# Yer first computer!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 21, 2002, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042 "2002-07-21T02:49:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/1 "2002-07-21T02:49:07Z")
My first one was a TRS-80 (Tandy, Radio Shack) Color Computer.
It had no disk drive - just an external TAPE drive (and you could use any tape player, really).
It had no internal modem - just a 300 baud one.
I had no MONITOR! I hooked it up to a color TV. Which wasn’t even cable-ready, I might add.
The year was 1980.
How bout you guys? 🙂
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### Author:  [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/2 "2002-07-21T02:57:12Z")
Commodore 64, around 1988. Had the newest computer feature, removable media storage, a 5¼ inch floppy drive. Computer and HP dot matrix printer at Sears, $2100. Space Invaders came installed on it too.
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### Author:  [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/3 "2002-07-21T03:03:44Z")
Commodore Vic-20, hooked up to an old B/W TV someone gave me for free… no modem, no tape drive (for the first few months I had it, anyways… every program I wrote was gone as soon as I turned it off!).
Those were the days!
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### Author:  [@Maxxxie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maxxxie)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/4 "2002-07-21T03:09:57Z")
Mine was an Apple ][ + … I think it was 1979. It had TWO external floppy disc drives which made fantastic noises when a disc was inserted. I used to sit and program all sorts of crap in BASIC. Lots of fun!
1979 was also the year of my introduction to the internet… we had a Freedom dumb terminal which used an acoustic coupler attached to the handset of the telephone to dial in to my dad’s university’s dial-in banks. I’d sit there and read USENET news and email my dad. I’d also play around with vi, writing little shell scripts to entertain myself. I am ashamed to say I have let my Unix skills slip. I was four, going on five 🙂
Max.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/5 "2002-07-21T03:16:28Z")
Timex Sinclair.
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/6 "2002-07-21T03:21:46Z")
A Texas Instruments model that my dad brought home (also circa 1980). Data storage was on cassette tape, and you used a B/W TV for a monitor. Programming was in BASIC. I remember my best project – drawing a face that looked right and left and then winked at you. IIRC every pixel had to be defined individually.
Around the same time I also had a “computer” on loan from a friend of my dad’s. It was a huge blue box with plugs and cables like an old-fashioned switchboard. No display, just blinking lights. I remember that it could be programmed to play the old puzzle “Fox and Goose.” Wish I could get another gander at that thing.
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### Author:  [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/7 "2002-07-21T03:23:04Z")
Atari 600XL
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### Author:  [@ResIpsaLoquitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ResIpsaLoquitor)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/8 "2002-07-21T03:28:41Z")
Geeze…my family’s first computer was an old Atari…possibly the 600XL **Hastur** mentioned. I vaguely remember it was a fat keyboard with a slot for cartridges on top.
**My** first computer that I paid for myself is my HP 3290 Laptop, which I’m still using right now.
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### Author:  [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/9 "2002-07-21T03:32:05Z")
Yeah, the 600XL and the 800XL both had those slots, and I had both of them around the same time as that CoCo. Also had a Model IV (I think) from Radio Shack. Wasn’t till the early nineties that I got an IBM.
And **Scarlett** , my BASIC programming was either ripped from a magazine or was along the lines of:
10 CLS
20 PRINT “I AM SO COOL!!!”;
30 GOTO 20
RUN
hehe
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/10 "2002-07-21T03:51:54Z")
I wired an AL something speech chip to a SYM-1 single board computer and had it recite Shakespeare. Sounded like Daffy Duck.
🙂
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### Author:  [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/11 "2002-07-21T04:35:16Z")
TI99/4A! Complete with joysticks, voice synth module, and… Parsec!
Oh, and a tape deck, too, for recording the game programs I’d type in out of 99’er Magazine (or something like that).
I always felt soooo superior to my poor friends with Vic-20’s.
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### Author:  [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/12 "2002-07-21T04:55:59Z")
Put me in the TI99 group.
but the first computer I ever really used for anything constructive was the Atari 1040 ST (it was really just a 520 ST with the extra 520k).
I used it in the studio for MIDI control. Here’s the kicker. I didn’t replace it until 1995 when Windows could REALLY keep up with the Atari. (I had tried Windows 3.1 for the studio and wasn’t impressed… and I couldn’t afford an Apple)
Funny thing, I could fire up the Atari and still use it in the studio today.
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### Author:  [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/13 "2002-07-21T05:03:20Z")
Put me in the TI99 group.
but the first computer I ever really used for anything constructive was the Atari 1040 ST (it was really just a 520 ST with the extra 520k).
I used it in the studio for MIDI control. Here’s the kicker. I didn’t replace it until 1995 when Windows could REALLY keep up with the Atari. (I had tried Windows 3.1 for the studio and wasn’t impressed… and I couldn’t afford an Apple)
Funny thing, I could fire up the Atari and still use it in the studio today.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/14 "2002-07-21T05:09:40Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Astroboy14 \*
> \*\*Commodore Vic-20, hooked up to an old B/W TV someone gave me for free… no modem, no tape drive (for the first few months I had it, anyways… every program I wrote was gone as soon as I turned it off!).
>
> Those were the days! \*\*
Us too! Except I think my parents bought the tape drive right away. They taught me enough basic so I could amuse myself by programing colored balls and birds to bounce/fly around the screen- not bad for a six year old. Some days I get misty-eyed thinking of the **Clowns** and **Seawolf** games…😃
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### Author:  [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/15 "2002-07-21T05:10:12Z")
Put me in the TI99 group.
but the first computer I ever really used for anything constructive was the Atari 1040 ST (it was really just a 520 ST with the extra 520k).
I used it in the studio for MIDI control. Here’s the kicker. I didn’t replace it until 1995 when Windows could REALLY keep up with the Atari. (I had tried Windows 3.1 for the studio and wasn’t impressed… and I couldn’t afford an Apple)
Funny thing, I could fire up the Atari and still use it in the studio today.
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### Author:  [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/16 "2002-07-21T05:11:26Z")
Eeek. Double post.
That never happened on the Atari ST. 😉
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### Author:  [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/17 "2002-07-21T05:18:12Z")
Commodore 64. I used Paperclip as my primary word processor – until GeoWrite. Oh, GEOS! A GUI for the C64. It actually worked pretty good.
And the games! Summer (Olympic) Games! Ghostbusters! Hacker!
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/18 "2002-07-21T05:49:23Z")
Timex/Sinclair T1000 with 16K of RAM! Whoo hoo!
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### Author:  [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/19 "2002-07-21T05:51:55Z")
I can’t remember. But I remember fiddling around with my good friend’s computer. And it had a tape recorder “disk drive.” Remember those?
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### Author:  [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2002, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-first-computer/120042/20 "2002-07-21T05:55:24Z")
Tandy 1000HX, sometime in the mid-eighties. The hard drive was not accessible. We had to store everything on floppies.
I was very impressed at the time 🙂
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