Re: Your first computer

Not in the UK, as far as I know, but places like the Netherlands and Finland did.

Re: Your first computer

I can remember trying it from the north east .. Never worked .

Re: Your first computer

My first IBM clone PC was an Amstrad PPC640. I decided not to go for an Amiga as my Commodore 128D started to age in part because of the appalling service Commodore gave its users. This reasonably cheap and portable PC seemed perfect.


After I bought this computer I was very disappointed. Turned it on and all it said was 'C:' and absolutely nothing worked, the computer apparently did nothing!

The Commodore at least said 'READY' and the basic interpreter was built in but this thing... just 'C:'. I put it away and didn't touch it for many weeks (true!) until I finally forced myself to learn how to work it!

Re: Your first computer

TI99/4A the number is familiar was it a Texas Instruments by any chance ?

Re: Your first computer

I didn't own it but the first computer I used at work (teaching) was a BBC and it did hardly anything in terms of helping to teach kids. I seem to remember the only programs I could get for it were very simple spelling games such as hangman and crosswords all in neon green print on black.

I clearly remember when teaching typing, at the end of one year (1990) left a room full of manual (and a few electric) typewrites and came back after the long holidays to find a room full of "word processors" as they were described. I couldn't believe my eyes. It almost seemed like science fiction.

Re: Your first computer

Dunno about the first one I ever used, but it was at work and pre-internet.

I'd always used my trusty typewriter until then; then one day I came into work and there was old cyclops sitting on my desk. I spoke to it thinking I was on Star Trek and hoped it was voice-activated, but no such luck.

I'd had no training and I didn't even know how to turn the blasted thing on, so I started to learn how to use Word, which was the main thing I'd need in order to type letters, etc. Then I was introduced to DOS, with its black background and green and red boxes. Absolute nightmare!

A year or so later my partner's daughter was getting rid of her computer so, now that I was a "whiz kid" I accepted the challenge - still pre-internet, but I used it to type out my stories and poems, and just played about with it.

Computers! I just love to hate them!

Re: Your first computer

I didn’t own it but I was programming the Powers Samas Programme Controlled Computer (PCC) 1956.

Re: Your first computer

I loved my Amiga and had a souped-up version that ended up about 30% wider than a standard Amiga because all the expansion gadgets plugged into the slot on the side. I had three expansion packs, as I recall, which all daisy-chained into each other. One was an accelerator that speeded up the processor, one was a hard drive and for the life of me I can't remember what the third gadget was. Extra RAM, maybe, but I couldn't say for certain now, it was so long ago It was a fabulous machine at the time with unrivalled sound and graphics compared to its competitors.

I had an Atari ST prior to that, and used that a great deal until the Amiga really showed what a computer at the time could do.

Re: Your first computer

Commodore really stuffed up with the Amiga. They had a computer system streets ahead of M$ and IBM but they could not explain in any meaningful way the significance of multitasking and the graphics capability - a picture of several clocks showing different times was their best effort and totally ludicrous. The Amiga came out about the same time as the 128 yet the 8 bit 128 outsold it for most of its existence and gave M$ Windows the breathing space to come up with VGA(??) and true multitasking.

Commodore got what they deserved in my opinion, they treated their loyal and enthusiastic user base with contempt and went broke.

Re: Your first computer

Commodore 64 for pleasure. No idea what I used at university-I just remember having to flick a load of switches to boot it and the discs were like pizza boxes.

I bought a second hand car for the price of the BBC micro.