What was YOUR very first computer?

[MarkO]

The first computer I ever used was an Apple IIe at school, but the first computer I owned was an Atari 800 with 48k of RAM. Star Raiders, Rogue, Ultima III, Missile Command, and a vastly superior version of Pac-Man. Man, those were good times. Or so says my trusty pair of nostalgia-fueled-rose-tinted-glasses.

I can relate...

 

My first computer I used was the Apple ][+, at school, and the first one I owned was the Sinclair ZX-81, and the Second Computer I owned was the Apple ][e.... And then an Apple //c...

 

MarkO

[PhoenixMoonPatrol]

Pentium 3, TNT Pro Graphics card by NVidia. Bought on April 24th,2001.

Still have the receipt.

I just remember buying Alice and Alien vs Predator and playing those for months.

I use to jack up all the settings and have a dragging frame rate,then I'd tweak things into what I wanted to look good while sacrificing in other areas. And I loved being able to do something like that.

It was like eating ice cream and steak at the same time for me.

Edited April 6, 2016 by PhoenixMoonPatrol

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Wow great seeing this thread still appearing with new responses here and there! Interesting to read how everyone started their computing journey, thanks all who have replied over the years.

[Tonyvdb]

I will add mine to this list also.

 

My parents bought us an Apple IIe when I was 14 years old, then my younger brother won an Amiga 500 in a cereal box contest in 1986 and we wore the thing out. I then bought myself an Amiga 3000Tower and upgraded that to an Amiga 4000 with a Video Toaster Flyer system that I still have today and it works. I also have an Amiga 2000 and an Apple IIGS that are also functional.

[phoenixdownita]

My first computer was a Sega SC3000, and I didn't want it, but the clerk at the electronic store sweet talked my parents into it.

It was kind of simple, he simply said: Sega is the same company that makes games for the arcades (Turbo, Zaxxon, Carnival, Pengo ....).

I don't even know how that shop had any of them!!

 

After six months or so of complaints I got my family to exchange it for a C64 ... and loved it (the clerk wasn't exactly too happy).

[Christophero Sly]

TI-99/4A

[madhatter667]

800XL with 1050 disk drive. Still have it. Parents got it from a neighbor somewhere between '84 and '87 if memory serves. If I had a better idea of what I had then. Lol. I was still a small child though. Still, could have gotten into computers much sooner. Lol. I think we also got the 130XE at the same time. Nothing else after that until around '93 or '94... an Acer...can't remember the exact specs, but IBM PC compatible. Mostly played games on it...

[JaguarBrett]

My first was a Tandy 1000 =)

[Gibstov]

TI-99/4A

[hafner]

My mom taught a local computer class, so we had two VIC-20s and a IBM PC (5150) for that class. I probably used the VIC-20s first, but spent far more time on the 5150. My first computer of my very own was a TI-99/4A.

[hafner]

My mom taught a local computer class, so we had two VIC-20s and a IBM PC (5150) for that class. I probably used the VIC-20s first, but spent far more time on the 5150. My first computer of my very own was a TI-99/4A.

 

I remember the most popular programs and games we used were:

VIC-20s: BASIC, Gorf, Radar Rat Race

IBM PC: Volkswriter (such a great word processor), Microsoft Decathlon, Flight Simulator, and Sid Meier's Pirates.

 

Then I had a friend with a C64 (Ghostbusters, Spy Hunter) and a friend with an Apple IIc (GI Joe), and of course we loved the Apple IIes at school (Oregon Trail and various other quasi-educational games).

[Laner]

My dad was an optometrist, and he would get points for buying a certain number of frames. He could the redeem those points towards other goods; one time he redeemed them for a Timex Sinclair 1000. I think it was supposed to be a birthday present for me, but I discovered it at his office well in advance of my birthday. It was fun for a while, but its limitations were apparent very quickly. I ended up getting a Commodore 64 a few months later for Christmas.

Edited April 22, 2016 by Laner

[Omega-TI]

TI-99/4A

 

Then you will most definitely want to << CLICK HERE >> (If you've not already).

[Omega-TI]

Wow great seeing this thread still appearing with new responses here and there! Interesting to read how everyone started their computing journey, thanks all who have replied over the years.

 

Great threads never die!

[Grimakis]

1997 - Gateway 2000 with a Pentium II processor. 256k of RAM

[Kokovec69]

Mine was a Kim-1.

I still have it and it still works perfectly.

My father gave it to me when I was child back in the 70's.

He had one as well.

After he passed away I found out that gave it to me in his will.

It's encased in a large frame and hangs on my wall.

Edited May 16, 2016 by Kokovec69

[Arnuphis]

Mine was a Commodore VIC-20. It was 1981 and I was at school. Several of my friends got ZX81s (This was in the UK) and I wanted one badly after seeing '3D Monster Maze'. My Dad took me to WHSmiths (Chain of UK stores) where the ZX81 was on show. He was not that impressed! Since he was a regular shopper at Debenhams (Department Store) he suggested we go there and see if they had any. Well they didn't but they had the VIC-20. He asked me if I wanted it instead. I had never seen one before and when I saw the full keyboard and the box that said Sound and Colour my mind was blown. So we got that and I was hooked from then on. My friends were envious and the great computer rivalry wars began....

 

Oh, we had to go back the following weekend and get the Datasette since I had no idea it needed one when we got it. That was how much of a computer noob I was! I

[Omega-TI]

 

My friends were envious and the great computer rivalry wars began....

 

 

Oh yes, I remember the days when people used to put-down the other guy's computer because they thought theirs was better, or because they were jealous because the other guys system WAS better than theirs.

 

There were all kinds of 'pet names' for systems out there, remember the Commode 64 or the Trash-80?

 

 

Even decades later you still see it, but it's more in fun now....

 

[Arnuphis]

Oh trust me, it got interesting. We had a couple of guys with ZX Spectrums,a guy with an Atari 4000, one with an Oric-1, Two with a BBC Micro and one with a Dragon 32. Lots of heated discussions at break time!

[MarkO]

<< BIG SNIP >>

 

Oh, we had to go back the following weekend and get the Datasette since I had no idea it needed one when we got it. That was how much of a computer noob I was! I

My first Computer Experience was in JAN-1982, my High School had 4 Apple ][+s, each with a Disk ][, and one had Two, Disk ][s!!

 

I was a noob, buying disks at $3.50 ( US Dollars ), each!! Bought in Bulk, later....

 

In APR-1983, or so, my dad and uncle each got a Sinclair ZX-81 Kit, and I knew that the Apple ][ had started with a Cassette Tape, but that was the Only Option for the Sinclair..

 

 

MarkO

[AceHart]

C64. Yes, definitely C64.

 

 

... I've been using PC's exclusivly since 1994. Didn't switch over to Windows full time until 98.

Personally, I enjoyed Windows more prior to 1995.

[MarkO]

C64. Yes, definitely C64.

 

 

Personally, I enjoyed Windows more prior to 1995.

Windows 3.0 and 3.1 ran under OS/2....

 

MarkO

[lazzeri]

A MSX. :-)

 

Specifically a Hotbit HB-8000, a licensed MSX 1.0 machine made by Sharp. I was 8 years old. Christmas 1984.

 

Since Brazil in the 80s was a funny mess, our Sharp was NOT the same japanese giant Sharp the rest of the world knows - anyone could register any brand back then so a wealthy family in São Paulo just registered "Sharp" and started making things .

 

(They settled things later and went legit. Then, they bankrupted)

 

Funny thing is, my dad never gave me a driver (way too expensive) or a tape recorder. So, for about 6 months all I did was type in BASIC listings, play a little and then turn off the computer - only to rinse and repeat in the following day. (Yes, this is where most of my scars came from. )

 

6 months later I got a cassete player. About a year after that, a floppy drive.

 

Great times. Great, GREAT machine. Pity it hadn´t succeeded in USA.

Edited June 18, 2016 by lazzeri

[iKarith]

"My" first computer was the Apple //e with an Echo at my desk in school. I was seven, and legally blind. That computer was half of how I was going to function in a normal classroom with normal kids. Because while all the other kids were seated in clusters, having me alone facing the back of the room at a six foot long table totally did that! I had a normal desk, but I never used it and don't know the names of any of my classmates from then. Not one.

 

Anyway, the first computer I owned was long after anybody else had stopped using them, an Epson CPM portable. It lasted for years until its battery pack finally gave out in like 1991 or so, and it was the only functioning computer I had until I was given an Apple //e in 1992. In 1993 I wound up with an Apple IIgs.

 

In 1995, as a "graduation" gift, my grandmother bought me a 486DX2/66 from a local sysop. In those days, 8MB and a 420MB hard drive would go far, especially when the sysop gave me access to the part of the BBS I never had access to before, matey! There was a time between that when a cheap surge protector failed to blow, taking out my IIgs.

[JaguarBrett]

The first I played was the Apple IIe but the first I ever owned myself was a Tandy 1000 here in the states ?