The first computer that I used was an Atari 800 when I was in 4th grade. In 6th grade, our school got some used Apple I's. In 9th grade, my high school had some Apple IIc's and IIe's. The first one I actually owned I got in tenth grade. It cost $2000. It was built by Kaypro. It was IBM PC XT compatible. It had 768KB of memory. It ran at the whopping speed of 8 MHz. It was so fast that many IBM PC games would run too fast to be playable (unless I flipped a toggle switch that slowed it down to 4.77 MHz). It was on this machine that I learned how to keep BASIC programs from turning into "spaghetti" code (by using a "modular" approach to writing programs with most of the main program consisting of loops and "GOSUBS" and putting individual tasks in subroutines with their own range of line numbers.)
The one thing that I have never yet figured out is why GW-BASIC was an interpreted language (as opposed to compiled) on the PC. It was nothing more than an easy way to write machine assembly code.
My first computer was a Tandy 1000. It was used and ran DOS 3... it didn't have a hard drive only a single 5 1/4" floppy... CGA monitor and 640K RAM... good times!
My first computer was a Tandy 1000. It was used and ran DOS 3... it didn't have a hard drive only a single 5 1/4" floppy... CGA monitor and 640K RAM... good times!
then a Risc PC with i think 4 mb, later i got a 486 card to put in it, so it could run windows in a window, one of the best computers ever, and an amazing os, all in rom, boots faster than anything still now.
then a Risc PC with i think 4 mb, later i got a 486 card to put in it, so it could run windows in a window, one of the best computers ever, and an amazing os, all in rom, boots faster than anything still now.
Having shown an aptitude for the mainframe based systems at school, and the Commodore PETs my parents opted to pick up a C64 for my brother and me, and I haven't looked back since. I was four I believe, and I remember waking up Christmas morning to see the animated sights and sounds of the C64 playing Christmas Carols... my life changed forever.
Having shown an aptitude for the mainframe based systems at school, and the Commodore PETs my parents opted to pick up a C64 for my brother and me, and I haven't looked back since. I was four I believe, and I remember waking up Christmas morning to see the animated sights and sounds of the C64 playing Christmas Carols... my life changed forever.
My first computer was an Apple II+ I bought in 1981. My first hands-on experience with a computer was playing SpaceWar on a PDP-x (PDP-6?)at MIT in 1963 or 1964.
My first computer was an Apple II+ I bought in 1981. My first hands-on experience with a computer was playing SpaceWar on a PDP-x (PDP-6?)at MIT in 1963 or 1964.
My dad worked at Ford and on the weekends, I would go to work with him. I would spend hours playing on the Apple II, running basic programs. The best memory was of a basic demo that showed a horse galloping. I was determined to learn how it worked. From there, my parents bought me a basic cartridge for our Atari 2600. What a blast!
My dad worked at Ford and on the weekends, I would go to work with him. I would spend hours playing on the Apple II, running basic programs. The best memory was of a basic demo that showed a horse galloping. I was determined to learn how it worked. From there, my parents bought me a basic cartridge for our Atari 2600. What a blast!
Laughable by today's standards, I put it together using a "cosmetic defect" 8008 chip set. Although I remember the maximum clock frequency being a blazing 136 KHz, mine ran at 100, since I already had a crystal. It was little more than a wirewrap board with a seperate panel of LED's and toggle switches, but when I finally got it working with it's 256 bytes of RAM, I was thrilled. I later went on to build, (unfortunately harvesting parts from that one) buy, sell and program my way to a nice career for many years.
Laughable by today's standards, I put it together using a "cosmetic defect" 8008 chip set. Although I remember the maximum clock frequency being a blazing 136 KHz, mine ran at 100, since I already had a crystal. It was little more than a wirewrap board with a seperate panel of LED's and toggle switches, but when I finally got it working with it's 256 bytes of RAM, I was thrilled. I later went on to build, (unfortunately harvesting parts from that one) buy, sell and program my way to a nice career for many years.
I took Fortran in 1973 and the university had a PDP4 donated by a defense contractor that no longer wanted it. We weren't allowed to actually use it but could submit our decks and get printout within 24 hours. Interactive programming! In 1978, I bought an assembled MITS Altair and never looked back.
I took Fortran in 1973 and the university had a PDP4 donated by a defense contractor that no longer wanted it. We weren't allowed to actually use it but could submit our decks and get printout within 24 hours. Interactive programming! In 1978, I bought an assembled MITS Altair and never looked back.
My first was the Tandy color computer II with a calibrated cassette player. It was a great machine for the time. The top was off as soon as I got home and I did my own ram upgrade. A group of us got together and created a development PCB for the expansion slot..... Many blinking LED projects were created....
I still have my coco2 as well as a couple of coco3s. grant they haven't been out of the closet in several years. J&M controller (JDOS), 2 slimline 360k drives, and a small library of carts and disks. remember VIP library? I still have it in the bookcase
My first was the Tandy color computer II with a calibrated cassette player. It was a great machine for the time. The top was off as soon as I got home and I did my own ram upgrade. A group of us got together and created a development PCB for the expansion slot..... Many blinking LED projects were created....
I still have my coco2 as well as a couple of coco3s. grant they haven't been out of the closet in several years. J&M controller (JDOS), 2 slimline 360k drives, and a small library of carts and disks. remember VIP library? I still have it in the bookcase
We couldn't afford the disk drive option at the time, so I got used to thinking of cassette tape players in terms of how well they'd work for data storage than for their sound quality.
Still and all, it was the tool that started me programming - and their little book that came with it that taught programming was, oddly enough, well-written and understandable without the condescending tone that often plagues beginning books. (Case in point: "This sounds like a boring and repetitive task - which means it's perfect for a computer!")
We couldn't afford the disk drive option at the time, so I got used to thinking of cassette tape players in terms of how well they'd work for data storage than for their sound quality.
Still and all, it was the tool that started me programming - and their little book that came with it that taught programming was, oddly enough, well-written and understandable without the condescending tone that often plagues beginning books. (Case in point: "This sounds like a boring and repetitive task - which means it's perfect for a computer!")
I first used the Cromemco in 1981. I purchased the Atari 800 in 1982. I still have the Atari along with modem, touch tablet, game controllers, floppy drives, etc. I love that old Atari. I even wrote a custom DOS that ran from ROM in $C000 to prevent having boot from a floppy... I was such a geek "back in the day".
I first used the Cromemco in 1981. I purchased the Atari 800 in 1982. I still have the Atari along with modem, touch tablet, game controllers, floppy drives, etc. I love that old Atari. I even wrote a custom DOS that ran from ROM in $C000 to prevent having boot from a floppy... I was such a geek "back in the day".
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The one thing that I have never yet figured out is why GW-BASIC was an interpreted language (as opposed to compiled) on the PC. It was nothing more than an easy way to write machine assembly code.
it didn't have a hard drive only a single 5 1/4" floppy... CGA
monitor and 640K RAM... good times!
it didn't have a hard drive only a single 5 1/4" floppy... CGA
monitor and 640K RAM... good times!
Bill Mohnack
Bill Mohnack
defect" 8008 chip set. Although I remember the maximum clock
frequency being a blazing 136 KHz, mine ran at 100, since I
already had a crystal. It was little more than a wirewrap board with
a seperate panel of LED's and toggle switches, but when I finally
got it working with it's 256 bytes of RAM, I was thrilled. I later
went on to build, (unfortunately harvesting parts from that one)
buy, sell and program my way to a nice career for many years.
defect" 8008 chip set. Although I remember the maximum clock
frequency being a blazing 136 KHz, mine ran at 100, since I
already had a crystal. It was little more than a wirewrap board with
a seperate panel of LED's and toggle switches, but when I finally
got it working with it's 256 bytes of RAM, I was thrilled. I later
went on to build, (unfortunately harvesting parts from that one)
buy, sell and program my way to a nice career for many years.
In 1978, I bought an assembled MITS Altair and never looked back.
In 1978, I bought an assembled MITS Altair and never looked back.
Still and all, it was the tool that started me programming - and their little book that came with it that taught programming was, oddly enough, well-written and understandable without the condescending tone that often plagues beginning books. (Case in point: "This sounds like a boring and repetitive task - which means it's perfect for a computer!")
We all had to start somewhere...
Still and all, it was the tool that started me programming - and their little book that came with it that taught programming was, oddly enough, well-written and understandable without the condescending tone that often plagues beginning books. (Case in point: "This sounds like a boring and repetitive task - which means it's perfect for a computer!")
We all had to start somewhere...