My dad bought my a Tandy TRS-80 from Radio Shack (very small outfit in the UK at that time)
It eas brilliant. 2Mhz with about 4k RAM, tape loader. I learnt LOADS on it - BASIC programming, Zilog Z80 machine code / assembler.
Ah, happy days.
Your frst ever computer
by greendawn 64 Replies latest jw friends
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Leolaia
I used a TRS-80 Model III in high school in typing class...circa 1985-1986....spent lots of time typing out Duran Duran lyrics on it.
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Confession
Ah, yes, more about the beloved TRS-80. I have to admit it now: I really appreciate our computer teacher in high school. At the time, I felt a bit left out when I found out kids in other schools were learning how to use software (what we called "programs") that had already been created. Mr. Wasylk had decided our computer class would be all about learning how to create our own programs. And I'm glad for that.
Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code = The BASIC computer language. And, yes, we had those little Radio Shack cassette player/recorders to store our programs on. We soon discovered that we'd best record our programs at least three times, since often the next day at least one of those "uploads" would be corrupted.
Didn't anyone have one of those Texas Instruments jobs? (TI-99?)
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flyphisher
For home using purposes: Commodore C64 in 1982
But the foremost experiences with a comp I had in 1975 with a PHP-8 (Digital Equipment). Now in museums.
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hereticult
My first computer was a Commodore AMIGA 500 with 512k RAM and a 3.5 disk drive.I got this computer in 1990 and it was love at first sight.
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unclebruce
First came Atari - great till we hit the ball out of court and never got it back
My old greendawn type clunker cost almost $3,000AU back in 1999 and finally had enough of me several months ago.
So I bought a new 256 Ram 60GB one for $650 one and have a new $1,000 notebook on order
Texas Instruments were big in the '70's:
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AuldSoul
jst2laws had a Texas Instruments computer (TI-99), as I recall, and also had an IBM PC Jr (I think).
Even as a very young guy I was waxing eloquent to him once on the virtues of the 8086 platform and how it would be the coming thing, not because it was better but because it was easier to write software for. If IBM had not tried to force-feed us all on micro-channel graphic achitecture (MCGA), the x86 clone craze may have never happened.
MCGA was not compatible with EGA and instead of rewriting existing corporate software to match the new specs—a cost prohibitive proposition for many major companies—software developers convinced Intel to expand the x86 line outside the IBM family. MCGA was arguably one of the most costly blunders in PC history.
Another big mistake was when Microsoft fired the fellow who wrote MS-DOS before fully comprehending the 640k memory cap. Bill Gates was quoted as defending the decision by saying something along the lines that he could not envision a program that would require more than 640k of memory to run.
Respectfully,
AuldSoul -
AuldSoul
unclebruce, you said first came Atari. But before the Atari cartridge systems there was Atari Pong. We got one eventually from a yard sale.
Wow! What technology!
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New Worldly Translation
Another Atari VCS 2600 fan here. I had the commodore 64 too. Learnt quite a lot of programming on the C64 cos one of the guys in my cousins congregation worked for Alternative Software which were quite well known for games back in the day. Think they got bought out by Ocean software in the end. Anyway he used to teach us how to program BASIC and the C64's native machine code.I also had one of these -
I've just spent 30 mins trying to find out what it was called cos I couldn't remember. It was an Atari XEGS. I wish I'd have kept it now cos they're pretty rare.
BTW I didn't have a gun with mine
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GermanXJW
I started with a Commodore 64, switched to a Commodore Amiga 500, the turned to a Pentium I 75 and now have a Pentium IV, 2,4GHz
