Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Wayout on September 21, 2008, 07:01:05 AM

Title: First Computers.
Post by: Wayout on September 21, 2008, 07:01:05 AM
Timex Sinclair 1000 - 2K memory (introduced July 1982. Price $99.99).  Learned BASIC on this one.  It came with a text based flight sim. program on a cassette tape, took 45 minutes to load.
(http://rockford.yi.org/ah/timex-sinclair_1000.jpg)


Atari 800_XL - 128k memory (introduced summer 1983. Price about $800.00). A classic. With 4 color VGA what couldn't it do.
(http://rockford.yi.org/ah/atari_800xl.jpg)


Tandy 5000. Almost bought this one, didn't (at the time this was an excellent price).
(http://rockford.yi.org/ah/tandy.jpg)


Compact Portable - 64Kmemory (introduced 19??.  Price $???.??).  My first computer at work.
(http://rockford.yi.org/ah/250px-Compaq_portable.jpg)



Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: SD67 on September 21, 2008, 07:15:22 AM
My first was a TRS80.
It was minus it's case, I found it a a local dumping point. The PCB was damaged but it was otherwise intact and the keyboard was still connected.
I have no idea where the case ended up but I repaired the PCB and mounted it in a cardboard box. I brought a replacement PSU from Tandy and it worked! :D
It was awesome! :rock
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: uptown on September 21, 2008, 07:20:37 AM
Things have really improved over the years :lol I remember my mom was a keypunch operator at a place called VIMS in Virginia. This is what she used. The whole room (12x24 or so), was filled with big reel to reel tape machines. It was the early 70s.(http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk121/TheAmish/Keypunchmachine.jpg)
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: uptown on September 21, 2008, 07:24:53 AM
I made a computer program with it for a merit badge in boy scouts. How old are the computers in your pictures?
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Getback on September 21, 2008, 10:27:46 AM
I don't have a picture of mine but it was a compaq presario, 133 mhz. I don't remember the ram, but the vc was 1 mg. The monitor I remember well. Looked so much like a fish bowl. Price $2300. Oh it had a huge hard drive, 1.6 gig. I said I would never fill that up. 6 mos later I was looking for things to delete.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: MoeRon on September 21, 2008, 10:57:38 AM
My 1st home PC was a PB 386X, i think it had 1 meg of video memory and a 220 meg HD with 4 meg of RAM, cost me about 1400 bucks back in 1992.

The first computer i ever saw was in high school in 1976, i think it was a IBM 5100, they had a dot-matrix Star Trek game/program we played for hours. :cool:
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: scot12b on September 21, 2008, 11:05:36 AM
My first computer I think I was 5 when we got it (http://oldcomputers.net/pics/C64combo.jpg) I rememberer playing flight Sims on it like F-15 Strike Eagle.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: ramzey on September 21, 2008, 11:13:51 AM
(http://www.informatik-vollmer.de/images/abakus.jpg)
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: uptown on September 21, 2008, 11:16:33 AM
(http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk121/TheAmish/brain.jpg)
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: sluggish on September 21, 2008, 02:14:25 PM
Apple 2E  Replaced around 1987 with an Aple GS.

My first experience with flight sims was on the GS.  I had a game called mail run in which you were an airmail pilot.  You had to guage your load and route and were given points accordingly.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Meatwad on September 21, 2008, 02:17:44 PM
Played with an apple 2e in 2nd grade, but the first one i owned was a 286

20 meg hard drive, 1 meg ram
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Donzo on September 21, 2008, 02:20:42 PM
TI-99

then

IBM PC Jr.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: texasmom on September 21, 2008, 03:13:01 PM
Comodore 64 (sp?)
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Saxman on September 21, 2008, 03:25:25 PM
Ours was an 8088. Later we got an AST 486SX/33.

My first PC of my own was a Compaq Pentium I (133mhz, I think). I bought it SPECIFICALLY so I could play X-wing vs TIE Fighter. That was my PC for about ten years, before I built the Beast. :D
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: superpug1 on September 21, 2008, 03:32:20 PM
My parents got a Packard Bell in 1995ish when I was 6. I thought it was Awsome. 100mhz, 1.2gb hdd, i dunno how much ram, but it would run ATF (advanced tactical fighters) pretty well lol. we had that think all the way up until 01 lol. My neighbors had cable internet and we had 14.4K dial up. Then we got a gateway with 900mhz and 128mb ram. it was POS.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: AKIron on September 21, 2008, 03:37:15 PM
Atari 400, had a tape drive, around '82. Used to drive my wife nuts playing around with the sound chip late at night.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Dux on September 21, 2008, 03:51:07 PM
hehe... we've got the TX-0 sitting just down the hall in the bottom floor of our library. :)

Personally, my first was a Commodore C64. Awesome memories. :aok
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Kermit de frog on September 21, 2008, 03:53:06 PM
Wow, I remember now what my first computer was..it was a packard bell as well
486DX2! 66Mhz  which had the math processor built in ...
4MB of Ram with 3 additional on the motherboard.
800MB hard drive
I think I had a 1MB video
14.4K modem at least :)

tom landry DOS football never did work....I didn't know about memory management in DOS at the time... :cry
Doom was a fun game to play.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Baitman on September 21, 2008, 04:04:40 PM
Commodore C64 with printer, floppy, and monitor.

With programs I believe the bill was $1600+

more money than my laptop

 
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: alskahawk on September 21, 2008, 04:27:14 PM
Commodore 128
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: A8TOOL on September 22, 2008, 03:18:01 AM
Mine was a Compaq 92 something that looked like a rocket in 1994-5

I had a problem with it a few days after i bought it so I brought it back to the store. I wanted to return it and have it taken off my credit card. The lady finished the computer work but not the paper work I guess and said she would be right back. i think she ran off to the bathroom. I waited for 15- 20 minutes for her to return and decided I would just keep it. They put a sticker on it when I walked in so I just brought it back home. A friend of mine told me to pull a jumper and put it back in, it worked just fine. The best part was, I never received a bill for it. Think it was $2400
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Nilsen on September 22, 2008, 03:58:29 AM
Commodore 128

same  :)

After that the Amiga was what everyone but me got. I was just a kid but i found love in saving and economy. It was at that time i started to save for a house. Dont remember my age but i do remember kids laughing at me for putting money in the bank. Have done so ever since and never borrowed a penny  :)
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: -tronski- on September 22, 2008, 05:18:31 AM
Atari 800XL
Commodore Vic-20
Commodore 128
Amiga 500 (+ extra 512KB ram!)
486 dx2-66

 Tronsky
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Mickey1992 on September 22, 2008, 08:43:51 AM
TI99-4a and the expansion box a year later.  I think the expansion box was $999.  My parents were pissed when the whole system was a doorstop 4 years later.

(http://oldcomputers.net/pics/ti994asystem.JPG)

After college I got a Gateway 486-66 for around $2000 if I remember.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on September 22, 2008, 10:07:33 AM
same  :)

After that the Amiga was what everyone but me got. I was just a kid but i found love in saving and economy. It was at that time i started to save for a house. Dont remember my age but i do remember kids laughing at me for putting money in the bank. Have done so ever since and never borrowed a penny  :)

But you didn't get to play with Amiga either..  :devil
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Fulmar on September 22, 2008, 10:09:13 AM
Personally, my first was a Commodore C64. Awesome memories. :aok
Ditto, many days playing Skate or Die.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: BlauK on September 22, 2008, 10:28:06 AM
My first one was Spectravideo 328 with a casette deck in 1984, iirc. Amiga 500 followed in 1986.

The first one I ever used was my friend's Commodore Vic 20, maybe in 1982 or 81(?). He did not have any "Mass storage" either. We used ty type in (into ram) the basic game from the end of the manual, "tank vs. ufo", I think it was called. Typing it in and correcting all those syntax errors and type mismatches took soem 60 minutes or so. Then we played it for another hour, if it did not crash for some reason. After we were done playing, we turned the power off and... poof... the game vanished. Next time we wanted to play it we typed in the program again  :lol
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Slamfire on September 22, 2008, 10:34:01 AM
My first was a TRS80 Model III...
(http://z.hubpages.com/u/232973_f520.jpg)

...2nd was a Model IV P
(http://www.trs-80.com/images/hw-model4p-computerx300.jpg)

 :aok
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: RTHolmes on September 22, 2008, 10:34:42 AM
ZX80 at home, then BBC (Acorn?) Micro at school, followed at work by:

(http://rockford.yi.org/ah/250px-Compaq_portable.jpg)

... more of a "luggable" as I remember.

Then Vax, Gould etc at college.

First one I actually enjoyed using was a Mac IISI (Hellcats in the Pacific anyone? :D)
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Gh0stFT on September 22, 2008, 01:17:45 PM
Atari 400, had a tape drive, around '82. Used to drive my wife nuts playing around with the sound chip late at night.

hehe same hardware here, cept i was not married that time (i was 14 years old ;)
Today i collect old puters & consoles, but the ATARI 400 way my first computer,
and i still like to power it on and start typing small programs, ahh the memories....
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Nilsen on September 22, 2008, 01:56:52 PM
But you didn't get to play with Amiga either..  :devil

Oh yes i did :D

My best friend had one. Favorite game was Port of Call. We could sit for 12 hours or more on the weekends with that game.  :)
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Skuzzy on September 22, 2008, 02:06:00 PM
My first was a TRS-80 Model I in late 1977.  I went from that to a Model II, then a Model 16, then a Model III and IV, then a Tandy Color Computer, and finally a Tandy 4000.  Most of them overlapped at some point.  Some were used for many more years for file servers.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: indy007 on September 22, 2008, 02:13:32 PM
(http://www.obsoletecomputermuseum.org/kaypro-1/kaypro-1.jpg)

Don't hate on my portability.

Of course then it was an 286, then 386, then 486, pentium blah blah blah. Once it hit the 486 era I just started building everything myself. Lucky to have parents willing to spend the money for me to learn on the fly as a little kid.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: midnight Target on September 22, 2008, 02:15:38 PM
Atari 400

I had it upgraded to 32k of memory... for about $100.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: MotleyCH on September 22, 2008, 02:55:05 PM
I don't have a picture of mine but it was a compaq presario, 133 mhz. I don't remember the ram, but the vc was 1 mg. The monitor I remember well. Looked so much like a fish bowl. Price $2300. Oh it had a huge hard drive, 1.6 gig. I said I would never fill that up. 6 mos later I was looking for things to delete.

(http://www.businessweek.com/1997/10/art10/bw1018.jpg)

I had this one also, was very pleased with it for about four months. Then Voodoo graphic cards were coming out, and you couldn't add this to the motherboard of course.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: BlauK on September 22, 2008, 03:29:15 PM
Not to hijack the thread, but do any old timers find any familiar joysticks from this site? :)

http://www.thosewerethedays.de/joystick_galerie.htm
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Masherbrum on September 22, 2008, 03:46:32 PM
Apple IIe with Color Monitor and dual floppy.

I used the Apple joystick until it wore out from playing Wings of Fury.   I then got a Gravis Analog Pro.   I used that PC until about 1995.   I used it for writing COBOL and FORTRAN programs.   
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: ChickenHawk on September 22, 2008, 03:47:16 PM
Commodore 64.  I scrimped and saved and finally got enough to buy one for $200 when I was 16.

I still have it and two others along with a TI99-4a.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Nilsen on September 22, 2008, 03:47:45 PM
My first was a TRS-80 Model I in late 1977.  I went from that to a Model II, then a Model 16, then a Model III and IV, then a Tandy Color Computer, and finally a Tandy 4000.  Most of them overlapped at some point.  Some were used for many more years for file servers.

Finally a Tandy 4000?

No wonder you dont like Vista. It must be a real pain to run it on that  :D
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: midnight Target on September 22, 2008, 04:08:15 PM
Not to hijack the thread, but do any old timers find any familiar joysticks from this site? :)

http://www.thosewerethedays.de/joystick_galerie.htm

I saw one of those old ATARI joystick with a USB interface. It had some of the old ATARI games loaded into the joystick. My how times have changed.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: SD67 on September 22, 2008, 04:30:12 PM
(http://www.businessweek.com/1997/10/art10/bw1018.jpg)

I had this one also, was very pleased with it for about four months. Then Voodoo graphic cards were coming out, and you couldn't add this to the motherboard of course.
I still use the keyboard off my one of those to this very day because it does not have a bloody windows key on it! :D :lol
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Delirium on September 22, 2008, 04:37:15 PM
I learned basic on a TRS-80 but the first computer I owned was a Atari800XL.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: Shoulman on September 22, 2008, 04:56:32 PM
Commodore 64.  Had to mow yards all summer to afford the floppy drive.....
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: rpm on September 22, 2008, 06:39:26 PM
My first work computer was a TRS-80. Basicly used as a billing tool, but we would sneak in and play StarTrek after the office closed.

My first home computer was a PackardBell with a 50 (FIFTY!!)mhz processor. The first program I bought for it was Aces Over the Pacific because it had F4U's and Aces Over Europe didn't. I still have the CH Flightstick sitting in the gameroom and it still works.
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: vorticon on September 22, 2008, 06:43:06 PM

 (http://oldcomputers.net/pics/C64combo.jpg)
Title: Re: First Computers.
Post by: gunnss on September 22, 2008, 07:14:39 PM
My first computer was a 30 baud TTY modem connection to a UNIVAC 1106 (1864) (I was a member of an early on line tutorial experiment) The main frame could have been an earlier model, I was 8 at the time. The first "Personal" computer was a Titan III missile section that our collage received surplus and that we rewrote the operating system from the ground up.

Regards,
Kevin