[KimKomando]

Tell me about your first computer, where you got it, what you used it for, the best thing about it, the worst thing about it.

Mine was a Compaq luggable. Compaq Computer Corporation introduced the first IBM-compatible portable computer in November 1982. It weighed about 25 pounds but it was sweeeettt.

[TeamKomando:John]

The year was 1997, Grandma gifted the family this Packard Bell multimedia machine. She wanted to make sure we were ready for a digital lifestyle. 🙂

I remember setting up a camcorder to capture the process of re-installing Windows 98 with Best Buy support on the phone! Because you know, I had to break it a few times to figure out how it worked.

Processor – 133MHz Pentium Processor
Memory – 16MB, Upgradeable to 128MB
Hard Drive – 1.2GB
Graphics Chip – S3 64v+, 1MB Video Memory, upgradeable to 2MB
Sound Card – Standard Packard Bell Sound/Modem Card
Optical Drive – 6x NEC CD-ROM Drive
Optical Connection – IDE/Atapi
Floppy Drives – 1x 1.44MB 3.5″ Floppy Drive
Expansion Slots – Unknown
Operating System – Windows 95
Navigator Version – Navigator 3.6

[Martin]

Requires Time travel. Radio Shack sold them. It had a math coprocessor button (Woohoo!). I can still “see” the cursor on the monitor. Done inputting? Double-check, yes! I’d push the “button.” Time… I did not sit and wait for the results. It would take maybe twenty minutes before I could print out the inventory information. From spreadsheet to databases and still using spreadsheets. We have come a long way together. Great question, Kim. Fun, dredging up old memories.

[BetaGary]

My first computer was home-built with a 286 motherboard and DOS 3.1, later upgraded to Windows 3.1. It had 64K of RAM and a 20MB hard drive. It was built by another ham radio guy in trade for a ham radio antenna in 1992. My son taught me how to use it as he was in the 5th grade and had a Commodore 64.

[Walt]

Commodore 64.
and I learned to program on it.
That is that!!!!

Move over Froger

[Thomas Wypa]

Gateway. I bought it from HSN about 2001. Previously I had WEBTV.

[Dave Nicholson]

TI-99/4, the first 16-bit home computers – I did not want the TRS80 (8-bit). Before IBM’s PC.

[Edward Cones]

Mine was an 8088 clone. Darned if I can remember a brand. A friend put it together for me, and I used to to start my career as a Clipper programmer. Before that I was a bookkeeper, and that little 8088 jump started my career in computers. That was in the early 80s, and I retired in 2013 after 30 years in the computer field, the last 21 working support for a regional bank. That little 8088 was a life-changing experience.

[Karen Richards]

My first computer was a birthday present from my husband. It was 1990 and we lived in Cairo, Egypt. My husband thought it would help me pass the time. There weren’t any computer shops there at the time, so the guys at his office built it from parts ordered from the states. It had a 1 mg hard drive and I can’t remember how much memory it had but it was in bytes not megabytes. No pictures, only typed words. I learned a lot on that computer. I also learned how to take it apart and put it back together and add components. I don’t miss it. By the time we came back to the states I was using Windows.

[Jim Robbins]

My first computer was a commodore 20 with dos as Windows did not exist and we were excited to play pong on it. It was hard to do much when you had to educate yourself every step of the way.

[Mark Etzler]

My first computer was the Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer, bought with my paper route money for $399, included 4k ram, later upgraded to 32k ram.

[cfi512]

Commodore Vic20, connects to TV as a monitor.

[Amiga Nerd]

TRS-80, the time was during 2 yrs of electronic school. Later had an Apple IIe, then a Commodore 64. Also dealt with the Amiga 500 and the 1200.

[Gwen Werner]

It had to be about 1982 or so. One of the first IBM desktops made….big box with a screen not so big.
My boss came to town….set it on my desk….and left me with it. No training no book. The spreadsheet program then was Lotus 123. I figured out how to get into the program, but could not figure out how to exit for the longest time…. just had to turn the power off. Been learning all I can ever since. Of course, the most important thing I have learned over all these may years is….just about the time you catch on….they change it.
Kim, you are the best!!!!

[Bob Praetorius]

My first computer was the first TRS80 that was made. I used it with the phone modem , and visited many bulletin boards and made some friends. I played Scott Adams adventures, which was a lot of fun. I remember thinking my computer was broken when I subtracted.18 from 1 and the answer was .81999999 . I expected .82 as the answer I also purchased and subscribed ro Cload which sent me a cassette tape with programs on it on a regular basis. I don’t know how I was satisfied with just 16k of memory and wrote many programs in Basic. Someone said around that time that one day everyone would have a computer and we thought that would never happen

[Mike Sparks]

My first computer was a Timex Sinclair 1000 with expansion memory, thermal printer and a audio cassette recorder for media storage.

[WiGuy]

My first computer was the Atari 800 I purchased in the early 80’s for almost $1000. At first I mostly played games on it like Star Raiders, but eventually bought an Assembly language cartridge and learned assembly language programming on the old 8-bit 6502 microprocessor.

[Susan Waters]

My first was an IBM PC in 1990 with 1 MB of Ram. We made a big upgrade after a year to 2 MB of Ram. We were rich!!!! I was lucky because my son was a genius at computers. He created a program that used keyboards to make music. If it weren’t for him, I would still be typing!

[Diana Miller]

My first computer was a PC Jr, made by IBM. It was a hand-me-down from my sister in the early 90s. my children learned about computers and the 5 1/4 floppies used to run it.

[David Morgenthaler]

Texas Instruments 99/4a until TI troubles
Followed by Commodore 64 until company went away
Followed by Radio Shack 4P had two 5.25 floppy drives in it
Several others

[Ebaldwin001]

I had a Atari 400. Games is all I remember and some programming. Moved up to Atari 800.

[cfi512]

First Computer; Commodore vic 20.

[Gerald]

Commodore Amiga 500. First bought it in 1988 great machine.

[Author]

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