were the days.

[Lady Jaye]

The almighty TI 99/4a.

[MarkM2112]

The first computer I ever used was in High School. They had an IMSAI 8080 (The same computer Matthew Broderick almost destroyed the world on in WarGames). It was running a form of CP/M called MUB (Multi User Basic.).

The first computer I ever owned was an Apple ][+

[Sniderman]

The Tandy/Radio Shack MC-10 Color Computer:

http://tinypic.com/28q9lh

Came with a whopping 2 K memory (expandable to 16K!) and was about the size of two packs of cigarettes laid side-by-side. That, a black and white portable TV, and a cassette player was all I had in those early days. But I programmed:
- A pong clone
- A D&D random NPC generator
- A simple text adventure that I added to for years
- Many other games, adventures, applications, etc.

It wasn't much - Hell, it was just one step above a Timex/Sinclair - but I bought it with my own money which was a huge deal for a 13-year-old. I'd love to get another one to screw around with.

[Kid Ice]

Vic 20 for me.

When it was time to trade up I moved directly up to the 128.

[vulcanjedi]

Greetings Programs

First computer I remember was seeing ads in Popular Mechanics or Popular Electronics for the Altair and then heathkit then PET's

First computer I ever touched was an apple II and it even had a disk ][ that just came out. This was the summer of 78.

In 79 I learned basic on a Rockwell AIM65 and was able to schedule time on a TRS-80 model 2.

What I wanted and what I could afford were two different things so it wasn't until June 1982 that I bought a Sinclair ZX81 kit and the 16k ram 2 months later.

In 1985 the decision to buy a color 8bit computer came down to a $20 savings on the Atari 800xl vs. the Commodore 64.

The rest is a bot more complicated :)

end of line...

[Hep038]

First one I bought was a 8088. I swear that thing had a lead case. I used to open it and just look at the boards and wondered what the hell everything did. At the time I stored my old Tecmo Bowl stats from each season on it and used it to type papers for school. I wonder what dump it is sitting at the bottom of now?

[YoshiM]

First family computer: TRS-80 Color Computer (the original)-1981
-upgraded to 16K with Extended Color Basic
-Realistic cassette recorder
-portable color TV

My personal first computer (so I wouldn't hog the CoCo): TI 99/4A

First computer I bought with my own money: Color Computer 3
-stock 128K
-traded my TI for a green-screen monitor
-bought a home-made dual-sided floppy drive (wood case with power supply and I believe a high-density 5 1/4" floppy drive)
-later hooked it up to my 20" color TV so a buddy could use CoCo Max 3 to draw naked women in color and wear out my "right" arrow key playing Tetris.

[digitalpress]

The first one I ever USED was an Apple II in a high school computing class (late start, right? Back in 1981 that was an EARLY start).

The first one I ever OWNED was a Commodore 64.

[Lady Jaye]

BTW, I barely ever did any gaming on the TI. My dad did teach me TI Basic, though, and he programmed for me a hangman game as well as a Space Invaders clone to teach me to type (kinda an ancestor to Typing of the Dead when you think of it).

And he still has it all: the computer, the boxes, the books, the tape recorder, the cassettes...

We also had a Timex Sinclair, although I don't remember it from back in the day (I guess I didn't get to do much with it).

Finally, our third computer was a Mac SE/30. My parents and I have had only Macs since then.

[Raedon]

http://home.cablelynx.com/~tsouthern/trs80_640.jpg

Me and my father's TRS-80.. I still own it.

[drdrew1469]

FIRST ONE???

You mean you people have had more than one? [me pets tandy] LOL

[Jibbajaba]

First one I bought was a 8088. I swear that thing had a lead case. I used to open it and just look at the boards and wondered what the hell everything did. At the time I stored my old Tecmo Bowl stats from each season on it and used it to type papers for school. I wonder what dump it is sitting at the bottom of now?

My first was an 8088 as well. Epson brand. My mom bought it for me for $250 from some office that was upgrading theirs. Came with a monochrome (green) monitor, and dual 5.25" floppies. I was later able to add a 20 meg MFM HD, and a color monitor with an SVGA card. I played tons of games with that thing. My best friend's dad was a programmer for Sierra, so he has all the King's Quests, Space Quests, and Police Quests and we used to play those to death along with whatever else we could get our grubby little hands on. Shareware mostly. I had it for about 3 years until I was about to upgrade to a 386DX40. When I got that, I didnt have any money left over for a new HD, so here I had a nice and pretty new processor, but I was still running that 20meg MFM drive. Later I got a 250 meg drive from costco, and I couldnt even figure out what to do with all that room!

When I was a kid I wanted a Commodore 64 after playing Choplifter at a friend's house. Instead I got a NES which was a-ok with me!

Chris

[SoulBlazer]

The first computer I USED was a Apple IIe at grade school back in 1980 -- anyone else remember those things? LOL

The first computer in the HOUSE was a Commodore 128D bought in Christmas of 1984. While my Dad did use it for work and stuff, I got most use out of it as a gaming system.

After that we got a IBM clone for Christmas of 1988, and then a Gateway 486-SX for Christmas of 1992. The first system I personaly owned and was just for me was a AST all in one system (also a 486) in the summer of 1995. Followed by a Dell Pent II 400 in the summer of 1998 and then I built my own system from Newegg in early 2002. It got a major upgrade in late 2003 but it's still my system (AMD Athlon 2.1).

[Flack]

For a point of reference, I was born in 1973.

TRS-80 Model III - 1980
We were on Radio Shack's waiting list for this. When the first one came in, we went to pick it up. When we got there, the salesmen had already opened the box just because they were so curious to see it.

Franklin Ace 1000 - 1982
Apple II+ Clone.

PC Jr. - 1984
Dad bought this to do work on. I played King's Quest and other classics on it. We still had the Franklin at this time as well.

Commodore 64 - 1985
We became a 3 computer family at this point. I had the C64 in my room, and the Apple and PC Jr. stayed in the living room.

IBM XT - 1985
Commodore SX64 - 1985
Laser 128 - 1986
In 1985 my parents opened a computer software store. The SX64, PC Jr., and Laser 128 stayed at the store to demo software, while my 64, the XT and the Franklin Ace stayed at home.

At some point in the late 80's we upgraded to a 286. I got my first 386 (dx2/40) in '94 I believe. In '95 I had a DX4/100 and several older computers (my BBS ran off a 386/25, plus we had a machine for my wife to use as well).

Currently I have:

p3 700mhz - Firewall/Antivirus/Security/Home Automation/etc
p2 200mhz - File Server
p4 3ghz - Workstation (mine)
p4 2ghz - Workstation (wife's)
p4 2.6ghz - Laptop (mine)
p4 2.6ghz - Laptop (wife's)

Then I have a 2ghz machine that I installed into my MAME cabinet, and a 1ghz machine that serves as a music/video jukebox. I think that's it for modern machines. I have several C64's, an SX-64, several Apples, Macs, and an Amiga in the garage as well.


The first computer I USED was a Apple IIe at grade school back in 1980 -- anyone else remember those things?

Remember them? I've got three or four of them in my garage.

[Gapporin]

The first one I used was a 486 (late bloomer, I know).

Now, the earliest one I own is a TRS-80 Model 2.

[ktulu]

First comp I ever owned was the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, heluva machine :). Though I was too young to remember most of it, so "my" first comp was actually the C64, the legend of legends :).

[davidleeroth]

C64. After that I bought my first portable, Kaypro II, which I still own. Portable is a nice word for it as it weighs in at ~20lbs.

[AB Positive]

First one I owned was a Tandy XT-1000, a 286 pc setup with DOS and around 500MB of storage space. Learned basic with that and made many a trivia and russian roulette clone.

Also played lots of Gold Box TSR games with it.

-AG

[TRM]

Mine was a Tandy 1000 given to me by my uncle. My family's first computer was a Mac LC I.

[Raedon]

Oh.. and the first computer I officially owned was a C64 with a 1541.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

The first one I had here was a Packard Bell with Win95 on it(I'm pretty sure I was in 1st grade or so), but I went over to peoples houses that had systems with Win 3.1, commodore 64's, and old apples. The first computer I ever used was an apple in my kindergarden class. It was awesome.

[Quintracker]

First comp my family owned was a hand-me-down from my aunt, a Macintosh Classic. It sucked. LOL

[Kamino]

commodore 64, then a crappy dos box.

[Captain Wrong]

Atari 400, modded with a real keyboard!

Oh, and I'm going to move this to On Topic, because I think it is. :)

<shimmy>

[kainemaxwell]

Commordore 64 for me.

[NeoZeedeater]

Vic 20 was the first I owned. The first I played a game on was probably the Apple II.

[Pantechnicon]

Timex-Sinclair 1000, which I loved dearly (still own it, actually), but I was still jealous of the kids with C64's or Apple II's . This was my big Christmas gift for 1982, and somehow my non-techie parents had to foresight to buy the 16k expansion along with the computer, which automatically increased the computer's functionality.


The Tandy/Radio Shack MC-10 Color Computer:
Came with a whopping 2 K memory (expandable to 16K!) and was about the size of two packs of cigarettes laid side-by-side....

...It wasn't much - Hell, it was just one step above a Timex/Sinclair - but I bought it with my own money which was a huge deal for a 13-year-old. I'd love to get another one to screw around with.

The MC-10 was my second computer. Dad traded his VCR for it (Dad got robbed :shameful:). I thought it was a huge difference myself: The MC-10 had real keys, color and sound...omg I was in Heaven. But having gone directly from the TS1000 to the MC-10 I can tell you that the two are more similar than you could ever imagine:

-Both machines used "tokens" to access the BASIC commands. With the TS1000 you were forced to use the tokens, but with the MC-10 they were a convenient option.
-The 16k expansion and printers for both machines are virtually identical looking except for coloration. Makes me wonder how much collaboration was going on between Tandy and Uncle Clive at the time.

If you ever do find another MC-10, here's a tip: Do not buy it unless it comes with a working power supply. The MC-10 power supply is truly an oddball and there is absolutely nothing you could sub for it.

[drwily008]

Mine was an ATARI 400 w/basic cartridge and a ton of games. Admittedly my family hardly ever used the "computer" part of it. We started gaming when I was young! To me it is still THE best Atari system & my parents still have the same original one they won from a doorprize raffle drawing!

[FooFighter]

My first was a Commodore 64. I got it for christmas, but my parents didn't get me the disk drive. I spent the whole next year learning basic and playing a couple of game carts I picked up.

The next christmas I begged for a disk drive. I searched the whole house for weeks, and also inspected the wrapped presents :) .

On Christmas day, afrer unwrapping all of my presents, I still didn't get my drive. :( . I still remember my mom asking me to get her a blanket out of the hamper because she was cold. When I lifted the blanket out... underneath it was a brand spanking new 1541 disk drive :D

That was my best Christmas ever and the C64 is still my favorite computer of all time.

[robotriot]

My first computer was my brother's A500, it was one of the first ones built when he got it back in '86 (it has a hardware bug which all the early models have and the C= key instead of the A key). I watched him playing games on it, but didn't really touch it myself until 1994 :/

[Algol]

My parents bought an IBM PC XT back in the 80s. I remember it having Tetris, a Pac Man clone, and some game where you tried to catch people jumping out of a burning building, among others. I still have it in the basement, although I haven't tried it in a while. I probably should.

Besides that, my dad had some kind of early laptop with a monochrome display that I remember messing around with a little. He later got one with an early version of Windows.

[Gamemaster_ca_2003]

The First Computer I used at all was a Commodore PET.
The First Computer I used In school was an Apple IIe and IIGS
The First Computer I Played a Game on was a 486 AST PC.

[anagrama]

An Amiga 500 which I got for Christmas 1989, having spent the first 10 years of my life computer-free. I think I've been over-compensating for that ever since LOL

[Poofta!]

i had a 286 IBM compatible machine. we had an old commodore machine in the house but i never cared for it, always seemed like a waste of time and effort, i stuck to my nes. but when the almighty 286+ chips started coming in, WHEEEEEE!!

[ECWSandmanECW]

A IBM. For the most part, it ran on DOS and Windows 3.1 was a option.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Commodore 64

[Berty]

I grew up with Apple II's at school, but my family couldn't afford a pc until around the time of the 386.

I got an Amstrad 386 SX 25, 2meg ram, 80MB HDD, Adlib Sound card, SVGA monitor. It was the same machine that launced beside the Amstrad Mega PC, looks exactly the same but with different specs. I shared a mega drive with my brother at the time so i was happy to have the extra 40MB of HDD space!

I remember the first PC game that i bought was wolfenstien 3d (shareware) and then i bought X-Wing, man i spent some time on that game. ( i remember being blown away by the fact that the game needed 5 floppies)

The pc also came with f15 strike eagle, jimmy whites wirlwind snooker, steel empire, prince of persia and the mighty Elite Plus.

Happy Days!

[Slate]

Performa Macintosh. Back in 93.

[shoes23]

I jumped on the ship just as the first pentiums hit the market.

Specs:
P75
Windows 3.1
32 MB Ram

All this cost me just over $2500, but it was worth it when Duke3D hit the market. That game was just plain sweet.

[Atar1G1rl]

The mighty Atari 800 was my first computer. Followed by a TI-99/4A. And in high school, a friend gave me his ADAM computer system. Although not the originals, all three now peacefully co-exist on my retro-desk along with a few other systems I'm discovering for the first time. :D

[AdamAnt316]

My family's first computers were a pair of hand-me-down Apple //s in the early 1990s (they were obsolete even then). One of them was a ][+, which my father mainly used for playing Brick-Out. The other was a //e, which was used by the rest of the family. I cut my teeth on the thing, making simple BASIC programs, playing Beagle Bag games, and using Bank Street Writer like the Apple //es at school. That was all we had until we were handed down a 486 DX-33 in 1997...
-Adam

[it290]

Mine was a C64 as well. I upgraded to an A500 a few years later. After that died I got a (bleargh) PC.

[y-bot]

first computer I used-Apple IIe in school

first computer my family owned-Timex Sinclair 1000 bought off of some home shopping channel and it never worked

first working computer my family owned-Tandy 1000 (I think)

my first computer-'98 iMac

I barely touched a computer between 1987 and 1997.

y-bot

[grimbal]

A500 in 1993. Paid $80 and got the system with a 1084s monitor and every single AD&D gold box game that was released in the U.S.

Sold it all in 1996. To this day still regret doing that. :(

[Mr Mort]

The almighty TI 99/4a.

Same for me, it was the first computer I ever used too. I loved to play games on it at first, played lots of Space Invaders, Munch-Man, and Super Demon attack. Then I started making my own text games in TI-Basic and saved them using a tape deck. Man, I loved that thing, I wish I still had it, but I have no idea what my mother did with it.

[dj898]

mine was NEC PC-8001 followed by Apple IIe that I got replaced with IIc - big mistake! - and few years down the track got FM-NEW7 as well as PC-8801MkIISR before jumped to Apple Mac IIci and then PoweMac 7001 that I'm using even today with PPC card upgrade and etc.. I hadn't used Win machine till two years ago...

kind of wish I kept all my old PC...

[Dr. Morbis]

Mine was a Mattel Aquarius with a tape drive to load programs. I hated the thing. One time I spent like 2 hours typing in a game and when I finally finished it my sister tripped over the power chord just as I was ready to try out the game.

[thehistorian]

First one I used Apple ][
First programmed Apple ][ ('twas Hello programs for boot disks)
First owned TI994/a

[Griking]

The first computer that I owned was an Apple IIc

http://home.comcast.net/~griking/AppleIIc.jpg

[Nesmaster]

First one i owned was a Celeron 500 mhz with 64 mb of ram :P

[Pantechnicon]

First one i owned was a Celeron 500 mhz with 64 mb of ram :P

And in 10 to 15 years the kiddies are going to look at you and say "Omg I can't believe you actually used such substandard crap! How could you stand it?!", to which you will think in reply "These guys have it too easy."

Time marches on for all of us, young`un. The end-alls and be-alls of this epoch will eventually be proven to be neither.

[soniko_karuto]

a vic 20. oh by god thank i thank the cuz i lost me innoncence with ya! all those great games, all the great gameplay.

:sigh:

i need to play demon attack again.

[rolenta]

My first computer was an atari 800 which I purchased in January 1983. I began writing ABC To The VCS and I reasoned to myself that since I was writing a book about Atari I needed to do it on an Atari.

I still own that computer.

I also wrote he original draft of Phoenix on that computer. When I bought my first IBM compatible PC in 1990, I converted both books to ASCII using Atari Writer Deluxe (was that the name-- I don't remember. It was the disc version). ONce they were in ASCII I uploaded them to Compuserve using a 300 baud modem. Then on the PC side I downloaded the text from Compuserve at a speedy 1200 baud!

[LocalH]

First computer I owned was a TRS-80 CoCo2, complete with Radio Shack-branded tape player for storage. No disk!

First real computer I owned was the Commodore 64, with 1541 drive. Disk was slow as balls, but infinitely faster than the tape I was used to. Then when I got my later C128 with Super Snapshot freezer/fastload cart, I truly realised how bog slow the original KERNAL routines actually were =P

When I got the C64, I donated the CoCo2 to an orphanage. I still have my original C64 though =P

[o2william]

The first computer I used was a TI/994a... to play Meteor Multiplication (my favorite part of third grade!).

The first computer I owned was a Tandy 1000EX with a beautiful 16-color R G B monitor and kickin' 2-channel internal speaker. I pretty much leapfrogged right over CGA graphics. I remember wondering why so many of the games I pirat... I mean, legally purchased had crappy magenta-and-cyan color schemes. LOL

[ubikuberalles]

First computer I ever used and programmed was my dad's Altair 8800 (back in 1976):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v453/ubikuberalles/photos%20for%20dp%20site/my-altair.jpg

(I own it now).

First computer I owned was the RCA Cosmac Elf:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v453/ubikuberalles/photos%20for%20dp%20site/RCA_Cosmac_Elf.jpg

Which I bought in 1981. I couldn't afford the computer I REALLY wanted, which was an Atari 400/800. I had to wait until 1983 before I could afford one.

BTW I still own all of those computers (plus a bunch more) and they all still work (except the ELF: I'm in the process of moving it into a better case),

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

What was my first computer?

Light beige.

[Gregory DG]

Atari 400 with cassette "drive." Mostly used for playing Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, etc. I did some BASIC programming with it, but the tape drive was so slow it was hardly worth it.

An 800XL with 1050 floppy disk drive was next. Then a 1040STe (upgraded to 4 meg), a Pentium 200 MHz, a Pentium II-300, a Pentium 3-800, and finally a Pentium 4-2.8GHz followed.

[DTJAAAAMJSLM]

It was a Leading Edge with Windows 3.1. That's about all I remember...

[ghostangelofcky]

Apple IIe baby!

with one of the greatest games of all times that I thing only made to one other computer co, commodore I think, SEAFOX, god that game was adicting for days upon days :(

[€ÜRØTRŧH]

IBM 486 66MHZ/DX 2XCD Rom 16MB RAM

[long_shawn_silver]

This is the chrono-order of the computers I have bought from the Mid 1980's right up to my current machine.

Tandy TRS-80
Tandy PC-2000
IBM 8087
IBM 80286
Intel 386
Intel 486 SX-50
Intel 486 DX-100
Intel Pentium 1-133
Intel Pentium 1-166MMX
Celeron 667
AMD 1.4 Ghz
AMD 64bit 2.1Ghz

And I have to upgrade soon, Thinking about the AMD 4.3 Ghz but I can't really justify it right now cause I'm not half as into computers as I used to be.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Commodore 64

[ubikuberalles]

Atari 400, modded with a real keyboard!

I modded my Atari 400 with a real keyboard too. I did a nice job on the Atari by adding a DB25 plug to make the keyboard detachable. I bought the keyboard from Jameco and I didn't have a decent case for it and so I built a case out of styrofoam scraps. It looked like crap but the keyboard worked! :) I even added a nurmeric keypad! Good times. Good times.

[Dimitri]

My family's first computer was a Macintosh IIci.

The first computer that was actually "mine" (or rather, as "mine" as a computer can be with a twelve-year-old) was a Commodore 128. With an amber CRT. :P

[James]

The Apple II. Best PC gaming system ever!

[pseudonym]

an ibm 486 was the first computer i ever used. i rarely ever used it though.

my school had some apple II computers that i played number munchers, oregon trail, and some other games from time to time.

[pineapplehead2]

the best computer in the world and still the best Commodore 64

[pineapplehead2]

the best computer in the world and still the best Commodore 64

[Nez]

Current Comps

Laptop E machine
AMD 64 2.2 G 512 DDR ram Ati 9600

Desk Top Custom made
AMD 2g 512 DDr ram ATI 9200

My first comp used till 2001
Mac Power PC 200mhz

Was a pice and it fucking locked up like crazy, still have it though, just incase I feel like playing decent.

Oh shit forgot I had two IBM comp that we got used from different family members, they all died in a couple of months and I have no idea what was in them.

[-hellvin-]

Atari 800xl

Still have it stuck up in the closet with all the diskettes and carts. Every once in a while I play most of the old games I had on my xbox.

[StealthLurker]

A Kaypro PC XT w/ a green monochrome monitor... It sucked big time for games (despite Sierra's "quest" games). Later on I traded a bunch of baseball cards for a commodore 64. Great games. Before that, me and everyone was trying to break down my neighbor's door... to get to his commodore 64! Aaaaah what a jingle.

:D

.

[Spartacus]

Mine was an IBM PC Jr. The software came on carts. The Case and monitor was all one unit like an IMac. The keyboard was infrared. The thing was ahead of it's time.

[esquire]

The almighty TI 99/4a.

Mine too. Before I returned it after 2 days and picked up the Commodore 64 instead. Best decision I ever made with respect to computers/gaming.