My First Computer, The only computer I bought ever
-
Z80? You willingly switched sides and joined the enemy? :)
I'm invincible, I can't be vinced
-
Did you build the original Elf or a kit like my Elf II? Above we had somebody with a VIP, so we can slowly start a club :)
I'm invincible, I can't be vinced
-
Year 1998, I started Learning about the wonder (computer). I was in high school I realized RAM is the biggest deal. But yet I didn't know how it looks. As a matter of fact I learned the monitor as a minor thing in year 2000 when I started my University. Year 2000, I left Chittagong. Cause my father was just retired. Chittagong was his working place. So, We moved to Dhaka. My getting fat day started. All I did was watch cable, eat and sleep sometime went go my aunt house. That was only physical exercise I used to do. From ground floor I had to Ride 5 storied building. no escalator or elevator. I have started my bachelor degree just a month. Yet I had lot to learn. And my father decide he will buy me a computer. But I don't know how to buy a computer. Moreover I didn't know what shall I say to the shop. May be something like this: This Idea was before 1996:) Me: I want to buy computer. shopkeeper: What Kind of computer do you want? Me: The black one and make sure the mouse is not Plague infected. Shopkeeper: How much powerful do you want? Me: 10HP may be In Bangladesh Computer is awfully expensive. 40,000 taka is outstanding high for us(at that time it was like $800 may be but not sure. and its a big amount). Anyway my father asked his brother in law about it. He requested two boy living in his neighbor. They were computer something(cant remember what they were, actually never knew). They agreed to assist us. Then the golden day came. I woke up very early in the morning. Probably 4:30 am in the morning. Finished my morning prayer. then I started my longest waiting. Around 9:00 clock those two boy arrived. Then we started a longest journey to New Elephant Road. Perfect for me. I was the New Elephant going to New Elephant Road(I was 101 Kilo. i.e. 222.2lb) 3 wheeler with 3 stroke engine was carrying us. Anyway I was not that dumb to ask for computer with 10HP. It was the idea of mine when I was in high school. But the computer shop was shocking for me. Scattered boxes, random things organized in the rack I don't understand any of them. But there was no computer around. Well, my father told them the budget. My father took a good budget. Because most of other people do the budget around 30K but for me it was 40k. After reaching the shop my father asked to the shopkeeper "Does Sony make Computer?". Well, to my father SONY(the japanese company) was something like hercules, Supreme of all. Then the shopkeeper said. you can get the cdrom from SONY :)
My first computer was a portable teletype like machine with built in acoustin coupled 300 baud modem and thermal paper (for output). Myu father worked for Xerox (Lewisville texas, not PARC) and brought it home for WORK. He used it to play Chess and used it to play Zork. Later we got one of their 820 systems which sucked beacuse because it had nothing in common with the Apple ][ which was the hot machine back then. It ran CPM and had dual 8-inch floppy system which was about as good as a frisby for storage (frequent head crashes). One advantage of the 820 system was that it came with a Diablo daisy wheel printer which meant I could use the word processor for my school papers. Back then teachers would not accept anything printed on dot matirx but the daisy wheel was indistinguishable from a typewriter. I spent a lot of time at the local compu-shop on the Apples and became the sales guys unofficial tech resource. After HS graduation I got my first real computer, an Apple ][c which was compact enough to take to and from college. Unfortunately the monitor was not.
-
My first computer was a portable teletype like machine with built in acoustin coupled 300 baud modem and thermal paper (for output). Myu father worked for Xerox (Lewisville texas, not PARC) and brought it home for WORK. He used it to play Chess and used it to play Zork. Later we got one of their 820 systems which sucked beacuse because it had nothing in common with the Apple ][ which was the hot machine back then. It ran CPM and had dual 8-inch floppy system which was about as good as a frisby for storage (frequent head crashes). One advantage of the 820 system was that it came with a Diablo daisy wheel printer which meant I could use the word processor for my school papers. Back then teachers would not accept anything printed on dot matirx but the daisy wheel was indistinguishable from a typewriter. I spent a lot of time at the local compu-shop on the Apples and became the sales guys unofficial tech resource. After HS graduation I got my first real computer, an Apple ][c which was compact enough to take to and from college. Unfortunately the monitor was not.
Ahh yes, the old days .... My first PC-type computer experience was a friends Apple II that we proceeded to rebuild and rebuild and rebuild. I dont know how many Beagle brothers products we installed .. . I think a gazillion .. and re-installed and tweaked and re-installed and untweaked! :-D My own first PC was a Columbia (IBM clone) with 256 kb, 2x 360k floppies, 2 serial ports! and and a CGA graphics card!!! Had the green screen monitor so the colors were green or white. Ran DOS (1.1 through 5)and CPM on that old thing. Even wrote a small interupt process that would allow you to crudely multi-task... The last interation was 1 MB mem with 2 30MB MFM harddrives!, 12 inch color monitor and 1 360kb floppy running DOS 5. I also remember what a pain it was to get those two harddrives to work together but it was easier than working with two RLL drives. :cool: Even scarier is that I still have that PC AND it still boots up and runs! Although I have to admit it is slower than watching paint dry or grass grow. :-D
Cegarman document code? If it's not intuitive, you're in the wrong field :D
-
Ahh yes, the old days .... My first PC-type computer experience was a friends Apple II that we proceeded to rebuild and rebuild and rebuild. I dont know how many Beagle brothers products we installed .. . I think a gazillion .. and re-installed and tweaked and re-installed and untweaked! :-D My own first PC was a Columbia (IBM clone) with 256 kb, 2x 360k floppies, 2 serial ports! and and a CGA graphics card!!! Had the green screen monitor so the colors were green or white. Ran DOS (1.1 through 5)and CPM on that old thing. Even wrote a small interupt process that would allow you to crudely multi-task... The last interation was 1 MB mem with 2 30MB MFM harddrives!, 12 inch color monitor and 1 360kb floppy running DOS 5. I also remember what a pain it was to get those two harddrives to work together but it was easier than working with two RLL drives. :cool: Even scarier is that I still have that PC AND it still boots up and runs! Although I have to admit it is slower than watching paint dry or grass grow. :-D
Cegarman document code? If it's not intuitive, you're in the wrong field :D
-
Ahh yes, the old days .... My first PC-type computer experience was a friends Apple II that we proceeded to rebuild and rebuild and rebuild. I dont know how many Beagle brothers products we installed .. . I think a gazillion .. and re-installed and tweaked and re-installed and untweaked! :-D My own first PC was a Columbia (IBM clone) with 256 kb, 2x 360k floppies, 2 serial ports! and and a CGA graphics card!!! Had the green screen monitor so the colors were green or white. Ran DOS (1.1 through 5)and CPM on that old thing. Even wrote a small interupt process that would allow you to crudely multi-task... The last interation was 1 MB mem with 2 30MB MFM harddrives!, 12 inch color monitor and 1 360kb floppy running DOS 5. I also remember what a pain it was to get those two harddrives to work together but it was easier than working with two RLL drives. :cool: Even scarier is that I still have that PC AND it still boots up and runs! Although I have to admit it is slower than watching paint dry or grass grow. :-D
Cegarman document code? If it's not intuitive, you're in the wrong field :D
My second system was the best personal computer built in the 80's, an Amiga 1000. Did the old memory stack hack mentioned in other posts to double the ram to either 512k or an insane 1mb. Cant remember which, I think it was 1mb. Bought some software (and some casio drum pads) and built an interface to one of the ports that turned it into an electronic drum kit. Too bad Commodore couldn't market their way out of a wet paper bag. Must have been all ex Xerox marketing people. I don't think I've ever purchased a pre-built PC desktop system. Used to get all the parts from Computer Shopper and build it myself. Now it's New Egg but the process is the same.
-
Year 1998, I started Learning about the wonder (computer). I was in high school I realized RAM is the biggest deal. But yet I didn't know how it looks. As a matter of fact I learned the monitor as a minor thing in year 2000 when I started my University. Year 2000, I left Chittagong. Cause my father was just retired. Chittagong was his working place. So, We moved to Dhaka. My getting fat day started. All I did was watch cable, eat and sleep sometime went go my aunt house. That was only physical exercise I used to do. From ground floor I had to Ride 5 storied building. no escalator or elevator. I have started my bachelor degree just a month. Yet I had lot to learn. And my father decide he will buy me a computer. But I don't know how to buy a computer. Moreover I didn't know what shall I say to the shop. May be something like this: This Idea was before 1996:) Me: I want to buy computer. shopkeeper: What Kind of computer do you want? Me: The black one and make sure the mouse is not Plague infected. Shopkeeper: How much powerful do you want? Me: 10HP may be In Bangladesh Computer is awfully expensive. 40,000 taka is outstanding high for us(at that time it was like $800 may be but not sure. and its a big amount). Anyway my father asked his brother in law about it. He requested two boy living in his neighbor. They were computer something(cant remember what they were, actually never knew). They agreed to assist us. Then the golden day came. I woke up very early in the morning. Probably 4:30 am in the morning. Finished my morning prayer. then I started my longest waiting. Around 9:00 clock those two boy arrived. Then we started a longest journey to New Elephant Road. Perfect for me. I was the New Elephant going to New Elephant Road(I was 101 Kilo. i.e. 222.2lb) 3 wheeler with 3 stroke engine was carrying us. Anyway I was not that dumb to ask for computer with 10HP. It was the idea of mine when I was in high school. But the computer shop was shocking for me. Scattered boxes, random things organized in the rack I don't understand any of them. But there was no computer around. Well, my father told them the budget. My father took a good budget. Because most of other people do the budget around 30K but for me it was 40k. After reaching the shop my father asked to the shopkeeper "Does Sony make Computer?". Well, to my father SONY(the japanese company) was something like hercules, Supreme of all. Then the shopkeeper said. you can get the cdrom from SONY :)
Wow, 30 GB was really a lot back then. On 1997 I purchased an excellent Micron (brand) laptop with 3GB, and 512Mb ram, and it felt huge in capacity. It lasted until 2004, really a good machine.
-
Aah the Spectrum. 48k. Then the Commodore 64 and then finally onto the 286. Games that stood out from those days were Microprose's Gunship, Tank Platoon, Pirates (Sid Meier was a legend!!) and Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising. Good times.
10 x=1 20 print x 30 x=x+1 40 goto 20 ..... My first program on a C64.... I was 9.
load *,8,1
-
1977: Texas Instruments SR-51 Programmable Calculator. At school, we didn't have a computer. We had a teletype machine connected over 100baud modem to the mainframe of the local university which was 25 miles away. We also had to walk 20 miles to school every day uphill in the snow and then back home uphill in the snow. And it was always dark. Ah... the good ol' days.
m.bergman
For Bruce Schneier, quanta only have one state : afraid.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered. -- Voltaire
Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense. -- Steve Landesberg
We also had to walk 20 miles to school every day uphill in the snow and then back home uphill in the snow. And it was always dark.
Barefoot, with barbed wire wrapped around your feet for traction? Yeah, kids these days don't know how good they have it.
-
10 x=1 20 print x 30 x=x+1 40 goto 20 ..... My first program on a C64.... I was 9.
load *,8,1
and it was all down hill from there
You cant outrun the world, but there is no harm in getting a head start Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-
Wow, 30 GB was really a lot back then. On 1997 I purchased an excellent Micron (brand) laptop with 3GB, and 512Mb ram, and it felt huge in capacity. It lasted until 2004, really a good machine.
Here is the funny thing. But all the pcs bought by my friends died several time by this time duration Also my friends Personal Computers too.
I know I am coward since the day I know that fortune favors the brave
-
We also had to walk 20 miles to school every day uphill in the snow and then back home uphill in the snow. And it was always dark.
Barefoot, with barbed wire wrapped around your feet for traction? Yeah, kids these days don't know how good they have it.
The maximum path I crossed with feet may 5 miles on 2010, march 11. The earth Quake day in Japan
I know I am coward since the day I know that fortune favors the brave
-
Year 1998, I started Learning about the wonder (computer). I was in high school I realized RAM is the biggest deal. But yet I didn't know how it looks. As a matter of fact I learned the monitor as a minor thing in year 2000 when I started my University. Year 2000, I left Chittagong. Cause my father was just retired. Chittagong was his working place. So, We moved to Dhaka. My getting fat day started. All I did was watch cable, eat and sleep sometime went go my aunt house. That was only physical exercise I used to do. From ground floor I had to Ride 5 storied building. no escalator or elevator. I have started my bachelor degree just a month. Yet I had lot to learn. And my father decide he will buy me a computer. But I don't know how to buy a computer. Moreover I didn't know what shall I say to the shop. May be something like this: This Idea was before 1996:) Me: I want to buy computer. shopkeeper: What Kind of computer do you want? Me: The black one and make sure the mouse is not Plague infected. Shopkeeper: How much powerful do you want? Me: 10HP may be In Bangladesh Computer is awfully expensive. 40,000 taka is outstanding high for us(at that time it was like $800 may be but not sure. and its a big amount). Anyway my father asked his brother in law about it. He requested two boy living in his neighbor. They were computer something(cant remember what they were, actually never knew). They agreed to assist us. Then the golden day came. I woke up very early in the morning. Probably 4:30 am in the morning. Finished my morning prayer. then I started my longest waiting. Around 9:00 clock those two boy arrived. Then we started a longest journey to New Elephant Road. Perfect for me. I was the New Elephant going to New Elephant Road(I was 101 Kilo. i.e. 222.2lb) 3 wheeler with 3 stroke engine was carrying us. Anyway I was not that dumb to ask for computer with 10HP. It was the idea of mine when I was in high school. But the computer shop was shocking for me. Scattered boxes, random things organized in the rack I don't understand any of them. But there was no computer around. Well, my father told them the budget. My father took a good budget. Because most of other people do the budget around 30K but for me it was 40k. After reaching the shop my father asked to the shopkeeper "Does Sony make Computer?". Well, to my father SONY(the japanese company) was something like hercules, Supreme of all. Then the shopkeeper said. you can get the cdrom from SONY :)
Growing up, my dad bought my older brothers a TRS-80 model 1 as a Christmas present. That's the first computer I ever programmed on (using the built-in BASIC, and some assembly). The first machine I bought for myself was in 1988, a Macintosh IIsi as a college student. I think I still have a 1986 magazine showcasing a "new" 80-Meg hard drive, for the low low price of $2,495.99.
-
Year 1998, I started Learning about the wonder (computer). I was in high school I realized RAM is the biggest deal. But yet I didn't know how it looks. As a matter of fact I learned the monitor as a minor thing in year 2000 when I started my University. Year 2000, I left Chittagong. Cause my father was just retired. Chittagong was his working place. So, We moved to Dhaka. My getting fat day started. All I did was watch cable, eat and sleep sometime went go my aunt house. That was only physical exercise I used to do. From ground floor I had to Ride 5 storied building. no escalator or elevator. I have started my bachelor degree just a month. Yet I had lot to learn. And my father decide he will buy me a computer. But I don't know how to buy a computer. Moreover I didn't know what shall I say to the shop. May be something like this: This Idea was before 1996:) Me: I want to buy computer. shopkeeper: What Kind of computer do you want? Me: The black one and make sure the mouse is not Plague infected. Shopkeeper: How much powerful do you want? Me: 10HP may be In Bangladesh Computer is awfully expensive. 40,000 taka is outstanding high for us(at that time it was like $800 may be but not sure. and its a big amount). Anyway my father asked his brother in law about it. He requested two boy living in his neighbor. They were computer something(cant remember what they were, actually never knew). They agreed to assist us. Then the golden day came. I woke up very early in the morning. Probably 4:30 am in the morning. Finished my morning prayer. then I started my longest waiting. Around 9:00 clock those two boy arrived. Then we started a longest journey to New Elephant Road. Perfect for me. I was the New Elephant going to New Elephant Road(I was 101 Kilo. i.e. 222.2lb) 3 wheeler with 3 stroke engine was carrying us. Anyway I was not that dumb to ask for computer with 10HP. It was the idea of mine when I was in high school. But the computer shop was shocking for me. Scattered boxes, random things organized in the rack I don't understand any of them. But there was no computer around. Well, my father told them the budget. My father took a good budget. Because most of other people do the budget around 30K but for me it was 40k. After reaching the shop my father asked to the shopkeeper "Does Sony make Computer?". Well, to my father SONY(the japanese company) was something like hercules, Supreme of all. Then the shopkeeper said. you can get the cdrom from SONY :)
First computer I used was a TI 980. Used to hand-translate assembly language into machine code to enter it into the front panel switches. This was in 1978. My first owned computer was a Heathkit H89 built from a box of parts in 1980 or so. You even had to use the soldering iron to melt the brass screw anchors into the plastic case. It had two Z80s (one for the display terminal and one for computing) and a whopping 32K of RAM which I upgraded to 64K. Display was a built in 80 col x 24 row, green screen. No graphics except for the special graphics character set. It ran HDOS (Heath Disk Operating System) from 5 1/4 hard sector disks. Later I added CPM and another disk drive so I didn't have to swap the boot disk in and out. I programmed it in Assembly and BASIC, then bought one of the first versions of TurboPascal for it. That system is still sitting here in my house. I sometimes wonder if it will still boot. Fun times!
-
Year 1998, I started Learning about the wonder (computer). I was in high school I realized RAM is the biggest deal. But yet I didn't know how it looks. As a matter of fact I learned the monitor as a minor thing in year 2000 when I started my University. Year 2000, I left Chittagong. Cause my father was just retired. Chittagong was his working place. So, We moved to Dhaka. My getting fat day started. All I did was watch cable, eat and sleep sometime went go my aunt house. That was only physical exercise I used to do. From ground floor I had to Ride 5 storied building. no escalator or elevator. I have started my bachelor degree just a month. Yet I had lot to learn. And my father decide he will buy me a computer. But I don't know how to buy a computer. Moreover I didn't know what shall I say to the shop. May be something like this: This Idea was before 1996:) Me: I want to buy computer. shopkeeper: What Kind of computer do you want? Me: The black one and make sure the mouse is not Plague infected. Shopkeeper: How much powerful do you want? Me: 10HP may be In Bangladesh Computer is awfully expensive. 40,000 taka is outstanding high for us(at that time it was like $800 may be but not sure. and its a big amount). Anyway my father asked his brother in law about it. He requested two boy living in his neighbor. They were computer something(cant remember what they were, actually never knew). They agreed to assist us. Then the golden day came. I woke up very early in the morning. Probably 4:30 am in the morning. Finished my morning prayer. then I started my longest waiting. Around 9:00 clock those two boy arrived. Then we started a longest journey to New Elephant Road. Perfect for me. I was the New Elephant going to New Elephant Road(I was 101 Kilo. i.e. 222.2lb) 3 wheeler with 3 stroke engine was carrying us. Anyway I was not that dumb to ask for computer with 10HP. It was the idea of mine when I was in high school. But the computer shop was shocking for me. Scattered boxes, random things organized in the rack I don't understand any of them. But there was no computer around. Well, my father told them the budget. My father took a good budget. Because most of other people do the budget around 30K but for me it was 40k. After reaching the shop my father asked to the shopkeeper "Does Sony make Computer?". Well, to my father SONY(the japanese company) was something like hercules, Supreme of all. Then the shopkeeper said. you can get the cdrom from SONY :)
Wow. Kids. Spoiled. You had a keyboard and a monitor. My first computer consisted of a switchboard with ten sliders that each controlled a gang of ten switches. You connected the switches together with wires that you cut yourself, to make AND and OR and NAND and NOR and XOR gates. Yes, the computer came with a spool of copper wire, and a wire stripper. More basic than BASIC. :laugh: The computer also had ten light bulbs that you connected to the switches. A very low resolution monitor! The switches doubled as memory, so it had effectively a 10 bit RAM. It was powered by a humongous 9 volt battery, the size of a hip flask. When I move to the States, I had to figure out how to wire it up to a DC power supply because I couldn't find those kinds of monster batteries in the States. So that those ten power hogging light bulbs wouldn't run down the battery too quickly, there was a single push button that you had to use to turn on the finished circuit. Oh, and I had to put it together, myself. :cool: You used it to wire up cool programs like "if the humidity is high" (slide switch 1) AND "the barometer is falling" (slide switch 2) THEN "it will rain" (lightbulb 1). I even taught it to play tic-tac-toe. That was in 1970. The computer cost about DM100 (about $50, at the time). I've tried to find a picture of it online, but I guess they don't make it anymore. :((
-
Wow. Kids. Spoiled. You had a keyboard and a monitor. My first computer consisted of a switchboard with ten sliders that each controlled a gang of ten switches. You connected the switches together with wires that you cut yourself, to make AND and OR and NAND and NOR and XOR gates. Yes, the computer came with a spool of copper wire, and a wire stripper. More basic than BASIC. :laugh: The computer also had ten light bulbs that you connected to the switches. A very low resolution monitor! The switches doubled as memory, so it had effectively a 10 bit RAM. It was powered by a humongous 9 volt battery, the size of a hip flask. When I move to the States, I had to figure out how to wire it up to a DC power supply because I couldn't find those kinds of monster batteries in the States. So that those ten power hogging light bulbs wouldn't run down the battery too quickly, there was a single push button that you had to use to turn on the finished circuit. Oh, and I had to put it together, myself. :cool: You used it to wire up cool programs like "if the humidity is high" (slide switch 1) AND "the barometer is falling" (slide switch 2) THEN "it will rain" (lightbulb 1). I even taught it to play tic-tac-toe. That was in 1970. The computer cost about DM100 (about $50, at the time). I've tried to find a picture of it online, but I guess they don't make it anymore. :((
Looks like you get the old fogies award. No other references that old. I probably rank close, in college 1974, purchased on research grant, HP mini-computer with toggle switches to load boot strap program and teletype machine with paper tape reader. Before that in 1970 there were decks of punch cards for main frame computers but I do not consider that to be mine.
-
and it was all down hill from there
You cant outrun the world, but there is no harm in getting a head start Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
Bergholt Stuttley Johnson wrote:
and it was all down hill from there
Yep.
-
You make me feel old. I was using computers back in 1979. The first computer of my own was a ZX81 then a ZX Spectrum. That creaking noise you hear is my nostalgia kicking in!
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] Trolls[^]
I AM old. The first computer I ever used was in 1969. It was a Control Data 6000-series mainframe at Michigan State. I was a math major and decided to take a FORTRAN class as an elective. I was hooked and immediately knew what I wanted to do the rest of my life. Too bad it has not worked out that way. My soul got crushed in my last job and I'm not that much interested in programming after retirement any more.