# Do you remember your first model computer? **URL:** \ **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:** 5
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/81 "2011-06-21T03:57:07Z")
Luxury. Some of the older posters here are illustrating the fact that almost any computer you used before about 1977 wasn’t yours, it belonged to a company or school. The first computer I used was some kind of mainframe that took programs in the form of punched cards. It was a relic even at that time. I used it on a field trip to the local vocational school, which likely had received the computer as surplus from some local business. You had to punch the cards with a typewriter-like device. If you made a mistake in any of the 80 columns on a card, you threw it away and started over. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/82 "2011-06-21T13:02:05Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > If you made a mistake in any of the 80 columns on a card, you threw it away and started over. - - PUNCH \* PUNCH \* PUNCH \* Damnit! “Hello Worlf”?? Eh, close enough. - PUNCH \* PUNCH \* PUNCH \* … - ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/83 "2011-06-21T13:07:55Z")
Mine was a Tandy Color Computer - the CoCo. I thought I was such a hot shot with my little BASIC programs on it. How naive I was back then! But hey, I make a good living programming now, so it was a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/84 "2011-06-21T13:11:07Z")
> [@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. I got my vic-20 when I was in what… 4th or 5th grade? I played the games, learned how to do some very rudimentary BASIC, and then lost interest, because the C64 and other newer computers were SO much cooler, and I wanted one of those. Plus, things just took so long- reading from tape was like a 6 minute process, and typing in line after line of basic code just to play some silly game was even worse. Eventually got the C64 between 8th and 9th grade, complete with 5.25 floppy, and got a PC in early 1989 (80286, 640k, 40 meg hard drive, VGA graphics) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/85 "2011-06-21T14:23:19Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > So finally in high school I got my first PC. It was an Amstrad which was a European brand. It was an 8086 processor with 640 K of RAM and a 20 MB Hard drive (woo hoo!). I had one to those, too. It worked and I typed some papers in Word Perfect on it and played Lemmings and a few other games but it was always a little like driving some automobile from the Eastern Bloc or something. Like you mentioned, the proprietary operating system, weird monitor/power setup and creative interpretation of what EGA means. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/86 "2011-06-21T14:39:19Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > Luxury. Some of the older posters here are illustrating the fact that almost any computer you used before about 1977 wasn’t yours, it belonged to a company or school. The first computer I used was some kind of mainframe that took programs in the form of punched cards. It was a relic even at that time. I used it on a field trip to the local vocational school, which likely had received the computer as surplus from some local business. You had to punch the cards with a typewriter-like device. If you made a mistake in any of the 80 columns on a card, you threw it away and started over. Punching those cards is what one of my aunts did for a living, working at the Washington state capitol in the 1970s. She used to give us stacks of what I now assume must have been “ruined” punchcards to play with. Also reams of that double-width, pale green and white striped fanfold printer paper. Some of the paper had printing on it, which I guess must have either been erroneous or test output, but a lot of it was blank. I’m going to assume the blank stuff was the paper at the end of the box - where when you were doing massive print jobs but didn’t have the ability to stop in the middle, you’d swap a nearly empty box of paper out for a fresh box (cuz really, I don’t think my aunt was the pilfering kind). Oddly (or perhaps _not_), despite a career doing computer work, first punching cards for mainframes and then using PCs when they became available, this aunt really doesn’t have any interest in computers now. Near as I can tell, she doesn’t even do e-mail. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/87 "2011-06-21T15:48:19Z")
My father used to bring home miles of pink paper strips with holes punched in them. They were a couple of inches wide. I was convinced that I could decode the strips, if I spent enough time on it. I loved to decipher messages as a kid, and was pretty good at it, for a kid. Alas for me, the coding wasn’t in English, but probably some sort of machine language. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/88 "2011-06-21T16:45:07Z")
Haha, I remember doing the same thing. The worst part was that some sections had actual words punched into them using the circles (probably dates or “this end first” or whatever) so I was sure I could find more words. I was also given reams of green & white fan folded printer paper to draw on the backs of. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/89 "2011-06-21T17:02:10Z")
I had a gradeschool school bus driver who convinced me he could read the punchcards, so I’d bring them to him and he would study them intently and then tell me what they said 😃 (Yeah yeah, I realize now he was just making it up) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/90 "2011-06-21T18:36:17Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > Luxury. Some of the older posters here are illustrating the fact that almost any computer you used before about 1977 wasn’t yours, it belonged to a company or school. The first computer I used was some kind of mainframe that took programs in the form of punched cards. It was a relic even at that time. I used it on a field trip to the local vocational school, which likely had received the computer as surplus from some local business. You had to punch the cards with a typewriter-like device. If you made a mistake in any of the 80 columns on a card, you threw it away and started over. Punch cards? I wish the LGP-21 had punch cards. Paper tape only. Not only that, not only didn’t it support either ASCII or EBCDIC, it didn’t even get the hex numbering sequence right. No a - f. It used f g j k q w. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/91 "2011-06-21T18:38:27Z")
> [@G-SE](#): > > 10 print “hello world” > 20 goto 10 Heh. Being five at the time, I spent most of my time programing it to make bouncing balls or “birds” that flapped their wings. In different colors! ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/92 "2011-06-21T19:02:06Z")
Epson 8086 computer, CGA graphics, and a whopping 20MB hard drive!! We had a sparkling color monitor that allowed me to play games such as _Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego_? ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/93 "2011-06-21T19:15:37Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > [The LGP-21] didn’t even get the hex numbering sequence right. No a - f. It used f g j k q w. What an odd convention. Do you happen to know why they chose those letters? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/94 "2011-06-21T19:59:36Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > What an odd convention. Do you happen to know why they chose those letters? That is weird. According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGP-30) the reason was: > [@](#): > > Unlike other machines of its day, internal data was represented in hexadecimal as opposed to octal, but being a very inexpensive machine it used the physical typewriter keys that correspond to positions 10 to 15 in the type basket for the six non-decimal characters (as opposed to a - f) to represent those values, resulting in 0 - 9 f g j k q w, which was remembered using the phrase “FiberGlass Javelins Kill Quite Well”. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/95 "2011-06-21T20:02:04Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > 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. Rookie. Mine was the TRS-80 that was monochrome and I had to save and load programs via cassette tape. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/96 "2011-06-21T20:35:59Z")
Actually, if owning the computer isn’t a pre-requisite, then my first exposure was the original [MicroBee](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbee), a computer apparently put into schools in New South Wales in 1982. I have vague memories of using it to play some educational _E.T._ game at school, as well as Logo. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/97 "2011-06-22T00:11:33Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I had one to those, too. It worked and I typed some papers in Word Perfect on it and played Lemmings and a few other games but it was always a little like driving some automobile from the Eastern Bloc or something. Like you mentioned, the proprietary operating system, weird monitor/power setup and creative interpretation of what EGA means. I am glad I wasn’t the only person with an Amstrad. I remember my Junior year of High School, we took a class trip to Europe and while there I saw someone with an Amstrad camcorder. Until that moment I wasn’t 100% sure my parents hadn’t just made the whole brand up! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/98 "2011-06-22T08:09:53Z")
Commodore 64 with a cassette player. I did get the 1541 floppy drive later on. I did not have a monitor but used the tv instead. At first the family tv in the living room but after a while my parents got fed up with me hogging the tv and got me a small set for my room. My second computer was an Amiga 500. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/99 "2011-06-22T11:39:36Z")
> [@Coil](#): > > Commodore 64 with a cassette player. I did get the 1541 floppy drive later on. I did not have a monitor but used the tv instead. At first the family tv in the living room but after a while my parents got fed up with me hogging the tv and got me a small set for my room. > > My second computer was an Amiga 500. Same here for both. Except I was the parent. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107/100 "2011-06-22T11:50:22Z")
Ohhh now I get it. At first I thought the thread title was asking if I had a computer that was a model. Why the hell would I have one of those? :dubious: My first computer ever was an Apple ][e with dual floppy drives and Imagewriter II. I think my parents paid something like $5000 for it. Besides the Oregon Trail game and Number Munchers, my favorite game was The Black Cauldron. Man I remember swearing at that game because I would die and loading the game took forever! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-your-first-model-computer/586107.md?page=6)