PC Pioneers .... as in Computers
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,762
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From: Sheridan
First computer I used: a LINK 80 (or something like that) in high school in 1964.
First computer I worked for: an IBM 360. I did data entry for a criminology project in college.
First computer I became intimate with: a Digital Equipment PDP 8 with an ASR33. I wrote in Fortran while in psychology graduate school.
First major business programming in my medical office: a payroll program for a TI59 programmable calculator about 1979 or 1980.
First home computer: an IBM PC. 16K of soldered in RAM. 48K of socketed in RAM. 8 K of BIOS. 32 K of "cassette" BASIC. Two floppies of 160K each. Two video cards. One for work (monochrome) and one for Microsoft Flight Simulator's first release, a CGA card.
First Winchester drive: IBM expansion unit. $3,000 for 10 mb.
First word processor. WordStar 3.01
First spreadsheet Lotus 123 v1a
First printer: NEC 3350 impact printer.
First office management computer: Versyss "Tiger" running AT&T Unix on a 16 MHz 386.
Current computer: ThinkPad R50p. Now two years old.
Current backup computer ThinkPad a21p, five years old and using it this very moment.
Current Office Computer system: two Dell servers each running dual xeon 2.6ghz processors & Win2000Server. One is a database & print server and one is a terminal services server.
Favorite computer truism: Dvorak's Law. The computer you want is always
$4,000.00.
Google found this PDP 8 for me:
First computer I worked for: an IBM 360. I did data entry for a criminology project in college.
First computer I became intimate with: a Digital Equipment PDP 8 with an ASR33. I wrote in Fortran while in psychology graduate school.
First major business programming in my medical office: a payroll program for a TI59 programmable calculator about 1979 or 1980.
First home computer: an IBM PC. 16K of soldered in RAM. 48K of socketed in RAM. 8 K of BIOS. 32 K of "cassette" BASIC. Two floppies of 160K each. Two video cards. One for work (monochrome) and one for Microsoft Flight Simulator's first release, a CGA card.
First Winchester drive: IBM expansion unit. $3,000 for 10 mb.
First word processor. WordStar 3.01
First spreadsheet Lotus 123 v1a
First printer: NEC 3350 impact printer.
First office management computer: Versyss "Tiger" running AT&T Unix on a 16 MHz 386.
Current computer: ThinkPad R50p. Now two years old.
Current backup computer ThinkPad a21p, five years old and using it this very moment.
Current Office Computer system: two Dell servers each running dual xeon 2.6ghz processors & Win2000Server. One is a database & print server and one is a terminal services server.
Favorite computer truism: Dvorak's Law. The computer you want is always
$4,000.00.
Google found this PDP 8 for me:
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 22,620
Likes: 867
From: The (S)Low Country
Originally Posted by matt_inva,Nov 20 2005, 09:56 PM
In the fall of 1971, our Administrative Officer put in a reg for an IBM Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter (MTST). By the time that it showed up, I had already ETS'd. On a subsequent visit back to my office after I "got out", he had fashioned a small cardboard plaque dedicating it as the "SP4 Matthew Janowicz Memorial MTST" 
Heh, heh, the MTST brings back memories. At one of the first places I worked my employer sent me to the IBM office in another city for two days of intensive training on the MTST. What a big ole clunker it was compared to the pcs we have today.
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 45,182
Likes: 4,101
From: Arlington, VA
Wow...you guys remember alot. I've worked with PCs for so long in my work and at home, I can't even remember what was first. It was big, though!! Just got a flat-screen monitor at work, which looks very 
, and have a Sony Vaio laptop at home.
Just got a flat-screen monitor at work, which looks very , and have a Sony Vaio laptop at home.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 3,827
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From: Bay Area
The first computer I worked with was an IBM 360/44 (the scientific version of the model 40). Followed by the IBM 360/40 running DOS (the original DOS with three partitions, not the stuff from Microsoft).
Other early computers I used: the XDS-940, PDP-8, PDP-11, Nova, PR1ME, VAX, CDC-6400, CDC-6600, NCR-Century, NCR-Criterion, HP-3000, HP-2100 ... I am sure I missed many more along the way. Oh yea, there was the GE-645, Burroughs B5000, Honneywell 700, ... so many computers, so little memory (in my brain, not in those computers).
The first micro computer I used was the MDS-800 (with an 8080 chip), followed by the MDS-800/86 (with an 8086 chip) and the original IBM-PC (with the 8088 chip). But I also played with the Apple-II, TRS-80, Heathkit, original Mac (with the 68000) and many others. And from there onward, it was the HP-PA, IBM-PowerPC, Sun-Sparc, Motorola-88000, MIPS-R4000, Dec-Alpha. But I am sure I missed many micros along the way.
Those were the days.
Other early computers I used: the XDS-940, PDP-8, PDP-11, Nova, PR1ME, VAX, CDC-6400, CDC-6600, NCR-Century, NCR-Criterion, HP-3000, HP-2100 ... I am sure I missed many more along the way. Oh yea, there was the GE-645, Burroughs B5000, Honneywell 700, ... so many computers, so little memory (in my brain, not in those computers).
The first micro computer I used was the MDS-800 (with an 8080 chip), followed by the MDS-800/86 (with an 8086 chip) and the original IBM-PC (with the 8088 chip). But I also played with the Apple-II, TRS-80, Heathkit, original Mac (with the 68000) and many others. And from there onward, it was the HP-PA, IBM-PowerPC, Sun-Sparc, Motorola-88000, MIPS-R4000, Dec-Alpha. But I am sure I missed many micros along the way.
Those were the days.
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Joined: Jun 2001
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From: Oh kwa tan zen wan
Wow this takes me back. Let's see, first I started out with the Atari 2600 which had the BASIC cartridge. Then we graduated to a Commodore Vic20 with tape drive. Next was the Commodore C64 and we upgraded with one of those modems that you had to turn your phone handset upside down to fit into it's receptacle. After our brief stint with the Commodore's, we graduated to the Apple series. First, an Apple IIe with the works (imagewriter dotmatrix printer, 5.25 floppy, and a color monitor). Then there was the Apple IIgs followed up by the Lisa. Finally we moved over to the IBM Peanut and stuck with PCs ever since.
Looking back at the amount of money we spent on all of this hardware, I was lucky that I have a father who was so supportive of our computer hobby growing up.
Looking back at the amount of money we spent on all of this hardware, I was lucky that I have a father who was so supportive of our computer hobby growing up.
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 22,888
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From: Covington WA, USA
TRS80, "Model 4". It had a BASIC interpreter. We also had a word processor program of some type, and a dot matrix line printer with a double-density "letter quality" mode. 5-1/4 inch floppy drive(s?). Monochrome CRT. I think it must have had some kind of hard drive, but I can't say for sure.
[edit: apparently hard drives were available as an auxilliary device, but I'm certain we didn't have one.]
[edit: apparently hard drives were available as an auxilliary device, but I'm certain we didn't have one.]
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Joined: Feb 2004
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From: Dry Branch
First personal computer?
Processor Technology Sol 20 (kit)
Z-80 processor
S-100 BUSS
Tarbell (audio cassette) tape for offline storage
256 BYTES of memory (later upgraded to 16kb.)
(Ran TBX, a version of "TinyBASIC" in 256 bytes of RAM.)
(Started digitizing audio after upgrading to 16k.)
That was a LONG time ago, and recalling it makes me feel really OLD!
Processor Technology Sol 20 (kit)
Z-80 processor
S-100 BUSS
Tarbell (audio cassette) tape for offline storage
256 BYTES of memory (later upgraded to 16kb.)
(Ran TBX, a version of "TinyBASIC" in 256 bytes of RAM.)
(Started digitizing audio after upgrading to 16k.)
That was a LONG time ago, and recalling it makes me feel really OLD!