Atari 800XL



We got it in I think '84 or '85. It linked up to an old TV (remember the ones where you turned the knob to get the channel to change?) for its graphics. You could buy a 5.25" floppy drive as an add-on, so it could play floppy disks as well as cartridges. I think I lost a great many hours playing those "Tink! Tonk!" games on this thing, as well as some old-school educational games.

In fact, I think I vaguely remember a casette being used as some sort of data storage device (when I was 6 I had "The Halley Project" and the tape was part of the game I think).

This one also had another add-on called the Koala Pad, which was basically a touch-pad with a stylus you could use to draw. I remembered that after exhausting all my drawing opportunities, I saw the option that said "format disk". At 6, you don't know what that is, so I selected it to see what it would do. I think that properly taught me what formatting was

2/4/2006 12:57:22 PM

I didn't have my own PC until 8th or 9th grade. It was a Packard Bell with a 133 mhz processor and about a 1 gig hard drive. All my friends were jealous cause I had the new top of the line setup.

2/4/2006 1:24:11 PM

Quote :

"Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Released: June 1981 Price: US$525 (without monitor) How many: 2.8 Million CPU: TI TMS9900, 3MHz Memory: 16K RAM, 26K ROM Display: Video via an RF modulator 32 characters by 24 lines text 192 X 256, 16 color graphics Ports: ROM cartridge (on front) Data storage cassette Audio/Video output Joystick input CPU bus expansion Peripherals: Speech Synthesizer Peripheral Expansion Box Data storage cassette 300 baud modem OS: ROM BASIC"

2/4/2006 2:01:43 PM

don't know what brand, i barely remember it . . .

i just remember that it came with a paperback manual of programs that provided (what i'm assuming was) the raw code. you had to type in to use them. it was really frustrating because if you mistyped one symbol on a screen full of code, it wouldn' t work.

2/4/2006 2:05:41 PM

November 1997
233MHz
4.33 Gigs Hard drive
Sony Vaio
Total cost for the monitor, CPU, and printer was $3600

2/4/2006 2:06:16 PM

Tandy Color Computer 2

CLR

2/4/2006 2:22:26 PM

Quote :

"don't know what brand, i barely remember it . . . i just remember that it came with a paperback manual of programs that provided (what i'm assuming was) the raw code. you had to type in to use them. it was really frustrating because if you mistyped one symbol on a screen full of code, it wouldn' t work."

I remember when they had magazines where they would give out the basic code to write a game. I can't believe people had the patience to sit and type all that stuff out.

2/4/2006 2:25:33 PM

486 with a dot matrix printer and 12" screen

I think the parents paid like $2000 used.

good old dosshell days

2/4/2006 2:27:59 PM

i think this was our second computer

oh man

"portable" for my dad to take it on business trips and shit

green screen ftw!

2/4/2006 2:52:29 PM

2/4/2006 3:06:24 PM

2/4/2006 3:25:10 PM

my first "modern" computer was in 1998, just before my freshman year of college:
IBM Aptiva
333 mhz pentium II,
8 gig hard drive (this was HUUUUGE back then)
96mb ram (NONE OF THAT 64 mb crap)
Later, i bought a Voodoo 2 video card for it. HOT SHIT.

2/4/2006 3:36:31 PM

http://oldcomputers.net/vic20.html

I learned my ABC's on this.

2/4/2006 4:49:47 PM

my first compuater (1987ish) was a Data General DG-10

my second computer (1997) was a 386

[Edited on February 4, 2006 at 5:06 PM. Reason : we had a Presario in between]

2/4/2006 5:03:43 PM

Commodore 64, plugged into a TV

then a 386 IBM clone from a company called Dramen...it had the old skool Windows on it (pre-'95...like Windows 2.0 or 3.0 or something), but i usually just ran it in DOS

then a Compaq P2 with Windows 95

2/4/2006 5:42:50 PM

Mac Performa 550...all whopping 33 MHz of it


I rocked it with Prince of Persia and Mario Teaches Typing

2/4/2006 5:54:46 PM

Make: IBM PS/2
Model: 50
Released: April 1987
Original price: $3,595.00
Hard Drive: 30Mb
RAM: 1Mb
Processor: 80286/10Mhz
Monitor: PS/2 Color Display
Floppy drive(s): 1.4 MB double sided
Operating system: Microsoft Windows 1.0

I think they should go back to putting that big nasty switch on new computers

2/4/2006 6:35:28 PM

My first one was an old IBM... I just remember playing that game with the little red man... I think it was MOnty's or something like that. I have no idea what the specs on it was.

My second computer was an Acer 486. I think it was 133MHz with a 300MB hard drive. 32MB of ram and a speedy dual speed CD rom drive.

2/4/2006 6:48:59 PM

Dos 6.11 was that hot shit.

2/4/2006 7:01:58 PM

^^ Montezuma's Revenge (MONTY)



Game rocked.

2/4/2006 7:03:19 PM

Apple IIc
Released: April 1984
Price: US $1300
How many: 400,000 in the first year
Weight: 7.5 lbs
CPU: MOS 65C02, 1 Mhz
RAM: 128K-1Meg
Display:40 or 80 X 24 text mode
560 X 192 maximum
Ports: Two serial ports
RGB monitor port
Composite video output
External floppy port
Storage: Internal 143k 5.25-inch disk drive
OS: Apple DOS or ProDOS


Lemonade Stand rules!

2/4/2006 7:45:19 PM

my first computer was a Tandy something or other. good stuff.

(PS: i don't believe your first computer was a Mac, Val)

-ZiP!-

2/4/2006 8:32:27 PM

Gateway G6-266, purchased November 1997. I was a senior in HS.
PII 266 MHz
32 MB RAM
6.4 GB Hard drive
4 MB Ati video card
15" CRT
Boston Acoustics MicroMedia speakers
Cost something like $2500.

2/4/2006 8:44:27 PM

^^ Apple my friend. All the way.

2/4/2006 8:55:41 PM

^omg, 4000 posts, freakin internet loser!

-ZiP!-

2/4/2006 8:57:59 PM

Macintosh LC 475
25Mhz
72mb SIMM Ram
160 mb HD


CRAZY

2/5/2006 3:03:15 AM

Quote :

"^^ Montezuma's Revenge (MONTY) Game rocked."

That game did indeed rock. That must've been a newer version than the one I played. The one I played had two or three colors... red being the dominant.

2/5/2006 10:46:16 AM

tandy color computer 3

http://www.axess.com/twilight/sock/



It had a cartridge slot for games, could be hooked to the tv or monitor, could be programmed in basic (which I learned at around 10 or 11), saved programs on cassettes that you had to rewind and fast forward to the right spot before loading and saving.

next i had an 8088 with a monochrome monitor


it actually ran DOS!

next I got into windows (3.1) with a 486 66 mhz pc with a 400 mb hard drive and a whopping 8 mb of ram! that was 8th grade, so i guess that was like, what, '94?

that thing cost 2 grand!

[Edited on February 5, 2006 at 10:53 AM. Reason : .]

2/5/2006 10:51:10 AM

Apple IIgs baby.
I actually still have it, and the SOB works.
Oh... and my dad paid extra to get the whopping 1 meg of RAM.

[Edited on February 5, 2006 at 12:57 PM. Reason : ---]

2/5/2006 12:56:46 PM

Tandy Color Computer 2

2/5/2006 1:09:31 PM

Quote :

"386 IBM clone "

Aha, I remember when people used that term (or IBM-Compatible) before people used the term "PC".

I'm trying to think back through our computers.

Atari 800XL--1984 or 1985
With 5.25" floppy drive, tv monitor, Basic programming, cartridge slot, Koala Pad, etc.

I had all sorts of junior games (Ernie's Magic Shapes on cartridge), Halley Project, Ghostbusters, Goonies, etc. Lots of lost time.

IBM PS2--1988 or 1989
640KB RAM, about 25 MB on the hard drive. MCGA Graphics (this was a bad compromise. The short but significant reign of EGA graphics allowed for 16 colors. MCGA allowed for 256, but it often was only compatible with CGA games which allowed for only 4. VGA changed this for 256 across the board, and was reverse compatible with EGA. )

I played all the King's Quest games here, plus F-19 Stealth Fighter, Mean Streets, etc. Sierra ruled the market then.

Acros (IBM Clone) 386SX-25 computer. 1992. About 100 mb on the hard drive, still about 640KB of RAM. However, this was when you also had "extended memory". The big thing in this era was trying to free up enough RAM in order to play games (loading stuff into the EMS driver. I remember making all sorts of boot disks and editing config.sys and autoexec.bat to give me enough memory to play games).

This became obsolete quite quickly.

Then we had an HP 486 DX2-66, 1994.

Back in the day, I was going to get Wing Commander III for Christmas (1994). I sneaked into my parents' closet to get the WC3 CD-ROMs and installed them, only to realize that WC3 required a whopping EIGHT MEGABYTES OF RAM! (I only had 4). Then I had to bug my parents to buy another 4MB of RAM and opened THAT early too .

I think we might have gotten another computer in between there and this next one, but I also remember when 3DFX cards first came out. I began playing Wing Commander Prophecy and was amazed at all the translucency effects--I think it was one of the first games to have translucency effects (lens flares, shields that glowed and flickered when you hit them in the 3dfx style, etc).

Then when The Phantom Menace came out, I noticed it seemed like George Lucas went overboard with 3DFX things (note the Gungan shields, lens flares in space, droideka shields, etc).

2/5/2006 1:18:08 PM

commodore 64

i think i still have it somewhere

[Edited on February 5, 2006 at 2:45 PM. Reason : *]

2/5/2006 2:45:12 PM

Introduced 1990.10.15 at $999 floppy only, $1,499 with 40 MB hard disk, 2 MB RAM; discontinued 1992.09.14
# requires System 6.0.7 to 7.5.5
# CPU: 8 MHz 68000
# performance: 1.0, relative to SE; 0.37, MacBench 2.0 CPU; 0.06, Speedometer 4; 0.7 MIPS (see Benchmarks: Mac Classic for more detailed tests)
# ROM: 512 KB
# RAM: 1 MB, expandable to 2 MB with RAM card, to 2.5 MB or 4 MB using 150ns 30-pin SIMMs (cannot use two-chip 1 MB SIMMs)
# 9" b&w screen, 512 x 342 pixels
# ADB ports for keyboard and mouse
# DIN-8 serial ports on back of computer
# DB-25 SCSI connector on back of computer
# floppy: 1.4 MB double sided
# floppy connector on back of computer
# size (HxWxD): 13.2" x 9.7" x 11.2"
# weight: 16 lb.

hahah, I have CD cases that are bigger than the screen wow
and 16 pounds..sheesh

[Edited on February 5, 2006 at 5:34 PM. Reason : ]

2/5/2006 5:32:48 PM

Apple ][e

typed up all my papers on Bank Street Writer

2/5/2006 5:44:28 PM

I'm typing on it right now.

Pentium III
733 Mhz
20 gig HD

2/5/2006 6:33:26 PM

Quote :

"I remember when they had magazines where they would give out the basic code to write a game. I can't believe people had the patience to sit and type all that stuff out."

yeah, it kinda difficult. especially when i was about 6 years old. i only ever got a really simple program to work.

2/5/2006 9:44:37 PM

trs-80 mcc

i still have that shit, yo

2/5/2006 10:34:02 PM

VIC20 for me

2/5/2006 10:55:31 PM

&

2/6/2006 10:13:49 AM

choplifter FTW



[Edited on February 6, 2006 at 11:40 AM. Reason : jfj]

2/6/2006 11:38:25 AM

apple IIgs

i forget when. they were brand new. mid 80s maybe. it was like $2000 iirc

wohoo dot matrix tractor feed printer, first mouse id ever seen, 2400 baud modem.

parents added memory so we could do mavis beacon teaches typing. i hate that bitch.

2/6/2006 12:14:56 PM

The "PC Junior" http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/computer.asp?c=186&st=1

2/6/2006 4:06:29 PM

Grapehead just reminded me of something.

The Atari had a 300 baud modem that we used once or twice.

The PS2 had an external 2400 baud modem--we used that to access Prodigy back in 90-92. I also moved up the spectrum to a 14.4 baud modem (for like $100) in '94. A few of my friends created their own BBSs. But then that newfangled Interweb came out and made our BBS obsolete.

2/6/2006 5:54:30 PM

2/9/2006 3:54:36 AM

commadore 64. i had a book of BASIC game code you could type in to make a game.

its amazing i still turned out so cool.

2/9/2006 8:35:17 AM

Quote :

"commadore 64"

2/9/2006 6:07:30 PM

a neuronet processor

a learning computer

2/9/2006 10:32:19 PM

Probably not that old school...
but I had a PACKARD BELL pentium 1, 4.3gb HD, 32MB RAM... And that sucker was awesome when I got it.
I had so many problems with it though.

2/10/2006 7:23:08 AM

commodore 64, plugged into a TV
some old ibm clone than ran dos
some generic p1 133 laptop
generic p3 450mhz
then a p4 1.8 ghz dell laptop
then a 3.2ghz dell desktop

2/10/2006 12:46:44 PM

Oh wow, I almost forgot, I have an old Sinclair ZX-81. Great Uncle gave it to me as a gift back when I was like 8. I wasn't sure quite what use it was, and we never could figure out how to hook it up to a TV (I know, sad), so it actually never got used. Probably still sitting in a drawer in my room back home.

2/10/2006 1:11:22 PM