LQ Poll: What was your first computer?

jeremy · 08-01-2017, 10:39 AM

The LQ Poll Series continues. Inspired by a recent episode of Bad Voltage, we want to know: What was your first computing device?

--jeremy

michaelk · 08-01-2017, 11:02 AM

An i386 was the first computer I personally owned. In those days I did work with VAXs, IBM 360s and HPs on the job.

zaphod_es · 08-01-2017, 11:10 AM

Sinclair ZX80 was the first I owned, before that at school I had used an IBM360 owned by the Town Hall.

Ook · 08-01-2017, 11:17 AM

It was a Timex Sinclair TS 1000, but that was really a worthless piece of junk. My first "real" computer was a Commodore 64. I had it for several years and it basically got me started in the IT arena.

JGD · 08-01-2017, 11:23 AM

My first computer was built by me from a kit of parts. The CPU was a Motorola 6800. I modified an old TV as a monitor. I built a printer from a kit. Several tape decks for data storage (cassette, 8-track, hybrid). Speech synthesizer. It's a long story.

DoctorPepper · 08-01-2017, 11:24 AM

The first computer I bought with my own money was a Commodore VIC-20. The first computer I ever used, and the one I first started learning to program on, was a Digital PDP-11/780 minicomputer. It was the "base" computer at NAS Oceana, in Virginia Beach, VA. I was friends with the DP (Data Processing) Chief Petty Officer, and he set my serial terminal up to work at 19,200 baud, and my login account had access to BASIC. I had a blast!

tesseractive · 08-01-2017, 11:33 AM

I didn't see a place to specify in the poll, but: Hyundai 8086 that looked a bit like this: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...c7xWnD3tgAKsNg

hazel · 08-01-2017, 11:42 AM

My first computer was a second-hand PC with Win95 and MS Office, which I bought so that I could work on translating a cache of family letters in German that I found after my mother's death in 1999. No network card or modem, but that wasn't unusual in those days. You can read the story of the project here.

lawquest · 08-01-2017, 11:43 AM

Don't see a place to specify other. My first computer was a Kaypro.

jeremy · 08-01-2017, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tesseractive

I didn't see a place to specify in the poll, but: Hyundai 8086 that looked a bit like this: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...c7xWnD3tgAKsNg

That looks to be an IBM compatible PC.

--jeremy

jeremy · 08-01-2017, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lawquest

Don't see a place to specify other. My first computer was a Kaypro.

It's the last option in the poll.

--jeremy

Trihexagonal · 08-01-2017, 12:08 PM

An Apple II.

ruurd · 08-01-2017, 12:08 PM

The first computer I owned was a Commodore PC-10. It actually had a CGA card inside to be able to create documents containing the Greek alphabet. It had two floppy drives and I think 128K RAM. Quite an investment I tell you.

Trihexagonal · 08-01-2017, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ook

My first "real" computer was a Commodore 64.

I have a Commodore 64C, the powerpack, Manual and Basic book but need the cable and monitor.

I hooked it up to my CRT TV with the cord from an NES so it does work.

croxen · 08-01-2017, 12:17 PM

An IBM compatible PC --an 8088 XT that I bought from Compu-Add in '86. 640K memory, two 5.25 drives, and a 10Mb HD. When I finally let the thing go in '94, a colleague sent it to a school he was affiliated with in Haiti. It put in several more years of service down there.