What was your first computer?

[Detroitgator]

Man, the hours we spent playing things like Ultima...

 

[Back Alley Gator]

Man, the hours we spent playing things like Ultima...

The only thing we spent more time doing is editing config.sys and autoexec.bat to get everything loaded in extended memory so the game and dos could coexist.

 

[5-Star Finger]

Man, a kid could DREAM of a setup like that! I could barely dream of a Franklin knock off back then... back then, I was solidly among the poors!

The neighbor down the road worked in the Saudi oil fields as an engineer six months out of the year. He was an avid outdoorsmen (which his two sons took to) but also a book lover and curious about all other fields of science and technology (which they had no interest in). Our families would go on hunting trips together every fall. When we'd come in for the day I used to like to listen to him talk about how he solved the technical and cultural problems he would encounter over there. He had this computer that he was only using when he was home and when I was over there I was always fiddling around with his text adventure games. He had bought this programming book of Marvel games you could code yourself and play on the Apple. He had never gotten the time to actually do it. One day, he came into the workshop/office where he kept the thing and saw animated chains moving back and forth across the screen from the game "The Chains of Loki," He was quite amused. He used to invite me along when he and his wife would go to talks about the Middle East. He wanted to go every chance he got to disabuse ignorant people of their simplistic misconceptions of the region and how we should handle it via foreign policy. One of them was actually my first trip to the University of Florida.

The next time he left I came home from school and he had set it up in our den. My mom said he asked me to take care of it for him. He never asked for it back. I still mention him by name when I talk about the biggest influences in my life.

 

[Detroitgator]

The neighbor down the road worked in the Saudi oil fields as an engineer six months out of the year. He was an avid outdoorsmen (which his two sons took to) but also a book lover and curious about all other fields of science and technology (which they had no interest in). Our families would go on hunting trips together every fall. When we'd come in for the day I used to like to listen to him talk about how he solved the technical and cultural problems he would encounter over there. He had this computer that he was only using when he was home and when I was over there I was always fiddling around with his text adventure games. He had bought this programming book of Marvel games you could code yourself and play on the Apple. He had never gotten the time to actually do it. One day, he came into the workshop/office where he kept the thing and saw animated chains moving back and forth across the screen from the game "The Chains of Loki," He was quite amused. He used to invite me along when he and his wife would go to talks about the Middle East. He wanted to go every chance he got to disabuse ignorant people of their simplistic misconceptions of the region and how we should handle it via foreign policy. One of them was actually my first trip to the University of Florida.

The next time he left I came home from school and he had set it up in our den. My mom said he asked me to take care of it for him. He never asked for it back. I still mention him by name when I talk about the biggest influences in my life.

Great story.

 

[grengadgy]

The only thing we spent more time doing is editing config.sys and autoexec.bat to get everything loaded in extended memory so the game and dos could coexist.

Getting that little bit of extended memory was painful.

 

[Nalt]

Commodore 64 running a black&white 13" tv as a monitor. I still have it though I haven't started it up in years...It was old and used when it was given to me.

 

[Bullag8r]

Yeesh. At the risk of derailing the thread, how did most of you like growing up with Truman in office?

Eisenhower was elected a month before I was born.

 

[Detroitgator]

Yeesh. At the risk of derailing the thread, how did most of you like growing up with Truman in office?

I think Truman had black ladies for computers.

 

[B52G8rAC]

You guys. I assume you mean my own computer 'cause I used the IBM 360/65 at our elite university and my senior year the Aero department got a Wang desktop. So, this is the first personal computer I ever had: Osborne 1 Computer with Compaq Carrying Case Manuals Disc 1981 PARTS REPAIR

 

[Gatordiddy]

I think Truman had black ladies for computers.

Kennedy and Johnson did, for sure.

 

[Back Alley Gator]

You guys. I assume you mean my own computer 'cause I used the IBM 360/65 at our elite university and my senior year the Aero department got a Wang desktop. So, this is the first personal computer I ever had: Osborne 1 Computer with Compaq Carrying Case Manuals Disc 1981 PARTS REPAIR

 

[Gatordiddy]

Wang desktop

In the 90's I did Compaq computer repair training for companies like IBM and Wang.
I taught a few classes at the Wang building up in Lowell Mass at the very tail end of their existence.
It was sad to see a company like that go down the tubes (Wang "Jr." ran it into the ground)
Entire floors in their building were vacant with empty desks and wiring having been pulled out of the walls.
The morale was basically 'Dead Man Walking'.

At least most of the Compaq systems were retained after Hewlett Packard acquired them.

 

[G8trwood]

Oh the youngsters that didn’t have the joy of punch card programming ;)

 

[DocZaius]

Another C64 owner here, but I was still in grade school when we got it, so I used it a lot for games. There were some great titles back then, some pretty imaginative: Seven Cities of Gold, Archon and Archon II, M.U.L.E., Pool of Radiance, Airborne Ranger, The Bard's Tale, Mail Order Monsters, Gunship, Skate or Die, I could go on and on and on.

Some I bought, some I pirated slowly over a 300 (and then a 1200) baud modem from any one of a dozen local BBSes.

The BBS scene of the late 80s was kind of wild, at least where I lived. There were a lot of in-person meetups. The woman who ran one of the most active boards lived in my neighborhood. She was older back then, no doubt she's dead now. But every now and then she'd throw a party and me and one of my friends would go and meet all the weirdos. And weird they were. Today, we'd call them autists and incels and other names, but back then they were just nerds or geeks.

 

[CDGator]

At least most of the Compaq systems were retained after Hewlett Packard acquired them.

Compaq was always doing incentive trips and I was fortunate enough to go to NYC for one of them. They put us up at the Plaza Hotel, sent us into Macy's with $500 cash to spend, took us to fabulous dinners, The Lion King and Rockettes shows. Coach purses and lots of other goodies. That was back when government was preparing for Y2K and the money was flowing! Viewsonic would add money to Visa gift cards for every projector sold and I would go get massages. Good times...

 

[Detroitgator]

Another C64 owner here, but I was still in grade school when we got it, so I used it a lot for games. There were some great titles back then, some pretty imaginative: Seven Cities of Gold, Archon and Archon II, M.U.L.E., Pool of Radiance, Airborne Ranger, The Bard's Tale, Mail Order Monsters, Gunship, Skate or Die, I could go on and on and on.

Some I bought, some I pirated slowly over a 300 (and then a 1200) baud modem from any one of a dozen local BBSes.

The BBS scene of the late 80s was kind of wild, at least where I lived. There were a lot of in-person meetups. The woman who ran one of the most active boards lived in my neighborhood. She was older back then, no doubt she's dead now. But every now and then she'd throw a party and me and one of my friends would go and meet all the weirdos. And weird they were. Today, we'd call them autists and incels and other names, but back then they were just nerds or geeks.

Man 'o man, the memories!!!! Airborne Ranger, NATO Commander, Gunship, Pirates!, Red Storm Rising, Silent Service... I loved ALL those MicroProse games on my C64 in the late 80's/early 90's.

Another favorite was Overrun! by SSI... and any war game ever made by SSI or Gary Grisby.

Never played Bard's Tale on my C64, but we did play it on an old green screen Franklin (I think) when I was in HS.

 

[5-Star Finger]

We got a Compaq 486 in the early 90s. I used to love the Wing Commander series of games. My kid brother and I talked a tremendous amount of **** when one of us would be the first to get the highest commendation available on a mission.

 

[Detroitgator]

We got a Compaq 486 in the early 90s. I used to love the Wing Commander series of games. My kid brother and I talked a tremendous amount of **** when one of us would be the first to get the highest commendation available on a mission.

fukkin rich people...

 

[5-Star Finger]

fukkin rich people...

My dad was blue collar and when we would get stuff like that it meant he had worked a metric ton of overtime. He took all that he could get and gave us every advantage possible. It is the whole story of my family. My great-grandfather was a farmer so poor the bank repossessed the mule he used to plow the fields that he used to grow his feed. My grandfather owned a business that was destroyed by fire. He went to work as a truck driver to keep his kids fed. Dad used his military training to get a job on the more technical side of blue collar. He had many white collar opportunities due to his background, but the union job he had and its constant need of OT gave him more immediate income potential to facilitate all our needs and a whole lot of our wants. Each and every one of my generation in this family is a college educated professional in fields ranging from engineering to finance. My oldest daughter is currently at UF with designs on medical school.

God Bless America. Not many places on Earth where that kind of upward mobility is possible.

 

[Detroitgator]

My dad was blue collar and when we would get stuff like that it meant he had worked a metric ton of overtime. He took all that he could get and gave us every advantage possible. It is the whole story of my family. My great-grandfather was a farmer so poor the bank repossessed the mule he used to plow the fields that he used to grow his feed. My grandfather owned a business that was destroyed by fire. He went to work as a truck driver to keep his kids fed. Dad used his military training to get a job on the more technical side of blue collar. He had many white collar opportunities due to his background, but the union job he had and its constant need of OT gave him more immediate income potential to facilitate all our needs and a whole lot of our wants. Each and every one of my generation in this family is a college educated professional in fields ranging from engineering to finance. My oldest daughter is currently at UF with designs on medical school.

God Bless America. Not many places on Earth where that kind of upward mobility is possible.

I'm messin' with ya, sorry i didn't put the lol emoji. Similar background. My Dad was a high school dropout who came to America and became an Iron Worker and did all he could for us. Your Dad sounds like our next door neighbor, who we were renting from. Worked blue collar in Ford's wind tunnel. Bought a tiny house. Then bought the tiny house next door and rented the one we were in. Went to night school, eventually became white collar and did very well at Ford. I joined the Army for the college fund then went to UF. All three of mine are either UF grads or at UF. So very similar. Each generation doing better than the last.

I've screamed it here and on GSMB for 20 years now: the American Dream is alive and well for those willing to apply themselves and work for it.

As for the 486 in early 90's, I was at UF from 89-93. The 286 AT was all I really needed (and, at ~$2000, all I could afford!), but my best friend (also an Army enlisted guy that went to UF) was an Aero major. Spent everything he had to get a 386SX (could only dream of DX)... the 486 DX was "unobtainium" back then By the way, he's a VERY senior exec at GE Aviation now... another American Dream come true.