What was YOUR very first computer?

[kaufenpreis]

Commodore 128,
128 kb memory
Floppy disk drive of 5.25''
Modem of 300 bauds per second
Monitor RGB and Composite to display up to 640x200 pixels
It used Atari Joystics for the games
Also had a datasette, which was a device to keep information in cassettes.
After some years I bougth an expansion memory of 512 Kb.
No hard drive.

[gorf68]

My first computer was a VIC-20. My first TV games machine was a Telling Colour star. My first console would be a Master System.

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

Packard Bell!!

[CrazyChris]

Mine was an Atari 400 with upgraded keyboard, a 410 program recorder and the Educators package. I later upgraded it to 48k and then replaced it with an 130XE.

I didn't know you could upgrade the keyboard. That's really cool.

[CrazyChris]

My first computer was a Timex Sinclair 1000 that I got from a garage sale.

 

At college I had a 386 Compaq DeskPro.

[Turbo-Torch]

This was and still is. It's about 34 years old now.

 

[billysastard]

honestly i'm not entirely sure which i had first but pick from the following.

 

trs-80 model 1 level 2

pet 2001 (with built in cassette)

sinclair mk14

 

i think it was the pet.

[Opry99er]

Mmmmm.... PET2001.....

[Skippy B. Coyote]

My very first computer was an IBM PC XT, which I started using around the age of 5. It belonged to my mom, but being a computer programmer by trade she was happy to teach me how to use it and let me play all the games I wanted on it. I still remember how excited I got the very first time I put in a 5.25" floppy disk and was able to type the commands to launch the game all on my own without anyone else's help. My mom was really proud of me too, and if memory serves she took me out for pizza to celebrate after I finished playing Artillery Duel.

 

I have no idea what happened to that old PC XT, but I'll always have fond memories of the countless hours I spent playing games and learning my way around the command line. It really was a magical experience, and one that I'll never forget.

[Keatah]

My first "classic" computer that was my own 100% was an Apple II. I still have it.

 

You can also throw in:

TRS-80 Pocket Computer 1

Atari VCS

Atari-400

Kim-1

Ti-59

..because they were of the same era.

 

I had so many good times with the Apple II, both real and fantasy make-believe. So many it's almost unbelievable. Warez, BBS'ing, war dialing, science, modems, games, and communications and electric experiments. Yup those 'lectricity a'speriments - boy ohh boy my parents loved those.. NOT!

 

There were so many magical moments I wouldn't know where to begin. Some I typed up and posted here on AA. Others are sitting in some Word docs someplace. Some are still on floppies and the 10MB hard drive I got in '85-'86. I haven't even begun to tell everything, and I'll leave that to up to you to find them as I post them elsewhere, but exclusively, on AA.

[Dutchman2000]

My first computer was a TI-99 4/A with cassette storage. I remember porting a lot of BASIC games over to TI-BASIC just so I could play them.

[Polybius]

well, considering im a little younger than many here,(23) my first computer was a "Wintel" machine, a Compaq Deskpro 486 XE, intel i486 processor running windows 95. I still have it, and every computer i have ever owned, with the exception of one.

 

the first computer my parents owned was an Apple IIe, my father picked it up at a garage sale. (early 1990s) recently, he gave it to me for my collection ! green mono screen, floppy drive, many games,(on floppy) and a printer.

 

their first brand new machine was a "Ultra" windows 98 with 433mhz Celeron , 256 mb ram, 4 gb hdd, 15" monitor, and Canon printer for $1299 in September of 1998. (I still have it somewhere)

[InfoMan]

Sinclar ZX81. My dad bought a $99 kit and had to solder all the parts in. He also eventually wired up a real keyboard and an Atari joystick. I learned BASIC on it and started fiddling around with machine language, but it was too prone to crashing and losing everything.

[MarkO]

Sinclar ZX81. My dad bought a $99 kit and had to solder all the parts in. He also eventually wired up a real keyboard and an Atari joystick.

ZX81 Kit.. My First Home Computer too.. My Dad and Uncle each bought one.. My Uncle later made his own Joystick...

 

I learned BASIC on it and started fiddling around with machine language, but it was too prone to crashing and losing everything.

Velcro® on ZX-81 Case and on RAM Pack..

 

MarkO

Edited January 22, 2016 by MarkO

[InfoMan]

As I recall, we at first had big rubber bands holding the RAM on the back. Then my dad made a big wooden case (big enough to hold a real keyboard) with a fan on the side and a giant capacitor (literally about the size of a soda can) that acted as sort of a UPS. That seemed to take care of stability issues. But it wasn't long before we were spending more time with the Atari 400 that he got next.

[w3dal]

computer was a specturn +2 - console with years before which was a Vectrex

[+OLD CS1]

[robc]

C64. My folks got it off my Uncle for $100AU back in 1989. It was the system, a datasette, a tape of pirate titles, and a tape compilation called Action Extra (which was loose, but I eventually found a complete one and reviewed it).

My folks got us a disk drive for Christmas that year (sadly, a not-so-reliable 1541-II clone, and I remember we had to return it quite a few times before we got one that's stable) - and that let us get quite a few more titles… legit and not-so-legit over the years

Though I've got spares, it's still the main one I use these days for gaming & recording gameplay footage on. Did a lot of programming, report writing (yes, you can be productive on it - good old GEOS), though it wasn't quite the same when everyone else you knew was upgrading to PC's or Amiga's (we followed suit in '95 so my brother could run some graphing tool as part of his maths assessments in his final year of high-school).

There's something about 8-bits in general which I find more magical - maybe it's because there's less homogenisation with so many, or that everything felt so darn raw by comparison (which is why I find them the ones most interesting to collect…)

[rpiguy9907]

I was 8 years old in 1985. I asked for a Coleco Adam but received a Commodore 64 instead, likely because it was several hundred dollars less at Kmart (even with the 1541 disk drive and 1702 monitor that was part of the bundle).

 

In retrospect, I am incredibly happy my parents stumbled into buying a Commodore 64. Tons of games, lots of other Commodore users to share programs with. It was incredible.

 

In theory it was our "family" computer, but my parents were absolutely terrified of technology back then, so it became my own :-)

Edited February 10, 2016 by rpiguy9907

[Win16fan]

I'm totally showing my age (23) with this one, but here we go...

 

HP Pavilion 4445

64 MB Ram

ATi Rage video card with 4 MB of memory

333 Mhz Celeron Processor

Windows 98 First Edition

CD-Rom

3.5'' 1.44 MB Floppy

 

It was the "family computer" back in 1999, but then my mom upgraded to an HP with Windows XP on it in 2005 and gave me the old HP as a hand me down.

[shoestring]

My first machine was a Commodore 64 from K-mart. I'd seen the c64 before but didn't like the look of it

 

We had Apple 2s in school so naturally that's what I wanted but these were too expensive. I think these were a few thousands dollars just for the machine here in Australia without the monitor.

 

I was disappointed that we didn't get an Apple but also grateful because I was expecting my parents to choose the Vic 20 or C-16. But I thank the sales rep for convincing my folks into getting us a C64 which he thought of highly and only cost $399.

 

I still used the Apple 2 in school during lunch time breaks. I loved the c64 because it was better for games. Basic programming on the Apple was easier and loved the built in 6502 machine language monitor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited February 13, 2016 by shoestring

[MarkO]

My first machine was a Commodore 64 from K-mart. I'd seen the c64 before but didn't like the look of it

I thought the C64 ( and VIC-20 ) were weird looking too... I actually bought an SX-64, BITD.... The owner was wanting to move up to a C128..

 

We had Apple 2s in school so naturally that's what I wanted but these were too expensive. I think these were a few thousands dollars just for the machine here in Australia without the monitor.

Australia seems to have a lot more Apple ][s than Europe did.. Maybe the Public Schools were a good source of Sales, like in the U.S. and Canada....

 

I was disappointed that we didn't get an Apple but also grateful because I was expecting my parents to choose the Vic 20 or C-16. But I thank the sales rep for convincing my folks into getting us a C64 which he thought of highly and only cost $399.

 

I still used the Apple 2 in school during lunch time breaks. I loved the c64 because it was better for games. Basic programming on the Apple was easier and loved the built in 6502 machine language monitor.

I would have been too.. The C64 was a Fantastic Computer, way ahead of the Apple ][s, except for that Blasted Disk Drive acquired from the VIC-20...

 

I wonder what a C64 with a Disk ][ would have looked like, performance wise...

 

The Apple ][s were primitive on Graphic and Sound, but the Disk System made them a speedy little system... It sold a lot of Visa-Calc's....

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MarkO

[shoestring]

Schools were definitely a good source of sales for the Apple 2 and then the Macintosh later on.

 

It was considered the more serious machine over here and the other 8bits were aimed more for the home. The Apple could do both, it may not have been as good in the games department but it was very user friendly and the basic was great.

 

The Atari apart from the 2600 was virtually non existent here, my friend had an Atari 400 but only owned a couple of cartridges. He often complained that it was difficult to get software for the machine.

 

It's great to have an Atari.I just got this 600xl. I was expecting 16k but I found this under the hood, the memory test got me curious to see how it was done

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[0078265317]

Mine was a macintosh. Very first one with 128k and 400k floppy disk. It was 1983 or 84 I forget.

[+OLD CS1]

The C64 was a Fantastic Computer, way ahead of the Apple ][s, except for that Blasted Disk Drive acquired from the VIC-20...

 

I wonder what a C64 with a Disk ][ would have looked like, performance wise...

 

The VIC-20 actually accessed the 1540/1541 faster than the C64 because of the difference in the demands of the VIC versus the VIC-II. As I recall, the VIC-20 was a bit-banging serial bus because of a flaw in the 6522, then had to carry over to the C64 because of a communication problem between Commodore East & West on a particular trace on the motherboard.

 

I am of the understanding the Apple disk system is CPU-driven. I suspect that a C64 with a Disk ][-alike might have been just as fast as a C64 with a 488 interface, all things considered.