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  3. What was your first computer?

What was your first computer?

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  • T Todd Smith

    IBM 8088. No harddrive. Single floppy. I started typing in BASIC programs from magazines at the tender age of 8. w00t! Todd Smith

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    Nish Nishant
    wrote on last edited by
    #54

    Todd Smith wrote: IBM 8088. No harddrive. Single floppy. Thats the same one we had in school. With green monochrome monitors :-) I still remember booting up from the floppy and it used to take so long then ;-) we thought. Now it takes 10 ten times that much time to logon to XP :-) Nish


    The posting stats are now in PDF:- http://www.busterboy.org/codeproject/ Feel free to make your comments. Updated - May 04th, Saturday

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    • J Josh Knox

      Got a TI99/4A when I was 11, back in 1986. Taught myself BASIC on it so I could make Space Invaders aliens dance around the screen. It had no permanent backup so I had to reenter the program each time. The got an Apple IIE. Then a 486 which I started using Borland Turbo C++. Good ole days. Josh Knox that-guy.net


      "UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity." Dennis Ritchie.

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      Nish Nishant
      wrote on last edited by
      #55

      Josh Knox wrote: It had no permanent backup so I had to reenter the program each time :omg: :omg: :omg:


      The posting stats are now in PDF:- http://www.busterboy.org/codeproject/ Feel free to make your comments. Updated - May 04th, Saturday

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      • N Nish Nishant

        I mean the first one of your own. Not the first one you used in college or school or work. Mine was a 80286/2MB Ram/40 MB HD :-) 1.44 MB FD and 1.2 MB FD DOS 5.0 Nish


        Check out last week's Code Project posting stats presentation from :- http://www.busterboy.org/codeproject/ Feel free to make your comments.

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        Michael Dunn
        wrote on last edited by
        #56

        One of my uncles was really into computers, so back in the early 80s I'd get hardware from him as he upgraded. I started with some TI model (don't think it was the famous 99/4A, some earlier model) and the included BASIC manual, but I couldn't really make sense of BASIC back then (hey, I was only like 10 years old!). It wasn't until an after-school class on BASIC using Apple //e's that I actually started doing programming. --Mike-- Buy me stuff! (Link fixed now) Like the Google toolbar? Then check out UltraBar, with more features & customizable search engines! My really out-of-date homepage Big fan of Alyson Hannigan and Jamie Salé.

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        • L l a u r e n

          zx81 with a wobbly 16k ram pack :)


          situations to avoid #37:
          "good morning ... how many sugars do you take in your coffee ... and what was your name again?"

          coming soon: situations to avoid #38: "...and the dog was there too?"

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          Tomaz Stih 0
          wrote on last edited by
          #57

          Thank you Laureen. With my 29 I feel old among these youngsters. I started with ZX81 with 1k, :-) followed by ZX Spectrum 48K, Amstrad CPC 464, Atari 520 ST, IBM PC XT 640Kb RAM/4Mhz/10MB HDD/Hercules...Oh, well. Regards, Tomaz

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          • G Giles

            Atari 520 ST. They were the days.:(( :(( I've still got it, and get it out everynow and again. Still works. :)

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            Tomaz Stih 0
            wrote on last edited by
            #58

            Those were the days. Campus word processor, Lattice C and GEM... Regards, Tomaz

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            • M Michael A Barnhart

              Two answers depending on what you call a computer and how far own goes. First one in my family that I used was a Wang 720 (they are in musuems) First one I actually purchased was a vic 20. You can do things with 4k of memory and none of those fancy hard drives. To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step towards Knowledge. Benjamin Disraeli

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              Michael Dunn
              wrote on last edited by
              #59

              Michael A. Barnhart wrote: You can do things with 4k of memory 3583 bytes, actually. ;) --Mike-- Buy me stuff! (Link fixed now) Like the Google toolbar? Then check out UltraBar, with more features & customizable search engines! My really out-of-date homepage Big fan of Alyson Hannigan and Jamie Salé.

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              • P Phil Speller

                Original ZX Spectrum - with 48K RAM and dead-flesh feel keyboard. I orginally wanted a ZX81 but couldn't afford the £99 to buy one (being 12 and getting only £1/week pocket money). Free

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                Tomaz Stih 0
                wrote on last edited by
                #60

                I worked as a delivery boy at age 13 to upgrade from ZX Spectrum to Amstrad (Schneider) CPC 464. It was a luxury computer, with beautiful monitor, 640 x 200 resolution, 80 chars screen width and built in tape. >:-) Plus, it talked Z80, which I learned on Spectrum. Tomaz

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                • T Tomaz Stih 0

                  Thank you Laureen. With my 29 I feel old among these youngsters. I started with ZX81 with 1k, :-) followed by ZX Spectrum 48K, Amstrad CPC 464, Atari 520 ST, IBM PC XT 640Kb RAM/4Mhz/10MB HDD/Hercules...Oh, well. Regards, Tomaz

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                  Tomaz Stih 0
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #61

                  > IBM PC XT 640Kb RAM/4Mhz/10MB HDD/Hercules Or was it 8Mhz? Can't remember anymore. :-) I just know it had absolutely charming orange screen, which was different from them green screens of neighbourhood peasants. :cool: Tomaz

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                  • T Tomaz Stih 0

                    Thank you Laureen. With my 29 I feel old among these youngsters. I started with ZX81 with 1k, :-) followed by ZX Spectrum 48K, Amstrad CPC 464, Atari 520 ST, IBM PC XT 640Kb RAM/4Mhz/10MB HDD/Hercules...Oh, well. Regards, Tomaz

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                    l a u r e n
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #62

                    i am rather gob-smacked tomasz the list of computers you have exactly matches the list i would make wierd but cool :)


                    situations to avoid #37:
                    "good morning ... how many sugars do you take in your coffee ... and what was your name again?"

                    coming soon: situations to avoid #38: "...and the dog was there too?"

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                    • M Michael Dunn

                      Michael A. Barnhart wrote: You can do things with 4k of memory 3583 bytes, actually. ;) --Mike-- Buy me stuff! (Link fixed now) Like the Google toolbar? Then check out UltraBar, with more features & customizable search engines! My really out-of-date homepage Big fan of Alyson Hannigan and Jamie Salé.

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                      Michael A Barnhart
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #63

                      I actually had a VT100 terminal emulation program going. Although trying to keep up with the 300 baud modem was a little tricky :) To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step towards Knowledge. Benjamin Disraeli

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                      • E Erik Westermann

                        Atari, Apple...geez - you guys should have started with the only *real* computer.......

                        :) Commodore 64 :)

                        * 1 MHz processor * 64K RAM * 5 1/4 inch floppy drive that has a capacity of an amazing 170Kb, which you could double when using both sides of the disk! Ducks - expecting somehting to be thrown in this direction Essam - Author, JScript .NET Programming
                        ...and a bunch of articles around the Web

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                        Roger Wright
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #64

                        Essam Ahmed wrote: Commodore 64 That was for rich kids! :-D

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                        • J Josh Knox

                          Got a TI99/4A when I was 11, back in 1986. Taught myself BASIC on it so I could make Space Invaders aliens dance around the screen. It had no permanent backup so I had to reenter the program each time. The got an Apple IIE. Then a 486 which I started using Borland Turbo C++. Good ole days. Josh Knox that-guy.net


                          "UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity." Dennis Ritchie.

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                          Shog9 0
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #65

                          Josh Knox wrote: It had no permanent backup so I had to reenter the program each time. :) Boy do i remember that! I've still got notebooks filled with BASIC code that i wrote for this purpose; i can tell you, my typing improved drastically from using that machine :-D --------_**

                          People they come together People they fall apart. No one can stop us now 'cause we are all made of stars...

                          **_

                          -- Moby, We are all made of stars

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                          • N NormDroid

                            Tandy/Radio Shack TR80 Normski. - Professional Windows Programmer

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                            Mike Gaskey
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #66

                            Norm Almond wrote: Tandy/Radio Shack TR80 Norm - mine was the same. Called it a Trash-80. Casette input / output. 4k of RAM. Bought it in '79 for $600.00

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                            • N Nish Nishant

                              I mean the first one of your own. Not the first one you used in college or school or work. Mine was a 80286/2MB Ram/40 MB HD :-) 1.44 MB FD and 1.2 MB FD DOS 5.0 Nish


                              Check out last week's Code Project posting stats presentation from :- http://www.busterboy.org/codeproject/ Feel free to make your comments.

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                              Anna Jayne Metcalfe
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #67

                              An Apple /// (OK, so it was my Dad's ;))...6502 processor with 128k of bank switched memory, one 5 1/4 inch floppy disk, no hard disk and a green screen monitor. X| A little while later we fitted a Z-80 card which ran CP/M 2.2, which is when I really started learning. :) Andy Metcalfe - Sonardyne International Ltd

                              Trouble with resource IDs? Try the Resource ID Organiser Add-In for Visual C++
                              "I would be careful in separating your wierdness, a good quirky weirdness, from the disturbed wierdness of people who take pleasure from PVC sheep with fruit repositories." - Paul Watson

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                              • N Nish Nishant

                                I mean the first one of your own. Not the first one you used in college or school or work. Mine was a 80286/2MB Ram/40 MB HD :-) 1.44 MB FD and 1.2 MB FD DOS 5.0 Nish


                                Check out last week's Code Project posting stats presentation from :- http://www.busterboy.org/codeproject/ Feel free to make your comments.

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                                Mike Epprecht
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #68

                                Nish [BusterBoy] wrote: I mean the first one of your own. Not the first one you used in college or school or work. Olivetti 8086, 8Mhz, 640Kb, 20MD HDD, 5.25" FDD, EGA, DOS 3.x The included GW-BASIC was what got me started in this industry. Cheers Mike Johannesburg, South Africa

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                                • R Roger Wright

                                  Essam Ahmed wrote: Commodore 64 That was for rich kids! :-D

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                                  Erik Westermann
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #69

                                  :-D That was a fun computer - it was amazing what some people got it to do. I used to run my own BBS off that system. I still have it - my kids hook up the monitor to their Nintendo GameCube system - works great! I remember I spent $800 on that system at the time - that was more than I earned working all summer :omg: Essam - Author, JScript .NET Programming
                                  ...and a bunch of articles around the Web

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                                  • L l a u r e n

                                    i am rather gob-smacked tomasz the list of computers you have exactly matches the list i would make wierd but cool :)


                                    situations to avoid #37:
                                    "good morning ... how many sugars do you take in your coffee ... and what was your name again?"

                                    coming soon: situations to avoid #38: "...and the dog was there too?"

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                                    Tomaz Stih 0
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #70

                                    I belive the choice was not really huge at the time. Either you went to this camp or to the Commodores. Then again, perhaps it means something. But what? Tomaz

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                                    • N Nish Nishant

                                      I mean the first one of your own. Not the first one you used in college or school or work. Mine was a 80286/2MB Ram/40 MB HD :-) 1.44 MB FD and 1.2 MB FD DOS 5.0 Nish


                                      Check out last week's Code Project posting stats presentation from :- http://www.busterboy.org/codeproject/ Feel free to make your comments.

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                                      Brian Delahunty
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #71

                                      Sinclair ZX 48k Spectrum Then an Amiga 600 and then an Amiga 1200 and then a PII 333


                                      " :| (<-- that's meant to be an enigmatic smile to make you think we have something up our sleeves (which we do) but instead it seems to convey displeasure at, say, a cat coughing up a dead frog on your carpet (which it also has, but this is irrelevant)) " Chris Maunder - The Code Project

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