Tell us about your first computer — or the first one that you went online with — and what was that experience like?
I was working as an electronics retailing journalist at the time and my first computer was a laoner low-end Acer “386” machine running Windows 3.1 with a dial-up modem (Acer never asked for it back). No idea about RAM. And of course it had a 3.5 floppy drive.
When I figured out how to use the modem, I initially joined some bulletin boards and actually got into my first internet argument with somebody.
I think I got a Prodigy install disk sent to me at work, and I gave it try. It was a lot of fun, especially when I discovered their “TV L-Z” discussion area that included a section on MST3K.
What about you?
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The first computer I ever saw in person was the Trash-80 at my local Radio Shack. It cost $800 (fully loaded with 4K, a cassette recorder drive, and a 80×16 B/W screen) and I immediately ordered one ($800 back when cars cost $4K and my house was only $20K, so it would be around $4K or more for the computer in terms of today’s money). I got the second one sold in the state, but it took six weeks to arrive (since they had to make it — I guess they figured no one would actually buy the things so they only had the one demo model in the store) but for those weeks they allowed me to take the manual home and read it (a really funny manual that I loved).
The whole experience turned me onto computing, and led to a career that lasted 30 years in the industry and eventually head of the IT department for the whole state. Oh, and there were no such things as modems or online back then — it was about two to three years later that happened (and many more computers past that).
Well- my first computer was Commodore 386, 1993- we could not get on line, but, it did have a neat bowling game. From ’94-’96 it was an Apple with floppy discs, again, no internet- but a lot of neat games. Finally, in 1996 we got a desktop with 1.5 GB, Windows 95 and internet access- first site for me- Sports of some sort.
By 2000 we got a Sony VIAO (or was it VAIO) with 80 GB and a video capture card (I installed Movie Star) and DVDit! software and a burner. It was then I began to migrate my MST VHS tapes to DVD-R. I cannot believe it has been 13 years. Now, I have a Dell notebook.
I remember having the old Commodore Vic 20 at home, way back in the 80s. I seem to recall that my first internet experiences were at University, where I would use the school computers to peruse the old usenet newsgroups (primarily Dr. Who and MST3K). Alt.mst3k, I believe it was.
Happy times.
My first computer was B.I. (before internet). Can’t remember the make or model. It was essentially a typewriter with a screen, had an old black floppy disc drive which was seperate from the main computer and an Atari port on top of the keyboard. Many Pac-man and Return of the Jedi hours on that thing. First time we had internet was two computers later. I only used it for email because there were about no intetresting websites i knew of, bleh.
First computer interaction I recall was when our K-5 school got a
roomfull of computers and us classroom teachers (with virtually no
familiarity) had to teach students basic uses. Eventually many schools
(that was when Philadelphia schools weren’t stiffed by cheap Republican
governors of funds) were staffed by computer teachers.
The first Mysty experience I recall offhand was when it was shown that a few floppy disks held
the secret to time travel and that if you destroyed them you would foil
the E-VIL plans of GenCorp.
Mine was a 66/386 with DOS as the primary operating system. These were the days where memory upgrades were in the 1 MB denominations, and 4 MB of ram might run you a few hundred dollars.
Radio Shack Color Computer 2 [1 had the ‘chicklet’ keys, so avoided that], with cassette memory. Had several plug-in modules (Backgammon, word processor, etc.), then added multi-module unit and 5.25 floppy. Expanded to dual drive, got 300 baud modem that required dialing phone then turning modem on. Joined various BBSes, including The Stables [which I helped the Sysop by fixing the boot to include the CD unit when Windows for Workgroups went bad on his server]. First Internet was text only, via a local BBS that had access to various systems that were connected into the early ‘net – no Web at the time.
Running dual core Win 7 machine now, with 1T HD and external 2T HD, cable modem and wireless network.
I started a data entry job in 1987, so technically I suppose that was when I first used a computer, but they were not quite a regular computer. My first experience actually getting on-line was with WebTV back in early 2001 (Hey, it was fine for what I wanted at the time). I didn’t have the space or a real desire for an actual computer, and the WebTV served me well for a few years, even though I could only use dial-up with it. In late 2004 I upgraded to the MSNTV2 set-top box and was able to get broadband for it, which I managed to hook up myself. The box has some major limitations now with most web sites (Satellite News can be a little slow but it works just fine although many other sites now cause the box to crash) since it’s basically stuck on IE6, has very limited memory and flash capabilities and I can’t download anything with it, but for those years when it was my only internet device it served my needs and wants just fine. It still works and is in fact what I am using to type up this post. It’s hooked up to the TV in my bedroom and if nothing else it serves as a very nice nightlight. In early 2008 I finally broke down and got a refurbished IBM T41 laptop with XP Pro and a wireless router to hook up to my broadband modem, which I also managed to do myself. That laptop lasted me for a couple years until it died, and then I got my current laptop, which is a Toshiba Satellite A505 S6980 with Windows 7. When I have the laptop turned on I can even listen to the music I have on it through the MSNTV2 box over my TV. I can also get pictures from the laptop to the box. I added a Kindle Fire to my WiFi family almost a year ago, although I mainly use the WiFi on that to download apps and library books. I have an old printer hooked up to the box which I don’t use all that often, but the laptop uses a WiFi printer/scanner/copier. My cell phone is not a smart phone, but it does have internet. I just rarely use it for even phone calls.
Timex Sinclair Z81,1K onboard memory expandable to 16K! You had to load programs for it off a cassette player. 1981 computing power!
Didn’t get on the net till ’99 with it’s dial-up and blurry videos. I really miss the old MP3.com and horrible sites strewn with animated gifs and bad midi music.
Great topic!
Radio Shack Color Computer 1. It really was a piece of junk, even by 1982 standards. About the only thing it had going for it was 16K memory which a lot in those days. Now, I have jpegs are that are bigger. Programs were stored on cassette tape. No discs, no modem (although it seems like you could buy them separately). I did learn BASIC programming on it, though. And like many here, I work in IT now.
My first merge onto the information superhighway was in 1996. Seems like I had a 70 MHz Pentium 1 running Windows 95, the OS that finally allowed the PC to catch up with the Amiga for multitasking. And a 28.8K baud modem.
My first computer experience was in 1978, in college, when I started learning Fortran. I wrote programs that had to be submitted to the mainframe computer on campus, and I had to write them on cards. It was VERY important to keep all your cards in order; the loudest cursing you would ever hear would be when someone dropped their stack of cards, particularly on a windy day between classroom buildings. In 1980 I had a summer job at Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. It was there that I got to use a full-screen editor for the first time (WOW!!!). That job was a blast, as I helped out on a project to replace the old mainframe computers then with the next generation computers that were used for the start of the Space Shuttle missions. High-level computing has been part of my career ever since. And yes, I still use Fortran, although I have since also used C++, Java, and a few more obscure computer languages.
My first computer was a custom built PC w/ a 386 CPU, 4MB RAM, WIN 3.0, DOS 5.0, 3.5 and 4.25 floppy drives, and (I think) a Sound Blaster sound card and 100MB HDD. I eventually upgraded to a Cyrix 486 CPU, 8MB RAM, WIN 3.11, DOS 6.2, 1GB HDD, and a 14.4k dial-up modem.
I remember being frustrated trying to configure comm ports just like Crow. Does anybody else remember having to set the “teeth” on the back of the modem? It always drove me crazy. I also ran a WWIV BBS called “On Vacation” and used Telemate to log on to other BBS’s.
My favorite games were Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Blakestone, Corridor 7, Scorch, One Must Fall 2097, Epic Pinball, and World Empire.
My first computer was the Apple IIe. A family purchase. I swear there was some sort of “modem” apparatus attached to this thing (we’re talking about 1982 or 1983), complete with a very ancient but active chat room. I was about 8 years old at the time and I really don’t remember any details about that chat, except that my mom said “No more modem” immediately afterwards and held firmly to that. Hmm.
But my real first online experience was, like Sampo, Prodigy. I remember him well and many others from the MST3K bulletin board at that time. It was the first time I’d ever discovered anything really weird that I loved and actually was able to interact with people that loved the same thing. That is, until the dreaded Prodigy “hourly rates” announcement. :pain:
I don’t know the make or model, but my dad bought a computer when I was about 9 or 10 years old (1994/1995). I don’t recall exactly how old I was, but I can still remember connecting to the Internet with that harsh modem dialup sound. The screen was large and boxy and it flickered a bit when we surfed the web for some reason. We also installed Civilization II and Myst onto the computer along with a few other smaller games. That’s about all I can remember!
My first computer (being the young lad I am) was a 1989 NEC computer with a combo DOS/WIN 3.1. Not sure which version of DOS we had. Some games we had included Math Blasters, SimCity (the original, and, in my opinion, the best version), and my personal favourite game at that time, “Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?”. Despite having only a 16 Mhz memory, she ran fast! And from what I have heard, that computer was one of the first that came with a colour monitor (you didn’t have to buy one separately). I think my dad had a word processor, too.
The first computer I bought was in 1993. It was a low-end PC knockoff from a company called Ambra that probably vanished before the warranty on my computer expired. I don’t remember the hard drive size, but I do remember it came with 2MB of RAM–I was promised 4MB, but the store did a bait-and-switch; they kept promising me the extra 2MB, but never came through, and I couldn’t afford to buy extra memory (we’re talking two whole megabytes, people!). It came with Windows 3.1 and I got a deal on WordPefect 6, which was the first software I ever installed myself (about eight 3.5″ floppies, and an afternoon of waiting around and changing disks). The best thing about the system was the monitor, which was an SVGA that weighed a ton–I actually used it through about three other replacement systems, and it still works, although right now it’s in a little computer graveyard in one corner of my basement.
No internet at home in those days, but the university where I was teaching (and still do teach) had just installed e-mail, so my first experience of the Web was through e-mail discussion groups. The computers at work just had those amber screens, so no graphics for a few years: the full Internet experience was still a myth to me. I remember trying (and failing) to access something called the WELL–the Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link. Does anyone else remember that, and am I right that it was an early search engine?
@Lloyd’s Lungs
I think I am your brother, because that sounds exactly like my experience with the apple IIe.
Ours had a green screen switch on the monitor and two shoe box sized floppy drives. We used to play Zork, and the Bard’s Tale. Finally, we got a tape drive and were able to play Zaxxon after 30 MINUTES of loading time. You kids today with your iPhones and the pierced I don’t know what, you haven’t seen slow until you’ve used a coupler modem and a tape drive.
I didn’t think to look on the Internet for MST until around 2005, when I wondered “where are they now?”
My first computer was actually my dad’s, a Commodore 64. I was too young to enjoy any of the other aspects of the machine, but there were a LOT of great games. Batman: The Caped Crusader and Ghostbusters are still etched in my memory.
Dad got rid of the C64 and got a PC at some point in the very late-80’s or early-90’s (unfortunately, I don’t remember the exact model of the PC), and while I’m not sure when we first went online, dad has always been very up-to-date on that sort of thing, and I remember getting ‘Hint Guides’ AKA walkthroughs for games though some kind of relatively primitive internet/modem/whatever. The PC, though, I remember it was powerful enough to run anything Sierra would put out (dad was very good about updating that machine). The King’s Quest and Space Quest series’ are still some of my absolute favorite games. Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom & Doom II, Duke Nukem, Duke Nukem 3D, many hours were logged on all of them, but nothing like those Sierra ‘Quest’ games.
I do recall us being online by at least by the mid-90’s, 1994/1995, maybe. AOL dial-up. In 1996/1997, I was discovering the internet for myself. I remember that MST3K, after moving to the Sci-Fi Channel, was my first real internet obsession, and I eagerly pored over the updated episode guide every week. Believe it or not, TV Land.com was also a favorite (this was back when the channel played Retromercials and a wide variety of classic TV shows, and there was actually a lot of fun stuff to do at the site).
Of course, growing up there were also the Apple II’s at school. A few years back, I salvaged one from a School/Church rummage sale and happily played the original Oregon Trail for longer than appropriate.
Great memories. Like Maynard G. Krebs used to say, “I’m gettin’ all misty!”.
Earliest computer experience for me was in the first computer course taught in the Royal Oak, MI high school system back in 1978. We learned some BASIC programming, and I mean basic. We were really excited when we could print out a ten foot long banner with the school’s name on it using a dot matrix printer.
@ AlbuquerqueTurkey – I can relate completely to your story about he punch cards. My first computer class at the University of Michigan was taught using FORTRAN and COBAL and we had to run programs using punch cards. I remember going in at 2-3:00AM to try to avoid the crowd. A couple years later the University got a bunch of Apple Lisa desktops and those are when we used for a senior design projects.
First job after graduation had just bought a couple Compaq computers with that weird orange screen. I had to teach myself how to make spreadsheets in Lotus 1-2-3 and to use Word Perfect. No such thing as internet at that job.
My next job had desktops for each department and I was the lucky person chosen to receive email for the whole facility and then I had to distribute them to the recipient. We received maybe 10-20 emails a week. At first no one was authorized to use the internet, even for business purposes. I honestly had no idea what I was missing because none of my friends or family were using the internet very much at this time either.
The first I really experienced the internet wasn’t until the Spring of 1997 when I asked my nephew to show me how to view the Satellite News on line. True story. Once I saw that there were updates daily and links to other MSTies all over the world (North America any way) I decided to get my own computer. I picked up a really simple 286 with a phone modem around Christmas 1997 and a couple months later I realized I needed to upgrade almost immediately. I built my next computer for more speed and memory and the day high speed internet modems were available in my area I got it connected (probably about 2000)…and I have never seen the light of day since. (OK, that last comment isn’t really true. I’m still really not that computer savvy.)
The first computer my family had was a TRS-80 Model I (my father was into amateur radio to start with and the opinionated publisher of a magazine he subscribed to started covering computers; my mother sewed dust covers for the various parts of the system), and we stuck with Radio Shack equipment through the Color Computer 2 and Color Computer 3 up to some time after they’d stopped selling them. (To quote “Radar Secret Service”: “I thought Radio Shack stood for quality!” “It stands for failing mall.”) Then, we splurged on a Macintosh LC II, a considerable jump in performance from what we had for all that it was one of the slower models of its time.
While I did dial into a local BBS a few times back towards the close of our Radio Shack days, I started noticing computer magazines making a big deal of the Internet around 1994. It wasn’t available way out where we lived until the summer of 1995, though, when some local companies started setting up. I managed to get myself involved with testing their hookups, and later that year (at university), my interest in “text adventures” led me to discover a competition for them that included an “interactive MSTing” that made me aware of Mystery Science Theater… (It does all tie together neatly, at least for me.)
I went to work for a Radio Shack Computer Center in 1983 (yes, they had separate store for that way back when) and my first computer was a Color Computer II, with 32k of RAM (which I upgraded to 64k). They had some pretty nice games. What I remember most was training for Vidtex, an online service that connected you to AP and other shared new services. I can remember watching it print (didn’t use a screen with it, you used a roll of thermal paper) and thinking “this will revolutionize the world if the average user can get a hold of this”.
I’ve always been late when it comes to technology. To this day I won’t use a cell phone. I could never afford a computer and didn’t own one for a very long time. When I moved out to Los Angeles from Boston about 11 years ago my roommate had one and I started playing with it casually from time to time. Eventually I found I’d like to have one but still I just wasn’t ever very good at saving up for something (I’m afraid I’ve learned nothing from “Money Talks”). So… I decided I’d buy a PC one little piece at a time intil I finally had all the parts to put one together. I basically built my own PC – collecting just the right parts over a couple of years til I could put it together. It wasn’t a bad little computer – a bit slow at times but it was MY little Frankenstien’s monster. I did eventually decide I wanted a “good” computer, so I got a Dell credit card and with it ordered an XPS and I am still paying for it to this day.
You know, I don’t even remember. I’ve had so many since then. I remember the “dial up” days and how slow the internet was but we didn’t know any different at the time.
My parents got an Apple Macintosh Plus around ’86. Black and white monitor, but it could show very good detail for the time and the sound was really impressive. My father got a hard drive for it and set it up to play movie quotes when you did things. My favorite was setting it so that when you selected the option to shut down, it was set to say “Are you sure you’re making the right decision, Dave? I think we should stop.” I played some fun games on there too. My favorite on that computer was probably Dark Castle. It did have a modem and I did a couple of chats with a friend. It didn’t work very well because the program didn’t let you see what you were typing. Only what your friend was typing. I occasionally tried some online bulletin board and gaming services when I was at other peoples’ homes. But I didn’t get to try out the World Wide Web until they set it up at my high school. I mostly just used it to look up video game strategies at the time.
My first computer experience was with a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, which was strictly monitored in my 8th grade math class. It was really only there for learning BASIC, but since it didn’t have a tape drive, any programs I wrote were lost when it was shut off.
The first computer I actually owned was a Commodore 64, which included the massive 5 1/4″ floppy drive. Somewhere around 1985 or 1986 my parents bought a 300 baud modem for my birthday and friends introduced me to the joys of Bulletin Board Systems. Shortly after came a brief stint with CompuServe and the rest is (somewhat foggy) history.
I couldn’t tell you the first computer my family had, I’m not a computer nerd (a term used lovingly) and don’t recall the numbers, make, model, etc. I do remember us getting it in the early 90s, maybe 94?.. and it was a beige PC thing and it was huge. All I would do on it would be mess with the Painting or art program (whatever it was) and play video games (on hard disk), usually Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny, and Doom.
Then when I was in High School, sometime in 96 or 97, my family got the internet (dial up). Now, I can’t recall correctly if I used the internet at school first, but I believe that to be the case. My at home usage of the internet was pretty basic; email, I’d look up movies, things like that, and also, MST3K.
I’ve been visiting this website since about then, been a regular reader since then, but only starting participating in the discussions and comments since 2008 or so.
While in High School, maybe in 97 or 98, I had a computer class and we were supposed to be printing off papers for some assignment, and instead I printed off a complete episode guide (which at the time went through Season 8) of MST that I found on some other website. It helped me figure out what episodes I didn’t have (which at the time was a lot) and which ones I wanted to try to get off of the internet, tape trading style, which I did for awhile.
So yeah,
computers.
:computer: :computer:
I also had the Commodore 64 with the giant floppy drive,and I still have it in storage with dust on it,I would put the floppy disc with a game on it in and then go get a bite to eat and wait a bit while it loaded
My father had a Commodore 64 as well sometime in the 80s. I wasn’t really on the Internet until later but my father frequented the Prodigy MST boards in the early 90s under the name Mr. Roman, some of you may have knew him (including Sampo), and I would tag along with him.
Some say the internet is for porn, I say it’s mostly for finding people to argue with. In any case, it was an IBM Aptiva. When I first heard that modem sound I thought it was magic. By the 2nd time…I thought it was annoying. Addiction and the tying up of phone lines soon followed. As far as I can remember it was pretty much the same basic set up as Crow’s. Although it was eventually stolen I still have the software package that came with it. Ahhh nostalgia.
In high school circa 1975, we had a terminal hooked up to the mainframe over at IBM, and we learned programming from a wonderful teacher, Miss Janicek (Miss J for short.)
I wrote a program that would print out “Miss J should go to” and put a syntax error in so that it would print out as “Miss J should go to (illegal command in line 120)”. A few of us had the idea to put this in her mailbox, with those cubbyholes for each teacher. I accidentally put it in the wrong cubbyhole, and another teacher got it.
I had named the program “Miss J”, and the syntax for running these programs went “Get Miss J / Run Miss J / Kill Miss J”, which was on the printout. The teacher that got the printout went frantic for a little while, until he found Miss J and she told him what it was. Everyone had a good laugh.
My first experience online was with Compuserve in the ’80s, with a Radio Shack Color Computer and a 300 baud (I think) modem. Everything was in text, of course. Today I do programming and web development for a living.
Oh man, what a trip down memory lane…
I think it was ’95, I’d just gotten married and my wife was pregnant with our oldest. I think we bought a Compaq at Best Buy and I remember being ecstatic that I could finally find out if the bands I liked were coming on tour or if they even existed any more.
It makes me long for the days when web apps were lightweight and memory gobbling Flash apps were just a twinkle in a some demented developers eye…
Of course there was the porn, but that’s a given.
First computer — Commodore 64. Played more Castle Wolfenstein and Spy Hunter that should have been legal, but I also used that computer and a really bad dot matrix printer to produce my Master’s Thesis.
I cannot recall specifically my first venture onto the “information superhighway.” My best guess is that it was on the public computers in the library at a university looking for job openings. Envetually I had an Apple LC (40 meg hard drive, who could use all that space?) and got into a variety of AOL chatrooms, spending countless hours cyber-babbling with strangers.
Like several other fellow fossils here, my first computing experience was with the college mainframe back in the mid-1970s. First you had to go to one building to laboriously type out each punch card. Then you had to physically feed them into the system. Then you went away and did something else for several hours at least because that was how long it took to get results. Then you went to a different building and got your printout. If you typed even one character wrong or fed the cards in the wrong order, you got to do it all over again.
Does anyone wonder why I love my current gaming laptop so darn much???
I think I looked a porn.
What? What?????
The first computers I remember using were a Coleco Adam and a Commodore 64. The Adam used cassette tapes and it was used mainly for typing out school work. The 64 was my first foray into floppy disks. Played a lot of Ultima on it.
My first computer was the Apple //e, the state of the art machine of the early 80s because it came with 64k of memory! I actually loved programming that thing, mostly writing programs that would generate random D&D characters for the game I was running or star systems for Traveller. Dang, that was fun.
I came late to the intertubes, and I’m pretty sure the first site I visited was a forum for Gary Numan fans. I think to that moment I had never met another one in the flesh, and that was a thrilling moment. For someone as socially inept as I am, the internet has been a godsend. My life has just gotten better since going online.
Jedi titan DAvid Franics White, the Great Grand Master of eternity!!! Join the revolution, Victory will be mine soon!!!!
david francis white!!! I am confused!!! :-D
Radio Shack Color Computer II with cassette tape, no modem, around 1985-86. First internet experience was a couple years earlier with a friend who had Compuserve. The first time I used the internet was in 1995 at college and I found a review site for the Twilight Zone.
I may win the prize for latecomer here. I bought my first computer in 2000 (late 2000), one of those Dell numbers with Windows ME. I didn’t know how to turn it off. I used to pull the plug out of the wall until someone showed me how. I’m not a Luddite but technology kind of freaks me out. I’ve solved the problem of the meaning of life but I have issues operating a toaster.
That said, I’m totally self taught as far as computers go and can now do most things needed. Yay me!
First computer I ever used was in probably first grade. Those new fangled things that no one knew how to use. I taught myself how to use them since my mother volunteered and I got stuck there after school hours for so long. I ended up teaching the teachers how to use them.
First computer ever owned was… I think an old Compaq my parents bought at Sears. One of the first computers they ever had at our local store. We ended up replacing everything on it until it finally died.
First online experience was with Prodigy. Trolls have existed since the beginning of the internet since I got into many fights with them until I got older and wiser. Then we eventually switched to AOL since as mentioned above Prodigy wanted to start charging by the hour.
@bobhoncho – I LOVED Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego! Also You Don’t Know Jack. I remember getting freaked out when I happened to play the game on a holiday and it yelled at me for playing it on the holiday.
My current computer is now 8 years old and is slowly dying. Man I need a new one.
I remember using my dad’s Apple IIe, since I didn’t know where else to play my floppy-disks of Hitchhiker’s Guide. (“You hear a bulldozer approaching.”)
Ah, the days of wandering into a dark place, and possibly being eaten by a Grue. :)
Oops, wait, the text games were later; back then I wanted to see the little line-by-line illustrations on the Apple IIe Dark Crystal computer game I’d picked up at a Radio Shack clearance. (Which was new back then, to give you some time-frame.)
As for first Internet? AOL. Dial-up. (Even found one of those little fan-made replacement packs that replaced all the program sounds, so that when you logged on, you heard Jeannie saying “You have mail, Master.”)
To this day, I’m not on Facebook. I will never BE on Facebook. I can’t face Facebook. Every time I see a commercial saying “Like us on Facebook”, I go to the page, and all I see is my old AOL days, a nice self-contained net-playpen for a lot of housewives using the Internet for the first time to chat about their cat, college girls to post mugging cellphone photos, and corporations creating advertising pages because they think This Is the Cool Internet.
Usenet, and the late-90’s Algonquin Round Table glory days of rec.arts.tv.mst3k.misc, came later. On AOL, but got out of there when I found Netscape and could take the training wheels off…A couple years later.
Forgot to mention, anyone remember when MST3k was on Sci-Fi and they had the forum where like every 5 minutes it would show a picture of whatever was on Sci-Fi at that moment (including commercials) and you could type in your own riffs and rate them. Loved that.
When you had a Telstar, I had something called a Heathkit; when you had an Atari, I had something called an Interact (with a keyboard and cassette drive!); when you had an Apple IIe, or IBM PCjr., I had something called a Commodore 64; when you got your first PC, I got something called a Commodore 128 (it was out of date even then!); when you got a PC “clone,” I got something called a Tangerine iMac. But since it was 1999 by then, so did a lot of other people.
My first night online, with a friend’s help, I discovered that Roger Waters was finally touring, seven years after the release of his latest album, Amused to Death. I remember visiting an MST site (an old version of this?) as well as Sci-Fi’s page and schedule a bunch.
GO64
Oh! And I followed Edward the Less!
Mid-80s, I played on my Dad’s loaner Osborne-1 (the first laptop, at only 50 or so pounds), thankfully it worked as a desktop also.
The Tandy-1 “how is this thing even remotely a computer and supposed to be educational when BASIC was already out of date and oh yeah it also plays ‘Marble Madness,'” kiddy PC came next.
First real comp was a Laser 386 with a whopping half meg of RAM, expandable to a whole meg.
First MSTie related stuff I saw online came from school labs. I remember “The Movie’s” banner ad, so about ’96, ’97? Also the show’s site was pretty large and interactive- Caption This! still rocks on, somewhere.
So glad that Al showed us how to use our blinkers as we MERGED onto the Information Superhighway!
The first computer that was actually mine was a Commodore-16 attached to a TV, eventually exchanged for a C-64 and a glorious “green screen” monitor. I’d tediously type in programs out of books and magazines, or try to implement stuff from Scientific American’s “Computer Recreations” column, back when they actually had one. (Christ, SciAm is utter garbage now.) But my first computer experience was with the Apple II-whatevers in elementary school–playing “Oregon Trail” and screwing around with “LOGO” turtle graphics.
Ha, what a fun topic! My first time was when my dad bought an Apple II E (insert obligatory joke about me being old here). We watched him set it up, witnessed his frustration when nothing came up on the screen, I hit a button on it and the monitor turned on, enda story.
Just saw #43, I had that “Hitchhiker’s Guide” game too! It was clever and fun. I can’t remember completing it.