Your classic computing heritage.

[J Arcane]

So a few moments ago, I was discussing monitor sizes, and momentarily forgot where the key for " was, and when I went looking for it, my first instinct was to look for a shifted number key, more specifically, the 2.

Just like on my old Color Computer 3.

Loved that damn computer, still one of my all time favorites, and a device that I have seen some incredible things squeezed out of. We're talking about a machine that 20 years ago was doing real-time multi-tasking OS on a sub-1mhz processor with 128k-512k of RAM.

It's the machine I pretty much started computing on. I have a deep love of classic computers that continues to this day, and having been stuck with that thing (plus later, an old 286 with a Hercules card) for much of my Jr. High and High School years, has given me a rather different perspective on computing I think, a focus on simple, efficient, compact design, over the lazy bloatware that so often seems to dominate the landscape today.

[Troggles]

My first computer wasn't nearly that old. It was an HP with a Pentium 2 466mhz, 64mb of RAM, 8mb graphics card, 15gb harddrive, and it ran Windows 98. I used to take the case off and put an desk fan blowing directly into it just to play NWN. That thing got a lot of use.

[Typical Michael]

My first computer was an IBM compatible thing that ran stuff off of 5 inch floppy disks through DOS. After that, I got a Pentium 1 90mhz I think, first with something less than Windows 3.1, then Windows 3.1. I think it had 8mb of RAM which we upgraded to 16, and a 512mb hdd.

[Wraith]

Macintosh
Macintosh Classic
Packard Bell 66MHz Intel DX2 (Win 3.11, Win 95)
Tiger Direct 400MHz AMD K6-2 (Win 98)
Dell 800MHz Intel PIII (Win 98SE)
custom AMD Athlon XP 1700+ DLT3C (Win XP Pro)
custom AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester (Win XP Pro)
custom Intel Core2Duo E4500 Allendale (Win XP Pro)


And also now a MacBook C2D 2.2GHz, though it's not really part of the line of succession.

[tacitus]

My first computer was an Atari 800. My second computer was an IBM compatible 8088 (DOS). My third was a Pentium-90 MHz (Windows 3.1). My fourth was a Pentium II-350 MHz (Windows 98). My remaining computers are still in use or only recently decomissioned.

[Bad Buddha]

Started out with a TI99/4a. Taught myself how to program in Basic on it.

Moved up to a 286 with 640k of RAM, a 20MB HD and an amber monochrome screen. Programmed Clipper dBase applications for a couple years.

Moved up to a 386. Installed a co-processor chip to speed up compiles.

Pentium 90...

Pentium 133...

etc,

etc...

Should be receiving a E8400 from Newegg on Friday. :D

[Lint of Death]

So a few moments ago, I was discussing monitor sizes, and momentarily forgot where the key for " was, and when I went looking for it, my first instinct was to look for a shifted number key, more specifically, the 2.
Wow! Now it make sense.

You see, Spanish keyboards have " as shift+2.

[Food Nipple]

Commodore 64 bitches

Load "*" ,8,1

[J Arcane]

Wow! Now it make sense.

You see, Spanish keyboards have " as shift+2.
US keyboards now have @ at shift, while " is the shift of a key to the left of enter shared with '.

[biosc1]

Go here (http://www.immortalmachines.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=28&func=view&id=1014&catid=12):) (Immortal Machines)

Great thread on classical gaming memories.

[Mastergeo7]

I'm kinda envious of some of you.

You played with C64's, Amiga's, Macintosh...

Our first PC was a DX486 and I remember ALL of the DOS commands that I learned by spying on my brother, just because he wouldn't let me use it most of the time! :p

EDIT: C'mon! some of you even played the first Metal Gear and Castlevania on a MSX!

[KamaItachi]

Commodore 64 bitches

Load "*" ,8,1

Hehe, I came in here to post pretty much the same thing, except for the spectrum.

*Hits play on his tape cassette player*

Only takes 5 minutes to load!

[Libuke]

I can't remember specifics but the first computer I did gaming on could not even do 256 colours which forced an upgrade because all the new games coming out required 256 colours.

[RandoM51]

TI-99/4A
TRS CoCo
TRS-80 Model II
TRS-80 Model III
Apple II
Apple IIe
Apple IIc
Commodore 64
Commodore 128
PC XT
PC AT
IBM PS/2, many many models
Dec Alpha, my first UNIX box
From there on out it was SunOS/Solaris, Ultrix, HP-UX, Xenix, A/UX, AIX, OSF/1, IRIX, NextSTEP, QNX, etc., whatever flavor of UNIX the customer preferred while I ran PC operating systems at home.

Networking started with Lantastic, PowerLAN, and Novell 2.x. Made a living for awhile doing Novell 3.x. Then Microsoft unleashed the money deluge, dominating the PC space with all things Redmond and I retreated to my UNIX tower, only touching PC desktop/server stuff when having to deal with interop issues and or shared midrange/highend storage.

Nowadays I'm professionally a Solaris guy focused on HPC, SAN, and midrange to highend storage solutions. Can do anything you want with anything Sun, HDS, or EMC makes.

[DangerousDaze]

First computer I used was a Commodore PET. First one I owned was a Sinclair ZX-81 and then moved up to a VIC-20 which had tons of RAM - specifically, 3583 bytes! I can still remember most of the important memory locations on my VIC.

[Raen]

An ancient Spectrum was the first thing vaguely computery I ever had. While I had that my parents had some ancient beast that ran Windows 3.11. I can still remember managing to delete the shortcut to Minesweeper on the first day they had it.

[n00bian]

486 (dx2 or something)
8mb ram
400mb hdd
ega gfx
dos 6.11 + windows for workgroups 3.11

[Commissar Rob]

Commodore 64 bitches

Load "*" ,8,1

M.U.L.E. and Bard's Tale still rank as some of my favorite gaming experiences. Ah the power of nostalgia...

[QueQueg]

Atari 4800 with the 64kb ram upgrade (that me and my dad had to solder into place.) Ooo and the keyboard upgrade that had real keys.

I used to type games into the thing in Atari basic. People bitch about load times now... how does 8 hours sound, douch-bags?

[Lint of Death]

US keyboards now have @ at shift, while " is the shift of a key to the left of enter shared with '.

I know, I live here. I was just pleasantly surprised to have a better idea for why it's above the 2 in Spain :p

[Ancalagon]

I remember having an Atari console, with Pitfall I think, the one with the guy who jumped over snakes. Hey consoles are computers too!

Then we got an XT, I seem to remember it ran at 11Mhz.

Next was a 486DX2, either running at 33Mhz or 66MHz, cant remember. Eventually, we got an upgrade consisting of a CDROM, a Soundblaster card, speakers, and some extra RAM (I believe we went from 4MB to 8MB). That computer was awesome. Syndicate, Doom 2, Heretic, programming DOS batch files.... That computer was what first got me hooked on everything computers. I remember also buying a gamepak with 10 games, including Road Rash and Missionforce: Cyberstorm. Man! Classic gaming....

Next was a P200MMx with 32MB of RAM, later I got my first graphics card, a Riva TNT. Seeing coloured lighting, Quake 2 running at 1024x768, playing Half Life 1.... also awesome days.

After that, I got an Athlon 700 with a GeForce 256 and 128MB of RAM (later 256mb). That was when Athlons were barely coming out, and 600MHz was considered fast. I think I probably had the most advanced PC in my (extremely small) town for maybe a week. Was good for many hours of counterstrike, Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament.

The next 2 computers.... well now we are moving away from classic computing and into modern computing, so excuse me if I dont bother.

[Bad Buddha]

I used to type games into the thing in Atari basic. People bitch about load times now... how does 8 hours sound, douch-bags?

Whiner! Back in my day we had to punch cards for each line of code and run it through a card reader. Then we had to run a card batch job to compile our code, then we had to run a card batch job to run the code and input the data.

Oh... and each data record was on a separate card.

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/2443/120pxabrahamsimpsontl9.png

FORTRAN class at WSU back in 1975.

[QueQueg]

Go back to bed Gramps!

[jpublic]

Commodore Vic 20, bastiches. :D

Oh wait, we had a Commodore Pet around the same time too.

I think our next computer was a Victor 9000.

[fitbabits]

My first computer was a Sinclair ZX81. Monochrome, 1K of internal memory (expandable to 16K).

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/fitbabits/Mach_-_ZX81_Set_up.jpg

[LordDon]

My first computer was a Tomy Tutor. It looks like a Fisher Price my first computer or something. Had some fun games though and you could program on it, though we didn't have any storage peripherals so it was all lost when you turned it off.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v129/Lord_Don/tutor.jpg

[Slack3r78]

Started out with a TI99/4a. Taught myself how to program in Basic on it.

TI-99/4A

WTF is this shit? I refuse to accept that I could look as old as Buddha and RandoM in computing geek terms. ;)

[Harv]

I also had the TI-99/4A as my first computer. I played games on it mostly. Parsec and Moon Mine were cartridge favorites. Programmed some TI Basic, which was crap. Had the tape recorder games too. Damn, that sucked.

Then pops sprung for an IBM PS2 Model 30 with blazing 8086 CPU and MCGA graphics. Stupid IBM and Micro Channel. I loved and hated that thing at various times, but I was able to play even more games on it, plus we had a 1200 baud modem that I used to play games on various BBS. Boy and then we got 2400 baud and that was blazing fast!

I don't miss config.sys and autoexec.bat

[QueQueg]

I also don't miss config.sys and autoexec.bat, but I DO miss Interstate 76.

[muddi900]

My first computer was the C64, but my first real PC was a P1 133Mhz(over 100 million cycles!!!), 16MB RAM, 1.2GB HDD(which I was told, I'd never run out of) and cutting edge technology like a CD-ROM drive, 3.5" floppy drive and a sound card!

It was only 10 years ago.

My current setup is a C2D E7200 @3.16GHz, 2GB RAM, Ati HD 4850 and around 320 GB of HDD, which I'm running out of. We can say that technology has advanced 200-500 times in the past decade.

[Bad Buddha]

WTF is this shit? I refuse to accept that I could look as old as Buddha and RandoM in computing geek terms. ;)

We're you playing on the TI when you were 7 years-old?

I got mine when I was around 27.

That would explain a lot.

[Virtual Machine]

Started on a Vic 20 and graduated to a Commodore 64C and floppy drive(which i still have, and still runs a-ok). Then into a Tandy 1000. (Rise of the Dragon in 16 colors! WOO!)

First "modern" computer was a Pentium 75, and cost me over 4 grand (everything inside and out was as good as it got when it was purchased in 1994).

[Loki]

Don't know the first computer that I had, but the first game I played was Age of Empires when I was 10 in 1997