1982/1983: What computer were you using in 1982/1983?

[JamesD]

The reason is that the director claimed that the use of Imsai 8080 it was due to how inexpensive it was compare to others at the time and it was more likely that high school student had it?

I don't remember ever reading that and I think it's totally bogus.

For one thing, an Imsai like that wouldn't have been cheap unless some idiot sold it too cheap at a garage sale.

 

One key phrase stands out on this page.

"Our contact person for the film was Special Effects Supervisor "

I don't think the director was the person that suggested what computer to use, and I think it was chosen because it didn't look like what most people would have had.

And it had cool blinky lights like a mini whopper.

 

Maybe the director told the Special Effects Supervisor what they wanted and the effects person spun it to get what they wanted.

 

If you can, post:

Computer Brand and Model

The computer you were using during 1982/1983 , When did you get it? (e.g., 1979 which could be before 82,83)

At school I used a TRS-80 Model I they purchased in 1980. They had one for kids to access.

I also programmed a TRS-80 Model III which the school had for the office. That was 1982-1983.

A friend had an Apple II+ which we programmed a lot. 1981 on.

And I had a TRS-80 Color Computer purchased in 1982.

 

Did you had a modem? If yes, what applications were you using (if you remember)

No. With only 450 people in my town there wasn't really anyone to call locally and calls from my town to one just 10 minutes away were more expensive than calling out of state.

Welcome to rural America.

 

I didn't buy A modem until I was in college. 1986 1200 baud

 

Printer?

I bought one about the same time as the modem.

 

from your friends of that time, if they had a computer, which computer was that one (at least brand) ?

The previously mentioned Apple II+, one friend briefly had a Coleco Adam, another had a TRS=80 Color Computer.

 

Country?

Rural America... which might as well be another country compared to big city America.

 

if you were in school, what grade? (1-12) or college? or working? or retired?

I was a Junior in high school when 'War Games' came out. I thought the movie was totally bogus tech wise, but I didn't care, it was still cool.

I also seem to remember I saw the movie opening night.

[atarian63]

Quite a few US C64 users already in 83 (C64 release date Sept 82).

not really, it didn't really take off till mid 84, 79 to 83 were the Days of Atari and Apple

[atarian63]

was just out of High School,early college

 

no modem

 

others i knew had an Atari, never knew anyone else with anything else at the time

 

Got mine at Lazarus in Columbus Ohio and Sears in Tampa Florida

 

820 printer

 

Midwest and Florida

[Mirage]

Quite a few US C64 users already in 83 (C64 release date Sept 82).

not really, it didn't really take off till mid 84, 79 to 83 were the Days of Atari and Apple

 

in this thread.

[R.O.T.S]

Computer Brand and Model (the computer you were using during 1982/1983 - ZX Spectrum 48K

When did you get it? (e.g., 1979 which could be before 82,83)- First played then obtained one in 83' or 84'.

Did you have a modem? - No.

Printer? - No .

From your friends of that time, if they had a computer, which computer was that one (at least brand)? - close friends ZX Spectrums but at high school as a whole the playground banter suggested ZX Spectrum 60% / Commodore 64 30% / Amstrad Cpc 10%

Country? - UK.

If you were in school, what grade? (1-12) or college? or working? or retired? - High School (or secondary as its known now) 1982-87 or age 12-16

[BydoEmpire]

Didn't own one at the time, but I did use an Apple ][ Plus. I wrote my first computer program in 1983 - I was 10 years old and my brother showed me the basics of Applesoft BASIC. I remember scrolling my name (10 print "Hello", 20 goto 10 type of stuff) at the computer lab my mom worked in at a local community college. My family got a c64 and 1541 a year or two later. I still have that system.

[high voltage]

Quite a few US C64 users already in 83 (C64 release date Sept 82).

not really, it didn't really take off till mid 84, 79 to 83 were the Days of Atari and Apple

 

true:

 

[20ohm20]

Computer Brand and Model: TI-99/4A + Commodore 64

 

When did you get it? The TI in mid-1982, the C64 in mid-1983 (no floppy drive until 1984...bwahaha)

 

Did you had a modem? Yes (300 baud VICModem for the C64)

 

Printer? None (like a floppy drive, I didn't get a printer until 1984)

 

From your friends of that time, if they had a computer, which computer was that one (at least brand)? The only friend of mine at the time with a computer had an Apple ][+.

 

Country? USA

 

if you were in school, what grade? 7th grade

[potatohead]

TRS-80 Model I. A neighbor had one, and it was the first computer I ever wrote a program on.

 

Soon after that it was Apple ][ computers, because the school had lots of 'em. Got my own Atari 400 and installed the keyboard and 48K soon after that. That was my home computer for a while. Scored my own Apple //e and a CoCo 3, which I used into the early 90's. I actually did real work on the Apple, and used the CoCo 3 for various fun programming activities, gaming mostly on the Atari, having programmed it a lot prior.

 

For a brief time I had a C64 for gaming, and a TI with the full setup. (should have kept that, but it was such a beast!)

 

Then things changed, I shifted to consoles for gaming, and professional work required a PC. Sold nearly all of it off, only to collect it back again over the last few years! Right now, I'm seriously enjoying the Apple, and I go through phases. Atari, Apple, CoCo 3, VCS...

 

At one point I had an EPSON printer, which I used with the Apple. First Modem was an external, which I used with the Apple and a PC.

 

Apples more or less required a disk, so I had one of those. The Atari saw a disk in early 83 or 84? Never did have a disk with the CoCo 3. Programming with cassette on that one actually wasn't too bad. The cassette was fast enough, and it did filenames, so I just kept a batch of C7 and C15 tapes and used them much like I would a few disks...

Edited December 3, 2011 by potatohead

[bomberpunk]

i was 2 in 1983. we didn't have a household computer. i started using my mom's typewriter at 3 1/2 and came up with stupid stories. we did have a VCS in '83/84 though.

[Keatah]

I was a strapping brat in the late 70's and early eighties when I got my II+ and //e, prior to that I had a TRS-80 Pocket Computer. And I also had a TI-59 in grade school. That was the shit.

 

I had modems and cassette drives and every possible peripheral for all those things.

[edweird13]

For Christmas I think it was 82 I got my first computer. It was a TI994A. I don't think I got the PEB at the same time maybe I did? But it came down to I had the PEB with the floppy disk, 32K memory expansion, and Speech Synth. My dad didn't get the xtended BASIC cart so that xtra 32k was useless unless I learned assembly. I was 12 yrs old and couldn't convince my dad to buy me a editor/assembler after spending all that money. 2 yrs later I had a C64. We had apple II+ and apple IIe in school. one friend had a trs80 and another had a 400 with star raiders.

[high voltage]

I had a vcs in 83, and I am pretty sure I bought the compumate later that year (German Universum version). Didn't have a computer til 85 but when I did I bought everything, XE, 1050, Sanyo monitor, XC 11, 300 baud acoustic modem and a Seikosha Atari compatible printer. Oh, and The WritersTool.

[TMR]

Computer Brand and Model: A RAM expanded Commodore VIC 20.

 

When did you get it? Mid 1982, although i'd been using VICs for a while before that; one local shop got so used to me being there every Saturday they'd return my forgotten cassettes when i went in the next week - i think they used a ten year old learning to program as a sales pitch and when my dad went in to buy a VIC for me they gave the tape back to him!

 

Did you had a modem? No, modems weren't common here because we had to pay for local rate calls as well as long distance.

 

Printer? No, i didn't need one because i was playing and trying to write games (not all coders need to examine printouts to find bugs, i've always been faster working straight from the screen).

 

From your friends of that time, if they had a computer, which computer was that one (at least brand)? During 1982 just one friend with a computer and that was a VIC. By the end of 1983 things had picked up and it was a couple of VICs accompanied by a lot of Sinclair Spectrums and C64s.

 

Country? UK.

 

if you were in school, what grade? i can never remember how to translate this... it's called year 7 now i think but was the first year of secondary school then.

[Gunstar]

I owned and was using the Timex/Sinclair 1000 w/16k expansion(ZX81) in '82/'83, it was my first computer I bought with paper-route money. I got it at a clearance house, even though it was still supported by Timex at the time. I had only a b/w tV and taped deck with it, I may have gotten the 40 col. printer a bit later, I don't recall. I used Apple II's at school. It was in '85, after Timex finally stopped all support and The Sinclair magazines folded that I moved on to Atari, I would've gotten a Spectrum or QL, had Timex continued to support Sinclair in the U.S. But I'm glad it happened as I found, IMHO, the best 8-bit ever in the Atari.

I was 13-14 when I got/used the T/S 1000. No modem. I almost bought a keyboard housing made for the ZX81/1000 that was similiar to the Vic-20/C64 cases but upgraded to the Atari 130XE instead.

 

As far as my friends, I think they all had Atari VCS's or Intellivisions/Colecovisions. I only one friend had an Apple II+/e, he was mentally handicapped in some way, and died young, not to long after, his name was David. I met him on my paper-route, and I was nice to him, and he asked me to come over all the time, but I would find excuses not too, until one day, we were talking about video games I I told him I had a VCS, and he told me he had an Intellivision and an Apple computer. I decided I wanted to be his friend that day, and soon after I brought my Atari over and we had fun. Later, I actually brought a couple friends with me (brothers), and we all had a blast playing games on the Apple and consoles at his house. I think we were the only 3 friends david ever really had (his handicap wasn't terrible, I think I've had friends that were really dumber than he and weren't considered "handicapped."), but although I started being his friend just for the computer, I and my 2 brother friends really did become his true friends, at least for a summer, then David went off somewhere, to some special institutional school or something, I just remember stopping by the next summer or something like that and his mother informed me that he had died. I cried like I am again now...

Edited December 8, 2011 by Gunstar

[jd_1138]

In 1982, I was using an Apple II in school whenever my class went to the computer lab. At home in 1983 I had the Timex-Sinclair 1000. The first ever computer I used was an Apple II in 1979 in first grade when our teacher took us to the shiny new computer lab to play Math Blaster type games. I was hooked. That's why there are so many Apple fans. It's the first computer most of us were exposed to.

Edited December 8, 2011 by gps_trekker

[The Usotsuki]

That's certainly why I dug the Apple //e...

[PacManPlus]

Computer Brand and Model: TI-99/4A

When did you get it? Right after I went to class for it, late '81. Used it until I got my Apple IIc in early '85

Did you had a modem? Nope.

Printer? Not until I got my Apple (Scribe)

Friends' computers? C64 (Never used one, though)

Country? United States

if you were in school, what grade? 8th in '83, started High School (9th Grade) in '84

Edited December 8, 2011 by PacManPlus

[SoulBlazer]

No computer until 1985. I was born in 76, so I was a bit young for one of those. The first computer I used, though, was a Apple II and it's versions, at school, starting around 1980.

 

For Christmas of 85 we got a Commodore 128D and it was a great system, had the monitor for it and everything. No problems running it. With a subscrption to Loadstar for 64 and 128 programs, and all the hundreds of games I, uh, borrowed from friends I used the heck out of that thing. Usage went down by the early 90's once we got our first IBM PC clone in 91, but it wasn't until I went to college in 94 I parted with that thing.

 

No modem for it, but we did have a dot matrix printer.

[Prodos8]

In early to mid '83 my family (well my dad) had the TI-99/4a with the PEB/disk drive/32k memory expansion/IO card. We had a Star Gemini-10x dot matrix printer and some sort of third party brand external (rs-232) 300 baud modem -- directly wired not acoustic -- for it as well.

 

The only thing we used the modem for was to call The Source and CompuServ. It was not cheap though. I didn't know about bbs at the time. I would've been in 7th and 8th grade that year. None of my friends that I can recall had a computer in '83 only game consoles. I did have a friends later, like in '84 that had C64, Apple //e, TI-99/4a.

[Gunstar]

Yeah, a few couple/few years later in the mid 80's I had more friends with Apple II/iic/III's/Mac and Vic-20/C64's. I had one friend I swapped games with, he had a C64 and I had the 130XE, but we swapped a lot of "flippy" disks with Commodore on one side and Atari on the other.

 

I had a couple with Atari on one side and Apple on the other, and remember playing my Karateka (flippy disk) on a friends Apple IIc, we compared the games, as I recall they seemed virtually identical to us.

Edited December 8, 2011 by Gunstar

[Tempest]

By 1986 it seemed that all my friends had Apples (except for my best friend who had a PCjr which was my first experience with PC's). I loved trading pirated games with them and using programs to crack new ones (we actually did buy a ton of games). For a few summers it seemed that the whole world was Apple (at least in my neighborhood).

[Tempest]

As far as my friends, I think they all had Atari VCS's or Intellivisions/Colecovisions. I only one friend had an Apple II+/e, he was mentally handicapped in some way, and died young, not to long after, his name was David. I met him on my paper-route, and I was nice to him, and he asked me to come over all the time, but I would find excuses not too, until one day, we were talking about video games I I told him I had a VCS, and he told me he had an Intellivision and an Apple computer. I decided I wanted to be his friend that day, and soon after I brought my Atari over and we had fun. Later, I actually brought a couple friends with me (brothers), and we all had a blast playing games on the Apple and consoles at his house. I think we were the only 3 friends david ever really had (his handicap wasn't terrible, I think I've had friends that were really dumber than he and weren't considered "handicapped."), but although I started being his friend just for the computer, I and my 2 brother friends really did become his true friends, at least for a summer, then David went off somewhere, to some special institutional school or something, I just remember stopping by the next summer or something like that and his mother informed me that he had died. I cried like I am again now...

I wasn't expecting to read something like this, it sort of made me tear up. I had a similar thing happen, but he ended up moving away, not dying. Although the more I think about it, he may have simply had some severe emotional problems rather than a mental handicap. Back when you're a kid it's sort of hard to tell, although I could always tell that there was something 'off' with him. All I remember is that his parents bought him the computer (an Apple II+ as it turns out) to help him with school work, but all we did with it was play games. He was a nice kid (to me at least), I wonder what happened to him?

[Gunstar]

As far as my friends, I think they all had Atari VCS's or Intellivisions/Colecovisions. I only one friend had an Apple II+/e, he was mentally handicapped in some way, and died young, not to long after, his name was David. I met him on my paper-route, and I was nice to him, and he asked me to come over all the time, but I would find excuses not too, until one day, we were talking about video games I I told him I had a VCS, and he told me he had an Intellivision and an Apple computer. I decided I wanted to be his friend that day, and soon after I brought my Atari over and we had fun. Later, I actually brought a couple friends with me (brothers), and we all had a blast playing games on the Apple and consoles at his house. I think we were the only 3 friends david ever really had (his handicap wasn't terrible, I think I've had friends that were really dumber than he and weren't considered "handicapped."), but although I started being his friend just for the computer, I and my 2 brother friends really did become his true friends, at least for a summer, then David went off somewhere, to some special institutional school or something, I just remember stopping by the next summer or something like that and his mother informed me that he had died. I cried like I am again now...

I wasn't expecting to read something like this, it sort of made me tear up. I had a similar thing happen, but he ended up moving away, not dying. Although the more I think about it, he may have simply had some severe emotional problems rather than a mental handicap. Back when you're a kid it's sort of hard to tell, although I could always tell that there was something 'off' with him. All I remember is that his parents bought him the computer (an Apple II+ as it turns out) to help him with school work, but all we did with it was play games. He was a nice kid (to me at least), I wonder what happened to him?

 

The more I look back on it, David was more "slow" than mentally retarded, that is, he wasn't like a downs-syndrome kid, or anything, he looked normal, but wore very thick glasses. But he had some kind of condition that effected him mentally and I'm pretty sure it's what killed him. I don't recall if I was ever told, or asked, what he had. When his mom told me he died, that was actually the first time I met her. His parents were always at work and he stayed home alone, we were young teenagers at the time, 12-15.

[Rockin' Kat]

I didn't own a computer in 1983. I think I was too busy being born or something like that.

 

...yay for responding to a topic which has been dead for over half a month.