What was your first computer?

Our first proper computer was a Compaq. The Compaq we bought we still use because we bought it in 2005. AMD 3200+ and 1GB RAM and I've had a mess around inside adding things and the taking things away because they've broken.

But we had a used Packard bell with windows 98 and Intel Celeron. I guess that was our first Computer. We did have another computer with windows 95 but it broke the day after we were given it.

Its points and articles like this you realise how far technology has come over the last Decade.

I remember in 1983 my mother offered me one of two gifts, either a trip to Disney World or a computer. Sadly, I chose the trip... I didnt want to be the only kid on my block who hadn't been to Disney.

In 1984 I got another trivial offer, my mother offered a computer or a kyoto remote control car... This time I chose the computer. My mother and I walked into the local "Apple Store", and bought a $3K Apple ][e. It came with 64k of ram, a 5 1/4" Floppy. My first computer Game was Castle Wolfenstein. My mother inisted in getting me the prep exams for the SAT and an Office "suite" called PFS: docs, database and money (some kind of spreadsheet).

Through the years I discovered programming in Apple Pascal and later on Assembler and even more games... Eventually I got a 4bit soundcard called a Phaser and a 300baud modem.

The games I used to play varied from Conan, to a space flight sim called "Elite", this one being my favorite game. I later bought out of my own money Police Quest 1. I had a couple of others but those are the ones i remember fondly.

I was also introduced to "Piracy" with my Apple IIe, and i met people from the scene, such as "The Wombat", and groups like TRSi and The FiRM.

I liked the freedom I had in my computer so instead of growing into a Mac I went on to commodore 64, and eventually to a 386SX-16. I was very much into BBS's at the time, and eventually ran a 16 color BBS using Roboboard by a guy named Seth Hamilton. I ran at one time 7 different BBS running PC-Board, Major BBS, Galacticom and Searchlight.

To cut the story short in 2003 I went back to Mac and havent turned back. So you could say I started with Apple and I'll probably finish with them.

My original Apple IIe still works, still loads Elite, and when I go back to Puerto Rico to my mom's house, I still play it for hours on the end.

Cool times!

btw, i was 13 in 1983... so do the math... ;)

IBM clone -- an 8086/8088 processor with the button that moved it to 8088. DOS, of course, with BASIC in case you wanted to do some programming. Ran it with Sidekick, which was a PIM that ran in RAM when you hit a hotkey.

My first PC was an old Packard Bell running Win95. I don't remember much of what I used it for, besides playing music and watching Windows Media Player's visualizations.

My first computer was Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128k+. It still works!

My first computer was a old Classic II, when I was just 6. Back then, it was a beast with 16 MHz, and I added on a old 28.8mbps dial-up modem! The first game I really played on it was MacBandit, a slot machine. I still have this beast-of-the-time in my basement, and I fire it up once in a while to play the games I have on it that I can't get elsewhere. It runs best with 7.5.5.

Since then I've (almost) always had a Mac as my main machine.

Classic II to G3, G3 to iMac, iMac to Satellite (Toshiba), and Toshiba back to Macbook Pro.

Now at 18 I'm writing this on a screaming Macbook Pro with a blazing fast DSL connection running at 5mbps down 640kbps up. MAN, how technology has changed in the span of 12 years...

compaq presario. intel pentium 133 mhz, 16mb ram and a 4gb hard drive

blazing fast it could play decent 2 with laggy framerates

i enjoyed every second of smashing it with a hammer, office space style a few years ago

I was 10 and the year 1995 wrought for us a Packard Bell with an Intel Pentium 75mhz CPU, 8 MB of ram, 2 MB of video memory, 14.4k baud modem running Windows 95 with a 14" monitor & side mounted speakers. It was $1500.

My earliest memories include trying all of the included software which at that time was Hover! and a Weezer 'Happy Days' esque music video on the Win95 CD, Mindmaze with Encarta 95 and learning the ins and outs of DOS. It was a simpler time...

My first was an Atari 800xl. So much fun with the cassette add on and the 5 1/2 floppys. Heck I remember my first modem an old 1200 baud. Those were the days

My first one was a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 16K....Oh the endless waits of the tapes to load games or programs....rubber buttons. I think i still have that thing in a box somewhere.

A Texas Instruments TI-99/4A.

Dumber than a brick as a device - though I suppose if I had stuck with it and learned BASIC, I'd be running a small country (or be in jail) by now.

First 'real' computer? A Compaq Contura Aero 486/SX subnotebook, running Win3.1 with the TabWorks GUI. Proved to be real workhorse while 'on the road'.

My first was a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 16K...long waits for the tape to load in games...i think i still have that thing boxed up somewhere.

My first computer was a C64 with a 300bps modem. It was quickly followed by a 386sx16, with 1MB RAM, 60MB Hard Drive and 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" Floppies. All in for a paltry $3500 ... Sweeeeeeet.

Pentium 233 mmx Win 95 8 mb ram 500mb HDD (later upgraded to 64 mb ram and 15 gb HDD) S3 Virge 2mb graphics card.
I used to play Team Fortress Classic at 480x320 with ~13 fps.
Actually I always put something on to that computer rather than building one from scratch. It's now Quad Core with 4 gigs of ram and over 1 TB total hdd.

Apple ][c - Karateka was my first game!

Tandy!

I remember my first experience with computers was in a computer programming class in high school (Baltimore Polytechnic). Back in 1977, programming was taught on an IBM Mini which used Hollerith punch cards. It nearly put me off computers forever.

But then it happened. I'd ride my skateboard about 6 miles to a Radio Shack where the manager would let me sit all day long to play on a TRS-80 Model 1. I loved that thing. Learned BASIC and just had a grand old time! (Thanks for not shooing away a pesty 14 year old Mr Radio Shack manager - you changed my life!)

The first computer I actually owned was a Timex Sinclair. It's all I could afford and I hated the clunkly input mechansim. Soon after, I was able to get a VIC-20, then a Commodore 64, then a 128, then an Amiga and so on. I had an Osborne portable (25 lbs is portable?). Now it's all homebrew WinTel gear.

I still like booting up MESS and loading emulators of the old boxes. Shoot, when I want to crank out a quick program to do something, I load my 128 emulator and write a quick basic program there. I show my kids what computing used to be like so that they can see just how nice they have it.

You can get the MESS emulator here:
http://www.mess.org/download.php

You'll need ROMs for the old boxes, but a quick search for "MESS ROMs" on your favorite Torrent site will show results. Try it for fun.

Fun - that's what it was like back in those days. Experimenting, learning. Now it's more like work.