What was your very first computer ... ?

Nimbus · 2019-07-15T16:22:06-05:00

Uncategorized - What was your very first computer ... ? Mine: (180 replies).

Mine:

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shuhak · M

IBM clone 286 (top of the line, and weighed about 15 pounds)
2 MB hard drive (clerk said I'd never ever need that much room)
5.4" floppy drive
Green/black CRT monitor (not attached to the CPU)
Dot-matrix printer (color capable)

The whole setup cost me around $2,500

It's sitting in the back of my shed - fully functional.

Nimbus · M

@shuhak $2,500 !

You could have bought a car for that in those days :)

wildbill83 · 41-45, M

@Nimbus $2500 for a computer was a bargain considering up till then, people were buying encyclopedia sets for upwards of $4,000+

Nimbus · M

@wildbill83 Good point.

wildbill83 · 41-45, M

@Nimbus when we got first computer, a neighbor thought they were a waste of money and just a novelty/passing fad, he spent nearly 10k on some fancy encyclopedias for his kids

a few years later, you could buy an entire up to date encyclopedia on CD for like $30

Nimbus · M

@wildbill83 Wow and the Internet via computers are instantly accessible too.

wildbill83 · 41-45, M

@Nimbus internet didn't really become usable until 56k modems, and even then, it was mediocre at best (annoying dial up sounds, 10 minutes waiting on a pages to load, and frequent disconnects...)

Nimbus · M

@wildbill83 What year was that?

wildbill83 · 41-45, M

@Nimbus didn't really become widely available, economically feasible, etc. to homes until early 90's.

Nimbus · M

@wildbill83 Yep, about right.
I think I went online mid 90's.

Budwick · 70-79, M

Timex 1000

CPU‎: ‎Zilog Z80A, 3.25MHz

RAM‎: ‎2K, 64K max

I saved stuff on cassette tapes.

Nimbus · M

@Budwick Wow, cute :)

Budwick · 70-79, M

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

Nimbus · M

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