What was the very first computer you owned or used ?

[AaronLee]

First owned was an IMSAI 8080. I also have an IBM 5100 from the same era (1975 or there abouts). First to use was a DEC PDP-11/35.

[gcewing]

Miniscamp, built from a design published in Electronics Australia. National SC/MP CPU, 256 bytes RAM, switches and LEDs for program entry and I/O.

Much hacked upon over the next few years. RAM was expanded to 1.5k, a hex keypad and display was added, a cassette tape interface was added. The CPU was replaced with a 6800 (big improvement!). I experimented with random-access tape storage based on an old 8-track cartridge player (kinda sorta worked, not very reliable or practical). I connected it to a 5-bit teleprinter (worked well, but was very noisy!)

My next computer was a Dick Smith Super 80 built from a kit, but that's another story...

[SiliconWizard]

Miniscamp, built from a design published in Electronics Australia. National SC/MP CPU, 256 bytes RAM, switches and LEDs for program entry and I/O.

Much hacked upon over the next few years. RAM was expanded to 1.5k, a hex keypad and display was added, a cassette tape interface was added. The CPU was replaced with a 6800 (big improvement!). I experimented with random-access tape storage based on an old 8-track cartridge player (kinda sorta worked, not very reliable or practical). I connected it to a 5-bit teleprinter (worked well, but was very noisy!)

My next computer was a Dick Smith Super 80 built from a kit, but that's another story...

Would be nice if you still had photos of either to share.

[DrG]

/--/
My next computer was a Dick Smith Super 80 built from a kit, but that's another story...

Was looking at that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Smith_Super-80_Computer At lest than 300 for the kit looks like a nice price for the time!

[Bassman59]

The first personal computer I used was the ubiquitous Apple ][, owned by a family on my paper router. I was a Freshman in high school. The school eventually set up a computer lab with Apple ][e and later ][g and in addition to BASIC we had courses in FORTRAN and Pascal. (Back then FORTRAN was also compiled down to p-code.)

The school also had an office that had a time-share terminal with a dial-up modem to some big mainframe somewhere and they let students come in and use it. We'd play that text-based Star Trek game, Hunt the Wumpus, and of course the grandaddy of 'em all, Zork/Adventure. To this day I still say "It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue."

At university my freshman year, every student got a DEC Professional-350 desktop machine. It was DEC's first ill-fated attempt at personal computers, and it was based on the LSI/11. It had two 5 ¼" floppy disk drives (which were not compatible with IBM PC diskettes), a 10 MB hard disk drive, and it ran a desktop version of VMS.  The university was a big DEC shop. The summer before my arrival they decommissioned the DEC System10, but the full-up VAXcluster was still operational. The choice of the Pro350 would have made more sense had we all been given modems to dial in to the big system, but since the dorm rooms didn't have telephones they wouldn't have been of use anyway. There was never much of an attempt to integrate the computers into the curriculum, and that was the biggest flaw of the scheme.

(Later DEC released the second ill-fated attempt at personal computers, the IBM-PC-compatible DEC Rainbow, but it used the same weird incompatible floppy disks as the Pro350, so while software was "available" for it, you couldn't buy a box in the store and use it. But wisely the school changed from the Pro350 to actual IBM PC-ATs (or XT, I don't remember) and skipped the Rainbow.)

[gcewing]

Miniscamp, built from a design published in Electronics Australia. National SC/MP CPU, 256 bytes RAM, switches and LEDs for program entry and I/O.

My next computer was a Dick Smith Super 80 built from a kit, but that's another story...

Would be nice if you still had photos of either to share.

It never occurred to me to take any photos of them at the time. This was long before both digital photography and the internet, so I wouldn't have had any easy way of sharing them with anyone.

I could take some photos of what's left of them. Only the case of the Miniscamp remains, unfortunately -- it was long since gutted. I still have the main part of the Super 80, but not the somewhat cruddy expansion cabinet I made for it...

[coppice]

At university my freshman year, every student got a DEC Professional-350 desktop machine. It was DEC's first ill-fated attempt at personal computers, and it was based on the LSI/11. It had two 5 ¼" floppy disk drives (which were not compatible with IBM PC diskettes), a 10 MB hard disk drive, and it ran a desktop version of VMS.

That can't be right. The 350 was definitely an LSI/11 based machine, which means it would not run VMS. VMS was a 32 bit VAX (and later 64 bit for the Alpha) only OS. I think most 350s ran RT-11, although there are other PDP/11 OSes it could run, even a good old 16 bit Unix.

[coromonadalix]

A 8088, a 386, 486 ...  and briefly an real 586 133mhz board+cpu, returned it after a 24hours battle to make it work lol

My most precious was a 486 100mhz  overdrive cpu, the heatsink on them was beautiful  lolll

[DrG]

My most precious was a 486 100mhz  overdrive cpu, the heatsink on them was beautiful  lolll

*damn* you are making me feel old. My 486 was, I think, 66 MHz and I was so happy to move on to the Pentium days, but I am understanding that there is a little retro-resurgence going on with these.

[Gyro]

At university my freshman year, every student got a DEC Professional-350 desktop machine. It was DEC's first ill-fated attempt at personal computers, and it was based on the LSI/11. It had two 5 ¼" floppy disk drives (which were not compatible with IBM PC diskettes), a 10 MB hard disk drive, and it ran a desktop version of VMS.

That can't be right. The 350 was definitely an LSI/11 based machine, which means it would not run VMS. VMS was a 32 bit VAX (and later 64 bit for the Alpha) only OS. I think most 350s ran RT-11, although there are other PDP/11 OSes it could run, even a good old 16 bit Unix.

PRO-350s shipped with P/OS (not POS ) which was based on RSX-11M rather than RT-11. As you say though other OSs could be used though.

[Bassman59]

At university my freshman year, every student got a DEC Professional-350 desktop machine. It was DEC's first ill-fated attempt at personal computers, and it was based on the LSI/11. It had two 5 ¼" floppy disk drives (which were not compatible with IBM PC diskettes), a 10 MB hard disk drive, and it ran a desktop version of VMS.

That can't be right. The 350 was definitely an LSI/11 based machine, which means it would not run VMS. VMS was a 32 bit VAX (and later 64 bit for the Alpha) only OS. I think most 350s ran RT-11, although there are other PDP/11 OSes it could run, even a good old 16 bit Unix.

The Pro350 ran something called/like ProDOS, which was some variant of whichever DEC operating system ran on the LSI/11. It was a long time ago!

[ferdieCX]

The Pro350 came with P/OS.
In the few Pro350 that our customers had, we installed RT-11 and the time-sharing  TSX-plus from S&H Computer Systems

[m k]

DEC Pro350 was originally LSI-11/23 (DCF-11).
Later Pro380 was LSI-11/73 (DCJ-11).

https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/DEC_Professional_(computer)

I have a faint memory that there was a VMS port, something where original motherboard bypassed to I/O only module and new CPU was in a slot.
If the recollection is not totally bogus it also includes that the invented VAX-11/7xx was slow.

PC100 was CP/M and MS-DOS machine.
It later got a MS-DOS 3.xx port for non standard graphics.

[Garry G]

The first computer I ever owned was also the first computer I ever used, a VIC-20.
I got this when I was around 12 or 13 and still have it... although it's a bit poorly now!
I do have another fully working one now though, and should try to get around to fixing my original one.

I've recently started looking a writing a few games in assembly for the VIC, just to see what I can come up with now, compared to all those BASIC games I wrote way back when.

[paulca]

You know it occurred to me the thread title might have been more controversial in the 1940s when a "Computer" was usually a woman performing repetitive computational tasks.  Updating ledgers etc.

[granzeier]

   The first time that I ever used a computer was sometime in the late 1960s, when I went to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, and saw a computer that played Tic-Tac-Toe. It used a telephone dial for data entry, and displayed your move, and then its move, on a light panel above the dial. I think that I was allowed to play one game with the computer. You can see a good description of a recreation of the computer here: https://www.museumofplay.org/2018/08/08/an-expansion-pack-for-a-history-of-video-games-in-64-objects/ (item # 1,) and there are four pictures of that recreation here: https://twitter.com/jpdysonplay/status/948258557773910017?lang=en. A couple years later, I used a bunch of Christmas Light sockets and bulbs (the old kind that screwed into their sockets) and switches to attempt to recreate the Tic-Tac-Toe computer myself – not a computer, but pretty good for a pre-teen.

   First used on a regular basis: HP 2000 (not sure, but probably an A model.)

This was upgraded to an HP 2000F/Access during summer break (summer of '76, or '77.) A few days prior to graduation, an older friend took me to what became my high school, and sat me down in front of a large "typewriter" (what I now know was an ASR-33 Teletype.) He then picked up a phone, dialed a number and placed the handset into a white box next to the "typewriter" (the modem.) Then he typed something, and the Teletype typed back - All... By... Itself...!!! I was hooked. He got me logged in and ran a tutorial program (TUTxx, from the HP library) and it got me started in programming.

   The first "computer" I owned (other than that tic-tac-toe computer) was a Bell Lab's CardIAC (Cardboard Illustrative Aid to Computation - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CARDboard_Illustrative_Aid_to_Computation. If you would like to build your own clone, check out: https://www.kylem.net/hardware/hardware.html).

Miss McGuigan, one of our math teachers, and the sponsor of the computer club gave the CardIAC to me. While still in high school, I wrote an emulator for the CardIAC on the HP 2000, in BASIC. I actually still own a CardIAC, and am working on building an electronic hardware emulator.

   My first real computer was a Sinclair ZX-81.

I ordered this in December of 1980, received it in early 1981, and took it to work (an Air Force shop where we maintained mainframe air defense computers - I was on active duty at the time) to assemble. All of the guys in my shop kept "finding things to do" near the workbench that I was using. One thing that I noticed was that there was a dual RAM option on the PCB, allowing either the two 2114 1KX4 RAM chips, or a single 6116 2K RAM chip. Unfortunately, I did not have the 6116 chip to double my RAM. This computer quickly received a 16K RAM and a real keyboard. I talked a co-worker into getting one, and helped him give it a real keyboard, just like mine. I actually still have a couple of ZX-81s and Timex-Sinclair TS-1000s.

[DrG]

I had never heard of the Cardiac [CARDboard Illustrative Aid to Computation] and I did some digging and, wow, that is quite cool for 1969 [and today] https://www.cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/museum/cardiac.html

[granzeier]

The CardIAC was (and is) a lot of fun - although tedious. 

I blame Bell Labs, and their CardIAC, for my firm grasp of assembly language. It really made the computer understandable.

Also, that Drexel page is one of my favorite. Lots of good information about the CardIAC there.

[Neomys Sapiens]

The CardIAC was (and is) a lot of fun - although tedious. 

I blame Bell Labs, and their CardIAC, for my firm grasp of assembly language. It really made the computer understandable.

Also, that Drexel page is one of my favorite. Lots of good information about the CardIAC there.

Would you care to show some pictures here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/those-old-cardboard-sleeved-slide-charts-!!

[granzeier]

Would you care to show some pictures here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/those-old-cardboard-sleeved-slide-charts-!!

Unfortunately, the final !! and the slash got taken out of the URL, so I fixed it in the quote above.
That looks interesting, I'll go ahead and post about the CardIAC to that thread.
Thanks

[ebastler]

   The first time that I ever used a computer was sometime in the late 1960s, when I went to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, and saw a computer that played Tic-Tac-Toe. It used a telephone dial for data entry, and displayed your move, and then its move, on a light panel above the dial. I think that I was allowed to play one game with the computer. You can see a good description of a recreation of the computer here: https://www.museumofplay.org/2018/08/08/an-expansion-pack-for-a-history-of-video-games-in-64-objects/ (item # 1,) and there are four pictures of that recreation here: https://twitter.com/jpdysonplay/status/948258557773910017?lang=en.

The Chicago Tic-Tac-Toe game might have been inspired by an earlier version published in Radio Electronics in 1956:
https://www.vintagecomputer.net/cisc367/Radio%20Electronics%20Dec%201956%20Relay%20Moe%20Plays%20Tic-tac-toe.pdf

The article gives quite a bit of technical detail, although not a complete set of building instructions. This was an electro-mechanical device, with a rotating drum to control the timing sequence. It also featured rotating cams to cause less-than-perfect moves "at random", to keep the game interesting.

[AardvarkM31]

Well, IIRC it was a Commodore VIC 20, soon replaced by a Commodore 64, added a cassette tape backup.
Cheers

[DiTBho]

My first computer was a mini-portable notebook, produced by Olivetti in 1992: the - smaller than a regular - Quaderno PT-XT-20!!!

It was powered by a NEC V30HL @ 16MHz CPU (x86 compatible), 1MB of memory, and 20MB, 2.5" (CHS, pre-LBA, and loaded with proprietary firmware) hard-drive, while MS-DOS v5 was loaded in ROM.

1992..1997, I used the the notebook with Lotus 123, QuickBasic v4.5, TurboPascal v6, and Procomm (thanks to a PCMCIA-to-RS232 adapter).

[x86guru]

My very first computer was a new Commodore VIC-20 when I was ~10 years old
My next computer was a used Apple ][ (Not the ][+ or //e, the original ][) when I was ~12-13 years old
My next computer was a used Amiga 1000 when I was ~17 years old
My next computer was a used PC-AT clone when I was ~19 years old with a i386/33 CPU, 50MB 5.25" HD, monochrome monitor.
Then a flood of PCs from there.

[MK14]

You know it occurred to me the thread title might have been more controversial in the 1940s when a "Computer" was usually a woman performing repetitive computational tasks.  Updating ledgers etc.

That's true. I may get some of the following wrong. But I think in that era, 'programmer' was actually ladies (usually), who 'programmed' the desired actual program into the computer. Using things similar to telephone exchange patch cables, to the different computational units (before stored program computers, were available and/or in common use).
'Bugs' were literally causing faults because of actual insects getting caught between the computers relay contacts, and hence causing it to malfunction.
'Calculators' were also humans calculating stuff, rather than actual mechanical/electronic calculators.

Also, condensers (capacitors), clock frequencies in non-SI units, etc.