What was your first computer?

[Wendy_Preston]

BBC Micro Model B, with cassette storage 

Same here - we used to use Mum's decent cassette deck to make sure it both recorded and played back all the sounds nice and cleanly. Later on, as I progressed on my Computer Studies O-Level (UK old exams before GCSE you used to sit age 16), we upgraded to a 5 1/4" disc drive with additional RAM storage - advanced stuff! I was the only one in my class with the same make of computer that we used in the classroom, so I could work on my project at home, and help all my friends who were Commodore and Sinclair users in the classroom.

Fun times... I still have a few adventure games I never made significant progress on that I'd love to get back to - my parents have not thrown it out yet!

[HoracioDos]

TI99 4/A

Same here @school. Later a Talent MSX DPC200 @home
https://www.msx.org/wiki/Talent_DPC-200
When I began to work. I bought my first IBM clone PC
PS: it was funny that I used early versions of IBM AS 400 and latest S38 at work before buying my own PC.

[HoracioDos]

Same here...my first "personal" computer.  The first computer I ever used was IBM 360.

Cool!. IBM Z grandpa

[GadgetUK164]

The first computer I owned was a ZX81 - but what made me want a computer was the BBC Model B at school!  Later followed up with Spectrum, then Spectrum+, Spectrum+2, C64, Amiga, Atari ST, before eventually moving onto PCs and consoles.  The thing I like about these old systems is they have real character.  Most modern PCs just blur into each other.  A friend of mine once described the Amiga 500 as having soul and character - she was so right!

[mc6800]

The first computer I used was a Xerox Sigma 9 via dial-up to an ASR33 teletype. The computer was owned by the local engineering firm (Atkins), and they allowed local schools to have dial-up access. We could use BASIC or later APL (although this involved using mnemonics for all the special characters).

My parents moved house, so I ended up at a new a school, and this also had dial-up, but this time to an ICL1900 (or perhaps 2900) series at the local council. Languages used included BASIC, Fortran and Filetab, a strange report-generating system.

A few terms later, the school decided to purchase a SWTPC6800 in kit form, and so I was able to start programming in 6800 machine code. Over the course of a year or so, additional memory and peripherals were added (as kits to reduce costs), including a "glass teletype" and a cassette interface (prior to this, programs were stored on paper tapes).

Finally, the first computer I owned (if you discount my first programmable calculator) was a sharp PC1211 handheld, followed soon after by an HX-20 - this had the great advantage that the HD6301 was an upgraded version of the 6800 in the SWTP6800 machine.

[rambobrite]

I started on a TRS-80 Model I, Level 1, 4K. Eventually, it became a Level 2, 48K system, with expansion interface, a couple of disk drives, and a "five meg disk subsystem".

My first hardware project was the lowercase character set mod - piggybacking a chip, cutting some traces, and adding a switch.

A serial card got me online to the 2-3 BBSes in town. And then the fun began.

At one point, I tried the Exatron Stringy Floppy, but those things were *fragile*.

[SL4P]

Did I post already??
Signetics (2650) KT-9500 development board...
Possibly one of the earliest in this thread...!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signetics_2650

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/vintage-computing/what-was-you-first-computer/75/

[dietert1]

My first computer was a TI  SR-56 "Assembled in Italy" that i bought during the last holidays before university and that still works today. My first programming experience was with that programmable calculator.
Later i hand-made a modular 8085 machine on raster boards with a hex console, TV compatible graphics, cassette storage and 32K of DRAM. I remember coding a debugger, an assembler and a full-screen editor. Must have been 1978 and the years after. The machine got lost, except the console that i may still have.

[Psi]

First computer i used was an Ohio Scientific. I cant actually remember what it looked like. I just remember the name.
After that i had some random 286 XT made from parts with a CGA screen. It then got upgraded with junk parts to a 486 DX2-66 and at some point and i managed to overclock it to DX2-80.

The first computer i actually had in my room as my computer was an Amstrad with 2400 baud modem and monochrome CGA screen.

The first computer i actually purchased myself was a MB/CPU/RAM upgrade, it was either a Cyrix PR166 or PR200 which i mainly used for making doom levels and playing Quake 1.

After that i think it went something like
Cyrix PR266
Athlon 1200+
Duron 900  (i blew up my 1200+ and had the Duron in a junk box)
Athlon XP1800+
Athlon XP64 3500+
Intel Core 2 Due Q6600 which overclocked nicely from 2.5ghz to 3.2ghz from the first day i got it. hehe
Intel i5-7600K (my current PC) overclocked to 5.0ghz

[RobBarter]

First computer was a VIC-20 with a 'massive' 5k of RAM.
First computer I used was an RML-380Z at school.  The memories...

[DDunfield]

My first computer was a homebuilt 8080 based system, which was all hand-built wire-wrap boards on odd connectors, including a 16x63 video card (It was supposed to be 16x64 but being my first attempt at doing a video controller I screwed up the timing and rather than fix the rats nest of wire-wrap I modified the software to only use 63 columns). Initially it had 2-3K of 2114 static RAMS, but eventually grew to have a few S-100 slots with a couple 8K RAM cards and a floppy disk controller. Before the floppy, storage was via a home-hacked solenoid controlled audio tape drive. It even got a printer at one point - a Model 28 teletype machine. This was built (started anyway - it kept growing) probably around 1976.

Regrettably I don't have much in the way of a record of it, other than it being visible in a couple of photos documenting my next computer (see below). It is seen in two photos under "Complete System". It is a short silver 19" rack cabinet, only about 4" high. All the homebuilt cards are bunch over on one side, leaving room for 4 S-100 cards laying horizontally on the other side.

My first commercially made computer was an Altair 8800, the first S-100 system produced (originally called the "Roberts bus" after Ed Roberts the guy who designed it).
I still have it, and I have documented it in a fair bit of detail. It can be seen at:

http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/altair/index.htm

Regards,
Dave

[bsudbrink]

First computer i used was an Ohio Scientific. I cant actually remember what it looked like.

At the top of this page:

http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/VCF-East2008/page3.html

Are pictures of about half of my Ohio Scientific collection.  See if any of those ring a bell.

[GadgetUK164]

But the first computer I owned was an Amstrad CPC-664 (with the monochrome display):

Nice CPC!!!  Love the blue keys on that model!

[GreyWoolfe]

I worked for Radio Shack in the early 90's.  We were cleaning out the back storage room and there was a CoCo 3 and tons of software.  Also the ram expansion board and CoCo 2 and 3 floppy drives that appealing to the national help desk, got the info to make a cable to use both drives together.  Got it all for free which kept it out of the skip.  Then got for free a Tandy 1000 286 running DOS 6 and Windows 3.0 then 3.1.  After that came a 386 motherboard in a case with a CD ROM drive and a floppy and that was the first computer I built up running Win 95.  My first completely built computer salvaged the case, optical and hard drives and I added a 486 motherboard with 1 Mb of ram.  I remember being excited for getting 4 Mb of ram for $170.  Now I have a couple of $5 Window XP era gov't surplus computers with 4 Gb of ram, an HP Elitebook laptop and a Dell Precision T5500 picked up cheap from the local surplus store when they were open to the public.  Just needed hard drives and they are all running Win 10.  They all serve specific functions and meet my needs.  No need for latest and greatest here.  Just keeping stuff out of the landfill.

[WackyGerman]

My first computer was an Atari 800 XL with cassette deck for loading games . Later I got the 1541 floppy drive which was a lot faster 

[drescherjm]

Commodore Vic 20 (I expect it still exists in my parent's attic / not sure if it would still work). I believe in winter / spring of 1982.

This is where I started learning to program at 9 years old. There have been very few weeks since then that I have had less than 40 hours on a computer (or a combination of several).

[jimmsta]

Panasonic Sr. Partner, a KayPro/IBM Luggable clone.
 
When I was a kid, I learned a bit of reading and spelling on that thing, with its green phosphor burned into my earliest memories. Around 7-8, I read the manual and BASICA book it came with, and ultimately learned BASIC because I wanted to make it do stuff.
 
It ran an Intel 8088 CPU, I believe it had 128k ram (could be 64k), dual single density 5.25" floppies, a thermal printer on top, and shipped with DOS 3.3. I plan to do a complete restoration on it - the printer portion is kaput at this point in time, but should be repairable. The machine pre-dates me by 3 years. It was in use for writing business letters for about 5 years before I started taking an interest in it's multimedia (pc speaker!) functionality. Worked as a means of entertainment for my pre-school self. I held on to all my diskettes from that era, and have run them through the Kryoflux to keep the memories alive for eternity.

As a kid, I had a tendency of taking apart anything electronic. Unfortunately, this machine was one that I did take apart - to some degree, and if my memory serves me right, I only opened it up to un-jam paper that had gotten stuck behind one of the gears of the printing mechanism. Luckily, all the parts appear to be left with the machine, so it should just be a matter of opening her up and cleaning it up inside. I doubt any of the machine needs repairing, as I recall booting it up 10 years ago or so to make sure it still worked. It wasn't used for more than a year or so, and despite the fact that it was a "luggable", it was sat on a desk for its entire use.

And here I am, not only reminiscing about this old machine, but preparing to do an appropriate restoration on it.

[L_Euler]

This one.  Bought in 1979 and still works.  I recently updated with a SD card hard drive emulator.

[innkeeper]

Sinclar Z80

[Calambres]

Sinclair ZX81

[Dude111]

My first computer in the 80s was a TI99 . I didnt know much about basic then but when I  got my Commodore64 I loved it!!!!


I would say BASIC is my favourite.... I have written several programs!!

[russnash37]

My first computer was a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k at the tender age of 11.  I later upgraded it to a Spectrum+ with the upgrade kit.  Eventually, I moved on to an Amstrad PC1512 and have stuck with PC's ever since.  On the work side of things, I cut my mainframe teeth on an IBM 3081 running DOS/VSE.

[Enigma-man]

My first computer was an SWTPC 6800 that I built from a kit (and still have).  Thousands of solder connections...
Cassette tape interface at 300 Baud that I dicked around with a few years later up to 1200 Baud. 
Screamin' fast... Well it was back then in 1978.  Computers were rare in those days and EVERYBODY
thought we were crazy to have them.  It was dare devil equipment to many but those of us who
pioneered what we take for granted today, it was fun, wonderful and frustrating.
I could never have imagined what eventually would evolve to what we have today.

[Enigma-man]

@L_Euler
A TRS-80 Model 1.  Brings back memories.
I still have mine along with the 48K Expansion Interface. Back in the late 70's early 80's I worked for Radio Shack and ran the service depot where I live.
I have a couple of Model III's and a 4P.

Edit for typo.

[member_xyz]

Mini Scamp kit from Electronics Australia magazine based on NS SC/MP microprocessor, with huge 256 bytes (yes 8 bit bytes) or static RAM, NO ROM. Programmed directly in binary through toggle switches.
Eventually expanded RAM to 1K and then moved onto various 6502 and Z80 more commercial boards and systems.

http://www.eddiem.com/micros/micros.htm.

Had a senior tech role with Australian importer of early Atari 400/800 in late 70's. Many trips to Sunnyvale in silicon valley back in the "Golden age".