Gawd, they know how to make me feel old...
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Comitstrip: First Computer[^] My first was an Amstrad 1640: EGA graphics, 640K RAM, 8MHz processor, no math coprocessor (but a socket so you could add one), no HDD, but twin 5 1/2" floppies (360Kb per disk). And that was second hand... What was your first "real" computer? (I'm not counting Spectrums and their ilk here: if it had a cassette tape it doesn't count :laugh: )
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
Transam Triton. Practical Electronics Magazine project from 1978. Built from components based around an 8080 processor and running Tiny Basic with a character based screen. After building it I was hooked! I re-designed it around an 8085 processor adding a 'fancy' video around a new Texas Instruments chip and writing a load of machine code graphics routines. Eventually went BBC Computer then PC. Great fun!
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I wrote FastBack! (really) Yeah... it was a major pain, hdd to floppy! Lloyd
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Comitstrip: First Computer[^] My first was an Amstrad 1640: EGA graphics, 640K RAM, 8MHz processor, no math coprocessor (but a socket so you could add one), no HDD, but twin 5 1/2" floppies (360Kb per disk). And that was second hand... What was your first "real" computer? (I'm not counting Spectrums and their ilk here: if it had a cassette tape it doesn't count :laugh: )
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
IBM PC Convertable with Intel 8088 processor (4.77 mhz), 512k ram, no HDD, but twin 3.5" DS floppy (not DSDD, mind you), monochrome nonback-lit graphics with a 4 color CGA monitor added on. :-) (16 color EGA blew my mind when I first saw it...) wrote my first Basica programs on this beauty! wish I still had it...
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My first was the IBM System/360-65[^]. I then went to the oldest, which was the IBM 1620 Model I[^]. No cassette tapes on those babies.
I'm retired. There's a nap for that... - Harvey
Yup. IBM 1620 with hydraulic disk drive that always leaked hydraulic oil on the floor! An I think it had 40K of 6-bit Binary Coded Decimal "digits". Pretty quickly learned how to cold-start it by using the bit switches mounted on the front of the selectric typewriter that was the operator's consol. Punch cards and a 60 lines per MINUTE line printer (upper case only). Those were the good old days.
Roy Williams
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Really? Than congratulation! For me it was a really great tool. Especially the possibilities for include/exclude I liked _very very very_ much! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: Bruno
I should be clear that FASTBACK was one of those tools MS 'borrowed' from the CP/M arena (without any compensation back then. :laugh: ) In its original incarnation, it was called "FastCOPY", and had most - but not all - of the features that showed in the FASTBACK version. I think I sold all of about 500 copies... :zzz: In all, it was a fairly trivial utility to write, and having it 'promoted' to officialdom was sort of an honor, back then. Lloyd
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Comitstrip: First Computer[^] My first was an Amstrad 1640: EGA graphics, 640K RAM, 8MHz processor, no math coprocessor (but a socket so you could add one), no HDD, but twin 5 1/2" floppies (360Kb per disk). And that was second hand... What was your first "real" computer? (I'm not counting Spectrums and their ilk here: if it had a cassette tape it doesn't count :laugh: )
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
In university, Xerox Sigma 6. My first was an Apple IIe with dual 360k floppies I bought before float in the Marines. You should have seen the admin guys look at me: "Here's that report sorted by serial number, here it is sorted by last name, here it is sorted by rank and date of rank." In the off hours the troops would play NFL football on it.
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IBM AT: EGA "Graphics", 512kB RAM on the MB and a 6MHz processor, but 2 20MB Harddrives (5¼" Double height, could be used as anchors) and one 5¼" floppy (1.2 MB) The 512MB RAM was a very frustrating limitation. So when I upgraded it I had enough money for a DX50 + 16MB RAM or a DX2/66 + 8MB RAM. Being as frustrated as I was with the RAM limits of the old MB I chose more RAM. Just to find out that there were no programs that could use more than 8MB at the time. :sigh: At the same time I also upgraded to an 800MB 3½" HDD supposedly state of the art at the time, just to find out that the old battleships were faster. :wtf: <edit>And the old IBM keyboards were so sturdy you could go to battle with them as a Claymore substitute</edit>
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
My first "real" computer was the True-Blue PC AT 8mhz with 640K and the 384K add-on board for TSR programs, 32 MB HDD and 2 1.2MB HD floppies and EGA video. Second hand at a "must-sell all" sale for only $1,100. Although if moving up from cassette is the only criteria, then it's an Atari 800XL. (Great programming system)
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Comitstrip: First Computer[^] My first was an Amstrad 1640: EGA graphics, 640K RAM, 8MHz processor, no math coprocessor (but a socket so you could add one), no HDD, but twin 5 1/2" floppies (360Kb per disk). And that was second hand... What was your first "real" computer? (I'm not counting Spectrums and their ilk here: if it had a cassette tape it doesn't count :laugh: )
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
1978 - My first true [digital] love. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmed_Data_Processor#mediaviewer/File:PDP-12-Update-Uppsala.jpeg[^] I used it to do my thesis on speech recognition by computer. I actually had a functional zero-crossing detector interface module (c/w directional microphone) and the software written. If I'd only stuck with it after my paper was written.... one of the few regrets of my life. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. :^) (P.S. Ok, I didn't own it. More like it's owned me all these years.)
Cheers, Mike Fidler "I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright "I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright
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Comitstrip: First Computer[^] My first was an Amstrad 1640: EGA graphics, 640K RAM, 8MHz processor, no math coprocessor (but a socket so you could add one), no HDD, but twin 5 1/2" floppies (360Kb per disk). And that was second hand... What was your first "real" computer? (I'm not counting Spectrums and their ilk here: if it had a cassette tape it doesn't count :laugh: )
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
Ithaca Intersystems DPS-1, Z80 processor, S100 motherboard, 64K RAM + 64K hard-to-access memory, 2 x 720K 8" disk drives in a separate cabinet. Computer + disks weighed > 80lbs together. Text-only monitor was connected by RS-232. I also had a 512 x 512 graphics monitor and a primitive dot-matrix printer. I programmed in assembler, Pascal, an muLISP.
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Comitstrip: First Computer[^] My first was an Amstrad 1640: EGA graphics, 640K RAM, 8MHz processor, no math coprocessor (but a socket so you could add one), no HDD, but twin 5 1/2" floppies (360Kb per disk). And that was second hand... What was your first "real" computer? (I'm not counting Spectrums and their ilk here: if it had a cassette tape it doesn't count :laugh: )
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Comitstrip: First Computer[^] My first was an Amstrad 1640: EGA graphics, 640K RAM, 8MHz processor, no math coprocessor (but a socket so you could add one), no HDD, but twin 5 1/2" floppies (360Kb per disk). And that was second hand... What was your first "real" computer? (I'm not counting Spectrums and their ilk here: if it had a cassette tape it doesn't count :laugh: )
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
I bought my first PC in 1984 (had been using university and work hardware before that):
- IBM-AT 80286 processor @ 8MHz, 512KB RAM
- Hercules EGA Graphics
- 20 MB Seagate hard disk
- 5¼" 360K floppy drive
- 5¼" 1.2M floppy drive
- Princeton Graphics Color Monitor
- Okidata Microline 192 dot matrix printer
- Hayes 1200 Modem
Software:
- MS-DOS 3.1
- PC Write (editor)
- Lattice C compiler
- Vitamin C GUI SDK for DOS
The hardware set me back $4500. I think the compiler was $300, Vitamin C was $50 and PC Write was $30. The box came with MS-DOS. I misread your question as "What was your first PC?" My first computer was a Honeywell Multics system with the world's most awesome terminals I'd ever seen. Circa 1980. /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
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Ithaca Intersystems DPS-1, Z80 processor, S100 motherboard, 64K RAM + 64K hard-to-access memory, 2 x 720K 8" disk drives in a separate cabinet. Computer + disks weighed > 80lbs together. Text-only monitor was connected by RS-232. I also had a 512 x 512 graphics monitor and a primitive dot-matrix printer. I programmed in assembler, Pascal, an muLISP.
Peter, are you THE Peter Grogono who wrote "Programming in Pascal" (circa 1980) - the book that changed my life (for the better) forever? /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
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Comitstrip: First Computer[^] My first was an Amstrad 1640: EGA graphics, 640K RAM, 8MHz processor, no math coprocessor (but a socket so you could add one), no HDD, but twin 5 1/2" floppies (360Kb per disk). And that was second hand... What was your first "real" computer? (I'm not counting Spectrums and their ilk here: if it had a cassette tape it doesn't count :laugh: )
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
Mine was a TRS-80 MC-10 (baby CoCo). It had 4k of RAM, jacks for attaching a tape deck to load software that didn't exist, and could display a whole nine colors. Even for the time, it was a PoS, it made the C64 look like a supercomputer. But it was mine, and I learned to write (short) programs on it.
OriginalGriff wrote:
I'm not counting Spectrums and their ilk here: if it had a cassette tape it doesn't count
Ridiculous, you're excluding most 8-bit computers because they used tape instead of (expensive at the time) floppy drives. Back in the day, those were "real" computers. This just seems like an arbitrary way to exclude anyone who got their first computer in the '80s and didn't have a lot of money (those business-class IBMs went for $3k-$5k in '80s dollars).
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A 520 ST, which I still have. But, if you ignore the cassette restriction, a TI 99/4A (Which I probably still have...9or maybe my sister has it.)
We won't sit down. We won't shut up. We won't go quietly away. YouTube and My Mu[sic], Films and Windows Programs, etc.
The TI99 was great! Got a kick out of looking at ones for sale on ebay the other day... we had one in '83 or '84... Wish I still had it. Loved playing Donkey Kong, Hunt the Wompus, TI Invaders, and Centipede on it!
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Yeah we ha a ti994a also but thought it didn't qualify here because of the cassette. We had great fun writing basic programs to scroll expletives on the screen. What fun teaching a computer to swear. Just look what we've done!
I remember messing with the voice synthesizer on it. That was really cool.
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Comitstrip: First Computer[^] My first was an Amstrad 1640: EGA graphics, 640K RAM, 8MHz processor, no math coprocessor (but a socket so you could add one), no HDD, but twin 5 1/2" floppies (360Kb per disk). And that was second hand... What was your first "real" computer? (I'm not counting Spectrums and their ilk here: if it had a cassette tape it doesn't count :laugh: )
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Peter, are you THE Peter Grogono who wrote "Programming in Pascal" (circa 1980) - the book that changed my life (for the better) forever? /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
Yes, that's me. Good to hear that I changed your life -- for the better :) I wrote the Pascal book during 1977-78, before I had my own computer. The Pascal programs in the book ran on a CDC 6400 at the university where I was working. Peter
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Comitstrip: First Computer[^] My first was an Amstrad 1640: EGA graphics, 640K RAM, 8MHz processor, no math coprocessor (but a socket so you could add one), no HDD, but twin 5 1/2" floppies (360Kb per disk). And that was second hand... What was your first "real" computer? (I'm not counting Spectrums and their ilk here: if it had a cassette tape it doesn't count :laugh: )
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
Altair 8800 (still up in the attic) 64K Ram (a portion of that was ROM for the CUTER system) Punched paper tape for storing programs Front panel switch input Video to Channel 3 NTSC Eventually upgraded to Micropolis 390K floppy drive
I'm not a programmer but I play one at the office
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Yes, that's me. Good to hear that I changed your life -- for the better :) I wrote the Pascal book during 1977-78, before I had my own computer. The Pascal programs in the book ran on a CDC 6400 at the university where I was working. Peter
Wow. It's an honor to bump into you @ CP! I think I emailed you a couple years ago to thank you for opening doors for me in a way you could probably not have imagined. I'm pretty sure I've saved your reply. Thank you, again! :rose: /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
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Move over, parvenus! My first computer was a Commodore PET 2001 with 8KB (that's KILO-bytes)! My dad bought it in 1977, and it was one of the first five of its kind in Israel. The Commodore PET 2001 had a built-in cassette recorder/player, which could be used to store/load programs and data. Given that many (most?) mainframes of the time still used tape for mass storage (a disk drive might be used for the O/S and for commonly-run programs), I take exception to the assertion that a computer with a cassette tape was not a computer. I used it for many things, from calculating e and pi (to about 10,000 digits - all that I could do in-memory) to learning 6502 assembly language to game playing (I purchased an incredibly slow version of chess that ran in those 8KB). Those were the days! :)
I sooooo wanted one of those... but my dad bought an Exidy Sorcerer[^]. I later borrowed it for an extended period of time. My actual first computer was an Amiga 1000.. which I still have and fire up once in a while. I even still have the original monitor and Rom Kernel manuals (a set with the mislabeled manual).
We can program with only 1's, but if all you've got are zeros, you've got nothing.
