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TechRepublic just posted a slideshow of classic systems, based on feedback from their readers about their first computers:

 

Photo Memories of 18 First Computers

 

If you don't want to flip through the whole thing, the systems they selected are:

 

Franklin Ace 2000 Series

TRS 80 Model I

Sinclair ZX Spectrum

Apple Macintosh

TI 99/4 and 99/4A

Timex Sinclair 1000

TRS 80 Model II with Table

Heathkit H-29

Mattel Aquarius

Commodore VIC-20

Commodore 64

Atari 400

IBM PCjr

Compaq Portable

Apple II

Kaypro II

Digi-Comp I

 

I thought it was an interesting selection, much better than the typical "top ten" lists that show up every once in a while. I'd never seen the TRS-80 desk before.

 

My first computer was the 99/4A, although I started using the Atari 800 and 800XL around the same time (some relatives of mine got them and let me play with them). All three of those systems are still working, and still part of my collection today.

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My first was a Timex/Sinclair 1000 which is now as dead (and as useful) as a door stop. I sold all my other "first" systems back in the day to buy newer and newer stuff, and only kept the TS1000 because it was small and had no resale value.

 

That picture of the TI is hilarious! The Digi-Comp I is for true old-school hackers.

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We had a couple computers before it, but the one I most vividly remember -- and thus I guess I can call it the "first" -- is the IBM PCjr. So many great days playing King's Quest! :thumbsup:

 

I believe before that we had some form of Heathkit but I was too young to use it. I do recall my dad using it though. I'm not sure of the timeframe, either, but he also mail-ordered a Mountain 8088 either immediately before the PCjr or immediately after. I used to try to play Shogun on it and had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

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Some funny comments from their users...

 

Like TechRepublic member Reggie on our Facebook page, many geeks have fond memories of the Atari 400. The cartridges went under the metal shield so as to protect users from radio emissions.

 

TechRepublic's The Flaming Maiden's first computer was an Apple Macintosh. She remembers that it came with a bag for traveling.

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You know, instead of the metal cartridge shield, Atari should have sold the 400/800 with a colander that users had to put on their heads to protect their brains from radio emissions. Could have saved a fortune, and imagine the nostalgia we would have -- "I clearly remember wearing the Atari Helmet and pretending Missile Command was REAL!" :D

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My first computer was a 48k rubber key Spectrum that my friend gave to me as the keyboard membrane had gone and he had upgraded to a 128k +2. Didn't have it for that long though as about 6 months later I got a 128k +2a for Christmas. The First computer I ever used however was a BBC Micro at school, I have vivid memories of Grannies Garden.

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The first computer I used and learned programming (i.e. BASIC) on was an Apple ][. The first computer I owned was a TS 1000. I agree, about as useful as a doorstop. I couldn't get it to do diddly squat. I have no idea where it went after 1983. Christmas 1984 I got my first computer that I KEPT, my Atari 800XL, which is STILL working. What's more interesting to me is that when my family started doing the PC thing (I think our first was a Packard-Bell running Windows 3.1, but don't quote me on that) THAT's when they started getting disposable. I don't have my Aptiva anymore (the first IBM PC I owned), or the custom built Linux machine I had running in the late 90s. But, as I said, I have my 800XL and my dad's old Atari 800....

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We had a couple computers before it, but the one I most vividly remember -- and thus I guess I can call it the "first" -- is the IBM PCjr. So many great days playing King's Quest! :thumbsup:

 

Me too on all accounts. I had to cheat to get the backwards-alphabet guy's name though. In college my roommate and I would walk around whistling the simulated bird chirps that played in the background of the game.

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My first computer was an Atari 400 back in 1980, but I used it mostly for games. I then graduated to an Apple IIe around 1986 which was my first REAL computer. After that is was a 486 DX around 1992.

 

We also used Commodore PET computers in Elementary School. This would have been around 83ish.

 

Tempest

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My first computer was very similar to this one:

 

highscreen7hnb.jpg

 

Actually it had exactly this case, however the part with the logo was slightly different (not red font on black background, but gold fonts on red background, and it only said "Highscreen", nothing else). But even the floppy drive setup is the same. It was a 286 PC, had 2MB RAM, a 20MB Harddisk and, initially, a Hercules monochrome graphics card. I got that machine when I was 8 or 9 years old, and by that time it was already an "old PC", as the 486 was the state of the art.

 

With time it got upgraded. VGA card and Sounblaster card, as well as more memory (I think 4MB) came soon, a bigger harddisk (or a second one) at some point; later it got upgraded to an 386, that was awesome. :D

 

 

However, at first it all should have been quite different. The first computer my parents got for me was a VIC-20, which didn't work; then I should get a C64, but again, it didn't work (as far as I recall, both these Commodore machines had the same issue, all they did was display a screen of random characters...) I did keep the manuals and actually taught myself the basics of BASIC just using pen and paper. :cool:

 

In some way I'm grateful for how these turned out, as it made me familiar with IBM-type PCs quite early, earlier than most of my classmates. On the other hand, the C64 might have been nice as well, if it had worked, this would have largely changed many of my childhood years. However, I would have had to make the jump to "real PCs" at some point, which maybe would have been hard/sad.

Edited by Herbarius
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My first was a 8088xt with amber monochrome Hercules graphics (later upgraded to CGA... I had to use a CGA emulator for awhile), 30 megabyte hard drive and 640k of RAM. It was a heavy beast, slow as molasses and technically horrible for gaming. But man, I loved playing around with that computer.

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The first computer I used was a Apple IIe at grade school circa 1980.

 

The first computer that I used at a home enviroment was a friends Commodore Vic 20.

 

The first computer that we BOUGHT and OWNED was a Commodore 128D for Christmas of 1985. What a great system, and has a lot of things in common with present systems, such as the detachable keyboard and the intergrated design with the disk drive attached. When my parents finally got rid of it in 1995, it was still working great.

 

The second computer we got was a IBM clone -- a 386SX -- in 1990. Then we got a more 'serious' computer, a Gateway 486, in 1992. That was followed by a AST 486-66 in 1995, a 400 Mhz Pent II Dell in 1998, a custom built system in 2002, and now my HP from last year.

 

Never used a lot of 'classic' systems like Amiga, Atari's, and Tandy's until emulation in the 2000's.

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I got my first computer for free. It was a VIC-20 that came with an 8k RAM cartridge and some games. I had the most fun making my own games on the VIC-20. Thought the C-64 and Amiga 500 would be more fun, but nope. Nothing ever came close to the fun I had with the VIC-20.

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The first computer I ever used was a TRS-80 Model III. We had this in Elementary School/Junior High (ca. 1982-1985). I remember playing a few games on it (educational and otherwise); I never got to take the "programming" course :sad:

 

In 1983, I purchased a Coco (16K RAM, Extended BASIC). I eventually got the cassette deck and the 64K memory expansion. I played lots of games and did tons of programming on this machine. I wanted, bit never found, a decent wordprocesor. We also used the Coco at school when I was in high school (1985-1988).

 

I first used a PC when I started University. I got my first (Tandy 1000 SL -- 8086, 384K, dual floppies, no hard drive, CGA graphics) for Christmas in 1988. I have fond memories of producing term papers in WordPerfect 4.2.

 

In 1993, I upgraded to a Dell 486SX with Windows 3.1 (4 meg. RAM, VGA, etc.). I eventually upgrded the RAM and added a sound card. It was in a pizza-box case with only three expansion slots. I also migrated to WordPerfect 6.0.

 

In 1998, I moved, started Grad School, and I bought a Pentium II with Windows 98, 56K modem, etc. In 2004 I upgraded to my current system after its predecessor died of an especially nasty virus infection.

 

Unlike most others here, I never had a TI, C=64, Apple II, etc. Indeed, I don't think I have ever used an original Apple II (though I have used an original beige Mac a few times).

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The first computer I owned was an Atari 800XL that I purchased by earning money from a paper route, cutting lawns, and shoveling snow. I had previously borrowed a Vic-20 from a friend and that was fun, but I really loved the 800XL and I'd eventually amass a large trove of 8-bit hardware (much of which would be used to run an 8-bit BBS).

 

My first PC was a Gateway 386-33DX purchased new for about $3,000 (woo hoo!!) That was the only desktop DOS/Windows PC I'd ever buy new from a vendor like Gateway--any followup computers were built from parts. I have purchased various Macintosh desktops/laptops (used and new) starting around 2002.

 

..Al

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My first computer was a Schneider CPC-464. Ah those memories. Typing in a zillion lines of basic, and then there was a error in the code.

My first PC was a Philips P2230 286-12.5Mhz, 1Mb ram, 20Mb Hdd, 1.44Mb Fdd and CGA monochrome display and covox sound. Later a adlib 8 bit soundcard and 256Kb Vga display adapter and 40Mb Hdd where added.

 

(love the Ti 99/4 setup, needs a very large table)

Edited by Seob
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How could they make an error like this?:

 

"Thought (sic) it looks a lot like the Commodore VIC-20, the Commodore 64 was actually less expensive at $200 and is one of the top selling computers of all time. No wonder so many TechRepublic readers had one!"

 

Obviously, the C64 was only eventually cheaper than the initial price of the Vic-20, but you could say that about any technology. Either the person writing this wasn't around to see it, or they remember totally wrong.

 

Nice pics though, good article in general.

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I wrote my first basic programs on the TRS-80 Pocket Computer. Which I still have till this very day, all the boxes, docs, original program printouts I printed, cassette tapes, manuals, etc. Then I quickly moved up to an Apple ][+ then a //e when I broke the ][+. I broke it by sticking safety pins inbetween the socketed chip's pins and the socket contacts, so I could hook it up to an amplifier and get sound by listening to the data bus and logic signals. That was tremendous fun! I probably wore out the sockets as it took some careful positioning. I even hooked up antennas in hopes that the chips were smart enough to pick out fbi and cia intelligence among the nighttime airwaves. These old computers were fun! You could stroke the chips and feel their heat, and you could listen to the electricity running through the boards like perhaps in Tron. Listening to the soft hum of computer chips causing interference in nearby tvs and radios was completely magical! Especially late at night when everything was shutdown and quiet. The communications coming in on the modem. Staying up late waiting for calls to come into the BBS. Figuring out ways to tune in the Voyager-2 spacecraft and get the data and assemble it into pictures. We knew this would only work at night, since the night side of the Earth faced away from the sun, and thereby pointed to Jupiter and Saturn. The outer solar system. Anticipating a weather day off from school; thinking of space travel and modifications to the clock program in the BBS. Yeh we had to write a program that would read a timer on the modem, and divide it down into hours and minutes. An amazing thing! Trying to control the neighbor's BSR X-10 light system. Waiting for gramma to come back with some Atari games and frustratingly wondering why an Apple ][ didn't have(or couldn't do) the smooth colorful graphics of the VCS.. Trying to find the mysterious world in A2-FS1 flight simulator after flying off the grid; and wondering if the computer would generate something on its own, not part of the program. Whatta'time!! A magical time full of possibilities.. A time when I thought the ocean was full of smiley fishies and happy mermaids and musical boats. And now I find out its full of black slime from the depths of evil and politics and contamination and disease. Forget that!! Same shit with the space program, I thought they had real jedi battle pilots in x-wings and laser guns blowing everything up and stuff. All controlled by computer boards that looked like big motherboards full of rom-sized chips and monster-sized microprocessors. None of the stupid baby logic gates or 'dumb' 16-pin dip chips. I liked the big size chips, the smart chips. And custom chips made me shudder with orgasm. They were special indeed! A mystery you always wanted to keep as a mystery. You didn't want to figure out too much, otherwise that took the fun away. And I thought they were alive with quantum lifeforms that did strange things. And that they were complex enough to be considered alien life. And we always tried to make a program, of any sorts, that would make the black chips behave in a random fashion. Like exploring new territory or digging a super-deep hole in the ground, what is down there. Or like staring at a starfield screensaver for hours wondering where we're going. Yeh stuff like that!

Edited by Keatah
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I wrote my first basic programs on the TRS-80 Pocket Computer. (snip)

 

WOW dude, it would have been better if you at least used paragraphs. I could hardly read your post.

 

Spelling,paragraphs,andspacesarefortheanallyretentive.Makingthingseasiertoreadisso20thcentury.

 

It wasn't about the VIC-20, so it wasn't worth reading anyway. :D

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First computer the family ever owned was a c64. I learned to program on an Apple ][+ a little bit before we got the c64, though, so I used it pretty extensively (Mom worked at a community college and she had to take me with her some times, so I'd sit and play around w/ the Apples they had in the lab).

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