Let's see... I can't remember exactly when I first got into computers, except that it was in the early 80's or so. It depends on which happened first (I don't remember the order exactly): when my uncle got a TI 99/4A or when I got a ColecoVision. Yeah, I know, ColecoVision isn't exactly a computer, but bear with me here. Anyway, while I do remember playing a bit with the TI at my uncle's (and being unable to really do anything with it due to lack of knowledge at the time), but I did like playing video games on the Coleco and was immediately attracted to a book called "How to Make Your Own Video Games" in the local library. I was somewhat bummed to learn after checking it out that you needed a real computer and not a game console to do so (hey, I was a dumb kid at the time, so please forgive me), but the idea of making my own games made me really, really want a computer. Granted, the games in this book were written in BASIC (tested on the Atari 8-bit machines, but mostly working on others) and didn't have any graphics or sound, per se, but just the idea of doing so did catch my imagination.
Anyway, I started asking my parents to get a computer. Unfortunately, by stupidly insisting on getting a Coleco ADAM (again, dumb kid, partly due to my fanboyish love of my ColecoVision) instead of the Commodore 64 that my parents said was vastly superior (despite not knowing anything about computers, in retrospect I now know they were 100% right here), I delayed the acquisition of my first computer by several years in all likelihood. I still did get to play a bit on friends' and relatives' computers when I visited, but that did severely limit my computer time.
It wasn't until the end 6th grade, when I spent a lot of time after school in the computer lab typing papers and what not, that my parents got a computer -- an Epson Apex with an 8MHz 8088, 512K RAM, and dual 360K floppies (sorry no picture/link, this thing is way too obscure). I actually still have this guy in my basement as I had planned to try to turn it into a serial terminal, but never got around to it (partly because the damned thing didn't have serial ports and it's been a devil finding a serial card that works on it). That thing got me through all of middle and high school and was where I really started learning to program -- even going back to the library to check out that "Make Your Own Video Games" book I mentioned earlier. Granted, it was all GW-BASIC, but it was something -- enough to get me started anyway.
If an Atari 2600 counts as a "computer," then there we go. If not, it falls to Apple IIe and Number Munchers. The first PC I actually had in my house was an IBM 286 with 4MB RAM. I'm pretty sure the processor was 16Mhz. It came complete with jaw-dropping CGA action.
sorry no picture/link, this thing is way too obscure
So obscure it shows up immediately on a Google image search?
Close, but not quite. I found that one as well via Google search, but that's not my precise model. Mine didn't have a power switch in the front but did have turbo and reset buttons below the power LED. That one also looks like it has a hard drive -- it probably was the replacement model for my old clunker.
The first computer in our house was a Commodore 64 (hooked up to a small black-and-white TV through an adapter, because my parents didn't want to buy a monitor for some reason). I got my first taste of game design/creation through the Adventure Construction Set. For years before we actually owned one, there was a also an assortment of Apple machines that my dad would bring home from the office for one thing or another.
My first personally-owned computer was a Power PC Mac, from just before they stopped making them in beige.
My first computer was a commodore 64/128. Which also was my first experience with video game piracy. My dad would come home with these 5 1/4 floppy disks full of games he would get from a co-worker. It was glorious.
My next computer was a
Packard Bell 486DX2
and after that all my computers were customs I made.
I just remembered how long it used to take to copy a floppy disk when you only have one floppy disk drive. You swapped between the original and the copy over and over, and if anything went wrong you had to start again.
You see the first computer on my post? TWO floppy drives! Such a pity I didn't have that luxury on machines that also had games worth pirating!
I just remembered how long it used to take to copy a floppy disk when you only have one floppy disk drive. You swapped between the original and the copy over and over, and if anything went wrong you had to start again.
You see the first computer on my post? TWO floppy drives! Such a pity I didn't have that luxury on machines that also had games worth pirating!
That's part of the reason why when my family finally got our first computer, we made sure it came with dual floppy drives.
My earliest memories of using a computer was in elementary school where we played stuff like Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and Math Blaster (though oddly we never played Oregon Trail). When I was in middle school my Father out of the blue decided we should get a computer (it was really odd because my Dad hated to spend money). We picked up a Windows 3.1 machine, which was oddly AT&T branded. This is really when I started to get into computers. I messed around with a lot of stuff on the computer and it came with and encyclopedia on CD and some other CDs with games (like Hatris). I really go into the web using AOL (and man I do not miss the long waits to get online, the terrible modem noise, and how slow it was). I really wanted to learn to make web pages and such myself (which I did, which in turn became my career).
After the 3.1 machine for my 16th birthday we went and had a computer build for me. This was a pretty decent for the time Windows 95 machine, I think that is where I really started using stuff like Paint Shop Pro and making websites. I had that computer forever, 6ish years. It was pretty bad by the end. One day I woke up and though my Mom was cleaning the oven, turned out my computer fried its self.
After that I needed a new computer for college and so my Mother had one built for me by my now Step-Brother (he is much older than I am, so it wasn’t like some teen building this crap). That computer never fucking worked right. It had XP then 2000, then XP again because I had to take it back to him because it blue screened like at least one a day (he also wiped like 8 years worth of stuff at one point). I wanted to set that thing on fire and throw it out and window and then crush it with a sledgehammer by the end. Finally no one could deal with my anger over the POS and so my Step-Brother gave me a computer he normal sold at yard sales. That worked for a year or two before it just wasn't powerful enough for me to do my homework on.
At this point my Mom just decided to buy me a new computer and so I ordered the best computer I could from Dell, which I think was the Dimension Desktop 8500. This was the first computer where I actually changed physical parts myself. I think I had to replace the cd/dvd drive like twice, I added a second hard drive, more ram, replaced the power supply, and one of the fans myself (well mostly myself). Which were all proud moments for me, because I was always scared to work on the physical computer.
Finally after 7/8 years that computer just computer couldn’t cut it and I picked up a Dell XPS 9100, which is very nice (admittedly, I picked up a new computer partly for work, but also so I could play Fallout: New Vegas). I’ve also had a tablet laptop. Which was meh, it never worked as well as I hoped it would and it was awkward to do some stuff with the pen. Now I have an Inspiron Mini netbook, it’s nothing fancy but it is good for messing around with at anime club or checking email and stuff at cons.
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Anyway, I started asking my parents to get a computer. Unfortunately, by stupidly insisting on getting a Coleco ADAM (again, dumb kid, partly due to my fanboyish love of my ColecoVision) instead of the Commodore 64 that my parents said was vastly superior (despite not knowing anything about computers, in retrospect I now know they were 100% right here), I delayed the acquisition of my first computer by several years in all likelihood. I still did get to play a bit on friends' and relatives' computers when I visited, but that did severely limit my computer time.
It wasn't until the end 6th grade, when I spent a lot of time after school in the computer lab typing papers and what not, that my parents got a computer -- an Epson Apex with an 8MHz 8088, 512K RAM, and dual 360K floppies (sorry no picture/link, this thing is way too obscure). I actually still have this guy in my basement as I had planned to try to turn it into a serial terminal, but never got around to it (partly because the damned thing didn't have serial ports and it's been a devil finding a serial card that works on it). That thing got me through all of middle and high school and was where I really started learning to program -- even going back to the library to check out that "Make Your Own Video Games" book I mentioned earlier. Granted, it was all GW-BASIC, but it was something -- enough to get me started anyway.
My first personally-owned computer was a Power PC Mac, from just before they stopped making them in beige.
The first computer we had at home was an Epson HX-20 'laptop'
And I learnt Basic on it.
My first computer was a commodore 64/128. Which also was my first experience with video game piracy. My dad would come home with these 5 1/4 floppy disks full of games he would get from a co-worker. It was glorious.
My next computer was a
Packard Bell 486DX2
and after that all my computers were customs I made.
You see the first computer on my post? TWO floppy drives! Such a pity I didn't have that luxury on machines that also had games worth pirating!
After the 3.1 machine for my 16th birthday we went and had a computer build for me. This was a pretty decent for the time Windows 95 machine, I think that is where I really started using stuff like Paint Shop Pro and making websites. I had that computer forever, 6ish years. It was pretty bad by the end. One day I woke up and though my Mom was cleaning the oven, turned out my computer fried its self.
After that I needed a new computer for college and so my Mother had one built for me by my now Step-Brother (he is much older than I am, so it wasn’t like some teen building this crap). That computer never fucking worked right. It had XP then 2000, then XP again because I had to take it back to him because it blue screened like at least one a day (he also wiped like 8 years worth of stuff at one point). I wanted to set that thing on fire and throw it out and window and then crush it with a sledgehammer by the end. Finally no one could deal with my anger over the POS and so my Step-Brother gave me a computer he normal sold at yard sales. That worked for a year or two before it just wasn't powerful enough for me to do my homework on.
At this point my Mom just decided to buy me a new computer and so I ordered the best computer I could from Dell, which I think was the Dimension Desktop 8500. This was the first computer where I actually changed physical parts myself. I think I had to replace the cd/dvd drive like twice, I added a second hard drive, more ram, replaced the power supply, and one of the fans myself (well mostly myself). Which were all proud moments for me, because I was always scared to work on the physical computer.
Finally after 7/8 years that computer just computer couldn’t cut it and I picked up a Dell XPS 9100, which is very nice (admittedly, I picked up a new computer partly for work, but also so I could play Fallout: New Vegas).
I’ve also had a tablet laptop. Which was meh, it never worked as well as I hoped it would and it was awkward to do some stuff with the pen. Now I have an Inspiron Mini netbook, it’s nothing fancy but it is good for messing around with at anime club or checking email and stuff at cons.
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