When do you first remember using a computer?

[eyoungren]

I still find amazing these machines.

My father was involved in the aerospace industry as an electrical engineer (Space Shuttle, Minuteman, Peacekeeper). That meant I was intimately familiar with Radio Shack because as an electrical engineer he often dragged me there with him.

Which is how we ended up with the CoCo.

We got a Commodore 64 in 1984 but the CoCo was still functional into 1987 or so. I used to have a small space heater with a fan only setting sat right on top of one of those air slots at full blast. Kept the CoCo from overheating and freezing when doing long game plays.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

My father was involved in the aerospace industry as an electrical engineer (Space Shuttle, Minuteman, Peacekeeper). That meant I was intimately familiar with Radio Shack because as an electrical engineer he often dragged me there with him.

Which is how we ended up with the CoCo.

We got a Commodore 64 in 1984 but the CoCo was still functional into 1987 or so. I used to have a small space heater with a fan only setting sat right on top of one of those air slots at full blast. Kept the CoCo from overheating and freezing when doing long game plays.

eyoungren, what was your favorite game?

 

[Caroline in Az]

My Son came to visit and was so excited about his Apple computer, so I started asking what all could do. The next day we went shopping and I bought my first desktop. That was 3-4 computers ago back in the 80's. Now I have a pro tablet, what difference from the huge desktops.

 

[eyoungren]

eyoungren, what was your favorite game?

Klendathu. I think my dad bough three cartridge games with the computer. The other two I don't recall. But he didn't buy any more and I mainly ended up using the computer to learn BASIC.

Klendathu was my favorite later on because it was challenging (it certainly was NOT for the graphics). But the CoCo really only got used for the first four years we had it.

Once I got the Commodore 64 it was all about Telengard for me.

 

[Huntn]

1983 Apple IIe. This does not count the console (games) I used previously to this.

 

[dk001]

The one at the school, the Vic 20 my dad bought, then a myriad through the years....
Thankfully punch cards died.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Probably the early 90s. I even had school essays up to late high school that could be handed in hand written if I chose.

 

[0388631]

83 or 84. I didn't see the point of them and couldn't be bothered to learn more about them. I used them sparingly until the late 80s and early 90s. I used them more then but didn't fully trust them.

Likewise, I used dial up during the early 90s and into 2000, I believe. The internet was very different then, and honestly, there wasn't a lot of interesting things to do. I was never keen on reading someone's blog or personal page, I'm still not keen on reading the boring ramblings of someone's life. I only began embracing the internet after getting a "high speed" connection. But, for most of the 90s, the internet was very much a wasteland.

 

[kuhnje]

Christmas of 1984. Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer (COCO) II, with a whopping 64K (actually was a lot of memory for the era) and a cassette recorder for mass storage. Within six months, I had a DCM-3 300bps modem and was using the internet via a family member's University dialup VAX/VMS account, which was on BITNet and the internet. I learned a lot about VMS and UNIX in those days, which would serve me greatly as I got older. Eventually worked up to 512K COCO III, running OS9 Level 2 (a UNIX-like RTOS). Went to Amiga after COCO's, then finally PC's. MSDOS, Windows, OS/2 (which I really liked). Ran many BBS's back in those days. Learned GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, etc. These days I use MacOS. I ended up going into the military, Army airborne infantry for first four years in the 82nd (I wanted adventure), then went to Air Force doing SATCOM and Microwave Troposcatter communications.

 

[Kcetech1]

the original TRS-80 for me. aka the trash 80. summer of 1979. and then the coco 2 in 83 when it came out.

 

[MC6800]

I remember the computer quite well-- it's my username.

 

[maflynn]

High school with an old teletype interface. At home around 1981 a TRS-80 Color Computer 1, with a whopping 4k of ram. I remember learning basic to program the computer at the time. I eventually upgraded to the CoCo 2 with 64k I loved that computer.

At one point, I was actually running a variant of Unix (OS-9) which I thought was pretty cool.

 

[JackieInCo]

Around 1983. I had a Texas Instruments home computer, the one Bill Cosby did all the commercials for back then. I couldn't afford anything but the console so once I turned it off, everything I had loaded in it was erased. I mostly used it for games though. I had game cartridges for Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Ms Pac-Man and Space Invaders. It ran basic.

I didn't get another computer till 1993 and since then, I've always had one.

 

[Phil A.]

this was my first computer, way back in 1981

As soon as I saw what it could do, I was hooked for life and it set me off on a path that I've followed since - I wrote a game that was published by DK'Tronics (for which I got the grand total of £200 and a Sinclair Spectrum!) and I've been a developer ever since

 

[Susurs]

@ 2000, with Riva TNT - playing C&C, Doom looked fantastic in my subjective opinion

 

[eyoungren]

83 or 84. I didn't see the point of them and couldn't be bothered to learn more about them. I used them sparingly until the late 80s and early 90s. I used them more then but didn't fully trust them.

Likewise, I used dial up during the early 90s and into 2000, I believe. The internet was very different then, and honestly, there wasn't a lot of interesting things to do. I was never keen on reading someone's blog or personal page, I'm still not keen on reading the boring ramblings of someone's life. I only began embracing the internet after getting a "high speed" connection. But, for most of the 90s, the internet was very much a wasteland.

My wife thought computers would be yet another 1980s passing fad. She preferred her typewriter.

Pulling her into the modern era has been a long process and now that she's studying to be a teacher technology is front and center for her.

 

[nebo1ss]

There has to be someone here than can beat 1968 ....... but I did attend several Admiral Grace Hopper lectures/ classes when she was a mere Commander.

Got you covered, my first experience of using a computer was a Digital PDP 8 in 1967. I was a student at the time.

 

[eyoungren]

Ran many BBS's back in those days.

My parents allowed me to run a BBS off my Commodore 64 from 1986 to 1990 when I shut it down. 9-10pm on weekdays and 9-12pm on weekends.

Bulletin Board Systems were my lifeline to things far beyond the border of my small rural town and I grabbed it as hard as I could. When I found internet forums in 2001 it was a natural progression.

 

[kuhnje]

Wow, there are lots of other old COCO users here. That's great! I'm sure you all got "The Rainbow" each month too. I remember how exited I'd get when it came in the mail. Marty Goodman replied to one of my letters in the mag and I thought I was famous. lol. Hey, I was 14 or so.

 

[willmtaylor]

Playing Oregon Trail (version 1.2) in middle school circa 1993, though I don't remember what type of machine.

I simply remember 5'" floppy drives and that I died of dysentery.

 

[decafjava]

Playing Oregon Trail (version 1.2) in middle school circa 1993, though I don't remember what type of machine.

I simply remember 5'" floppy drives and that I died of dysentery.

But then who didn't?

 

[willmtaylor]

But then who didn't?

If only we hadn't spent all of our money on ammo for hunting.

 

[vkd]

Can't believe I'm the first to say Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Yes, I know Phil A. above started on a ZX81, a girl brought one of those in to show us at the Blackburn & District Group Training Centre for engineering when they had a set of Commodore PETs installed, 1983. Nobody knew what to do with them of course. Meanwhile at home I was made up playing Manic Miner and later, Jet Set Willy, along with many other friends.

 

[eyoungren]

Can't believe I'm the first to say Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Yes, I know Phil A. above started on a ZX81, a girl brought one of those in to show us at the Blackburn & District Group Training Centre for engineering when they had a set of Commodore PETs installed, 1983. Nobody knew what to do with them of course. Meanwhile at home I was made up playing Manic Miner and later, Jet Set Willy, along with many other friends.

My mom was a school teacher in private schools teaching junior high. A lot of those schools didn't have a lot of money so the teachers ended up teaching more than one subject.

My mom taught Computer Science/Education. That meant we saw a lot of computers come and go through the house. From the Apple IIe to the various Timex Sinclair models. She even had about 8 TRS-80 MC-10's at one point.

Quite familiar with the Sinclairs.

 

[lowendlinux]

My pre-college computer use can be summed up in three computer..Apple II, IIe, then IIc these three span 1981-1993