Your first (few) non-PC and PC computers

[nurdlinger]

I started using computers in 1967...

punching FORTRAN into cards for the Control Data 3600 at Michigan State University. My career developed around embedded computer systems, often writing machine language, modifying BOOT ROMs, tinkering together specialized operating systems. I was never very interested in highly packaged systems like the VIC-20 or other Commodore machines. I got enough hands-on at work for a long time, but finally in the early 1980s I bought a kit computer from the Circuit Cellar guy (Steve Ciarcia?) that was written up in the magazine for which he wrote. It had a Z-80 processor core on a chip which also integrated some peripherals, and could run the CPM operating system. 3-1/4" floppy disks were pretty recent, exotic, and still comparatively expensive. The utilities supplied with the machine could communicate over a modem (I think one was built-in) to a service like CompuServe. I cannot remember what kind of video it used, probably a serially-connected separate terminal. In any case, I got bored with it real quick. Then in 1987 I was out of work for 10 months because my company closed. My neighbor across the street loaned me his Compaq suitcase portable PC, and using it I was able to score a couple of contract programming jobs. This opened my eyes and as soon as I was back on my feet I bought my own PC and have had one ever since.

 

[historyman]

Atari 1040 ST here

....from 1986. My dad purchased it one day right before picking me up from kindergarten. Still have it and I believe it probably still turns on. We had two: 1 had an external disk drive and 500K of RAM, the other had an internal disk drive and 1 MB of RAM. My dad would play Silent Service on it and later I'd use the word processor. Apparently, Atari 1040 ST's were used a lot for MIDI work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST

 

[lordkenmore]

"I wished they had word processing computers back when I was in college. Everything had to be typed on a typewriter and the professors took points off for typing mistakes."

I lived in both worlds--using a typewriter, and then word processing. Typewriters worked OK for me, although I didn't enjoy retyping. Once I started word processing, I became addicted fast. Early on, I thought I'd use the typewriter for "some things." Instead, it collected dust. I'm sure I felt a word processor was essential. One could not be expected to survive without one, at least for the classes I was taking.

Today, looking back, I have to admit that I probably could have gotten by with a typewriter until the end of my school career.

And, ironically, word processing probably hurt me sometimes. The seeming ease of revision may have made me a little sloppy at times, and I'm sure I lost points due to small mistakes that I should have corrected. There definitely were times when the best course of action would be a total rewrite, rather than trying to edit. And, ironically, it may have meant more work sometimes. For example, I'm pretty sure I always used one of the Mac's proportional fonts. A fixed typewriter font, however, could probably fill up a page faster--which is nice when faced with an assignment that "must be at least five pages."

In the end, word processing could make writing easier. But it wasn't a magic bullet that would guarantee great school work. Content, as always, was what really mattered in the end.

A good content example is a writing class I took at a local college. My papers would come back with a few corrections of small errors like typos. Then a great many notes about the writing itself. And those notes were definitely not along the lines of "this is the greatest thing I've ever seen!"

A couple of years later, I stumbled across a paper my mother wrote for this same professor when she'd taken a class from him for continuing education a year or so before I had him. Her paper had obviously been typed on a typewriter (and an older home model--not an IBM Selectric.) She made a few ink corrections. All in all, a far cry from what I could do on my Mac. Yet guess which one of us got the "A" and a note asking for permission to make a copy of the paper? Hint: it wasn't me.

In the end, my mother's paper was much better written, much better thought out, and was better edited than mine. Even if it was banged out on an "obsolete" typewriter.

 

[appnut]

Xerox dedicated word processor

Another thing TI did that they never put out on the market (that I remember). These type of units began appearing internally corporate-wide, looked exactly like the Xerox above. It showed up before the first TI PC (1980 or 1981) and were around until 1985 or so. Secretaries loved them and for a while were so much more capable than the earliest of the PCs' word processor software. In fact the secretaries practically chained themselves to them when they were to be removed. (they were called OOF (Office Of the Future). I affectionately called it the GOOF.

 

[qualin]

When I was growing up, my mother did a lot of secretarial work, she used a DEC VT78, which was a VT52 terminal with a PDP-8 built into it.

It had two 8" floppy drives which made loud "CLUNKA CLUNKA KER CLUNK" noises when it was seeking and probably had one of the best word processing systems I ever used.

It was connected up to a Diablo Daisy Wheel Printer, which was extremely loud when it printed, but damn, it could crank out a document.

One thing that I kind of laugh about now is that it had a blue "START" button on the side which would trigger a boot sequence once it finished its diagnostics. (It would print ABCDEF across the screen while it was doing its checks.)

I also recall that I could also program in BASIC with it as well. It was a fantastic machine with a lot of potential.

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=369&st=1

 

[westie2]

Bob I had forgotten about those typewritter we had during that time. We also had a 980 system we were using when I got laid off. Was a terminial with word processor and the TI version of spread sheet (Cubicial) Took years for Lotus to ctch up with it. Used it for setting up matrix's for users to fill in the blanks with parameeters to run a siesmic job. They could then transmit it to the ASC center inAustin to run. Do you remember theTICOG network? Used it from 1976 forward to trnsmit taapes and data and jobs and also our e-mails.
Back then TI was so advanced.

 

[veg-o-matic]

First computer was a VIC20. Second was a Coleco ADAM.

 

[davetranter]

East of the Atlantic

I think my first computer was a Zenith 286 with mono monitor, 1MB ram, DOS 6.2.
Not sure when I got it, '92 I think... It was a 'cast off' from a friend who had it from his company.

My first Windows capable (??) machine was a 486 SX25 with 1MB onboard ram, and another 3MB on an ISA16 bus 'Ramcard'... Win 3.1 took about 6 minutes to load...

CLAIM TO FAME.....
Some years ago I acquired what I am told is an 'original' IBM 'Personal Computer'
It has 256kB onboard ram, two full-height 5 1/4" floppies, and a row of ROMs on the motherboard which will load BASIC, if you don't insert a boot floppy. Any information on this machine would be greatly appreciated...

Present computers... Various Pentium 2,3,4 cast-offs from various friends. they suffice for my computing needs....

Dave T

 

[whirlcool]

You had a deluxe model IBM PC. The original came with 64K of RAM and one floppy disk. More RAM and another disk were optional. If your machine states that it's a model 5150, you have a true original.

I remember when these came out, everyone wanted one. The demand was very high.
And they were EXPENSIVE! Prices started at about $3,000. That was a lot of money in 1981. When I got my first computer I went with a Apple //c thinking that at the prices IBM was charging for the PC I could get an entire //c setup including printer and monitor.

I remember a lot of people bought computers back then and got them home and then said "Now what?".

The link goes to an article you may think is interesting.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer

 

[appnut]

Charlie, my first exposure was a TI 990 minicomputer system, they were made in Austin. Had word processing, spreadsheet, limited graphics, and engineering functions. TI won some sort of major award as a corporation that was a very early adopter of email in the early to mid 1970s. I just took it for granted everyone in corporate America had an email. It was such a cultural shock in 1998 when I went to work for who I work for now. PCs were extremely rare and few people had an email address. I went into major shock. I didn't know how to communicate. I"d end up writing memos and hand carrying them to whoever it was where ever they were all over the complex. I still shudder thinking about it. One of coworkers who came to work in like 2003, and in those 4 years we advanced a lot, got such a chuckle out of some of those memos. It almost like, uhhh Dr. ..., the sky is blue right now and you need to do this and ... then later it would be a gray cloudy sky outside. It was rediculous but it was the only way I could deal with people so busy seeing patients and no email.

 

[appnut]

IBM PCs and Delta Flight 191

As I stated abov e what myt job was around this time, I knew my competitors and their executives. My oldest sister was flying for Delta at the time and would be on flights to/from DFW. So I was anxiously awaiting to find out if that was her flight. As I was looking at the CNN, they flashed that one of the passengers had been Don Estridge, I immediately knew who it was since the plane was from Florida. To this day, I will never forget that feeling like I'd been kicked in the gut. I knew it was a serious blow to the industry and its leadership. He was the father of the IBM PC and was the head of the PC divsion and its visionary. I knew immediately IBM would never be able to fully recover from his loss, which became very true in the ensuing years rather qujckly. Needless to say I began sending emails and making phone calls, I was doing my job!! This was August 1985. This was also about the same time I was advised I could/would probably end up being transferred from Houston to where I live now, which happened 5 months later.

 

[dirtybuck]

Every Time I Read This..

I still break up. It is just TOO DAMN FUNNY!

http://www.snopes.com/humor/business/wordperfect.asp

 

[appnut]

That's right up there with the tech support help when mouse pointing devices first came out and something about the foot peddle for the sewing machine, the sewing machine (PC) wouldn't work. At one point, I used to sit across and next to cubicles with our 3 tech support guys we had at the time. talk about some dumb people that would call in for assistance. ugh!!

 

[alr2903]

#589945

Whirlcool your post reminded me while working my way thru school, as a  desk clerk,  for a hotel chain, we had an IBM of some description that would print out hotel reservations made at the 1-800 number and that is ALL we used it for, this was 1985 New Orleans, during the World's Fair.  When you received your "Secret" sign on code, you felt like you were involved in espionage, yet the information was so limited many people would write their password on a post- it note and stick it to the monitor. lol.  Bob,  good to see your post.  alr

 

[qualin]

To Dave Tranter:

If you can find one, they're nearly rare as hens teeth now, but you want a Quad Card for your IBM.

Here's what a Quad Card had:

- Enough RAM chips to boost your machine up to 640 KB of RAM
- A Real Time Clock with Battery Backup. (No more typing in the date and time.)
- Two Serial Ports
- One Parallel Port

They were an absolute MUST for anyone with an original IBM PC.

Congrats on your find!

It's so awesome to see so many people here with a background in the computer industry going back decades..

I used to collect vintage machines and got out of that hobby.. I'm still trying to clean up my collection.

 

[westie2]

Bob the e-mail sure spoiled those of us that worked for TI. We had centers all over the world and instant memos and help to users. We staffed help desk 24/7 . Austin was our main total process center and we could remote to their to look at a computer job and fix. In 1974 remember talking to guys in developement about data storage and them working on the laser disk. They had the knowlege but werer ahead of the equipment of making it. Like you had to travel lots to different places mostly back to Houston and DFW.. Midland,TX and Calgary and the North Slope.

 

[whirlcool]

I remember a neighbor we had in MSP that bought an IBM PC around 1985 or so. She brought it home, set it up and turned it on. A few weeks later when we were visiting her home we asked how the new computer was doing. She said she turned it on and there is a "A:" on the screen. I said yes and what else? She replied "I'm still waiting for it to do something!!". She literally thought that all you need to do was to bring it home, turn it on and it would automatically start doing things for you all by itself, like home finance, word processing etc.! I almost fell off my chair when I heard that one!

 

[william637]

I am jealous of the Coleco Adam

Back in 1984 (or maybe 1985) my parents got me a Tandy / Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 4 with a full 16k of RAM. It had a cassette drive and a DMP-110 (dot matrix) printer.

It was a year or two later that Coleco came out with the ADAM computer. I wanted it sooooo bad. But, since I had a Colecovision game console and the TRS-80, my parents weren't about to outlay more cash at that time.

ADAM computers were very short lived as I remember, but I still kinda wish I had one.

 

[whirlcool]

I never knew too much about the Coleco Adam, but from what I understand it was highly desirable by people who were into music for the high quality of it's sound, back when the IBM PC didn't have any standard sound capabilities without adding a sound card.

I had a cousin who was a computer programmer and he wrote a lot of his own programs for his Adam. He liked the computer a lot and never had any problems with it.

During the 80's and early 90's tons of computer companies came and went with their own operating systems before there was a shakeout and the IBM PC and Mac became the standard for all others to follow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleco_Adam

 

[lordkenmore]

"During the 80's and early 90's tons of computer companies came and went with their own operating systems before there was a shakeout and the IBM PC and Mac became the standard for all others to follow."

True enough. Although I feel like it was more an 80s thing. There were still computers other than PCs and Macs going into the 90s, but I don't think it was anything like it was in the early 80s. Plus their days were numbered. I may be saying that with the benefit of hindsight. But, thinking back, I only recall one person even talking seriously about buying something other than a PC in the late 80s. People I knew into computers increasingly suggested PC compatibles starting as early as the mid-80s.

The 90s did see one battle: the battle of Windows vs IBM OS/2 as the future OS standard for PCs. Even though OS/2 had fans--I remember reading one critic who felt it was "the future" for PCs--it obviously lost.

Indeed, as the 90s passed, it seemed like Windows was more and more poised to take everything over. I've heard that even Apple at one point was thinking of basing the next generation of the Mac on a system based on NT! (This was, of course, before Steve Jobs came back.)

Back then, I certainly noticed how Windows was taking over, and thought about it a lot. I didn't like it, but, practically, I often wondered IF I ever upgraded if I shouldn't just go Windows like everyone else. This era may be when I first thought of buying a used computer. The used computer in question was a Windows 95 machine that came up a few months after Windows 98 shipped. My thought with that 95 machine was it would give me the advantages of Windows, and it would give me a certain joy to take an obsolete, long since paid for copy of Windows, and run it into the earth!