For me it was this:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8097/8579919075_107e78401e.jpg



The MCM 800! The awesome 16 KB RAM!

Receiver placed on keyboard to suggest the impression of a dial-up.  :P  I received the computer back in 1980, it was already used. The screen is just one line. No hard drive. You saved your data on the cassette (on the right). I used it more as a calculator than anything. It had a few games stored on cassette.  A “bull/cow” game and two games I wrote (a baseball game & a game of golf)  Very primitive stuff.

The language used was APL.

(Photo taken in my bedroom, circa late 1982...early 1983, I think)

In the blurry background, there's a hockey photo of Larry Robinson, a "Bloom County" book, Billy Joel's album "The stranger"

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww64/CatwomanofV/006.jpg


And I still have this dinosaur and it still works. But, it is more of a word processor than a computer.



Cat

http://www.vintage-computer.com/images/commodore128box.jpg

One of these, a Commodore 128, of which has disappeared  a long time ago, when better machines came along.

My parents had a Commodore 64 I played Some games on when I was little.

http://www.vintage-computer.com/images/commodore128box.jpg

One of these, a Commodore 128, of which has disappeared  a long time ago, when better machines came along.

My parents had a Commodore 64 I played Some games on when I was little.
Apart from learning the BASIC language, all we did was play games on it.

We had Q-Bert, Pac Man,  Seahorse Hide and Seek ( you changed yourself colors to hide from the fish as you traveled across the screen), and a Barbie Game.  Ken asks you out for a date and you have to shop for the right clothes and stuff and make it back home. 

I had a Commodore Vic-20.  We got it in 1982, complete with the tape deck and an assortment of games.  I still have it, but it no longer works as one of the pieces with the power supply broke off, but one day I will get it working.  I don't have any of the learning tapes anymore, but I still have all of the game cartridges

http://www.richardlagendijk.nl/foto/cip/computer_vic20_ntsc_01.jpg

I had a Commodore Vic-20.  We got it in 1982, complete with the tape deck and an assortment of games.  I still have it, but it no longer works as one of the pieces with the power supply broke off, but one day I will get it working.  I don't have any of the learning tapes anymore, but I still have all of the game cartridges

http://www.richardlagendijk.nl/foto/cip/computer_vic20_ntsc_01.jpg


Will it work on a big screen tv?

Will it work on a big screen tv?


It can yes.  Nothing like GORF in HD

http://www.8-bitcentral.com/images/reviews/atari5200/gorf5200Screen.jpg

Mine...

http://uknet.com/showcase/Museum/072_Sinclair_ZX_Spectrum_Plus.sized.jpg

The grille bit on the right hand side was some kind of heatsink and could quite easily give you a third degree burn if you accidentally placed your hand against it after being in use for an hour! (They never told you this on the box!)

It can yes.  Nothing like GORF in HD

http://www.8-bitcentral.com/images/reviews/atari5200/gorf5200Screen.jpg


Holy Moses! That is HUGE!  :o

Well I won an ancient black and white computer from a poetry contest in 3rd grade from the school computer room. The elementary school planned to replace those computers with new models.

I remember the contest had something to do with conservation and environmentalism. I won third place. :)

The computer itself had a few DOS games on available. I played snake on it and toyed with an art program which I believe happened to be a primitive version of MS Paint. Since the colors were all monochrome, the palettes offered had varying shades of black to white and unique gradients.

The first computer we bought ourselves was in 1998 or 1999. It was a Windows 98 operating system. We eventually gave the computer to my uncle when we bought a new computer. As far as I am aware, it still works.

My dad won a Power Macintosh 7100 in a drawing at his work in 94 or 95.  You couldn't do much on it other than word processing and a few basic games like Roger Dodger.  We upgraded to a Compaq Presario around 98 or 99 and got dial-up shortly after.

The language used was APL.


COBOL was designed so that managers could read code.
BASIC was designed for people who are not programmers.
FORTRAN is for scientists.
ADA comes from a committee - a government committee no less.
PILOT is for teachers.
PASCAL is for students.
LOGO is for children.
FORTH, LISP and PROLOG are specialty languages.
C is for programmers.
APL, however, is for Martians.

http://www.dresan.com/images/MyFirstAplProgramExploded.jpg

That explains a lot about how warped you are, but it's a good kind of warped.

COBOL was designed so that managers could read code.
BASIC was designed for people who are not programmers.
FORTRAN is for scientists.
ADA comes from a committee - a government committee no less.
PILOT is for teachers.
PASCAL is for students.
LOGO is for children.
FORTH, LISP and PROLOG are specialty languages.
C is for programmers.
APL, however, is for Martians.

That explains a lot about how warped you are, but it's a good kind of warped.


:)

When I was in University, had to learn LISP, Pascal, COBOL AND FORTRAN. (I liked Cobol more than the others, but still like the Martian language the best  ;D )

When I began my career, Cobol and Fortran were still being used and whenever there was a bug or problem with a program, I'm glad others were there to handle it. However there were a few programs we ran that used APL...a language very few knew.  I was the guy they came too when the APL program didn’t work or they wanted some criteria modified.

Originally when I told people at work I knew APL, yeah, I did get that "You're a Marsha Marsha Martian!" look coz many didn't know what the heck it was.

My first computer ever, was a Gateway like this one:

http://pc-spot.us/imagehosting/uploads/3140104d883a6e1dcb5da1f4570692cf.jpg


I don't have it anymore of course, I passed it on to someone else a long time ago. And then I got the Compaq Presario which I still do have.

My first computer ever, was a Gateway like this one:

http://pc-spot.us/imagehosting/uploads/3140104d883a6e1dcb5da1f4570692cf.jpg


I don't have it anymore of course, I passed it on to someone else a long time ago. And then I got the Compaq Presario which I still do have.


How old was your Gateway?  ???

How old was your Gateway?  ???


Well, it was from 2001. So it was quite old.

My first computer ever, was a Gateway like this one:

http://pc-spot.us/imagehosting/uploads/3140104d883a6e1dcb5da1f4570692cf.jpg


I don't have it anymore of course, I passed it on to someone else a long time ago. And then I got the Compaq Presario which I still do have.



The first computer that my family ever got was a Gateway computer too, except we got it in 1999:

https://www.govbids.com/Post/surplusauctions/pics/146050920-3.jpg

This isn't my photo, but that was exactly want it looked like.

First computer I ever remember using: Apple II-e, in third grade, 1988.

First computer I ever owned: Macintosh Performa, 1993. It became obsolete very quickly.

http://mantratrain.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/30cpu-500.jpg



Dan

Our first family computer was an Apple II

http://www.s-line.de/homepages/horber-privat/bilder/apple2a.jpg

Our first family computer was an Apple II

http://www.s-line.de/homepages/horber-privat/bilder/apple2a.jpg


Wow that's cool.

Mine was an Express 486 computer that I got for Christmas in 1994, and I still used it until the early 2000s just because it was still a good word processer and enjoyed playing the games, even though my family got a new computer in 1999 complete with Internet and later Broadband accesses. Since its a bit too recent to be of a vintage value, I am going to give it to charity, since I can always use roms/emulators to play classic games. It first came with DOS Version 6 and Windows 3.1, but later upgraded to Windows 95. I frequently used was an Apple IIGS starting in 1991 in first grade. It had somewhat better graphics and speed than the Apple IIe and I enjoyed using it to learn at a time that it was still novel to use the computer frequently in school. But the earliest computer I remember using was when I was 5 in 1990 at a young friend's house (too young to remember the model, but it wasn't an Apple), and remember playing Classic Concentration on it along with some other games.  I consider myself to be a PC era native and first generation Internet immigrant.

If you count "first school computer"? Apple LCIII, IIe and IIgs.

First computer at home? 1996 Gateway 2000 running Windows 95

My first computer? An ancient Compaq laptop running Windows 3.1 that died within 6 months and got replaced by an IBM Aptiva running Windows XP, which finally crashed in 2008 after I was linked to the Last Measure virus

I have had MacBooks since, 2008 unibody that I wish I had just replaced the logic board on instead of being swindled into buying a MacBook Air, currently using a 2007 pre-unibody early Intel running Snow Leopard that I got at a pawnshop and upgraded RAM & hard drive on.

Sorry for the long-windedness.  :)

Macintosh Quadra 610 in 1993.

http://www.vectronicsappleworld.com/profiles/profilepics/centris/610.jpg

TRS 80 in 1981

http://robertmccormick.com/images/trs80.jpg

TRS 80 in 1981

http://robertmccormick.com/images/trs80.jpg


Where was the hard drive?

Where was the hard drive?


Is this is back in 1981, no hard drive. That is why there is a cassette player there, you stored all the data on cassette. I'm thinking the TRS80 might have come with some cassettes, pre-programmed games.