# Do you remember your first model computer?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 20, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107 "2011-06-20T03:06:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/1 "2011-06-20T03:06:47Z")
I’d be shocked if there aren’t 100 threads exactly like this zombified. But what the hey! I can’t find one by searching for “First computer” in a title scan, and at any rate, this should be interesting.
What was the first computer that you ever owned?
When I was 3, my mum thought that this whole computer business might be the way of the future. And so she got dad to trot down to the Radioshack and get me a Tandy RL-1000:
[http://www.oldskool.org/guides/tvdog/RLRLX.html](http://www.oldskool.org/guides/tvdog/RLRLX.html)
Dos/Deskmate dual boot. CGA graphics. FAX modem! MOUSE! Plus it came with an Epson Dot Matrix printer with those most brilliant of inventions, the ink ribbon…it never tore or melted or got stuck on my printer head! Not even once…:rolleyes: \
So, how about the rest of you?
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### Author:  [@G-SE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G-SE)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/2 "2011-06-20T03:27:45Z")
I got you beat. My first “computer” was a Texas Instruments [TI-99](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-99/4A) WITH the fancy audio tape storage adapter!
I was fortunate enough to later get an Apple IIe that actually had a disc drive. Woot!
I do remember well my first Windows computer, a Packard Bell 200Mhz MMX, 32MB ram & 2GB hard drive, all for the low, low, price of $1600.00!
Thank God for advancements in technology!
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### Author:  [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/3 "2011-06-20T03:32:22Z")
> [@G-SE](#):
>
> I got you beat. My first “computer” was a Texas Instruments [TI-99](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-99/4A) WITH the fancy audio tape storage adapter!
>
> I was fortunate enough to later get an Apple IIe that actually had a disc drive. Woot!
>
> I do remember well my first Windows computer, a Packard Bell 200Mhz MMX, 32MB ram & 2GB hard drive, all for the low, low, price of $1600.00!
>
> Thank God for advancements in technology!
Well, if we’re trying to one up each other with our antiques, you’re probably older than me, and thus going to win…😛
But I see your 200MhZ Packard Bell, and RAISE you an IBM Aptiva. It ran Windows 3.1 and OS/2 Warp in a dual boot. But it came with a voucher for a free upgrade to windows 95 that I couldn’t possibly turn down, and in the process it killed OS/2…
75MhZ, ONE GB hard drive, 8MB RAM upgraded to 32MB. I believe that one set us back an even $1200!
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/4 "2011-06-20T03:38:49Z")
8080 system based on a CPU card from a company called Digital Group, and some hand made interface and memory. Couldn’t afford any more than that at the time.
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/5 "2011-06-20T03:41:44Z")
Commodore 64 with a disk drive and a monitor. And a color printer (thermal!)
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/6 "2011-06-20T03:50:21Z")
When I was in kindergarten, my parents bought a vic-20 because my mom needed it for a computer programing class. Then they taught me to program in basic.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/7 "2011-06-20T03:53:45Z")
We got an [Apple IIe](http://www.oldapplestuff.com/Images/Apple2Computers/Apple2eSystem.jpg) some time around 1985-1986ish. Same disk drive as in that picture and a similar monitor. Eventually got a second 3.5" drive and a Panasonic Dot Matrix printer. Like elfkin, I learned BASIC on that computer.
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### Author:  [@G-SE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G-SE)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/8 "2011-06-20T03:54:32Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> When I was in kindergarten, my parents bought a vic-20 because my mom needed it for a computer programing class. Then they taught me to program in basic.
10 print “hello world”
20 goto 10
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### Author:  [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/9 "2011-06-20T04:04:23Z")
> [@G-SE](#):
>
> I got you beat. My first “computer” was a Texas Instruments [TI-99](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-99/4A) WITH the fancy audio tape storage adapter!
People need to be told what “audio tape storage adapter” means, because it’s just too precious.
My dad got a TI-99 when I was a kid, and I never get tired of telling people about the audio tape storage thing.
To be perfectly clear on this: _Computer software came on audio tapes._ I’m talking about the things people used to listed to music on before Compact Discs got popular.
You could also write a program and save it to an audio tape. Or, you pretty much had to, because there was no other way to save it. Otherwise it would be gone when you turned off your computer.
So, you typed a BASIC program into the computer’s tiny RAM, then entered the command to save the program to tape. Then you pushed RECORD on the tape recorder… the _[tape recorder!!!](http://www.cluechaser.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/taperecorder_Full.jpg)_… and it would save it and I don’t know why I find it so amazing that such a mechanism existed, I just do.
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### Author:  [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/10 "2011-06-20T04:22:05Z")
I had a [TRS-80 Color Computer 2](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80_Color_Computer#Color_Computer_2_.281983.E2.80.931986.29). Orignally I ran it off a tape drive, but later got a speedy 5.25" floppy drive.
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### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/11 "2011-06-20T04:26:41Z")
Apple II c - we got it in the mid-80s.
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### Author:  [@Tehanu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tehanu)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/12 "2011-06-20T04:26:55Z")
My dad got a [Kaypro II](http://oldcomputers.net/kayproii.html) when I was about 7 or 8. I spent many hours on it, in particular playing the old text-based Adventure game. Ah, memories 🙂
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/13 "2011-06-20T05:05:09Z")
I had a ZX-81. Nyah. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Rain\_Soaked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rain_Soaked)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/14 "2011-06-20T05:15:38Z")
Sinclair ZX-80 with 1k RAM and used the TV for the monitor. It did the calculation during the blanking interval. Spent $99 to upgrade to 16k RAM.
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### Author:  [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/15 "2011-06-20T05:16:29Z")
A [Royal Alphatronic](http://www.thepcmuseum.net/details.php?RECORD_KEY%28museum%29=id&id%28museum%29=632) — 4 MHz Z80 processor and 64K RAM. Came in a bundle with a monochrome monitor, floppy drive, OS (CP/M) and word processing and spreadsheet software. IIRC the price in 1985 was something like 800 USD.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/16 "2011-06-20T05:41:15Z")
I believe mine was an [Atari 800](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family#The_early_machines:_400_and_800) my father bought. It wasn’t until our next computer that we got a tape drive to go with it IIRC.
> [@cuauhtemoc](#):
>
> You could also write a program and save it to an audio tape. Or, you pretty much had to, because there was no other way to save it.
Oh, there _was_ an alternative of sorts - you could write it down and type it back in. I remember typing in programs - and how seldom I got it to work, there was always a typo somewhere.
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### Author:  [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/17 "2011-06-20T05:44:25Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> Oh, there _was_ an alternative of sorts - you could write it down and type it back in. I remember typing in programs - and how seldom I got it to work, there was always a typo somewhere.
The worst was when a code magazine had a game in it with several hundred lines of BASIC and a couple of typos for good measure.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/18 "2011-06-20T05:51:28Z")
NCR PC 4
here’s the commercial
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xaD8SNcQXg)
Came with DOS 2.4 (I think or maybe 2.2). Full set of manuals.
I bought it because they were offering a rebate. Bring in an adding machine or typewriter and get $$$ back. They offered a 10MB hard drive that was way too expensive and 16 colors, also too expensive. So I stuck with mono. Years later I bought a hard card with a 25 mb hard disk and installed it.
Later, I regretted getting a PC with an integrated monitor. I would have preferred having the option to upgrade to a better monitor when they came out a few years later.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/19 "2011-06-20T06:06:19Z")
Commodore VIC-20 with Datasette cassette storage drive. I was actually pretty happy with what one could do with 3.5K of RAM at the time.
Now that I think of it, I may be a little odd. I had the VIC-20, and then a Commodore 128, but then did not own a computer of any sort in college or my first few years of employment. So that works out to being without computer from 1993 through the end of 2003.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2011, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/20 "2011-06-20T06:14:37Z")
The first computer I owned was a commodore 64.
The first computer I ever programmed I have never been able to identify. It was kind of a boxy thing, with a hex pad on it and a few 7 segment displays on it. You could key in a program one instruction at a time (very slow and painful) or you could stick punch cards in it (slightly less painful). It also held programs on a thing that looked like a long and skinny credit card, with a magnetic stripe on it. Each card held the equivalent of a whole bunch (not sure how many) of punch cards. It had a printer on it that was one of those skinny little cash register types of printers. This would have been in about 1977 or somewhere thereabouts. If you have any idea what this thing was, please let me know.
I next learned a lot about programming on a TRS-80 model 1. 4k of memory! Yippee! Wow, what a machine. I think I still have a cassette from it that I used to store programs on, though I’m sure bit rot has long since destroyed any data that might be on it.
The oldest computer I ever used was a PDP-11 from the early 70s, though it was well into the 80s by the time I used it. If you know what PIP means, you have my sympathies. I’ve done a lot of work on old vaxes over the years as well.
An old DOS PC… you call that an old computer? Sheesh. 😛 I had gone through quite a few computers before I finally got to something that ran DOS.
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