September 25, 2009 | In: Tech Stuff
Tell Me About Your First Computer…
This is absolutely fascinating…and a bit unnerving. I can’t imagine what things will be like in just 10 more years…
How quickly things change…
I specifically remember getting our first computer. My grandpa was a true techie and I remember him showing us all the amazing features. “If you put the handset in these holes, you can CALL people.” “These are called FLOPPY disks.” “It can even….play a GAME!”
It was a Radio Shack TRS-80. A thing of beauty it was. I loved the sound of typing on the keyboard. I think it had something around a 5mb harddrive and 64k of ram.
Clearly, it was a beast.
For the sake of laughter and wonder at how quickly things change, what was your first computer? Bonus points for specs and remembering your first internet provider?
14 Responses to Tell Me About Your First Computer…
Christopher
September 25th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Mine was a Timex Sinclair 1000 in 1982 (I was 11 years old)
Zilog Z80A/3.25 MHz Processor
2kb ram
No hard drive. You saved your programs to audio cassette.
16kb upgrade (cost me 2 summers working to get it)
As for internet.. wasn’t until about 1987 I got access to a modem on another machine and used BBS’s
In 1990 or so I had Prodigy, AOL and PSInet (real internet connection early HTML and no images every page was text.)
Yes I am a nerd.
Warren
September 25th, 2009 at 6:58 am
Commodore 64. Tape drive, 64K of RAM. Motorola processor powered by TWO gerbils in wheels (upgrade from the Vic 20, which only had one gerbil).
Hooked to an old 13 inch TV until I saved up enough to get the color monitor. Had a 300 baud (!!!!) modem, but never used it. I had to wait until I got a 486DX machine with a 14.4Kbps modem to get on the information superhighway. And I’m ashamed to admit it, but my first provider was AOL.
Chad Maag
September 25th, 2009 at 7:03 am
My first computer was a Commodre 64. I think i was 7 or 8 years old when we purchased it. 64kB of RAM (because that’s all you’d EVER need) with a 20kB ROM, 5 1/4” floppy, cassette tape storage, 16 color display. I learned BASIC (at least their flavor of it) on that machine.
We started with a local BBS service, then Prodigy, Compuserve etc. I was still in High School when the earliest broadband access became available – jumped on Road Runner WAY early.
Kari
September 25th, 2009 at 7:03 am
Ah yes, the old Trash 80, I mean TRS 80. How awesome it was. I mean, come on, it only weight 9 million pounds. Hehehe. And remember floppies? I remember being amazed at the 3 1/2” floppies thinking how tiny they were when they came out. That was my first system as well. Now I have a cell phone the size of a credit card that will do more than my first computer ever thought of.
joanne
September 25th, 2009 at 10:44 am
McIntosh SE…with a 3.5” floppy and 20 MB hard drive.Wow, how times have changed.
Chris
September 25th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Commodore VIC-20 (single gerbil model) with tape drive (no hard drive, no floppy disk) c. 1981. Could play games that came on cartridges and had it hooked up to an old TV for a monitor.
I remember when I first saw a disk drive (with 8” floppy disks) I was amazed…..
wow I am old, and a geek….
Kat's Mom
September 26th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
http://members.fortunecity.com/pcmuseum/kpro2a.jpg
Remember the Kaypro Daddy had?
Rick
September 26th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
My brother had a TRS-80. Good times.
I didn’t get my first computer until college, an original Mac with 512k on board, booted from a disk drive. Oh, and in beautiful monochromatic glory.
shelby
September 26th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
the first computer in my house was some random computer. all i remember was playing putt putt games on it.
MY first computer was a Windows XP. i got it when i was 13. everyone can now feel super old.
i was talking to aunt natalie today about how i don’t remember a time before cell phones or internet. i do remember a time before laptops though. does that make it any better?
shelby
September 26th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
when i say windows XP, it’s because i have no clue what the actual computer was. just a PC. some dell thing.
forgot to add that.
Kat
September 27th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Shelby,
Yes, that does make me feel super old. Thanks. A lot.
Marla Taviano
September 27th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
My hubby has an old Macintosh Classic sitting on his desk next to his iMac and Mac Book Pro. A guy he used to work with sold it to him for $10. It’s sweet.
Kellye
September 28th, 2009 at 6:57 am
For Christmas my kindergarten year….a 1982 Commodore 64 with 64k memory, RGB monitor, with a detached 80k 5.25 floppy drive (no hard drive). Dot matrix printer.
The whole package was a little over $1200. My dad had to drive to Conway, AR to UCA (about 3 hrs) to buy it. He says the cool thing was that I could hook up the monitor to the RGB outputs from a VCR and use it as a TV…I say the cool thing was that I had a rockin’ lemonade stand game that sat me on a path to love being a business person!
Kellye
September 28th, 2009 at 6:59 am
Oh yeah, and first home internet connection was in 1995 with a local bank’s crazy dial-up service. No one at the bank knew how to use it or set it up. We were cutting edge though….