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Steve B
08-14-2008, 06:03 AM
I thought I'd piggyback off of something that David Staub included in his post where he shared his first computer experiences. I'm curious about others - of course, this will give away your age.

Mine was in the late 70's when my friend got a Timex computer from RadioShack for Christmas. I don't think he ever opened it. Then I took a programming class (Basic) in high school and learned basic programming on a couple terminals that used the modems where you put the whole receiver in those rubber cups.

As an undergraduate I did everything on a typewriter (1980-1984).

Then I bought a Commodore 64 when I got to graduate school in 1986. I wrote my papers on it and used a daisy wheel printer because I thought the dot matrix printers looked fake.

At my first real job I got in trouble for programming our pension calculations in Lotus 123. I was told we would lose our "girls" if I didn't give them work to do (I eliminated the need for several steps and no longer used the secretary for anything). I also used to find my boss checking the calculations with an adding machine after everyone went home (that's when I decided I better find another job!).

Blessed
08-14-2008, 08:00 AM
We were given our first computer when I was in high school by a wealthy relative who had just bought themselves a new computer. I took typing in high school and we used word processors. I graduated in 1993. There were a lot of computers around and college kids figured they needed one but I don't remember any laptops. My sisters are all in college now and they all "needed" a laptop. It didn't take long for some things to change!

One of my first classes in college was "Management Information Systems" and it was basically how to use word processing, database and spreadsheet programs on a computer. I started working at a newspaper shortly after I started college and that is where I really became comfortable with computers and used them on a daily basis. We had an old dos computer with the black screen and green letters that we processed our mailing list on everything else was Apple.

Now I'm a Mac girl - typing away on my G4 PowerBook, top of the line when I bought it a couple years ago - now I'm saving for a new one :D

KristineS
08-14-2008, 08:05 AM
My family got a Commodore 64 when I was a teenager. I don't remember that we ever got it to do anything.

When I went to college computers were just starting to come into use. There were no laptops, or if there were almost no one was using them. I don't think any of us would have known what wireless meant.

Now I couldn't live without a computer. It's funny how things can change in a relatively short space of time.

degadar
08-14-2008, 08:42 AM
I was 12 when my father and I built our Acorn Atom from kit form.

It's still working today just as well as it did then. I learned 6502 Assembler and more about computers from that machine than all the others since put together.

Before that we had made a very basic programmable computer with just a hex keypad and a row of nixie-tubes for output. That got recycled into some part of my dad's electronic organ.

pete
08-14-2008, 10:49 AM
My first was a business system called the Inventron, designed to keep auto parts inventory data. It was the size of a side-by-side refrigerator. I bought it after a salesman came to my business in a GMC motor home, set up as an office, with a working system inside.

It was really not very good once put to use and I told the leasing company to come get it. Seems like I wasn't the only one, a few years later I had a visit from the FBI, investigating the company for fraud.

Next came a DEC unit with 2 8 inch floppies. It was too small for my needs and within a year I was having to get the data sorted since we were packing in more than it could hold and over-writing and cross-linking were common.

Next was a Control Data "Hawk" model with redundant 18* disks, one of which was removed each night for security. The office people looked like they were carrying a pizza in and out each day.

I ended up with 3 stores operating over leased phone lines with that one. Had some "blazing fast" multiplexors, which were modems that put 4 device lines into one phone line and broke them back out at the other end. "Blazing" was 9600 baud at a time when most regular modems were 300 baud. Hi-tech all the way!

First real PC was a Kaypro 10. A portable unit in a metal case, where the keyboard was the cover. Had a 8 inch green monochrome built in monitor. 2 5 1/4" floppies and a 10mb hard drive. The first "laptop" though it was hardly that. Ran CP/M, before anyone heard of Bill Gates. I actually used that as a word processor and did some direct mail type letters and envelopes on the Juki daisywheel printer that came with it.
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cbscreative
08-14-2008, 11:53 AM
Some people think I was there for all this fun too, but in reality, I didn't get hands-on with computers until about 1997. I did sell computer cut sign graphics starting in about 88 or 89, and used to watch in amazement as the technology developed, but never got personally involved even though I was interested.

The costs were staggering at the time as I'm sure everyone here remembers. A basic system from the leading sign cutting company cost somewhere around $20k by the time you added enough capability to make it barely useful. Just the fonts were $185 each and it only came preloaded with 5 of them. After that you needed thousands in inventory of rolls of vinyl to actually make the signs with. I was too small at the time to justify that kind of expense when I could just sub out, and there were plenty of wholesalers to service people like me.

I got my first home computer in the fall of 1998, so that makes me a bit later than most. I opted for the Windows 95 OSR2 because I knew Win98 sucked. I did upgrade to 98SE later, and I still have that computer in the basement. I've cheated death with that thing many times over, and it has been upgraded way beyond what is supposed to be possible. Because of hardware, I'm prevented from running anything NT based, but it functions very well for what it has because the OS doesn't require much. Since it had USB (which was up and coming when it was built) and plenty of PCI slots, I've had no problem making this a computer that is still very useful. Most newer software is out of the question, but anything up to 03 or 04 still was compatible.

Being my first PC, there is some sentimental reason to keep it around as long as it functions. It's an HP Pavilion that was supposed to be locked down to nothing higher than a 333 MHz processor. I've been running a PIII 1.4 GHz for many years, and with 384 RAM, it handles whatever the OS and software of that era can throw at it. It also makes a great testing machine to check websites and make sure they work on an older computer.

Even though I wasn't "there" for all the fun of early computers, I took 5 years worth of tech classes at a local university starting in 2001. They even still taught Cobol when I started (probably one of the only schools that still did). The idea was to teach the "logic" involved. As you might guess, the instructor was around for all the "good old days" of computers. Another class did a good job of teaching "old" stuff including DOS and even Windows 3.1, so I got well grounded in computer history as well as trained in all the new stuff.

Twelve years ago, I was computer illiterate. Now many people think I always knew all this stuff. I was just very interested and wanted to learn. For those who don't already know, I'm 47, so I don't mind dating myself. I'm younger than I ever will be again.

billbenson
08-14-2008, 01:32 PM
1980 ish an Apple II. I remember it had Lotus123 which was a spreadsheet like program. As a salesman I started keeping contacts in it. I think it also had some basic word processor. I still have that same spreadsheet that I have maintained over the years. 2000 plus lines. I keep anything I want to note in there, web sites, contacts, hotels when I was traveling etc. Its a crude database, but with a search I can find what I'm looking for quickly.

Business Attorney
08-14-2008, 08:38 PM
I mentioned my early experience in another thread (http://www.small-business-forum.net/introduce-yourself/161-following-crowd.html), but I'll throw in a comment about my first home computer.

It was about 1984 and IBM has just come out with a computer intended for home (since few people paid the $2500 or so - in 1984 dollars no less - for the IBM PC just for home use). The computer was called the IBM PCjr. It had a color monitor at a time when almost all business computers came with a monochrome monitor. It had 256K of memory and one floppy drive for $895. They also offered an optional 256K expansion kit which required removing the side of the case and screwing on the self-contained unit, adding about another inch to the width. Still no hard drive, but since most programs were very compact, a 720KB double sided floppy disk (360KB per side) offered plenty of room.

The very early models had a keyboard deridingly called the Chiclets keyboard, but I waited and got one with a real keyboard.

It was small (though not "portable" really, because of the monitor) so I even bought the carrying case, which I may have used once.

Since I am a packrat, the thing is in my attic, back in the original packaging. I bought another home computer (with a 10 MB hard drive!) about 1989 or so and haven't really used the PCjr in 20 years, though my kids played games on it for several years after that. PacMan on the PCjr was not all that different than playing it on a computer today but Flight Simulator c. 1985 was nothing like today's version.