# What was your first computer, and what peripherals did you have for it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 5, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333 "2011-04-05T23:48:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/41 "2011-04-06T09:13:56Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Apple IIe with dual 5.25" floppies. I can’t remember what kind of printer I had. Same here. The printer we got was the Apple Imagewriter. We also got a joystick which worked like crap and a bunch of floppies. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/42 "2011-04-06T11:50:51Z")
Mine was a 80486 clone (I forgotten which manufacturer), loaded with MS-DOS and just a 5.4" floppy drive. Gotten it when I was 10. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/43 "2011-04-06T12:25:15Z")
I had an IBP PC. Not the very first one, but the one with two 5 1/4 in floppies, and no hard drive. It was second hand, and was a gift from a friend who just had bought a new computer with a hard drive. Fortunately I didn’t actually need it for anthing. Learned to do dos batch files, and play Empire. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/44 "2011-04-06T12:39:59Z")
Atari 600xl. (Not the first computer I ever used, but this puppy was the first I ever owned, and I kept it up and running for years even after I jumped ship for the Commodore 128). Peripherals: 1010 cassette drive 850 expansion system generic Centronics-port printer, used through the 850 Hayes-compatible RS-232 2400 baud modem, used through the 850 2 1050 disk drives XF551 disk drive (came with a XEGS bundle circa 1992, and added it into the 600xl set-up) 1064 64k memory upgrade joysticks and paddles from the 2600 and light gun from the XEGS X10 control box and various motors and probes to do fun projects 3rd party numeric keypad My Commodore 128 had a jaw-dropping set-up by the time I finally took it down in 1997… when the Commodore market died, I was buying high-end stuff at fire-sale prices and chucking them into the system. Ran a BBS on it for a while, so I could tell myself it was _necessary_ to have 5 1571s, 2 1581s, a 1541c, and an external hard drive all hooked in, a 520k memory upgrade, a video RAM upgrade, a stereo analog CGA monitor, speech synthesizer, etc. attached… ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/45 "2011-04-06T13:06:19Z")
I don’t know why I said color monitor for my Tandy Color Computer as the monitor was with the next system an Apple IIc. The Tandy Color Computer used the television and as for colors on the display, I don’t know why they called it Color Computer. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/46 "2011-04-06T14:04:20Z")
While the first computer I used was an Apple//c, the first I owned was a 286 with a Hercules Monochrome monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, Windows 3.11 for Workgroups, 1 MB of memory, a 20MB hard drive, and a floppy drive. I also later got a printer for it, but I never got the driver so it would only print text. I did get a modem for it eventually, a 2400bps one that, for some reason, defaulted to 1200bps and required an obscure string to connect at 2400bps. The modem was about the size as a stack of legal pads (maybe 3/4 inch thick), and the adapter was bigger than an entire two plug outlet and case, and thick as it was tall. I didn’t have the modem long before I got a 486 with my first color monitor. I know I got the modem in fifth grade and the 486 in sixth. I think I got the 286 at the beginning of fifth grade, as I don’t remember having the 286 and using the Apple//c at the same time, and the Apple//c was at my K-4 school. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/47 "2011-04-06T15:03:46Z")
It was 43 years ago, so I don’t recall the name and here were no peripherals. It was a circuit board in a box with a handful of jumper wires that you could plug in various holes to program the lights to blink in patterns of your choosing. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/48 "2011-04-06T15:05:49Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > A Tandy 1000EX with a floppy drive, and then we upgraded to a 3.5inch drive. Had a color monitor and a printer for the pin-fed paper. I don’t think the Internet had been invented yet, so no need for a modem! That must have been in about 1984 or so. My brother fell in love with it and bought his own…I think he still has it, and it may still work…his wife was using it a few years back. I really don’t remember specifics about it. Same here. It was an 8086 processor with a 5.25" drive. Windows hadn’t been invented yet, so you were working on a DOS screen. I remember somebody giving me a copy of a tree program (Multimate?) for it, and some other pirated software, but basically it was just a word processor. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/49 "2011-04-06T15:16:06Z")
Commodore VIC-20, with the cassette recorder. Oy, those cassette recorders…I still remember zeroing the counter and fast-forwarding to 70 so that “Bounce Out” wouldn’t take as long to load. The Commodore 64 came later, and even later we finally got the 1541 floppy drive. Wow, that was sweet. I remember cutting notches into the floppy disks so I could use the flip side for storage. I got my Mac when I went to college in 1991. I got my first modem that fall, with my own money; as I recall, it was about $169 for a 2400 baud model. That’s where I got addicted; the next year I spent about $350 on one of those super-speedy new 14.4 modems. heh. ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/50 "2011-04-06T15:16:13Z")
Commodore 64. We had this very stupid game that was all about brushing teeth. Tooth invaders. I was five. I still remember how strange it was to brush teeth on a computer screen. For those who are interested: > **[En İyi Bahis Siteleri 2023 🥇 Burada En Güvenilir Siteler Var](http://www.norway-egypt.org/index.php?t=10&id=404)** > > Sitemizi sizleri en iyi canlı bahis siteleri ve bahis programı ile buluşturmak için açtık. Burada en güvenilir bahis sitelerini bulabilirsiniz. Sitemizde online bahis sitelerine kayıt ve giriş ile bilgiler de bulma şansınız var. Amazing how vividly I remember that… ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/51 "2011-04-06T15:17:59Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I did get a modem for it eventually, a 2400bps one that, for some reason, defaulted to 1200bps and required an obscure string to connect at 2400bps. The modem was about the size as a stack of legal pads (maybe 3/4 inch thick), and the adapter was bigger than an entire two plug outlet and case, and thick as it was tall. That brought back a memory. You reminded me of the time I learned to turn on the hardware data compression on my 2400 baud modem. My download speeds jumped from 230 to over 270 cps. And I was _stoked_. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/52 "2011-04-06T15:24:14Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > An Atari 800 I think, I don’t believe it worked with anything but cartridges and manually typed in programs. Our next computer got a tape drive, which we considered really high tech. 😃 an 800 was my first too, and it did have a peripheral port for modems, tape drives, floppy, etc. We had the 410 tape drive. In fact, I still have this stuff in my closet. I think sometime last year I pulled all of it out to mess with; I had to oil a few points in the tape drive to break through the dried grease but it still was able to read and successfully load programs from the tapes I have. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/53 "2011-04-06T15:26:59Z")
Just before I graduated high school, Dad bought a Commodore 64, a 1541 disk drive and a 1702 monitor; a 1650 modem came later. I still have the 64. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/54 "2011-04-06T15:28:45Z")
A Timex Sinclair ZX81 (in 1984), though it was pretty much useless. I spent lots of time with friends’ computers (C64, Amiga, Mac, etc.) through the 80s and early 90s, but didn’t buy a computer of my own until around '93. When I finally got a computer, it was a Compudyne (CompUSA’s house brand of the era), with a 386 processor. It had two floppy drives (a 5.25" and a 3.5"). Peripherals were a very slow Canon bubble-jet B/W printer and a joystick (so I could play “X-Wing” and “Wing Commander”). I got my first modem (a 14.4) a year or so later, and signed up for America Online. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/55 "2011-04-06T15:38:02Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > The Commodore 64 came later, and even later we finally got the 1541 floppy drive. Wow, that was sweet. I remember cutting notches into the floppy disks so I could use the flip side for storage. I did that too! I’d buy the cheaper one-sided disks and notch them myself. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/56 "2011-04-06T16:09:11Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > I did that too! I’d buy the cheaper one-sided disks and notch them myself. Same here, usually with a hole puncher, if I was feeling tidy. Did you guys with the Commodores and the tape drives know there was a program–freely available–that turned your Datasette drive’s speed up to, and sometimes surpassing, normal 1541 drive speeds (which were, without Quickload or Fast Load, admittedly, slow as hell)? It was called [Turbo Tape](http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue57/turbotape.html), and published in _Compute’s Gazette_. Unfortunately, this program didn’t show up until 1985, and I think I had gone disk drive by then, or was just about to get my C-128, so I didn’t get a chance to really play with it. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/57 "2011-04-06T16:15:54Z")
I should add, the important caveat here is that the the speed of the Datasette is not turned up. It’s the way the data is stored on the tape that accomplishes such (for the device) amazing speeds. Programs have to be Turbosaved in order to Turboload, so you can’t use it on commercial software, unless you were somehow able to resave it in this format. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/58 "2011-04-06T16:37:57Z")
My first way back when was a Commodore Vic-20. My parents were both programmers, so over the years we had a lot of systems come through the house…C64, C128, Sinclair, Osborne, the first Mac, an 8086, 286, 386, 486 (DX, DX2, DX4), and on and on to present day. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/59 "2011-04-06T21:55:08Z")
I had an original IBM PC, serial number around 140,000 (but they started at 100,000, so it was one of the first 40,000 sold). It came with 16K of memory to which the vendor added 48K of third party memory, one diskette drive that held 160K (later OSs upped this to 180 and then I got two double-sided drives whose diskettes held 360K each). I got an Epson dot matrix, I think it was an MX-80, but may have been FX-80, whichever came first (I later got the other model and used it for years). There was a green & white “graphics” monitor. It wrote white on a green screen. I had an acoustic modem, a large box that included a cradle for the phone and operated at 300 baud. ---
**Author:** ![transient999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@transient999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/transient999)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333/60 "2011-04-06T22:58:30Z")
Mine was 486DX. Paid $2400, boy was I giddy. Bought it from [wholesale computer parts](http://ravetek.com) name FOCUS. I thought I had a steal. lol [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-computer-and-what-peripherals-did-you-have-for-it/577333.md?page=4)