@SomeGuy said:
"Oh boy, that thing was slow as hell..."
My TI-99/4a would beg to differ.
My first computer was a Sinclair ZX-81, the US version known as the Timex-Sinclair 1000 with 16k of RAM and a tape recorder for saving. Even with a text editor of my own design, the keyboard alone made editing hell. After that, the Atari with a floppy drive was a massive upgrade !
The first computer that I ever owned was a DX4 100Mhz. I purchased it in 1996 from one of my siblings (correction: I purchased a car from my sib - and the computer was thrown in for good measure.) It had a 14 inch monitor which I then upgraded to a 17 inch in late 1997 after receiving a company bonus. That first mobo had more ISA slots than PCI slots. Only one PCI slot if memory serves me well. I then moved on to an original Pentium 200 Mhz motherboard, which had enough PCI slots to install a Diamond Multimedia V770 card along with a Monster 3D 3Dfx card. (I still have both video cards).
There are a few that I would consider as a first computer
The first computer we used as a family (though not officially a family computer, but a work computer the family used), was what I assume to be a custom built PC (I think it was labeled LMI, not sure what it stood for though) that ran DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.1 (I still have the original OS floppies, the system is long gone though)
The first real family PC was a PowerSpec (Micro Center house brand) with Windows 95
My first personal computer was a Macintosh Performa 64xx (not sure if it was a 00, 10 or, 20, 6400 sounds right though)
Our family computer was originally a Gateway 2000 P5-133, I don't remember much about it before it was gutted and upgraded to a cheap mini-ATX board with a Celeron 800MHz. Before long we got a Dell Dimension 3000 and the modified Gateway became a backup.
My first personal computer was much later with a Dell XPS M1530. Two years and one warranty claim later it became a paperweight as a result of the notorious Nvidia GeForce 8700M. After that I used the Gateway again before going through a whole line of other laptops and desktops.
My first computer as a desktop type was brought to my home by my dad in 1989 running DOS 3.2. My memory is quite fuzzy but I do remember in 1990 my eldest brother bough a copy of Windows 3.0 and had a friend install it. Sadly, I don't remember the specs for it other than it was a 386 w/ 20MB hard disk, even if that was a real PC specs at the time. The computer died in 2003, quite a long lifespan.
It was not until 1997 my father bought a Compaq Presario 1080 and was the first laptop the family had. We all enjoyed the wonders of the laptop at the time when electronics and computing here in Chile were quite expensive. A 16MB RAM, 1.44GB HDD, Windows 95 OSR1, Intel Pentium 166MHz machine was enough for us to keep us entertained for many years to come.
Sadly in 2006, the laptop died and languished in oblivion and disrepair... until 2016, when I found an exact Compaq Presario 1080 notebook and purchased it in eBay. Got it in a few days and swapped old for new. Once again I had my trusty machine with life, the exact same one I posted about a few years ago here., now with 48MB RAM, a new 1.44 HDD and reinstalled a new factory copy of the model.
It was during this time I became a retro notebook collector, since the 90s computing was by far my favorite decade, and have as of now an approximate of 70 notebooks and PocketPCs in my apartment.
My first PC was an i386 with 8MB ram running Windows 3.11 but we preferred to use DOS at that time. That was the family computer.
Then later my brother built me a computer from parts he harvested from the university. We always had good computer equipment because of my brother, he had connections in the university's administration that would allow him to get such things. A Pentium Overdrive, 32MB ram, Soundblaster 16, Monster 3D Accelerator (Which came with Mechwarrior 2), an 8x CD-ROM, and a 8GB hard drive (Running Windows 95).
Then the family computer got upgraded, I can't remember to what, but it had Windows 98 and later Second Edition. We got dialup internet and I ended up using the family computer a lot more, and only using my computer for games (Except for Half-Life multiplayer on the family PC).
Then we got cable internet, and for Christmas my dad and brother built me a new computer. An AMD K6, 256MB RAM, ATI Radeon RAGE128, Soundblaster Live!, a 32x CD-ROM, and 20GB hard drive (Running Windows XP). All so I could play Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Those were the only 2 presents I got that year.
Ever since then, computer parts would come and go, I would modify my XP machine and every few years purchase some newer stuff I couldn't find locally. Now I have more computer parts than I know what to do with.
The first computer I used was an HP computer with an Intel Core Duo running Vista Business (I'm pretty sure it still has the sticker with the product key). The computer was originally from my mom's job, until they upgraded the computers and they gave the computer to my mom, who then gave it to my grandma. It was actually pretty nice and ran Vista nicely, but then they decided to upgrade it to 7 Ultimate. 7 made it somewhat slower but it was still a nice PC. And the first computer that was in my house was also an HP computer, this one with a monitor and PC integrated into one and with a touchscreen. It has an AMD (no idea which one, haven't checked) running Windows 10 Pro although it originally had Windows 7 Ultimate. This one is also fine tho the keyboard and mouse are missing their wireless adapter.
Mine was a windows 7 pc with has floppy disk drive , cd disk drive , that red and green lights. I remember when in final 2020 days i installed windows 7 professional with had a problem. The problem is i have 4 gb ram and every 5/10 mins my whole 4 gb ram fills up and its a very big problem because i get game glitches while i play games with this filled of ram pc and my pc is slow so thats a very bad thing for me.
My First PC was a Texas Instruments Professional Computer. My dad bought it from his workplace, and brought it home. It came with all the software and manuals. It had a huge 10mb hdd. my dad used it to do his budget, but told me I can use 4MB for "games" never got to the 4mb.
A hand-me-down computer, I believe it was a Compaq, been a while, ran DOS with Windows 3.1. I was 7-8 and I remember I did something where it would load random stuff like in a startup loader but since I was young, we considered it broke and got rid of it. If I had it today, I probably could have gotten it to work. I'm very sad about it.
Commodore 64, still working 430TX with Pentium 166 MMX, W95, W98 Asus CUSL2 with Pentium III 733, W2K, still working Intel D845GBV with Pentium IV Celeron 1.4, labrat, still working Gonna buy Supermicro SYS-740GP-TNRT or SYS-7049GP-TRT with dual Xeon, 4 GPUs, 8x SAS3, 8x U.2/3
The first computer that I ever worked on was an Apple IIe. My school district had them when I first started school, and they were the primary PCs that we used right through 5th grade. By 6th grade, we were (finally) upgraded to then-recent Windows 95 desktops. Seriously though, what was the point of still teaching us on wildly out of date Apple IIs? That was what REALLY piqued my interest in computers.
My family's first computer was some US Computers brand Windows 95 desktop. We had it for a year or two, and our brother-in-law swapped us for a Windows 98 desktop (that was much better overall).
My first computer was a Toshiba Satellite A45 laptop that I bought in 2004. Intel Pentium 4 512MB RAM 60GB HDD Windows XP Home
That one found its way to the scrap heap years ago. The hinges on the lid were broken, anyway. But I found another model of it for sale online, and I bought it. I've since bought several more retro laptops, and have built a bit of a collection.
The first digital computer I used was a UNIVAC 1219B; before that they were analog. It was a massive full height rack mounted unit. We had to run diagnostics on punched tape or troubleshoot with a meter and O-scope. The next one was a DEC PDP-11/05 for an industrial process; again with the toggling of the boot loader and paper tape, but much more memory, 8K of magnetic core. The first computer I owned was an IBM PC-XT that I bought when they were first introduced (S/N 25012). $8000+ for a blazing fast 4.77 MHz 8088 with 128K and 10 MB ST-412 Hard drive. Successive upgrades to my current Ryzen 3800.
My first computer was a AMD 386dx 40 with 4 megs of ram, later after saving my money I upgraded to 5 meg of ram. I could not afford a sound blaster so I had to settle for an adlib sound card.
Those AMD386DX 40's were a nice sweet spot for a time. A lot lower cost than a 486, yet the speed was comparable to the slower 486 models.
Hmm, I don't remember that the price differences was between the adlib and sound blaster, but I recall walking in to the local Microcenter and looking for an Adlib card, only to have them point me to this brand spanking new thing called a Sound Blaster. It cost more but seemed reasonable for something that added both digital sound and CMS Game Blaster abilities.
The first computer I ever laid hands on, was an Italian Programma 101, size of a desktop, but capacity of a pocket computer, numbers only, no keyboard, only cash register-like keypad, no monitor, only cash register-like paper printer, held maximum of 112 instrutions, but had magnetic card to store three programs. I remember doing sine and lg-approximation, and at the same time Bill Gates (he is 2 days older) sold his home town a trafic light solution, I felt found out, when my maths teacher suddenly entered the technics room, which a friend in the staff had let me in. The teacher looked at the numbers and realized immediately, that I was doing my maths home work (trigonometry). I steeled myself for the thunderstorm to come, when he, quite softly, said, that if I could program it, I had understood it. He glossed over the fact, that I was in a restricted access; I explained how I came to be there, and neither I nor my friend experienced any repercussions. The first computer I owned was an iNTEL 86/310 multibus backplane with iRMX86/Dos 2.11, that was compatible with the hardware at work where my collegues and I manufactured computerised numeric controls, based on multibus backplane and our own designed boards. I learned a lot, but made not one penny with it, as I had intended - it had cost me about $5,000 in 1985.
My first Computer was home made . I mean chip by chip and wire wrapped and then programmed by dip switches on a programmer that I built to program the Eproms with. This was all before I even heard of the Internet. I baught a VGA card and Hot wired it to this computer and got it all up and running. That was like in the 1980s.
My 1st computer, ZX-Spectrum 16KB, upgraded to 48KB, still in use today. My 1st PC, a self made NEC V20, 640KB, 10MB HDD, 5.25 FDD, Bi-mode card, green display Second PC, 80826-12, 2MB RAM, 80MB HDD, 1.44&1.2MB FDD, Color VGA card, Sound blaster card. My 1st printer, Citizen 180d
Comments
My first computer was a Sinclair ZX-81, the US version known as the Timex-Sinclair 1000 with 16k of RAM and a tape recorder for saving. Even with a text editor of my own design, the keyboard alone made editing hell. After that, the Atari with a floppy drive was a massive upgrade !
The first computer that I ever owned was a DX4 100Mhz. I purchased it in 1996 from one of my siblings (correction: I purchased a car from my sib - and the computer was thrown in for good measure.) It had a 14 inch monitor which I then upgraded to a 17 inch in late 1997 after receiving a company bonus. That first mobo had more ISA slots than PCI slots. Only one PCI slot if memory serves me well. I then moved on to an original Pentium 200 Mhz motherboard, which had enough PCI slots to install a Diamond Multimedia V770 card along with a Monster 3D 3Dfx card. (I still have both video cards).
There are a few that I would consider as a first computer
The first computer we used as a family (though not officially a family computer, but a work computer the family used), was what I assume to be a custom built PC (I think it was labeled LMI, not sure what it stood for though) that ran DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.1 (I still have the original OS floppies, the system is long gone though)
The first real family PC was a PowerSpec (Micro Center house brand) with Windows 95
My first personal computer was a Macintosh Performa 64xx (not sure if it was a 00, 10 or, 20, 6400 sounds right though)
My first personal computer was much later with a Dell XPS M1530. Two years and one warranty claim later it became a paperweight as a result of the notorious Nvidia GeForce 8700M. After that I used the Gateway again before going through a whole line of other laptops and desktops.
It was not until 1997 my father bought a Compaq Presario 1080 and was the first laptop the family had. We all enjoyed the wonders of the laptop at the time when electronics and computing here in Chile were quite expensive. A 16MB RAM, 1.44GB HDD, Windows 95 OSR1, Intel Pentium 166MHz machine was enough for us to keep us entertained for many years to come.
Sadly in 2006, the laptop died and languished in oblivion and disrepair... until 2016, when I found an exact Compaq Presario 1080 notebook and purchased it in eBay. Got it in a few days and swapped old for new. Once again I had my trusty machine with life, the exact same one I posted about a few years ago here., now with 48MB RAM, a new 1.44 HDD and reinstalled a new factory copy of the model.
It was during this time I became a retro notebook collector, since the 90s computing was by far my favorite decade, and have as of now an approximate of 70 notebooks and PocketPCs in my apartment.
Then later my brother built me a computer from parts he harvested from the university. We always had good computer equipment because of my brother, he had connections in the university's administration that would allow him to get such things. A Pentium Overdrive, 32MB ram, Soundblaster 16, Monster 3D Accelerator (Which came with Mechwarrior 2), an 8x CD-ROM, and a 8GB hard drive (Running Windows 95).
Then the family computer got upgraded, I can't remember to what, but it had Windows 98 and later Second Edition. We got dialup internet and I ended up using the family computer a lot more, and only using my computer for games (Except for Half-Life multiplayer on the family PC).
Then we got cable internet, and for Christmas my dad and brother built me a new computer. An AMD K6, 256MB RAM, ATI Radeon RAGE128, Soundblaster Live!, a 32x CD-ROM, and 20GB hard drive (Running Windows XP). All so I could play Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Those were the only 2 presents I got that year.
Ever since then, computer parts would come and go, I would modify my XP machine and every few years purchase some newer stuff I couldn't find locally. Now I have more computer parts than I know what to do with.
430TX with Pentium 166 MMX, W95, W98
Asus CUSL2 with Pentium III 733, W2K, still working
Intel D845GBV with Pentium IV Celeron 1.4, labrat, still working
Gonna buy Supermicro SYS-740GP-TNRT or SYS-7049GP-TRT with dual Xeon, 4 GPUs, 8x SAS3, 8x U.2/3
My family's first computer was some US Computers brand Windows 95 desktop. We had it for a year or two, and our brother-in-law swapped us for a Windows 98 desktop (that was much better overall).
My first computer was a Toshiba Satellite A45 laptop that I bought in 2004.
Intel Pentium 4
512MB RAM
60GB HDD
Windows XP Home
That one found its way to the scrap heap years ago. The hinges on the lid were broken, anyway. But I found another model of it for sale online, and I bought it. I've since bought several more retro laptops, and have built a bit of a collection.
I ran ms dos 6, later 6.2 with windows 3.1.
Hmm, I don't remember that the price differences was between the adlib and sound blaster, but I recall walking in to the local Microcenter and looking for an Adlib card, only to have them point me to this brand spanking new thing called a Sound Blaster. It cost more but seemed reasonable for something that added both digital sound and CMS Game Blaster abilities.
(both PCs I no longer have)
The first computer I owned was an iNTEL 86/310 multibus backplane with iRMX86/Dos 2.11, that was compatible with the hardware at work where my collegues and I manufactured computerised numeric controls, based on multibus backplane and our own designed boards. I learned a lot, but made not one penny with it, as I had intended - it had cost me about $5,000 in 1985.
My 1st PC, a self made NEC V20, 640KB, 10MB HDD, 5.25 FDD, Bi-mode card, green display
Second PC, 80826-12, 2MB RAM, 80MB HDD, 1.44&1.2MB FDD, Color VGA card, Sound blaster card.
My 1st printer, Citizen 180d