[olug] "I remember when..."

John Hobbs john at velvetcache.org
Mon Apr 27 16:15:26 UTC 2009


"You never forget your first girl or your first Unix."
   - Dave Thacker

I might get that tattooed somewhere...

I'm in the younger crowd I guess.  First computer was a clunky green Acer
Aspire with Win 95.  They had an "even friendlier" interface that sat on top
of the win 95 desktop and sloooowed everything down. I didn't love it so, I
don't really remember it :-)

Oddly enough my first programming was done on a Commodore 64 from a garage
sale.  Loved that.

- John Hobbs

john at velvetcache.org

http://www.velvetcache.org/


On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 1:30 PM, Kelly Williams
<kellywilliams81 at gmail.com>wrote:

>
> My first computer was a Packerdhell 486sx processor, 32 mb ram, 350 mb
> hard drive, Windows 95a, office 95 that I bought at a garage sale for
> 2.00, and then a friend of mine was throwing out there computer and I
> swapped the CPU from them and it was a 486DX. It worked good enough to
> play doom and do homework in college. Just for typing papers.
>
>
> charles.bird at powerdnn.com wrote:
> > My first machine was a com64 with cassette, that thing pissed me off a
> lot, I was maybe 8yrs old, left computers alone for about 12yrs then bought
> parts and built an amd thunderbird based machine, lived with windows for a
> short time until the aeroE students that worked for me got me into linux, I
> was hooked.
> >
> > I recently saw a homemade sythesizer that used parts from an old
> commedor64, had some cool sounds!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Curtis LaMasters <curtislamasters at gmail.com>
> >
> > Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2009 11:34:28
> > To: Omaha Linux User Group<olug at olug.org>
> > Subject: Re: [olug] "I remember when..."
> >
> >
> > I'm munch younger... First family computer (that I remember) was in
> > 1988 an Apple SE20.
> >
> > Curtis LaMasters
> > http://www.curtis-lamasters.com
> > http://www.builtnetworks.com
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Apr 25, 2009 at 11:00 AM, Eric Lusk <wyrmzr72 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >> My first computer was a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A - Fortunately not the
> previous version with the "monitor" included...
> >> That was the early 80s, and from there the next real step was an Apple
> II knock-off, the Laser 128....
> >> Never really bothered with much until the 486, when RAM was something
> like $200/16MB.
> >>
> >>  I ran the Harry Potter books through a spell checker; none of those
> spells should work.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message ----
> >> From: Don Kauffman <dekauff at cox.net>
> >> To: Omaha Linux User Group <olug at olug.org>
> >> Sent: Saturday, April 25, 2009 9:30:13 AM
> >> Subject: Re: [olug] "I remember when..."
> >>
> >> Between 84 and 97, I had the following machines. I didn't realize this
> >> until just now!
> >>
> >> First was a transportable Kaypro 2 CP/M with the Perfect Suite. Perfect
> >> Writer worked just like emacs (which explains my preference for emacs)!
> >> I then got a Kaypro 10 which had a 10 MB Hard drive -- pretty big for
> >> those days. I kind of wish I still had it. I graduated from that to an
> >> Amstraad 285. Worst purchase ever!
> >>
> >> Next was a whtebox 386 I got when I was in Canada. Then I skipped the
> >> 486 and got a Pentium I when I started working in Omaha for USWest.
> >>
> >> Kind of dates me, I guess.
> >>
> >> Don K.
> >>
> >> On Sat, 2009-04-25 at 06:17 -0700, Joe Gulizia wrote:
> >>
> >>> Okay I'll get in on this.
> >>>
> >>> First computer Amiga 2000...still working...bought in 91.  I was
> looking at a computer to do video work with (graphics and titles) and the PC
> field dodn't have anything at that time.  Still downstairs and still works.
>  Then was given a 386 or 486....before buying a generic white box PC in
> (99?)...upgraded it....changed cases...changed motherboards (bad caps with a
> diagnosis by Wolf).  Basically still running thesame machine.  Bought a
> newer machine a couple years ago with VI$TA on it for the wife and daughter
> (so I don't touch it unless I need to update the AVG or troubleshoot
> it.....or switch to the linux side of it and use Kubuntu 8.04).  Son's first
> machine is a HP laptop that he bought a year and a half ago for
> college...running Kubuntu 8.10 and a virtualized Windows XP Pro for his
> Windows based computer classes at IWCC).
> >>>
> >>> I did some work learning the Tandy 1000's that my National Guard unit
> had for the field journalists.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Joe
> >>>
> >>> --- On Sat, 4/25/09, Christopher White <slaeyer at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> From: Christopher White <slaeyer at gmail.com>
> >>>> Subject: Re: [olug] "I remember when..."
> >>>> To: "Omaha Linux User Group" <olug at olug.org>
> >>>> Date: Saturday, April 25, 2009, 2:50 AM
> >>>> Ah Synchronet,
> >>>>
> >>>> I remember you so fondly!  Such fun times playing
> >>>> those door games.
> >>>> My first computer that my family bought was a Macintosh
> >>>> LC580 (I
> >>>> pitched in nearly $200 of my own money from my part time
> >>>> job in school
> >>>> to get this beast!).  It was an upgrade from the Mac
> >>>> Classic we were
> >>>> "borrowing" at the time to get onto the local bbs.
> >>>> When I'd saved
> >>>> enough, I splurged on a 28.8 modem and later uploaded the
> >>>> 33.6
> >>>> firmware to it!  Such speeds!!!  And the LC580
> >>>> had a color screen!!!!!
> >>>>  Simply amazing!!!
> >>>>
> >>>> I've owned many machines since then but will always have a
> >>>> fond place
> >>>> in my heart for that beautiful little Mac!!  It was so
> >>>> much fun to use
> >>>> and seemed lightning fast compared to it's actual speed of
> >>>> 33 mhz!!!
> >>>>
> >>>> Thanks for the trip down memory lane,
> >>>> Chris from Kearney
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 11:20 PM, Thomas D. Williamson
> >>>> <twilliam at inebraska.com>
> >>>> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> My first exposure to computing was through a share
> >>>>>
> >>>> from HDR in high
> >>>>
> >>>>> school, with a phone modem and paper punch tape to
> >>>>>
> >>>> "record" the
> >>>>
> >>>>> programs we were required to write.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I had friends who bought and used the Osborn computers
> >>>>>
> >>>> with dual 8"
> >>>>
> >>>>> floppy drives, so CPM could operate on one and a
> >>>>>
> >>>> program could be
> >>>>
> >>>>> loaded on the other.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> My first personal computer was a Sanyo with dual 5
> >>>>>
> >>>> 1/2" drives for the
> >>>>
> >>>>> same purpose as the Osborn.  I believe the processor
> >>>>>
> >>>> was an 8086. The
> >>>>
> >>>>> package came with a dot matrix printer and was about
> >>>>>
> >>>> $1400. That was
> >>>>
> >>>>> the most I've ever spent since then. I was in college
> >>>>>
> >>>> and it was used
> >>>>
> >>>>> for writing papers for the most part. The MS-DOS was
> >>>>>
> >>>> modified by Sanyo
> >>>>
> >>>>> so any upgrades were required through them at an
> >>>>>
> >>>> exceptionally high
> >>>>
> >>>>> price. I stopped using because of that.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> My first more standard PC was one I ordered built to
> >>>>>
> >>>> my
> >>>>
> >>>>> specifications. This was at the time the 486SX-16 was
> >>>>>
> >>>> being pushed,
> >>>>
> >>>>> but I went with the 386DX-16 from AMD because it
> >>>>>
> >>>> actually processed
> >>>>
> >>>>> faster than the SX. I later upgraded to a 486DX-16,
> >>>>>
> >>>> installed a modem
> >>>>
> >>>>> and other items before it ran out of it usefulness. I
> >>>>>
> >>>> got it with out
> >>>>
> >>>>> MS-DOS and used DR-DOS instead with Windows 3.1 and
> >>>>>
> >>>> 3.11. I worked
> >>>>
> >>>>> with a MS-DOS Machine with Windows 3.11 at work and
> >>>>>
> >>>> found that DR-DOS
> >>>>
> >>>>> worked better with memory management and cause fewer
> >>>>>
> >>>> crashes.
> >>>>
> >>>>> Since then I have continued to stay behind the curve
> >>>>>
> >>>> on most equipment
> >>>>
> >>>>> since I do not have high end demands, and am able to
> >>>>>
> >>>> pay less for what
> >>>>
> >>>>> I need and can use.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Tom Williamson
> >>>>>
> >>>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>>> OLUG mailing list
> >>>>> OLUG at olug.org
> >>>>> https://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> OLUG mailing list
> >>>> OLUG at olug.org
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> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
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