Desktops: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer?
- 7/13/07 1:22 PM
My 1st
by GolferJL - 7/14/07 7:50 AM In reply to: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
In the 80's I had a Commador that I played a couple of games on, but the kids wrecked it and it wasn't til the early 90's when my cousin who was a vice-president of a retailer called Software, Etc. was upgrading their computers and sold me an IBM XT with a dot matrix printer, and like they say, "the rest is history". I now own 2 PC's and just last fall purchased the latest laptop from Toshiba that I use when we travel. My wife complains I spend more time with my computers than I do with her. She's probably right.
PC-compatible clones
by Chedryka - 7/14/07 9:05 AM In reply to: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I first fell in love with computers in 1983 when the first clones of Apple II-style keyboard and cpu units were available in the Philippines. As a college student living in a 3rd world country, we were not given an affordable choice with regards to computers back then. As far as I can remember, the system was MS-DOS and I have to put in a special card (I forgot the name of this card, can anyone help me remember it?) in order for the monitor to display small characters. It didn't have a hard drive and uses 5.25 in. floppy disk. When I made a trip to Taiwan in 1984 I bought my first pc there and had to carry it all the way back to Cebu, Philippines. It was such a wonderful memory. Thanks for helping me remiscise it. Now, I'm using an HP Pavillion laptop with Pentium IV 2.0 GHz and 1 Gb RAM, Windows XP and I still love my PC.
Regards,
Edwin
When did I first use a personal computer and what was it?
by holdcraftm - 7/14/07 9:17 AM In reply to: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
1981 and it was an Apple 2C. I still have it and it still works with it's green screen and 64K memory (yes 64K)! Someone looking at it today one would say that it is nothing but a word processor, but in 1981 it was the latest technology - goodbye typewriters!
My first "PC" was an Atari 400 with "peanutbutterproof" KB.
by Bubba_Gump - 7/14/07 9:28 AM In reply to: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
In was 1982. The 8th Grade Science Fair had just finished and a friend built a Sinclair ZX81 kit computer that he failed to get working. But that didn't matter to me and my friends; our love affair with these new machines was set in stone.
The Atari VCS was at it's peak despite the release of a *very* disappointing rendition of Pac-Man. Me and my friends were already "computer crazy". Not one of us owned a game machine like the VCS or Odyssey-2 (Intellivision was still a year away). We were holding out for full-fledged computers.
After prolonged begging and extolling the virtues of the "Commodore Vic-20" to get my parents, my high-school drop-out step-father revealed that he has been looking at computers and found the "Atari 400" to be the superior machine. I disagreed and we immediately went to the mall to compare the two. The computer store in the mall had an Atari 400 parked in front running a near perfect rendition of Pac-Man that was attracting customers like flies.
The 400's flat membrane keyboard was a real turn-off, but when I learned it came with nearly THREE times as much memory (16K) as the Vic-20 (which, despite its name, only came with 5K), and seeing the quality of the game that was running, I quickly concluded the Atari-400 was the better machine.
Rare was the time I admitted my step-father was right, so he immediately bought a 400 on the spot. To our disappointment though, they were out of Pac-Man cartridges, so I had to settle for a low-quality game stored on cassette tape called "Maze of Death".
In the years to come, I taught myself how to program in BASIC and even started dabbling in "Assembly Language". By the time I reached college, I had a HUGE jump-start on the other students and Aced every programming course.
TRS-80 MC-10
by esabogal - 7/14/07 9:29 AM In reply to: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Radio Shack TRS-80 Micro Color Computer MC-10.
It came with 4KB, but only usable about 3.4KB I bought the 16KB expansion so it was 19.4KB.
1982
i feel young
by czech3__ - 7/14/07 9:35 AM In reply to: TRS-80 MC-10 by esabogalAll you guys have more computer experience in your pinkies then i have in my life time, my first computer was a 486, and i took it apart, to see what the inside of a hard drive looked like 
, and the first computer i personally bought was an hp media center.... xD....
!st computer
by mawt101 - 7/14/07 9:46 AM In reply to: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
My first was an Atari 800XL with 300 baud modem and drawing tablet plotter printer, dot matrix printer and 3 floppy drives chained together cost over 1800 canadian my girls loved playing games on it I used it up until 1997 for word processing and finally bought a HP Pavilion.
My First P.C. Was...
by orion4998 - 7/14/07 10:47 AM In reply to: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Feb 5,2005 was the purchase of a pII. The man I bought it from was a programer for raytheon,and it was for his daughter.So, I'm very new to P.C.'s,but I've learned allot since that first purchase. Basically I've learned that I've allot to learn!I've gone from the PII to a PIV Generic(no company like Dell,Compaq,Etc.)And the XP Pro OS won't work on it Because it's not a Dell.
1st computer
by 123gary123 - 7/14/07 11:12 AM In reply to: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
My first personal computing consisted of a key board and a modem. I loged on to a remote computer at work.
First Computer
by chrisjw1234 - 7/14/07 11:39 AM In reply to: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The first computer I bought was in 1986, it was a Commadore 128 which ran CP/M, C64, and C128 programs and I paid about $1000 for it plus a color monitor. In 1987 I bought my first Amiga, a 500 also for about $1000 with monitor and in 1989 (or was it 90) I splurged and bought an Amiga 4000 with a 68040 chip, 2 megs of chip ram and 8 megabite memory card with multi sync monitor for about $2500. I still use it its right next to the cheap PC clone I'm writing thir on. 
Amiga Forever PCs S*CK
chrisjw@optonline.net
PC Type when PC first used.
by jae52 - 7/14/07 1:07 PM In reply to: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I answered 1980's for PC use. It was an IBM XT in 1982. I had been using main frames (now workstations in a LAN) since 1977 through the 1980's (until 1988). All the computer usage during the 1980's was at NASA/GSFC. After 1988 most facilities had distributed LAN networks with individuals using workstations (Sun, Dell, Gateway, etc...).
Does a stand-alone DEC 11/23 (1982-1988) count as a PC?
My First Computer
by WiccaBear - 7/14/07 1:19 PM In reply to: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
In 1979, I bought one of the first Atari 800 computers. The serial number was 0000258, and was handwritten on a sticker inside the machine. I still have it, along with the Atari Falcon that I bought later. The Falcon was the first computer to have a true 1-Mb of ram.
I still have the Falcon, as well.
Using is the word. It was 1963 and
by sauerbach - 7/14/07 2:00 PM In reply to: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The computer filled a room. The core memory had 4400 words of ten characters in length. Each character was 6 bits and, of course, it was not mine. I was one of a staff of programmers and we programmed in Assembler.
My first Personal Computer was a Kaypro II. Anyone know when that beauty first appeared on the market?
I haven't yet bought my first PC, but...
by Bronzit - 7/14/07 2:06 PM In reply to: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
... I have been maintaining computers for a career since 1963, when I enlisted in the Air Force. I am now retired. After 3 years, 10 months & 10 days of maintaining the computer systems (AWCS) on F-101B & F-102A interceptors (some w/vacuum tubes!), I hired on with Honeywell Field Engineering for 7 years as a Computer Field (Service) Engineer. I was laid off in 1974, went on to Burroughs (now Unisys), Data General, C-3, Inc. (mostly Federal contractor), and GA Technologies, Inc., ending up as a Technical Training Coordinator for radiation monitoring systems in nuclear power plants, for a total of 22 years. Most of the computers were called, "mediums systems", but some were 8086's tied to DEC VAX'es by serial RS-232 lines in the end.
@ my (2nd) wife's insistence, I went back to school (I had 2 years of college B4 the Air Force) @ night & got an AS, AA in Business Management in 1985, then went on to San Diego State (SDSU) full-time for 2 years to finish a BS/BA in Information Systems in 1986. I eventually got a Civil Service job with the Navy in 1988 here in San Diego County as a Computer Specialist & retired in 2005 with 21 years as a GS-12 I.T. Specialist in Systems/Network Administration/Management. My work was on Concurrent/Perkin Elmer/Masscomp medium systems & networked 286/386/486 PC's (self-taught).
I never would've made it thru SDSU w/o my Mac: I bought a Mac in "The 1st 100 Days", on March 6, 1984 after seeing the Super Bowl ad in January & have had 1 ever since. It had 1 800/400 KB floppy drive, 256 KB of RAM, no HD, a sharp B&W display, & an Image Writer dot-matrix printer. It was the 1st computer that I could see any use for @ home. I had turned down the opportunity to buy a full-blown Apple IIE clone in Taiwan because I couldn't see what I would use it for! I hooked my Mac up to the Internet with a 1200/300 baud modem and spent many an "all-nighter" doing assignments after the on-campus computer labs were closed. In October, I will get the latest PowerBook Core 2 Duo (or whatever) 15" MacTel laptop & pass this 15" G4 MPB onto my wife (who is now using my 1996 G3 Wallstreet). I will max. out the memory & get the largest/fastest HD I can for it, probably on the after market.
I am grateful that PC's have given me a career but having seen all of the headaches they cause Users & maintainers over the years, I have always found that the Macs gave me a much better experience & life. I volunteer @ the local Senior Service Center's computer lab teaching seniors how to survive with the computer of their choice -Mac or PC. I am even more excited about using a Mac now that they run the Unix/Linux OS underneath the GUI, because that was the OS I learned in 1988, and I like it a lot. I may even use it on my new MacTel PowerBook in a partition!
But no Windows, ever!!!
Using Personal Computer
by feemery - 7/14/07 3:04 PM In reply to: Poll: When did you first start using a personal computer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The first personal computer that I used was an HP (can't remember the name), which was a portable witha small screen--similar to one from compact. It predated the IPM PC, but was probably concurrent with the first Apple II's. I learned VisiCalc using it, but quickly found that the desk type HP's did not use the same OS, so I could not transfer the info from one to the other. I think this was in the fall of 1981 or 1982. The computers were owned by the company.
Taking the need to transfer data by the "sneakerdisk" method to heart, my first purchase of a personal computer was an IBM PC. This was to match the PC's that were purchased at my new employer for both design work and letters so that I could use the "sneakernet" approach. Software was pfs Write and File along with Lotus 1-2-3. A lot of simple engineering design calculations could be made in spreadsheet format and templates, along with finance calculations. I recall an income tax estimator "program" (template). We also tracked my wife's business inventory using 1-2-3 for several years.
Shortly after purchasing the IBM PC I won a drawing for a TI Professional. The machine came with Lotus 1-2-3. This became a hobby machine and I found several improvements at the various PC swap meets. I bought a hard disk upgrade and a sound card for peanuts. Also, several software programs (used) over the years. Also, there was a 286 card upgrade with 1Meg memory that converted the TI Pro to a 286 which could run PC software. TI had an outstanding impact printer with great fonts that we purchased before our first laser printer.
In the pre- laser printer days, we also used an electric typewriter with a serial connection for quality letters. The shareware word processing program, PC Write, had been converted to run on the TI Pro so that was used for both the IBM and the TI. It was a snap to have various printer code templates stored, so that the document could easily go from one printer to another.
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