First computer ever?

Post by **ShyViolet** » July 30th, 2006, 9:46 pm

VERY random topic but...what was your first computer?

Mine (my family's) was a late 80's Commodore 128 computer with BASIC which you used to "load" games and play. That's about all it was good for. We also had a printer, which never worked.

Most of the games (ie: Alf, Tapper, River Raid, etc...) came on a huge floppy disc about six inches in length.

Plus a cruddy joystick which could barely move and was completely retarded.

Post by **James** » July 31st, 2006, 12:03 am

The very first computer I ever owned was a Commodore 16. No disk drive here, the 16 used a "Datasette" - basically a cassette recorder that allowed you to use audio tape to store programs and data! Unlike floppy disks which allowed you to see a list of the disk's contents, the datasette required you to write your own list and note the time code and then rewind and fast forward to certain points on the tape to get it to load your data!

I went on to get a Vic-20 and later a Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer 2.

(I still have all three!)

Post by **Ben** » July 31st, 2006, 9:32 am

Well, technically, it was an Atari 2600 in the late 70s, with a ton of games. I still have it and love playing some of those things!

We nearly got a Spectrum 128 (did they ever come out in the States?) in the mid-80s but the Atari was still going strong and my friends had a Spectrum, Commodore 16 and Vic-20 between them that we all used to play on.

I finally got my own Commodore 64 when they came out, which was also a datasette contraption. I actually just found all the stuff in my Mum's garage a few weeks back including the Roger Rabbit and Batman games!

Disk-drives came in and I eventually went for an Amiga 1200, which was pretty groovy for the time (late 80s/early 90s) as it could (just about) handle video, produce animated captions, and do some cool morphing effects. Coupled with a genlock we could turn out some pretty decent looking stuff!

Post by **James** » July 31st, 2006, 9:38 am

OK, if we're counting the Atari 2600 then that was my first too - technically! But I never considered it a computer in the way we think of PC's today.

(I still have that one too. No wonder I'm having so much trouble packing up my garage for the move!)

Post by **Meg** » July 31st, 2006, 10:14 am

No idea, but I think we still have it...

Post by **ShyViolet** » July 31st, 2006, 12:39 pm

(I still have all three!)

Cool!

My first experience with ANY computer was probably in 2nd or 3rd grade...way before the Internet...one of the teachers brought a Commodore 64 into the class and showed us how to "load" a program. (commands like "Run", "Return," etc...etc...) A couple of lucky kids actually got to come up and punch a key.

No disk drive here, the 16 used a "Datasette" - basically a cassette recorder that allowed you to use audio tape to store programs and data! Unlike floppy disks which allowed you to see a list of the disk's contents, the datasette required you to write your own list and note the time code and then rewind and fast forward to certain points on the tape to get it to load your data!

Wow, that's the first time I heard of those. It sounds very cumbersome.

Post by **Ben** » July 31st, 2006, 1:59 pm

That's an understatement.

I think it took half an hour or so for Trivial Persuit to load up, and then it still kept crashing!

Post by **ShyViolet** » August 1st, 2006, 12:20 am

I had an "art/drawing" ("Printmaster Plus", B + W) program that literally took 45 minutes to load up. I also had a really cool Spy vs. Spy game (took an hour to start) which for some reason I never managed to figure out how to play. (it was actually very complicated)

With a Commodore, when you first turned on the screen all you saw was blue background and a blinking cursor, and the word "Commodore 64/128 BASIC" or something like that. If you didn't have a program or a game, it was completely useless.

Then in middle school things got more modern...in school we had Apples in which all we did was play Carmen Sandiego and Jeopardy.

BTW, do they still make Colecos? (reference in the Simpsons: Gil the Salesman in his first apperance trying to sell Marge and Homer one.)

Post by **ShyViolet** » August 12th, 2006, 10:56 pm

Hey the PC just turned 25!!!

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/1767

Post by **ribbedebie** » August 13th, 2006, 9:22 am

mine was a really old thick fat ugly white comp.
now i have a sleek thin white comp

Post by **Wonderlicious** » August 15th, 2006, 8:43 am

I had a number of computer related things in the home (Play Station 1, NES, N64, something along the lines of Video Painter) don't actually remember what brand my first PC was. All I know is that it was originally a computer from my parents' work which had Microsoft 95 on it that was no longer needed so we got it. Between 1998 and 2000, we replaced each piece in the whole set (actual computer body, screen, keyboard). I currently have a custom built computer by a small firm named Hexel.

Post by **ShyViolet** » September 6th, 2006, 11:05 pm

Wow, memories!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:C64_ ... imiert.gif

Plus I think I used this in 5th grade art class:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:C64_ ... ainter.png

Post by **droosan** » September 7th, 2006, 3:38 am

The first computer I ever owned was an Amiga 1200, which I bought in 1992 .. though I had already been using my college roommate's Amiga 500 for a couple years before that.

My Amiga 1200 had a 20MB hard drive; I remember lording it over my roommate, whose Amiga 500 had a mere 5MB hard drive ..

I also had a single 16MB RAM, which cost almost as much as the computer itself!

I still miss a lot of things about the Amiga; the OS (Workbench) was fantastically light & quick -- boot-up time was a mere 20 seconds! DeluxePaint 4 was a dream application. I especially liked its .ANIM format, which has no real equivalent on either the PC or the Mac. Lightwave 3D (which I still use to this day, though on a PC) also got its start there.

Post by **Ben** » September 7th, 2006, 9:16 am

Yep, and don't forget genlocks!

The Amiga 1200 was a very cool machine.

Post by **ShyViolet** » September 8th, 2006, 1:35 am

I think one great thing about computers nowadays is that pretty much anyone can learn to do SOMETHING on them. They seem to be a lot more user-friendly than past computers which...seem to have been designed with hard-core computer experts in mind, not the average person.

I mean (other than techies) how many people ever actually figured out how to program in BASIC? And what was it even supposed to do in the first place? I still don't know the answer to that...

It was only pretty recently that everyone has had to integrate computers into their lives in some form. For a long time anyone who knew computer stuff was considered a "nerd!" Just check out Wargames with Matthew Broaderick or, more recently Jurassic Park, where Dennis Nedry is a stereotype of a computer hacker...and the girl gets ridiculed by her brother for being a "computer nerd." Ha! Things change so quickly.

(Plus even Michael Eisner was ridiculed for taking compter classes at UCLA in 1983. He said "Laugh now, but this computer thing is going to be big!" I know it sounds silly and obvious now but you have to remember that things were quite different then. Computers were generally for scientists and the movies, not everyday life.

)