Comments on: What was your first computer?

On the anniversary of the ENIAC unveiling, we asked industry pros to reminisce about their first computers. Tell us about yours.

[Cory Sickles]

Homebrew 8008

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.

[Cory Sickles]

Homebrew 8008

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.

[smblair]

PDP4/Altair

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.

[smblair]

PDP4/Altair

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.

[Tower7]

Tandy Color Computer 2

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....

[PhantomPhixer]

coco2

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

[Tower7]

Tandy Color Computer 2

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....

[PhantomPhixer]

coco2

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

[Ballpoint Penguin]

The venerable TRS-80 Model 3

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 all had to start somewhere...

[Ballpoint Penguin]

The venerable TRS-80 Model 3

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 all had to start somewhere...

[edwardpoe]

Cromemco System Zero & Atari 800

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".

[edwardpoe]

Cromemco System Zero & Atari 800

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".

[pico303]

Mine too!

Loved that old machine, even though it did go out of style. Last
computer I had that I didn't have to wait for it to start up. My
Powerbook is the closest thing to that (no startup; just open the lid)
these days.

[pico303]

Mine too!

Loved that old machine, even though it did go out of style. Last
computer I had that I didn't have to wait for it to start up. My
Powerbook is the closest thing to that (no startup; just open the lid)
these days.

[drrobinson]

Apple Macintosh 128k

I got a Mac 128k in 1984 which completely changed my life. Technically, I all ready had my first computer a HP 41-CX calculator, but compared to the Macs GUI it seamed like a dinosaur!

[drrobinson]

Apple Macintosh 128k

I got a Mac 128k in 1984 which completely changed my life. Technically, I all ready had my first computer a HP 41-CX calculator, but compared to the Macs GUI it seamed like a dinosaur!

[gavindoughtie]

Digi-comp 1

A mechanical "toy" computer (but with working digital logic) from the late 1960s.

Here's a picture of me opening it on Christmas day in the early 70s.

http://www.doughtie.com/gavin/

[gavindoughtie]

Digi-comp 1

A mechanical "toy" computer (but with working digital logic) from the late 1960s.

Here's a picture of me opening it on Christmas day in the early 70s.

http://www.doughtie.com/gavin/

[satayboy]

TRS-80 model 1

My first computer was a TRS-80 model 1. My high-school physics teacher lent it to me. I stayed up late at night and all weekend writing games on it, and I got my first taste of assembly language on it too. Later on my teacher upgraded me to a model 2, which had 4x as much memory and a better Basic interpreter. Boy, that was a lot of fun!

[satayboy]

TRS-80 model 1

My first computer was a TRS-80 model 1. My high-school physics teacher lent it to me. I stayed up late at night and all weekend writing games on it, and I got my first taste of assembly language on it too. Later on my teacher upgraded me to a model 2, which had 4x as much memory and a better Basic interpreter. Boy, that was a lot of fun!

[Earl Benser]

Pace Analog...

... and a Honeywell 1600 (with 16k of hardwired core RAM) at work,
a 48K Apple II at home, With maybe a VIC 20 and C64 around
somewhere in the house.

[Earl Benser]

Could also mention...

A KIM-1 notebook computer
A Timex-Sinclair
A TI-59 handheld (programmed in assembly language)

They were all back there somewhere, amongst others

[Earl Benser]

Pace Analog...

... and a Honeywell 1600 (with 16k of hardwired core RAM) at work,
a 48K Apple II at home, With maybe a VIC 20 and C64 around
somewhere in the house.

[Earl Benser]

Could also mention...

A KIM-1 notebook computer
A Timex-Sinclair
A TI-59 handheld (programmed in assembly language)

They were all back there somewhere, amongst others