Welcome to the Computers Board!

[Oceander]

Just a quick intro:  discussions about computer issues come up from time to time, but so far they've been scattered across the forum in various boards and topics, which can sometimes make it difficult to keep track of them.  There have also been requests for help with various computer-related issues, some of which directly relate to the forum, and some which do not.

The admins have seen fit to create a new board just for these sorts of posts in order to bring them together in one place (but without a ring to rule them all!) for ease of access and, quite frankly, to prevent other threads from getting hijacked with a problem that affects some, but not all, members (here I'm thinking of the youtube snafu from a few weeks ago where a change by youtube prevented videos from embedding properly for some members).

So, please, post away, and let's enjoy the discussion.

And please, no flame wars about whether Windows, Mac, or whatever variant of linux floats your boat, is better than the rest.  Ok?

Cheers!

[ShadowAce]

@BikkFire @geronl @Smokin Joe @roamer_1 @Blizzardnh @markomalley @VarmintAl @Doug Loss @Unlimited @guitar4jesus

[kevindavis007]

Just a quick intro:  discussions about computer issues come up from time to time, but so far they've been scattered across the forum in various boards and topics, which can sometimes make it difficult to keep track of them.  There have also been requests for help with various computer-related issues, some of which directly relate to the forum, and some which do not.

The admins have seen fit to create a new board just for these sorts of posts in order to bring them together in one place (but without a ring to rule them all!) for ease of access and, quite frankly, to prevent other threads from getting hijacked with a problem that affects some, but not all, members (here I'm thinking of the youtube snafu from a few weeks ago where a change by youtube prevented videos from embedding properly for some members).

So, please, post away, and let's enjoy the discussion.

And please, no flame wars about whether Windows, Mac, or whatever variant of linux floats your boat, is better than the rest.  Ok?

Cheers!

I want a fight!!!!

[guitar4jesus]

Are you logged in?

[Idaho_Cowboy]

I for one welcome our Mac powered Overlords, Windows powered slaves, and Linux running rebel resistance. 

[Crazieman]

No Swordmaker? 

[geronl]

First I think someone should define computer. I have heard of these newfangled devices but figuring out what a baud is might be beyond me.

DOS is all the rage, right?

[XenaLee]

Just a quick intro:  discussions about computer issues come up from time to time, but so far they've been scattered across the forum in various boards and topics, which can sometimes make it difficult to keep track of them.  There have also been requests for help with various computer-related issues, some of which directly relate to the forum, and some which do not.

The admins have seen fit to create a new board just for these sorts of posts in order to bring them together in one place (but without a ring to rule them all!) for ease of access and, quite frankly, to prevent other threads from getting hijacked with a problem that affects some, but not all, members (here I'm thinking of the youtube snafu from a few weeks ago where a change by youtube prevented videos from embedding properly for some members).

So, please, post away, and let's enjoy the discussion.

And please, no flame wars about whether Windows, Mac, or whatever variant of linux floats your boat, is better than the rest.  Ok?
Cheers!

Ok....but can we at least bash Bill Gates here a little? 

[guitar4jesus]

First I think someone should define computer. I have heard of these newfangled devices but figuring out what a baud is might be beyond me.

DOS is all the rage, right?

System V 

[Doug Loss]

And please, no flame wars about whether Windows, Mac, or whatever variant of linux floats your boat, is better than the rest.  Ok?

Cheers!

But, but, but...we're computer geeks!  Flame wars are what we do!!!

[Ghost Bear]

(snip)
And please, no flame wars about whether Windows, Mac, or whatever variant of linux floats your boat, is better than the rest.  Ok?

Cheers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyIB8FrHuf4

[Frank Cannon]

Great to have this board. I can finally get some help with issues now. I am running a 1979 TRS80 with the cassette player (saving up for the floppy add on). I cannot seem to get the color content on the site nor can I get the You Tube content to play. Can anyone help?!?!?!?

[Oceander]

Great to have this board. I can finally get some help with issues now. I am running a 1979 TRS80 with the cassette player (saving up for the floppy add on). I cannot seem to get the color content on the site nor can I get the You Tube content to play. Can anyone help?!?!?!?

Sure, if you've got $500 or so laying around!   

[Oceander]

Ok....but can we at least bash Bill Gates here a little? 

Absolutely.  And you get to bash your own operating system if it's based on your own experience - I could get started on Windows 10, but I won't (right now) - just don't go bashing someone else's operating system because you don't like it.

[Ghost Bear]

Great to have this board. I can finally get some help with issues now. I am running a 1979 TRS80 with the cassette player (saving up for the floppy add on). I cannot seem to get the color content on the site nor can I get the You Tube content to play. Can anyone help?!?!?!?

Oooh... can we make this a "my first computer" thread?   

[Mom MD]

First I think someone should define computer. I have heard of these newfangled devices but figuring out what a baud is might be beyond me.

DOS is all the rage, right?

\
I think you run the IT department where I work.  LOL

[geronl]

Oooh... can we make this a "my first computer" thread?   

early 90's I bought a 386DX that came with something like 2MB of RAM and a 100MB hard drive running Windows 3.1.1 and it had a CD-drive (probably 1x or something, lol)

The original modem did not work, it was like 1,200 baud or something, a joke.

I went and bought a 33.6 kbps modem (The Communicator!" or something), a new sound card and added about 28 MB of RAM to the thing. I signed up with a local dial-up ISP (TICnet) for 56k connection for $100 a year, it did not offer residential service the next year and I tried all the free services like Netzero with the ad windows.

...

I'm not sure how I found Free Republic, but it might have been through Psycho_Bunny. Anyone remember him? He sent me some of the MIDI music he was putting together, some of it was really nice too. Yes MIDI music, remember that? lol.

[Wingnut]

My TI 99 has been acting up lately.   
 

[Frank Cannon]

Oooh... can we make this a "my first computer" thread?   

Sure can. This is what I upgraded to the Tandy from....



HP made great stuff back then but the thing heated the house up hotter than hell during the summer.

[Ghost Bear]

Behold, the Sinclair ZX81, with a 16 kilobyte add-on RAM module (it had 1 KB of RAM built-in). Bought one with my high school graduation money. 

I still have it, but it doesn't look like that any more... at one point I bought a new case with an actual keyboard built in, and moved the mainboard into that...

[Wingnut]

Sure can. This is what I upgraded to the Tandy from....

Date night at HP.  Bet that guy was a killer at the disco  .

[Frank Cannon]

Date night at HP.  Bet that guy was a killer at the disco  .

Hey man. That picture is of me in my rumpus room. I was calculating at the full capacity of the computer. Adding 4 three digit numbers. Since the HP is gone I had extra room to add bondage equipment.

BTW I ended up selling that machine to FR. I hear they are still using it today.

[Wingnut]

Hey man. That picture is of me in my rumpus room. I was calculating at the full capacity of the computer. Adding 4 three digit numbers. Since the HP is gone I had extra room to add bondage equipment.

I am A Latent Appliance Fetishist myself.   And I'm learning to speak German too.

[Oceander]

Oooh... can we make this a "my first computer" thread?   

First system was an Atari 800.  Actually a pretty good learning platform at the time because the memory was directly accessible and it came with a module that allowed you to learn how to write assembly code (assembly is basically the last level of human-understandable code; actual machine code comes next).

[Frank Cannon]

I am A Latent Appliance Fetishist myself.   And I'm learning to speak German too.

I changed from that denomination years ago.

[Wingnut]

I changed from that denomination years ago.

The First Church of Appliantology is hard to shake.   Good for you.

[Just_Victor]

First I think someone should define computer. I have heard of these newfangled devices but figuring out what a baud is might be beyond me.

DOS is all the rage, right?

VAX/VMS is totally the future of computing.

[Ghost Bear]

First system was an Atari 800.  Actually a pretty good learning platform at the time because the memory was directly accessible and it came with a module that allowed you to learn how to write assembly code (assembly is basically the last level of human-understandable code; actual machine code comes next).

My wife's first computer was an Atari 800. My roommate during my first year at college had an Atari 400.

My wife's first PC (and by extension, my first PC) was a Compaq "Portable". She paid extra to replace one of the 360 KB floppy drives with a 20 MB hard drive, and for an add-in memory card to bring the memory to 640 KB. We shared that for the first four years or so of our relationship. Nothing like playing CGA-graphics games on a 9" sixteen-shades-of-green screen!

[Crazieman]

Does my first computer count as an Atari 800 if I was 2 and playing with it on my dad's lap?

[Doug Loss]

My first computer was an IBM 1620:



After that (not counting the programmer/test station for the Pershing missile I helped run in the army) it was a TRS-80 Model I, with a cassette drive and 16K of RAM.  A few years later I started a home computer software store, so I acquired one of each common home computer of the era: a TI-99/4a, a Timex Sinclair, a VIC-20, a Commodore 64, a Radio Shack Color Computer, and an Atari 400.  I got the Atari 400 because it was functionally similar to the Atari 800 and allowed me to demonstrate all the software, but was cheaper.  I modded the 400 and Radio Shack CoCo to have actual keyboards rather than the membrane and chiclet (respectively) ones they came with.  I used these machines with used TVs I acquired as demo units for all the software I had for sale.  The business lasted until K-Mart (among others) realized that there was a market for 3rd-party software for these machines, at which point they undersold my small business on the popular titles, relegating me to the harder-to-find (and therefore less in-demand) programs.  Realizing the business was going away, I closed it gracefully and moved on to work in a ComputerLand retail store.  This was around 1985 or so, I think.

[Bigun]

[Oceander]

My first computer was an IBM 1620:



After that (not counting the programmer/test station for the Pershing missile I helped run in the army) it was a TRS-80 Model I, with a cassette drive and 16K of RAM.  A few years later I started a home computer software store, so I acquired one of each common home computer of the era: a TI-99/4a, a Timex Sinclair, a VIC-20, a Commodore 64, a Radio Shack Color Computer, and an Atari 400.  I got the Atari 400 because it was functionally similar to the Atari 800 and allowed me to demonstrate all the software, but was cheaper.  I modded the 400 and Radio Shack CoCo to have actual keyboards rather than the membrane and chiclet (respectively) ones they came with.  I used these machines with used TVs I acquired as demo units for all the software I had for sale.  The business lasted until K-Mart (among others) realized that there was a market for 3rd-party software for these machines, at which point they undersold my small business on the popular titles, relegating me to the harder-to-find (and therefore less in-demand) programs.  Realizing the business was going away, I closed it gracefully and moved on to work in a ComputerLand retail store.  This was around 1985 or so, I think.

Sweet!  I remember all of those systems, although I was too young to buy any of them (parents bought me an Atari 800 in 1984).

[Mom MD]

My wife's first computer was an Atari 800. My roommate during my first year at college had an Atari 400.

My wife's first PC (and by extension, my first PC) was a Compaq "Portable". She paid extra to replace one of the 360 KB floppy drives with a 20 MB hard drive, and for an add-in memory card to bring the memory to 640 KB. We shared that for the first four years or so of our relationship. Nothing like playing CGA-graphics games on a 9" sixteen-shades-of-green screen!

Hubby and I bought our first computer in the late 80's.  It had 20 Megabytes of memory on the hard drive, and we upgraded to 40 Megabytes.  We had no idea what we were going to do with all that memory....

[Oceander]

Hubby and I bought our first computer in the late 80's.  It had 20 Megabytes of memory on the hard drive, and we upgraded to 40 Megabytes.  We had no idea what we were going to do with all that memory....

My first "real" system was an IBM PC "luggable" I bought for college at $1,700 in 1986. It looked like one of those old sewing machine cases, weighed what felt like a ton, had a tiny little orange on black screen, and 640k of memory (supposedly Bill Gates didn't think anyone would ever need more than that).  In today's dollars that would probably be about $2,500 to $3,000.  The level of computer I could get for that money now would blow most computers away - we're talking a 17" mammoth notebook (a desktop replacement) with two dedicated graphics cards, a huge solid state drive, at least one other internal hard drive, the highest resolution screen available, .....