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Your first computer
- Thread starter Lil Chillbil
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Apple ][e
No pics, sorry. Started writing my first programs when I was 8, using my dad's nightschool excersize papers.
Wasted many days on games like Karateka, Zool, Hard Hat Mac, Mario Brothers, Swashbuckler, Conan, Choplifter, Lode Runner (My favorite cause you could make your own levels), Jungle Hunt, One on One Dr J vs Larry Bird, Rescue Raiders, Sabotage, Dig Dug, etc.
No pics, sorry. Started writing my first programs when I was 8, using my dad's nightschool excersize papers.
Wasted many days on games like Karateka, Zool, Hard Hat Mac, Mario Brothers, Swashbuckler, Conan, Choplifter, Lode Runner (My favorite cause you could make your own levels), Jungle Hunt, One on One Dr J vs Larry Bird, Rescue Raiders, Sabotage, Dig Dug, etc.
Guess what I just found while digging through my drawers?
I knew I had it, but couldn't remember where I put it.
...also, what's this about a yellow/black Gameboy? Are you talking about the Pockets, or the first rev GB that came out in '89 or so like mine?
My very first computer was an old IBM machine, ran a 16MHz CPU, I don't remember a ton about it. Next though, I got a real beast of a PC, a Packard Bell 33MHz 'Multimedia PC'. Had a 2X CD rom drive, 2 full megs of RAM, and a 1 meg video card. Ran Windows 95 which was the cats meow man! (The IBM was a DOS and later Windows 3.1 machine)
First Mac was a performa 6200CD, with an Apple 'multi-scan display'. had a couple other PPC macs, really, really loved them. Fell in love with OS 9, truly a beautiful OS. But, alas, my last Mac was a 250MHz PowerPC model. Oddly enough, I kept that one and used it for YEARS before finally upgrading to a PC, which ran a 2.0GHz AMD Sempron CPU, and had 512MB of RAM. (before 64 bit or multiple cores, at least on consumer grade stuff). Upgraded that a few times, then built my 'beast'. Quad Core AMD Phenom II CPU, 8GB of RAM, ATi Radeon HD5870, 2.0TB and 500GB hard drives, etc. Pretty good setup!
But, for years I've wanted a Mac again. Never been happy with the way PC's performed, Windows is fairly clunky, and the machines themselves are just kind of bleh. So, for Christmas this year, I got a mid 2012 MacBook Pro, running dual SSD's! What a blast to be back on the Mac. Also installed SheepShaver so I can play around with the lovely Miss OS9 again!
-John
First Mac was a performa 6200CD, with an Apple 'multi-scan display'. had a couple other PPC macs, really, really loved them. Fell in love with OS 9, truly a beautiful OS. But, alas, my last Mac was a 250MHz PowerPC model. Oddly enough, I kept that one and used it for YEARS before finally upgrading to a PC, which ran a 2.0GHz AMD Sempron CPU, and had 512MB of RAM. (before 64 bit or multiple cores, at least on consumer grade stuff). Upgraded that a few times, then built my 'beast'. Quad Core AMD Phenom II CPU, 8GB of RAM, ATi Radeon HD5870, 2.0TB and 500GB hard drives, etc. Pretty good setup!
But, for years I've wanted a Mac again. Never been happy with the way PC's performed, Windows is fairly clunky, and the machines themselves are just kind of bleh. So, for Christmas this year, I got a mid 2012 MacBook Pro, running dual SSD's! What a blast to be back on the Mac. Also installed SheepShaver so I can play around with the lovely Miss OS9 again!
-John
Wow! Thats freaky! I had pretty much the same in the begining. First Family Computer was a IBM ms-dos machine. Also don't remember much about besides playing The Oregon Trail on it all the time and having to change out the 3 1/2in floppy disks when you got to a certain part in the game.
From there my family bought a Packard Bell. It was a win 95 machine (tower) not a bad computer for back in the day. After that we had various Windows boxes, HP pretty much, That all sucked by the way.
I discovered Apple in its fullest in 2002 when I took up graphic design using a Beige G3 running OS9, at first I hated it but very soon after I was in love. I bought my first Mac off of eBay the same year, it was a PowerMac G3 B&W. I maxed everything out in it through the years untill it had a logicboard failure in 2006, that was awesome computer. Still have the case somewhere matter of fact.
Heh, yeah I liked my Packard Bells! At one point I had a 166MHz Packard Bell machine, 32MB of RAM, and a 4MB video card. I spent hours and hours on the now defunct 'demoland.com' where you could download demos for tons of games. I would download demo after demo (with blazing fast dial up, LOL, a 20mb demo would take hours!) and play them, of course after downloading a few of these 20-30mb games I'd have to delete some, hard drive wasn't very big!
I think that original packard bell had a 500MB hard drive. This new one was a 2GB I think, somewhere around there. The last Packard Bell I ever owned, a tower with a 266MHz CPU, had a 6GB hard drive. I remember saying "I don't know how anyone could possibly fill up a 6 gigabyte hard drive!"
Now I routinely fill up several 8GB cards in my DSLR!
That is my favorite mac of all time, though I've never owned one. When they came out I was a jobless junior high kid with no money (now I'm an employed adult with no money). No way in the world was I ever gonna get one, but man I drooled over them. They were just way too cool. I remember watching TechTV back in the day and several of the hosts used them all the time and I was so jealous!
If there was a way to make the iMac display work as an external display, I would LOVE to have a 20" model on my desk to replace my currently 23" second monitor, I think it would look great next to the 27" Cinema Display!
I think that original packard bell had a 500MB hard drive. This new one was a 2GB I think, somewhere around there. The last Packard Bell I ever owned, a tower with a 266MHz CPU, had a 6GB hard drive. I remember saying "I don't know how anyone could possibly fill up a 6 gigabyte hard drive!"
Now I routinely fill up several 8GB cards in my DSLR!
That is my favorite mac of all time, though I've never owned one. When they came out I was a jobless junior high kid with no money (now I'm an employed adult with no money). No way in the world was I ever gonna get one, but man I drooled over them. They were just way too cool. I remember watching TechTV back in the day and several of the hosts used them all the time and I was so jealous!
If there was a way to make the iMac display work as an external display, I would LOVE to have a 20" model on my desk to replace my currently 23" second monitor, I think it would look great next to the 27" Cinema Display!
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Like many here, my love of electronics and computers came from my father. Our first computer was an Atari 800 with 64k of memory and casette storage.
Later came an Atari 130XE and floppy drive. This got me through high school in late 80s. I can remember using The Print Shop or something similar to do the banners and signs for science fair projects.
When I started college I got an 8086 based XT clone running MS DOS 3.3. It had two 3.5" floppies, no hard drive and a "turbo" button for 10Mhz. Bought it at Sears!
The following Christmas my parents got me a 40MB (yes MB) hard drive and a controller card for around $350, which was a lot of money for them. To this day, that was the best (most profound) gift I ever received. It allowed me to do so much more with that computer.
I used Macs and Windows in college, mainly Windows though.
Didn't get my first Mac until I was out of school and employed. I was one of those that lusted after Mac's but felt I couldn't afford one. Finally got a used iBook and then a refurb iMac G4. Haven't looked back....
Later came an Atari 130XE and floppy drive. This got me through high school in late 80s. I can remember using The Print Shop or something similar to do the banners and signs for science fair projects.
When I started college I got an 8086 based XT clone running MS DOS 3.3. It had two 3.5" floppies, no hard drive and a "turbo" button for 10Mhz. Bought it at Sears!
The following Christmas my parents got me a 40MB (yes MB) hard drive and a controller card for around $350, which was a lot of money for them. To this day, that was the best (most profound) gift I ever received. It allowed me to do so much more with that computer.
I used Macs and Windows in college, mainly Windows though.
Didn't get my first Mac until I was out of school and employed. I was one of those that lusted after Mac's but felt I couldn't afford one. Finally got a used iBook and then a refurb iMac G4. Haven't looked back....
Thats the same here sigamy. My father had a big part in my love of computers. My father and I basically took a spare room and made it our shop for the computers. I remember building our own machines from parts that we would have laying around. We were the family computer repair guys. Everyone would call us to fix their computers, Thats how my PowerMac G3 B&W was upgraded. Its strange to say but without my father I wouldn't have the passion for Computers "apple mainly" that I have today.
Sorry I don't mean to be hogging the thread if I am.
Sorry I don't mean to be hogging the thread if I am.
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ZX Spectrum, bought in London in ... Hmm Maybe 1982. I'd used other people's computers before but this was the first I actually owned. 48k ram! Playing dungeons and dragons in text!
I must have bought it just for the rainbow motif.
My first real computer ... As in a mac, was the all in one beige one ... I think it was a Mac Plus.
I must have bought it just for the rainbow motif.
My first real computer ... As in a mac, was the all in one beige one ... I think it was a Mac Plus.
My first computer was an HP-34c RPN calculator, which I later gave to my dad a few years before his passing -- he was a retired telephone engineer and enjoyed the advanced math and programming aspects, but mostly just figured his taxes with it.
Bought it for college in the year after it was introduced primarily because of the integration capability and programming, though not having the cash for an HP-41c (with the astounding ability to do something called "synthetic programming") also figured into decision ($150 was alotta money back then).
Apple //e in 1983, a really crappy Compudyne n386-sxe laptop in 1993, and then a "hybrid" PowerMac 6100/66 DOS Compatible after I won a progressive slot machine and had enough for a NEC MultiSync 17" monitor to go along with the Mac. Later on, Macs for general use and PC's for gaming are my norm.
Bought it for college in the year after it was introduced primarily because of the integration capability and programming, though not having the cash for an HP-41c (with the astounding ability to do something called "synthetic programming") also figured into decision ($150 was alotta money back then).
Apple //e in 1983, a really crappy Compudyne n386-sxe laptop in 1993, and then a "hybrid" PowerMac 6100/66 DOS Compatible after I won a progressive slot machine and had enough for a NEC MultiSync 17" monitor to go along with the Mac. Later on, Macs for general use and PC's for gaming are my norm.
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My first PC was a Pentium 60, with 8 MB of RAM, 540 MB HDD and it had a Creative Sound Blaster 16 in it!
Oh man, my cousin said, 540 MB HDD... That's way too big!
You're never gonna use all of that!
Oh man, my cousin said, 540 MB HDD... That's way too big!
You're never gonna use all of that!
IBM 386/SX...can't rem ram and hd...came with win3.0 but i upgraded to 3.11 and installed some lame floppy internet service provider (installed a 9600 baud modem)...was around 1993/94 and cost me $500 used.
not mine (long gone) but what it looked like
not mine (long gone) but what it looked like
My first computer was the original mac plus, parents bought it from a church sale for me when I was 3 or so, my sister (who was 6) and I used to love to play manhole on it. She had an Apple II GS.
Gateway 2000 P5-60 desktop was my first machine. Mine didn't came with 5 1/4 floppy and the newfangled 3 1/2 diskette drive. Much LucasArts gaming was had on that machine...
My first personal computer was a used Powerbook 140. Great design with a terrible screen.
My first personal computer was a used Powerbook 140. Great design with a terrible screen.
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My first computer was a Dell XPS 700, I always wanted to get a alienware but went to Apple instead in 2010
The monitor and speakers are the ones I bought to go with my first computer, the original Mac Mini in 2005. It looked just the same as this early 2009 model, which I bought to replace the 2005 when the HDD and the power supply failed. With an extra 4 GB of RAM and Mountain Lion installed last November, it should be with me for a few more years.
Not really a fanboy; it is the only Apple product I own. I wanted a computer that was transportable, but not a portable. The Mini fitted my criteria exactly..... That OS X and Mac apps are easy to use is a bonus. I have MS Mac:Office installed, but seldom use it these days. Apple's iWork is good for me.
Not really a fanboy; it is the only Apple product I own. I wanted a computer that was transportable, but not a portable. The Mini fitted my criteria exactly..... That OS X and Mac apps are easy to use is a bonus. I have MS Mac:Office installed, but seldom use it these days. Apple's iWork is good for me.
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