[Dyre Straits]

I was driving along today between jobs and got to thinking how far we've come in a very short time in the realm of computer technology. I'd call myself a computer hobbyist since 1983. I was fascinated by them long before that, though.
There was a short period of time that I worked for an independent contractor who did painting at the Minneapolis/Honeywell Plant in Largo, FL. I had a very interesting experience inside one of the rooms that was being used for testing.
One other painter and myself were assigned to paint a wall behind a row of huge computers. In the middle of the room was a gyroscope that was at least 15 feet tall. The computers were all about 2x2 feet and about 7 feet tall.
We were told that the floor in that room was a floating slab...meaning that vibrations from without the room would not disturb that area. Therefore, we were not to drop even as much as a putty knife or it would disturb a test that had been going on for 9 months.
Wouldn't you know it: After we laid down the dropclothes and set down the 10 foot step ladder we were going to use, all of a sudden one of the computers starting sending out a loud continuous warning. It took a few seconds, but we found out that when I set the ladder down it had pulled one of the plugs out of the wall. (It should NOT have done that and wouldn't have if the guy who plugged it in would have twistlocked it the way it was supposed to have been done.) At any rate, we had to forego painting that wall because of we nearly messed up a 9 month test because a plug was pulled and it wasn't our fault.

I remember walking around the malls in those days and stopping at places like Radio Shack to view the ping-pong game on the computers. Along with my kids, we could have spent hours in those places.

My own first 'computer' was a VIC-20. (Go ahead and laugh. ) For those who don't know what that was, it was the precursor of the Commodore 64. I never did get a C-64, but I got three (yes, three) Commodore 128's. The reason for three was due to lightning striking them via my 300 (and eventually 1200) baud modem. I can't tell you how elated I was to have upgraded from that 300 to the 1200 baud modem. I even still have some of these things in boxes somewhere stashed away. I spent hours connecting to the local BBS's and attending a few of the User Group meetings.

I delved into some of the first color printing even. I got one of those Okimate 3-color printers that used the 3-color ribbon and would have to pass each line three times to produce 16 colors.

While I was enjoying my C-128s, a couple family members were enjoying their Amigas. I was amazed at what they could do with those, but, for some reason, just never got excited about getting one for myself.

As the 90's came upon us, I gained an interest in the IBM-compatibles. Browsing the computer stores, I could readily see that it was heavily stacked...and stocked...with IBM/PC programs and software while the Apple and Commodore items were relegated to small corners. Even at that, I still hadn't invested in a PC.

What finally got me into a PC was actually a totally different interest and need. My hearing had slowly gotten worse to a point I could no longer communicate on the telephone. Because of my business, this was really a bad development. However, almost everyone that I was doing business with had a FAX machine. But, I hated those thermal copy pieces of paper that they produced.

What I wanted was a plain paper FAX machine. So, off to Circuit City I went one day in hopes of finding the one I wanted. What I discovered was that prices for those babies were several hundred dollars! After talking to several of the sales reps, one of them suggested that a computer with a FAX modem would be something I'd get a lot more bang for the buck with. After looking at several models, I finally made a deal on an AST brand, DX33, with a 14.4 internal modem and a whopping 170 MB HD and 4 MB RAM! There was no sound card and it had onboard video.

Since that time in early 1992, I've upgraded several times and done all of the upgrading and work on my own (and other members of the family) computers. I spend several hours a day on my computer both for business and for pleasure. For those first few years, I had a hard time thinking of my PC in any other way except for business. I virtually refused to attempt to play games on it!

Then, I discovered Tex Murphy - The Pandora Directive! I've been hooked on games ever since.

I find my computer to be very essential in my business. I use it to do floor plans, design layouts and 3D renderings of proposed work. Email has become as essential as breathing and eating. The FAX option is so rarely used anymore it's almost become obsolete.

And, I'm still learning things everyday!

Well, that's my computer experience so far. Maybe others would be interested in sharing how they got started with theirs.

Dyre Straits

PS I'm about ready to do some more upgrading soon. See Specs Below.

[HawK]

Ah yes, my first was also a vic-20, not for long tough, it was quikly replaced with a C-64 and another C-64 + final cartridgeII + floppydrive (1504??) wich was also great for keeping the coffee warm, ah... those games & other Software, plenty off it...
then i wanted to buy a 128, but heard roumers, off a new great computer.. Amiga
totaly i owned 7 Amiga's 1 x A1000, 3 x A500+HD, 1 x A2000, 1 x A1200 (sucked)
and untill end '96 an A3000/30 + 4MB + picassoII, swapped the A3000 for a 486/80mhz
wich has now become a AMD 1600xp, but still have 1 C-64 just to play Krakout
And still have a Amiga emulator runnin on my PC (never had such a fast Amiga), just for Dpaint and the first Settlers

[Dyre Straits]

I remember how elated I felt the first time I entered code that moved a sprite from point A to point B. LOL

Dyre Straits

[DallasStar]

My first computer was a 386 w/ mono monitor . You're prolly laughing at me for not having a "very very ancient" first computer, but to me, its the most ancient computer I've ever seen.... I'm only 15... what more can you expect... I used that computer when I was practically a baby. I used it as a 6-7 year old (I didn't really want to try the computer before that). I remember even at that age, I did some qbasic programming (don't remember any of it tho). I used to love the games "gorrilla" and "nibbles".... oh the good old days... My next computer was a Pentium 133 w/ 2mb S3 vid card. Currently, AthlonXP1800+ & Radeon8500 64MB.

[UberLord]

BBC Micro Model B (with 32 K memory - yup - kilo bytes, not mega bytes. 1024 kilo bytes in 1 mega byte)

We got that computer on my 5th birthday - so its almost 25 years old. Erm - now I feel really old :/

Hard drives? Floppy drives? Nah - cassette was "the" format to have as it was cheap and easy to erm - "archive"

Anyone more old-skool (and I'm not counting old consoles like Atari's)

[AxE]

P 120 16mb ram
15" ttx

[digitalwanderer]

Technically my first computer would probably be an Elf II that my brother got and put together from Heathkit, but the first one I ever really played with was my good old VIC-20. I can't even remember how many nights I spent typing in those 4 page programs from "Compute" and then the hours trying to debug them! (Then again, that's how I learned basic... )

[reno]

a radioshack trs-80, hooked up to a cruddy 13 inch b&w tv. I could play popcorn for days on that thing. after that a blazing fast, 4000 dollar 486sx 25mhz with a whopping 8 meg of ram and a crazy fast 2 megabyte video card. I could whomp out the wolfenstein 3d framerates like nobody's business!

[Greebo_x]

My VERY first one was a home-built from scratch, based on an Intel 8080 chip, completely hand wire wrapped, with a massive 128Kbytes of memory! That was back in the days when I was professionally cranking out assembly-language code for Dec PDP-11/32s...

My first store-bought was an Apple II+; it was best for creating games for my kids. Besides, I was at the Homebrew Computer Club meeting cerca 1975 where a couple of guys named Jobs & Wozniak showed off a single board computer they had developed which did COLOR! I was so impressed, I knew I would have to buy from them someday.

[Loov]

I bought my first computer 1992 it was a 386DX with a 180MB harddrive 4MB ram and a tzeng 1MB videocard.
I remember eveybody asked me why I bought such a monster

[Ryoko]

Originally posted by Greebo_x
I was at the Homebrew Computer Club meeting cerca 1975

no Fing way! that's like Jesus to the computer geeks of the WORLD

[Greebo_x]

Yep- here we were, with most of us trying to figure out how to hook things up to a TELETYPE to get hardcopy, and these guys could do color cheap on a TV! I also (later) bought one of the very first Osborne I "portable" computers at a trade fair- complete with little 6" CRT screen and two 5.25 floppy drives.... The only computer from that era that I wanted to own, but didn't get, was made by a company called "Processor Technology". They came up with the concept of a really snazzy looking machine even before Apple. Unfortunately, they also chose a name that EVERY geek in the world shortened to "Proctology", so the cool factor wore off quickly...

[Ryoko]

Originally posted by Greebo_x
they also chose a name that EVERY geek in the world shortened to "Proctology", so the cool factor wore off quickly...

lol that would do it.

tell me - how many people were in that computer club?

[Mr V]

...ZX80, with no sound apart from the clicking of the keys!!
(Maybe I shouldnt boast I can remember that far back)


I was young.........then............once!!LOL

[Ryoko]

Originally posted by Mr V
...ZX80, with no sound apart from the clicking of the keys!!
(Maybe I shouldnt boast I can remember that far back)


I was young.........then............once!!LOL

let me get you an ensure LOL

[Mr V]

let me get you an ensure LOL

Huh? Wassat? Never heard of it!
Ok, found it LOL!

[Greebo_x]

I don't know if I can tell you the actual membership, as it was sort of a drop in thing with guest lecturers about twice a month in an auditorium at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Typically, around 40 people would show up for each meeting, so around 100 semi-regulars would be a good guess....

[Ijustwannaknow]

My first system was a 486.

I somehow managed to slow it down to like 1mhz.

[Ryoko]

Originally posted by Greebo_x
I don't know if I can tell you the actual membership, as it was sort of a drop in thing with guest lecturers about twice a month in an auditorium at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Typically, around 40 people would show up for each meeting, so around 100 semi-regulars would be a good guess....

smaller than i thought... damn, you're a disciple!

[Dyre Straits]

I recall using a graphical interface called, GEOS. Anybody else remember that?

BTW, it stands for: Graphical Environment Operating System.

Dyre Straits

[HawK]

Originally posted by digitalwanderer
I can't even remember how many nights I spent typing in those 4 page programs from "Compute" and then the hours trying to debug them! (Then again, that's how I learned basic... )

Oh god yes.. all those hours of typing, checking, retypin, and then wait sometimes months, to check what errors there were in the programlisting......
I almost hate you, for reminding me
Compute!.. Does it still exist?? (i don't see it anymore here in holland)

[Dyre Straits]

I subscribed to it and wouldn't be surprised to find some old copies in storage. LOL

Dyre Straits

[LiquidChaos]

Wonder how many others had experience with a VIC-20???

Was the VIC-20 the Commodore "PET" computer? I remember using the PET when I was around 12 or 13 years old. It had a built-in Monochrome "green screen" and a cassette storage system. It took like 15 minutes to load a game and most if not all the games were text based. I also remember my dad "upgrading" it to 640K of RAM.