What was your very first computer ... ?

@Stereoguy

😂😂@wildbill83

@Budwick Wow, cute :)

@Nimbus I remember typing out BASIC code to make a PONG game.
It was a good learning tool.

@Budwick I remember doing something similar and it took me about 90 minutes and then it failed! :)

@RealtaReoite I've seen them in action on YouTube, they were completely electromechanical, weren't they? Like the rotary phone of terminals.

@SW-User Yes. Entirely, relentlessly mechanical. With a big motor and flywheels and all sorts of great noisy, rattling linkages. Mine would actually walk across the floor if given half a chance. It amazes me that they worked as reliably as they did.

Sort of like the Strowger switch of terminals, not just the rotary phone.

@RealtaReoite Aww, you always remember your first one :)

@SW-User Do you know who else used this same computer at that time, in Buenos Aires?
Grigory Chaitin.

@CharlieZ Oh cool, it's a small world!

@SW-User It is.
Gregorio was, for some time, an undergraduated assistant professor and "intern" at UBA Faculty of Sciences.
He had a small room in the campus where some us joined to share Argentinian "Mate" or coffee and studdy.
We also went together to the first course offered by IBM on Disk Operating Systems, a novelty by then.
Those were the days, my friend!

He’s a very fancy man, dropping his Prodigy account name everywhere he goes. I’ll bet he’s going to upgrade soon to that fancy dialup network called AOL. But that’s what the nouveau riche do with their disposable cash these days. @EugenieLaBorgia

@DukeOfEarle I understand he has a top hat and fancy cane, too - he's even been seen walking around town tipping his hat and clicking his cane on the pavement! I think he should be stopped!!

He was singing “Puttin’ On The Ritz” the other morning while walking that pretentious Yorkshire terrier of his. Who does that? Well, aside from Taco and the Frankenstein monster that is... @EugenieLaBorgia

The 6502 was a lot more efficient processor than the Z80 but I'd never have admitted it to BBC owners at the time. Such snobs they were and just because Beebs were faster. Phah. I eventually followed the Amstrad line through their CPC 512/6128 and their PC before I cottoned on that I could save huge amounts of money and get better machines by assembling my own PCs. Happy days eh. 😁 @SW-User

@ThePerfectUsername The Z80 had a much richer instruction set, though, and more registers, which was very helpful for early teenage me who didn't know how to use the zero page properly or iterate through more than 256 things. Next up was 68000 assembly which was wallowing in luxury by comparison to either.

I was a huge fan of the Apple Mac which I'm pretty sure used to use the 68000 processor but I could never have afforded one which is probably the main reason I went the PC route in the first place. I think the long promised Sinclair QL was to have a 68000 too but the wait for that + the dongle-shambles when it did eventually arrive put me off Sinclair products for good. @SW-User

@Nimbus 2006 i believe, but the oldest i've used is a texas instrument my mother got free taking bookkeeping courses. I don't remember much about it's details.

@Jessmari Any from 2000 on had great advancements on their predecessors.

Yes, and a stubborn need to use proprietory parts. Hence the suprise on my part.

@Nimbus 😜

@AbbeyRhode probably one of my favorite games from early 90's...

@wildbill83 Oh, that looks good, too. :)

@aradia11 I think I have heard of that one.

@NativeOregonian Wow and I bet it cost a fortune.

@Nimbus My Grandfather got it for my brothers and myself for easter that year, small little thing, I could never figure out how to use it right, about the size of one of those standard desktop tape recorders.

@luctoretemergo lol, no.

Awsome!!!!

@luctoretemergo 😛

@Nimbus I bought it in 1998, a lot cheaper than a computer, paid $25 a month for dial-up service and I used the heck out of it for about 3 years. I had to use my TV for a monitor and used the one in my bedroom, could still watch TV in the corner of the screen while playing with the WebTV.

@cherokeepatti Wow, that was a lot of money then.

@Nimbus It was in the late 90’s and cheap entertainment for me. I didn’t rent as many movies and I didn’t have cable tv either. And cheaper than having computer dial-up when they made you pay by the minute or whatever. I remember hearing co-workers say that their kids dialed up and the regular way was busy and they did an alternative way and got charged hundreds of $ one month for long-distance.

@EugenieLaBorgia I had one of those too but it was a dancing bear :)

@SW-User 🆒

@SW-User Yep, famous brand.

@SW-User lol, can't argue with that.

@Lostpoet XP was great.
User friendly.

@SW-User 😁

@Nimbus The Atari ST was the Amiga's main competitor

@SW-User Yes, you are correct! :)

@Nimbus Yep exactly like it - he kept it to remind him that his Estate Agency was the first in town to use a computer 😂

@Dlrannie K

Nice.
It might be worth a fortune now!

@Nimbus haha - I suspect it’s not worth a lot but who knows 🙂

@Threepio Oh my, TANDY, I remember that company well :)

@EugenieLaBorgia I bet you had an abacus too just to defy convention :)

@SW-User 3.1, that's going back and if my memory serves me correct ( pun intended ) I had that on my Amiga.
Or maybe not, lol, it was so long ago.

I can’t remember what brand the computer was. I only remember the processor and O/S. @Nimbus

@CuckPaul1977 👍️

@IstillmissEP Radio Shack.

Is that the same as TANDY?

@IstillmissEP 👍️

@redredred .

Heady days, lol

@Travelbug I've had several HP's.

Good solid machines.

@Nimbus yes mine was great and lasted about 4 years before it died.

@Native 🆒

@pennynoodles Ooooh! Posh ;)

@chrisCA From the early 80's, wow.

@Nimbus Yes. Dual 5.25 floppy drives.
A 13 inch monochrome monitor.
DOS 3. something. Lol

@chrisCA Those were the days! :)

@Nimbus Nice industrial design, though, Sinclair always had that down compared to other manufacturers.

@SW-User Built to last.

@Nimbus That ZX81 was the genesis of my career, and it's ultimately why I've never had to work a crappy job in my life and could pay as I went through university and was able to graduate debt-free.

@SageAdvice What year was that?

@SW-User 🆒 :)

@SW-User What year was that?

@Nimbus 1999 i think

@HannibalMontanimal Good in their day.

@PrivateHell Can you go back to it?

@Nimbus not any practical use for it today.

Wow! That looks so...Space 1999. @PrivateHell

@EugenieLaBorgia nothing like the old monochrome monitors & TV's that looked like a bubble and weighed 200lb's... lol

@caccoon 🆒

@Stereoguy Intel 80286 ?

@Stereoguy That was like early to mid 80's or something.