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Tell us about your first computer.; A geek thread.... :)
Topic Started: Mar 9 2009, 11:10 PM (400 Views)
SuperBet
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My first computer was a TK-85 (a Spectrum Brazilian clon). I think it was 1986. You have to plug it to a TV and you needed a tape recorder to load games and programs. The only thing it had was a BASIC interpreter (BASIC = programming language). I did some little programs with that.

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And my first PC was a 486 SX 33KHz, 4 MB of RAM and a hard disk of 212 MB. It came with Windows 3.1. The model is (because I still have it) a Compaq Presario 633.


Share your "nerdesness" with us...
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FamousGroupie
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My first PC was a Texas Instruments
Quote:
 
The Texas Instruments 99-4A used a TI 16-bit processor and was an excellent graphics computer. It lacked easy expansion capabilities and required proprietary software.

After engaging in a price war with Commodore, TI stopped production and sold out below $100 per computer.


I remember we needed a tape deck to load programs, and I learnt to program it manually when I was about 9 or so. We also had huge game cartridges that slotted in to the side of the keyboard.
I don't believe in Bondi. I don't believe in rugby league. I believe in Yoko, John Lennon, the Lost Weekend and me.
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Aimee Wilbury
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Unless you want to count my kiddy laptop with the awful 8-bit music....

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Aptiva IBM. Looked exactly like this (except the CD drive, which was the same dirty-white as the rest of the case): 6 GB HDD (actually, 6.8 GB), 500 MB RAM, Windows 98. Toughest thing I ever seen. Never had any hardware problems .... OS problems is a different story.

I remember when it would be really slow, I'd slap the side of it. And there'd be a small increase in performance. Then when my mom opened it up to clean out dust, it would all come flying out and make her sneeze.

I miss the little colored blocks in the Win98 Defrag....

Also, in elementary schools, we had these old Macs. I'm still trying to identify which Mac OS it used.

My mom says her first computer was a Commodore 64. She says it had MS-DOS but she must be confusing things, cos I never heard of a C64 with MS-DOS on it. I did a google and this is the closest I came with.
Edited by Aimee Wilbury, Mar 10 2009, 12:22 AM.
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Bettina I never saw that computer before. That's very old!!! :blink:


I'll give something like this to Aimee when she is 18 so when she goes to college she can have her own private computer.

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Colin
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My first computer was a ZX81 :whistle:
There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on the earth

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Bill
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I was a late starter. PC clone, 486, 100MHz, 8meg RAM, 540meg HD, Windows 95.
Put a puppet on it.
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beatlechick
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My first was a Commodore 64 that had to have a tape drive, just like what Bettina was talking about.
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Aimee Wilbury
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I know a few geeks that have been working with computers since the 80s. They say if you pop one of those cassettes into a tape player, it sounds like a dial-up modem.

One thing I don't miss is the sound of that. :duh: I read somewhere that the modem was sending the data as sound through the telephone lines, thus the screeching.
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SuperBet
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Aimee Wilbury
Mar 10 2009, 07:11 PM
I read somewhere that the modem was sending the data as sound through the telephone lines, thus the screeching.
Sounds logic. The modem converts the digital signal in an analogic signal to send it by a telephone line.
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Bill
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It's exactly the same.
Although I didn't have a computer during the 80s, we used to copy tapes for a friend. You couldn't do it by computer but you could do it by audio if you got the levels just right.
Put a puppet on it.
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Aimee Wilbury
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It's actually magnetic data. 0's and 1's. It's like turning a lightswitch on or off.

Hard drives... they also store as magnetic data. If you open up a HDD (not recommended unless none of the data is important to you), you can see the platter....the magnetic data's stored on it.

Floppy disks work with magnetics too. I once opened up a 3 1/2 inch floppy disk to see what was inside and it was floppy. :giggle: I also have an older 5 1/4 inch floppy disk. I want an 8-inch floppy disk too.

I find it funny when you're talking about CDs and DVDs, they're "discs" but when it's another one, it's "disk."
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Queenbee
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beatlechick
Mar 10 2009, 02:42 AM
My first was a Commodore 64 that had to have a tape drive, just like what Bettina was talking about.
I also had a Commadore 64 but don't remember a thing about it. My kids used it and I probably thought it was another game. Life was too busy for me back then.

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Aimee Wilbury
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Commodore 64s are known for their games. And they were also the best-selling computer ever, even up to now.

I had an old Nintendo I played when I was 5 or 6. I remember Super Mario Bros. & Duck Hunt on the same cartridge, the only one I had. Then we sold it. :cry:
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Beatlesaholic
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Me At Thanksgiving On November 24, 2011.
My First Computer Was A Compaq 10 Years Ago It Was So Slow And The Screen Was So Small!
Paul John George Ringo Are My Favorite Beatles!

The Beatles Rule!!!!!

Beatles Biggest Fan Kirsten

Julian Lennon Biggest Fan

RIP John Lennon

RIP George Harrison

RIP Maurice Gibb

RIP Andy Gibb

RIP Michael Jackson

RIP Grandpa Nick

RIP Grandma Tess

My Favorite Beatles Movie And Album Is A Hard Day's Night & My Favorite Paul McCartney Album Is Good Evening New York City!

Gold Strawberry: BeatlesBiggestFan (16 votes)

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ThirdHarmony
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The ZX Sinclair Spectrum, 48k (and I maintain you don't need a k more than that for excellence!)

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The boot-up screen, on which we tried to learn to code BASIC...

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And of course...

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etc. etc. etc...

Good times.


"My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular." - Adlai Stevenson

"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith. I consider the capacity for it terrifying." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
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Beatlesaholic
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Me At Thanksgiving On November 24, 2011.
My First Computer Was A Compaq 10 Years Ago It Was So Slow And The Screen Was So Small!
Paul John George Ringo Are My Favorite Beatles!

The Beatles Rule!!!!!

Beatles Biggest Fan Kirsten

Julian Lennon Biggest Fan

RIP John Lennon

RIP George Harrison

RIP Maurice Gibb

RIP Andy Gibb

RIP Michael Jackson

RIP Grandpa Nick

RIP Grandma Tess

My Favorite Beatles Movie And Album Is A Hard Day's Night & My Favorite Paul McCartney Album Is Good Evening New York City!

Gold Strawberry: BeatlesBiggestFan (16 votes)

:beatles:









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beatlechick
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In Paul's Arms!
Queenbee
Mar 10 2009, 11:07 PM
beatlechick
Mar 10 2009, 02:42 AM
My first was a Commodore 64 that had to have a tape drive, just like what Bettina was talking about.
I also had a Commadore 64 but don't remember a thing about it. My kids used it and I probably thought it was another game. Life was too busy for me back then.
Ahhh.....some memories here:

http://www.c64.com/
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retrollama
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I bought my first computer in 1994, after swearing that I would never own one.

It was a PowerMac 7100, with 8 megs of RAM and a whopping 250 mb hard drive. It was so fast, and could do just about everything I needed. I was even able to access the internet for text-based email, newsgroups, and message boards back in the days before the "world wide web" existed.

I eventually installed a larger hard drive and added an external CD burner. The computer still works great today, but I've sadly outgrown it. Can't bring myself to get rid of it, though. Probably because I paid more for it than a brand new, top of the line iMac would cost me now :P
What a long, strange trip it's been....
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Colin
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ThirdHarmony
Mar 11 2009, 12:28 AM
The ZX Sinclair Spectrum, 48k (and I maintain you don't need a k more than that for excellence!)

Posted Image

The boot-up screen, on which we tried to learn to code BASIC...

Posted Image

And of course...

Posted Image
Posted Image

etc. etc. etc...

Good times.


Momories :yes:
There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on the earth

http://www.myspace.com/colin_o_m
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27864525@N08/
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