How I got my start with Computers?

[Bigun]

I messed with digital computers while in the U. S. Army in the 1960s.

My first PC was a Tandy 1000A with dual 5.25 inch floppies and 640K of RAM for which I paid a LOT more than you can get a really nice laptop for these days. Accounting for inflation, more than ten times more!

Your stories below.

[Wingnut]

Also had a Tandy 1000.  But my 1st was a TI 994A 16 bit commuter.

[Bigun]

Also had a Tandy 1000.  But my 1st was a TI 994A 16 bit commuter.

Well, I also had a TI scientific computer purchased in 1977. Does that count?

[DB]

My first "computer" was a wire wrapped Z80 I built running code written in machine language on C size graph paper... All the relative/absolute logic jumps were calculated by hand...

On the way home from buying the Z80 CPU chip I also got my first speeding ticket... Too excited to get home I guess...

[Bigun]

My first "computer" was a wire wrapped Z80 I built running code written in machine language on C size graph paper... All the relative/absolute logic jumps were calculated by hand...

On the way home from buying the Z80 CPU chip I also got my first speeding ticket... Too excited to get home I guess...

After the Tandy, I never bought another store-bought computer until maybe five years ago.

[240B]

When I was a kid, my brother bought a Commodore 64. My first time ever seeing a computer.[/size]
We played text games. "You are in a forest." N,S,E,W



examine mailbox
https://writtenrealms.com/game

[Wingnut]

Well, I also had a TI scientific computer purchased in 1977. Does that count?

Was that a calculator? Well that does predate the TI 99 by a few years.  Not sure if you win?  lol

[Smokin Joe]

Well, I have an old TI, in the box still. It was given to me. First experience was on timeshare with UVa, from college. Then, Fortran at UND (*&*$# punch cards....
First I owned was a TRS-80, blown out to 128K with dual floppy drives, dot matrix printer, and the cassette drive.
Next was a Packard Bell, running Win 3.11,
Then graduated to a Toshiba laptop running Win 95, and used it for work. Subsequent machines included another Toshiba running Win 98 (2nd ed), one running Win XP, along with a Sony Vaio and a couple of house boxes running XP.
Finally, after dodging the intermediate forms of Windows, made the move to an HP laptop (switched over to SSD when the drive crashed, the day after I had made a backup) with Win 10 Pro 64 bit. and a new house box running the same.

I bought all of my laptops refurbed (or open box: the Sony, which was an SOB to figure out--bad memory, changing that out fixed it). I have become accustomed to Win 10, and am not really in a rush to 'upgrade' to 11.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't want my stuff in the cloud, and 11 seems pushy that way.

[corbe]

   A hand me down IBM 5150 from Shell.  It taught me EDLIN and how to stuff as many drivers as you could above the 740K limit.  I've been on IBM Mainframe throughout my career. Started on a Univac 1050-II in Supply/USAF 72.

[Bigun]

Well, I have an old TI, in the box still. It was given to me. First experience was on timeshare with UVa, from college. Then, Fortran at UND (*&*$# punch cards....
First I owned was a TRS-80, blown out to 128K with dual floppy drives, dot matrix printer, and the cassette drive.
Next was a Packard Bell, running Win 3.11,
Then graduated to a Toshiba laptop running Win 95, and used it for work. Subsequent machines included another Toshiba running Win 98 (2nd ed), one running Win XP, along with a Sony Vaio and a couple of house boxes running XP.
Finally, after dodging the intermediate forms of Windows, made the move to an HP laptop (switched over to SSD when the drive crashed, the day after I had made a backup) with Win 10 Pro 64 bit. and a new house box running the same.

I bought all of my laptops refurbed (or open box: the Sony, which was an SOB to figure out--bad memory, changing that out fixed it). I have become accustomed to Win 10, and am not really in a rush to 'upgrade' to 11.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't want my stuff in the cloud, and 11 seems pushy that way.

@Smokin Joe  A couple of weeks ago I took a W10 laptop that was supposedly not upgradeable to W11 and installed Linux Mint Cinamon on it. My son played with it for a week and yesterday brought me a perfectly fine Dell Precision laptop with W11 factory installed and asked me if I could do it to his. I did and he's happy as a clam. No clouds unless you install and pay for them. (My son has the long knives out for any kind of software that requires a subscription and absolutely hates Microsoft.)

I would do mine to if I could get A Linux version of my genealogy software.

[DB]

   A hand me down IBM 5150 from Shell.  It taught me EDLIN and how to stuff as many drivers as you could above the 740K limit.  I've been on IBM Mainframe throughout my career. Started on a Univac 1050-II in Supply/USAF 72.

I finally dumped my IBM PC 1 in a dumpster about 7 years ago...

[Smokin Joe]

@Smokin Joe  A couple of weeks ago I took a W10 laptop that was supposedly not upgradeable to W11 and installed Linux Mint Cinamon on it. My son played with it for a week and yesterday brought me a perfectly fine Dell Precision laptop with W11 factory installed and asked me if I could do it to his. I did and he's happy as a clam. No clouds unless you install and pay for them. (My son has the long knives out for any kind of software that requires a subscription and absolutely hates Microsoft.)

I would do mine to if I could get A Linux version of my genealogy software.

Unfortunately, I am using mine for work, and the software I use was designed for Windows. There isn't an equivalent in Linux, and what I use is an industry standard. BTW, I agree with your son about subscription software. It's why I installed Office 2019 instead of 365. (I bought my first version of Office with the manuals, on floppy disks (25, 3 1/4) for 2 dollars, unopened, at a rummage sale.)

[Bigun]

Unfortunately, I am using mine for work, and the software I use was designed for Windows. There isn't an equivalent in Linux, and what I use is an industry standard.

  Same trap I'm in.

[Sighlass]

Brother says our first computer was a TI-99/4A

But it does not look like what I remember...

My memory has it more like 1981-1982 IBM or clone like MPC-1600 (except only one disk input) ??? I just don't remember to be honest.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPC_1600

I tried to do the graphics of  Space Invaders, and succeeded (visually but I could only do a simulation of the game without user input)... I made my own report cards and got away with it for a few months... until I was caught... and got the mandatory whooping.

I got tired of the limited memory and lack of programing training on how to make input/output of games so I forgot the computer. We moved and never set the computer back up. It wasn't until around 1993-4 that I got another computer (and a huge phone bill for not linking to the correct internet connection on dialup).

I found conservative forums and was hooked....



 

[DB]

The first computer I bought was a Sinclair ZX80

https://www.timexsinclair.com/computers/sinclair-zx80/

Cassette tape to save/load programs...

[roamer_1]

After the Tandy, I never bought another store-bought computer until maybe five years ago.

My first was an old HP 386sx that my inlaws gave me... It was busted and wouldn't boot... I learned to troubleshoot the boot sequence through a DOS for Dummies book, and general logic - Literally found a pie recipe in the Config.sys ... rewrote that and it was off to the races.

That computer changed everything. When I figured out how valuable it could be for my business, I bent into it hard.

My next one was a Tandy 486sx and I jacked it up with a companion chip that stacked into the CPU to make it a dx... and bought my first hdd - What was I ever going to do with 200 mb of space- Such a grand vista... I couldn't use up 200mb in my whole lifetime 

I too built white boxen, nearly all the way along- Nowadays, it ain't hardly worth it...Business class off-lease machines are so cheap.

[Bigun]

My first was an old HP 386sx that my inlaws gave me... It was busted and wouldn't boot... I learned to troubleshoot the boot sequence through a DOS for Dummies book, and general logic - Literally found a pie recipe in the Config.sys ... rewrote that and it was off to the races.

That computer changed everything. When I figured out how valuable it could be for my business, I bent into it hard.

My next one was a Tandy 486sx and I jacked it up with a companion chip that stacked into the CPU to make it a dx... and bought my first hdd - What was I ever going to do with 200 mb of space- Such a grand vista... I couldn't use up 200mb in my whole lifetime 

I too built white boxen, nearly all the way along- Nowadays, it ain't hardly worth it...Business class off-lease machines are so cheap.

Yep! Spend more on components than its worth.

[Kamaji]

Atari 800.  48k memory!

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

My dad brought home an IBM XT or AT, one of the originals, it was sitting on my kitchen table, in 1986 or so, from his work. I had previously been playing atari since the early 80's. Also played Coleco at my friend's house.

[The_Reader_David]

First owned, an Apple II. Of course before that I'd learned Fortan 77, Fortan IV, and LISP on main-frames and BASIC on Tandy machines (I forget the model), the last when TA'd the section of Business Calculus at U. Penn for the Wharton undergrads who chose to learned BASIC programming along with their calculus. (I say I used to teach the best business calculus students in the country -- not only were they at Wharton, they had the ambition drive to take on extra work in the required math course.)

[DB]

First owned, an Apple II. Of course before that I'd learned Fortan 77, Fortan IV, and LISP on main-frames and BASIC on Tandy machines (I forget the model), the last when TA'd the section of Business Calculus at U. Penn for the Wharton undergrads who chose to learned BASIC programming along with their calculus. (I say I used to teach the best business calculus students in the country -- not only were they at Wharton, they had the ambition drive to take on extra work in the required math course.)

Where I worked, we had an Apple II. I used it for linear circuit analysis. We also had a game for it called Castle Wolfenstein that I'd play on weekends... That was the first shooter game I had ever played - but in 2D.

Ever do Forth? It was essentially RPN on a computer.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Attended a Basic porgramming language programming class that had Radio Shack / Tandy TRS-80 computers in the classroom.

Moved on to using a Commodore 64 to play around with Basic Programming.

Wasn't much interested during high school, though they did have a computer lab with Apple II's and Digital Equipment Corp VAX Mini-mainframe/computer.

Ended up working my way through junior college.  Took an Introduction To Computers Course at the Lincoln Institute (adult ed) at M.I.T.  Went on to take an Introduction To PC's course at junior college - IBM XT's with (2) floppy drives, 256KB RAM, and MS DOS 3.0.

I liked the PC architecture because it was a more open ecosystem than that of the Technology giants of the era - Apple, DEC, Wang, IBM, Amdahl, etc.  You could crack it open, buy parts from Computer Shopper magazine, and build Franken-computers.  You could find 3rd party open source software on various ANSI BBS's that often advertised in Computer Shopper magazine.

I knew Digital Equipment Corporation was headed down the crapper when they didn't sell Alpha processor based motherboards in Computer Shopper.  They didn't make the adaptation from mini-mainframes to PC's.

There was the debate of Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processors - like Alpha, PowerPC - versus Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) processors - x86 from Intel and AMD.

Once Linux became a viable System V Unix competitor on x86/AMD64 to Sun Solaris on SPARC, Sun MicroSystems was toast.  Sun's iPlanet-rebranded Netscape software sucked.  When Sun Microsystems promoted their software guy to be CEO, that was the final nail in their coffin.

The real breakthrough with PC-based technology platforms was networking - Local Area Networks (LAN's), Wide Area Networks (WAN's), and InterNets; AMD64 extensions for x86; and the maturation of Linux as a PC-based open-source alternative to AIX, Solaris, SCO unix operating systems.

[DB]

Attended a Basic porgramming language programming class that had Radio Shack / Tandy TRS-80 computers in the classroom.

Moved on to using a Commodore 64 to play around with Basic Programming.

Wasn't much interested during high school, though they did have a computer lab with Apple II's and Digital Equipment Corp VAX Mini-mainframe/computer.

Ended up working my way through junior college.  Took an Introduction To Computers Course at the Lincoln Institute (adult ed) at M.I.T.  Went on to take an Introduction To PC's course at junior college - IBM XT's with (2) floppy drives, 256KB RAM, and MS DOS 3.0.

I liked the PC architecture because it was a more open ecosystem than that of the Technology giants of the era - Apple, DEC, Wang, IBM, Amdahl, etc.  You could crack it open, buy parts from Computer Shopper magazine, and build Franken-computers.  You could find 3rd party open source software on various ANSI BBS's that often advertised in Computer Shopper magazine.

I knew Digital Equipment Corporation was headed down the crapper when they didn't sell Alpha processor based motherboards in Computer Shopper.  They didn't make the adaptation from mini-mainframes to PC's.

There was the debate of Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processors - like Alpha, PowerPC - versus Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) processors - x86 from Intel and AMD.

Once Linux became a viable System V Unix competitor on x86/AMD64 to Sun Solaris on SPARC, Sun MicroSystems was toast.  Sun's iPlanet-rebranded Netscape software sucked.  When Sun Microsystems promoted their software guy to be CEO, that was the final nail in their coffin.

The real breakthrough with PC-based technology platforms was networking - Local Area Networks (LAN's), Wide Area Networks (WAN's), and InterNets; AMD64 extensions for x86; and the maturation of Linux as a PC-based open-source alternative to AIX, Solaris, SCO unix operating systems.

Windows 3.11 the primary beginning of Windows based networking (as I recall anyway).

[Free Vulcan]

A used TI-99/4 computer in the late 70's. Messed around with BASIC coding on it.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Some of my first networking configs were for DOS client workstations connecting to NetWare v3.x file servers using IPX/SPX for SMB requests.

Early Windows for Workgroups v3.x / NT v3.x networks used NetBEUI.

For my initial attempts to beind both IPX/SPX and TCP/IP to DOS and Windows 3.1x client workstations, I had to make use of Trumpet Winsock packet driver because Microsoft Windows Networking and Novell NetWare didn't have a DOS client TCP/IP socket driver yet.

We'd boot to DOS to load the network drivers and then load Windows 3.1 to run on top of DOS on networked client workstations.

Network card IRQ's and Memory addresses were configured using jumpers.

Good times back in the Dark Ages.  Good times.

Windows 3.11 the primary beginning of Windows based networking (as I recall anyway).

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Some of my first networking configs were for DOS client workstations connecting to NetWare v3.x file servers using IPX/SPX for SMB requests.

Early Windows for Workgroups v3.x / NT v3.x networks used NetBEUI.

For my initial attempts to beind both IPX/SPX and TCP/IP to DOS and Windows 3.1x client workstations, I had to make use of Trumpet Winsock packet driver because Microsoft Windows Networking and Novell NetWare didn't have a DOS client TCP/IP socket driver yet.

We'd boot to DOS to load the network drivers and then load Windows 3.1 to run on top of DOS on networked client workstations.

Network card IRQ's and Memory addresses were configured using jumpers.

Good times back in the Dark Ages.  Good times.

Yes Windows 95 needed a Winsock program to browse the web IIRC.

[Bigun]

I remember Telnet BBS.  My memories of how we got there are a bit foggy these days.

[DB]

I remember Telnet BBS.  My memories of how we got there are a bit foggy these days.

Dial up Bulletin boards were the thing before the Web...

BofA had dial up (with a phone modem) service for Home Banking well before the Web came along. I used it...

[Bigun]

Dial up Bulletin boards were the thing before the Web...

BofA had dial up (with a phone modem) service for Home Banking well before the Web came along. I used it...

I remember trying to transmit a fifty-page document between offices over a 300 baud dialup connection. 

[Cyber Liberty]

I took a programming class in high school in the 70's with a glorified programmable calculator in the early 70's, and a college course in Basic.

[catfish1957]

 h

   A hand me down IBM 5150 from Shell.  It taught me EDLIN and how to stuff as many drivers as you could above the 740K limit.  I've been on IBM Mainframe throughout my career. Started on a Univac 1050-II in Supply/USAF 72.

Looks like my first PC in about '86.  Used the IBM version first at work in about '84 that ran off two 5 1/4" floppies.

My XT clone had a CGA color monitor,640K memory, and a 32Mb Hard Drive.  I was considered pretty tech savvy at the time...   Now?  Not so much.

[DB]

I remember trying to transmit a fifty-page document between offices over a 300 baud dialup connection. 

And a 9600 baud modem was several thousand dollars...

At one time I had 128 kbps ISDN line to my home... That was best you do with a phone line until DSL came out years later... And DSL was very limited where you could get it. Businesses could get T1 service in urban locations (1.544 Mbps) and that was very expensive. You could get ISDN in most residential locations but it was pretty expensive. During business hours you paid by the minute. When Internet cable modems came along it was a godsend. Now you can get Gigabit home Internet in many locations that isn't very expensive.

[Hoodat]

I broke in with a TRS-80, then a Tandy.  I also had an old Pied Piper that had the 8" floppy drive.

[Hoodat]

I took a programming class in high school in the 70's with a glorified programmable calculator in the early 70's, and a college course in Basic.

BASIC was the shizzle.  I still miss it.

[DB]

BASIC was the shizzle.  I still miss it.

Look up FreeBASIC.net. I still use it for batch tools, though I'm working on moving to Elixir for that.

[catfish1957]

I took a programming class in high school in the 70's with a glorified programmable calculator in the early 70's, and a college course in Basic.

Same here.  Took computer Science in college (1978) as an elective.  Remembered all the damned punch cards that had to be prepared, for what was simply at the time, that could be done by a TI calculator.  At the time, I thought this would never catch on.  Couldn't have been more wrong,

[Bigun]

BASIC was the shizzle.  I still miss it.

[Hoodat]

Anyone here ever use a modem like this?

[Bigun]

Anyone here ever use a modem like this?

 

[DB]

I don't think I did. All of mine were wired into the phone line I believe.

[Smokin Joe]

I remember trying to transmit a fifty-page document between offices over a 300 baud dialup connection. 

I recall trying to send well files to the state over dial-up. Hours later, 98% done and lose the connection... , indeed.

I took to burning CDs and sending them in, back when the USPS worked...

[Elderberry]

I took a college class on programming the Synertek SYM-1 6502

[Fishrrman]

Hoodat asks (in post 37 above with a pic):
"Anyone here ever use a modem like this?"

Not quite, but fairly close.
My first "modem" was a Panasonic 300bps "phone/modem" combination. It looked pretty much like other desktop office phones from the mid-80's, but on front panel there was "phone/modem" switch, and on the back there was an RS232c port.

You dialed the number as you would a regular phone call.
Then as soon as you heard the modem tones "on the other end", you flipped the switch to "modem", and it now functioned as a modem.

I bought it as a closeout at "Crazy Eddies" back at the end of 1986.
There was no cable, I had to physically build one to "fit" from my Apple //c's serial port (NOT an RS232c configuration) to an actual RS232c plug I bought. Finding out the cable assignments was a matter of research and guesswork.

It worked on the first try !

Although I got better modems not too many months afterwards, the "phone" portion served me for many years -- just another reliable Panasonic phone...

[Bigun]

And a 9600 baud modem was several thousand dollars...

At one time I had 128 kbps ISDN line to my home... That was best you do with a phone line until DSL came out years later... And DSL was very limited where you could get it. Businesses could get T1 service in urban locations (1.544 Mbps) and that was very expensive. You could get ISDN in most residential locations but it was pretty expensive. During business hours you paid by the minute. When Internet cable modems came along it was a godsend. Now you can get Gigabit home Internet in many locations that isn't very expensive.

We had an office party the day our T1 came up.

[berdie]

I'm going to post this to give all the gurus here a chuckle...and illustrate how computer illiterate I am, even today.

My first "computer" was actually an internet device. It only worked with the manufacturer's internet service. So when the service ceased to exist so did my "device".

I think my first actual computer was a Dell laptop. 

[Kamaji]

Anyone here ever use a modem like this?

Yup.  Had a friend in high school whose dad worked for the NRL and had a terminal at home.  We were on arpanet while it was still nonpublic, but we mostly just played the text-based Star Trek game.

[roamer_1]

Yep! Spend more on components than its worth.

That's right. There is no way to get anywhere near the value in a white box that you get in an off-lease box. It ain't worth it.

And I find myself more and more on laptops nowadays for the portability... I HATE being chained to the desk at Command Central.

Now... I still have desktops - My main whip on the desk is a desktop, my testbench boxen are both desktops... My media machines are all desktops.

But I seldom sit in front of any of em. They all might as well be headless as all I ever see of em is through RDP. Unless I am doing physical work to a client box or drive, I will NOT be at the desk. Maybe out on the porch, or at the kitchen table, or in my chair, or sitting on the dang pot  ... I can function anywhere, and I DO. I like it like that.

I said all that to say this:

There ain't no white box laptops. I tried, six ways to Sunday. I even know how to get off-brand boxes that are the same as the on-brand, maybe straight from China at substantial savings... But there ain't any way to roll yer own in a laptop. 

[DB]

That's right. There is no way to get anywhere near the value in a white box that you get in an off-lease box. It ain't worth it.

And I find myself more and more on laptops nowadays for the portability... I HATE being chained to the desk at Command Central.

Now... I still have desktops - My main whip on the desk is a desktop, my testbench boxen are both desktops... My media machines are all desktops.

But I seldom sit in front of any of em. They all might as well be headless as all I ever see of em is through RDP. Unless I am doing physical work to a client box or drive, I will NOT be at the desk. Maybe out on the porch, or at the kitchen table, or in my chair, or sitting on the dang pot  ... I can function anywhere, and I DO. I like it like that.

I said all that to say this:

There ain't no white box laptops. I tried, six ways to Sunday. I even know how to get off-brand boxes that are the same as the on-brand, maybe straight from China at substantial savings... But there ain't any way to roll yer own in a laptop. 

I've moved to using workstation laptops. I previously used large heavy workstation towers. I use USB keyboards, wireless mice and large 4k HDMI monitors on them. It allows me to go to the office or home office and have identical setups while only having to move the laptop between the two places while everything on it is current. Doubt I'll ever go back.

[Bigun]

I've moved to using workstation laptops. I previously used large heavy workstation towers. I use USB keyboards, wireless mice and large 4k HDMI monitors on them. It allows me to go to the office or home office and have identical setups while only having to move the laptop between the two places while everything on it is current. Doubt I'll ever go back.

Same! I'm particularly fond of the Dell Precision variety. The 7000 series in particular.