What was the very first computer you owned or used ?

[capt bullshot]

My first computer was this one:

http://computermuseum.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/dev/christiani/

Bought it at a local flea market, half of the documentation was missing - still got some use out of it, like programming blinky LEDs on the 7 segment display (with only half of the instruction set of the SC/MP documented)

[alank2]

Great pictures here everyone.

First computer I saw was a PET at school playing this gold miner game.  It was amazing how fun mining for gold was and going up and down that elevator to get to more exploration!

First computer my family had was a VIC-20.

My first computer was a NEC PC-6001A.  I recently bought one from eBay and repaired the bad diode rectifier in it that was pulling 2.5A at 120VAC.  The composite output it pretty nice, but the RF output is pretty noisy.  Other than that it works pretty well.  I ordered a slot backplane that plugs into its cartridge port to turn that into 4 slots using double row header along with a 16K RAM module and 512K ROM module.  I'm going to make a microSD to FDD interface module for it as well.

[Stefan Payne]

Well, of course the 'Brotkasten' (=Bread Box). C64 in that ugly brown case.
After that some time later I got an Olivetti PC286S. Sadly no pictures of that unit were ever made by me.

Also with an 14" VGA Monitor...

[MarkF]

My first computer used out of school was a Honeywell DDP-516.

[tggzzz]

My first computer used out of school was a Honeywell DDP-516.

Ah, I did my final year project on one of those.

It was fun to see

• the 10MB disk - not the case, but the vertically mounted platter several feet in diameter
• paper tape flying horizontally through the reader at 100cps, and landing in a very big bucket; wouldn't pass HSE regulations nowadays!
• ASR33s, which have a very satisfying delayed thunk when the ink is thwacked onto the paper

[poorchava]

My first was a PC, going from my memory:
-Cyrix 133MHz
-16MB RAM
-2MB Matrox Millenium 2D video card
-no sound card
-2x 850MB interchangeable HDDs (one was for my mom's CAD work, the other one was for mine and my sisters' games)

IIRC it was quite expensive back in 1996, as most parts were picked to provide room for epansion and upgrade... one year later it was a total junk, such was the speed of technology development back then.

[Tepe]

The first computer I used was a Regnecentralen RC7000 (basically a rebranded Data General Nova 1200, I think).
The first I owned was a VIC-20...

[fable]

Comodore 64 then atari 1040st

[retrolefty]

First were various mini-computers in the early 70s as a field service engineer. Around that time I took a night class at local community college on Fortran taught on a IBM 1130 system.

[rdl]

This is the first computer I owned. It's an IBM PS/1 Model 2168-37C. I pulled it out of the closet this morning and started it up for the first time in over a decade. It seems to be working fine. The clock was off by just under a minute.



The processor is a 486DX2-50 with 4MB RAM and the hard drive is 256MB. I added many upgrades over the next few years. It came originally with Windows 3.1 and DOS 6 but now has Windows 95.

[rdl]

Yes. I am a pack rat.




I still have the original box also, but that's buried too deep in the outside closet to get to easily.

[ebastler]

Yes. I am a pack rat.

Hey, that's great! So you still have the number to call for repair service, if you ever need it. 

[MK14]

Yes. I am a pack rat.

No, a pack rat would still have the CRT monitor, it originally came with (or the one you were using at the time). I presume you didn't get an LCD monitor, in 1993.

[rdl]

Sadly, the original monitor did not last much longer than the warranty. I don't think I got my first LCD monitor until around year 2000 or later. I still have it though and it probably still works.

[MK14]

Sadly, the original monitor did not last much longer than the warranty. I don't think I got my first LCD monitor until around year 2000 or later. I still have it though and it probably still works.

Yes, now you mention it. I remember, many of them only did last a few years and the picture deteriorated, after a few years as well (even if it still worked). I'm NOT 100% sure, as it is a distant memory, now.

Like you. I did have a 486 system at one point, but (unfortunately, as I would like to have it now, as a legacy system) I sold the motherboard, and replaced it with a Cyrix cpu based motherboard, or whatever the upgrades were at the time.

The monitors from that time point, were often really small, and the picture quality was often not that great. So I guess you are not missing too much.

[metrologist]

What, no claims of an Antikythera computing machine?

Apple IIe+

[bitseeker]

Used: TI 99/4 (at school)

Owned: TRS-80 Color Computer (still have it -- has RAM issue -- but it's low in the repair queue)

Neither had storage devices. Want to run a program or play a game? Type the source code in and don't turn it off until you're sure you don't want to use it anymore.

[rdl]

The first computer I actually used was a Commodore PET when I took a class on BASIC programming in college in the early eighties. There was one Apple computer of some kind in the computer lab, but you had to be an advanced student before you were even allowed near it.

[joeqsmith]

Now that I see it, this was the box mine came in.   I've attached a few pictures of the manual.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1971-Logix-0-600-Electronic-Computer-50-Programs-Assemble-w-Manual-Box-/162600265476?hash=item25dbbb2704:g:rccAAOSwUsJYWFCv

[ebastler]

Thanks Joe! Especially for the "farmer & goat" manual page, which is exactly what I recall. 
I will need to go looking for my "Logikus" computer. I have a feeling that it is still in storage at my parents' place...

[joeqsmith]

Thanks Joe! Especially for the "farmer & goat" manual page, which is exactly what I recall. 
I will need to go looking for my "Logikus" computer. I have a feeling that it is still in storage at my parents' place...

No problem.  I found mine when I was cleaning out my parents house.  Surprised they kept it.  That farmer goat program was the missionaries and cannibal problem I remember.  I think this is really what set the hook for my love of digital hardware design.  At this age, I had played with old TVs and radios but nothing digital.  We had no calculators yet beyond an old adding machine that someone had given me.  This was really my introduction to the digital world.

I started reading the manual but now have a much better appreciation for it. 

Here is the chess game.

[ebastler]

Here is the chess game.

Thanks for that one too! I don't recall it from my Logikus computer, and the American author attribution suggests that they have added further programming examples for the U.S. version.

I'll definitely go looking for the Logikus at the next oportunity. I don't recall whether I ever got around to designing my own programs as a kid -- time to do that now, maybe?

[joeqsmith]

I don't recall whether I ever got around to designing my own programs as a kid -- time to do that now, maybe?

It will be interesting to see what ideas you come up with that would translate to the switch logic available.  That in itself may be the hardest part.   What, no clock?  What, no FFs?   

[ebastler]

It will be interesting to see what ideas you come up with that would translate to the switch logic available.  That in itself may be the hardest part.   What, no clock?  What, no FFs?   

Just put a metronome next to it to clock the user! 

[MK14]

It will be interesting to see what ideas you come up with that would translate to the switch logic available.  That in itself may be the hardest part.   What, no clock?  What, no FFs?   

You can, just get a similar kit, with all the wires and switches, plus a motor (as the clock) and a few relays to give flip flop like actions. See here:
(Apologies, soundtrack NOT English, He runs it later in the video, just after the 1 min 30 sec mark).

Amazingly it can play Naughts and crosses (Tic Tac Toe) against the computer from 1961, even though it only consists of wires, switches, lamps, a motor (which effectively is a ROM and hence the program and program counter), and 6 relays.