newb Q - starting point

[gnume]

im from the younger generation
but my first computer was an very old Ibm clone
so i have not a few 5 1/4" floppy's and maybe the drive to read them but not sure

[crxbnt]

Let's see, I started quite some time ago, with a Trash 80, 4k RAM and a tape drive. It was my father's actually, and he was trying to run a business from it. He asked for help because the accounting system he had bought was buggy. So I learned their version of BASIC and re-wrote the thing.

A few years later I worked with a guy who was British. He was a private in north England during WWII. He was sweet on a girl but couldn't afford to get married. One of his mates told him about a posting for volunteers on the board. He said that it was top secret, but it included a promotion to Corporal with the attendant raise. He was the only "fool" to volunteer, and wound up working with the American lady that coined the phrase "bug" for computers. Turned out the project was Eniac. That fellow taught me how to write tight code! He started when there was no RAM, the program was hard wired into the machine.

As GBLW said, the good old days really weren't!

crxbnt

[Omegano]

My first "computer" was an old Odyssey console, quickly followed by an Apple II. The thing that used two 5.25" floppy disk drives, with no hard drive. Note I was born in 86, so I actually started with the relatively old stuff, then slowly upgraded to more modern equipment. So, I actually know all about some stuff that some others my age just go "Huh?" to...

Some of the games from the old Apple II I occasionally want to go and play again... but it is long since gone.
Note I say this when I have an XBox 360, decent computer (with a good number of games), and a good laptop. Sometimes you just want to go back to the classics.

However, I can tell you I did not start programming until a few years ago, so I didn't have to deal with all the crap that the older generation did.

Omegano

[dellstart]

hey kiddies , This is a pic of fel second computer ,in case u were wondering

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/comp ... 1861g.html

[GBLW]

hey kiddies , This is a pic of fel second computer ,in case u were wondering

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/comp ... 1861g.html

OMG! And to think I traded mine off for a green screen monitor and a 5 1/4 inch floppy drive!


ARRRGHH

[Fiferguy]

hey kiddies , This is a pic of fel second computer ,in case u were wondering

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/comp ... 1861g.html

Here's a pic of Lochar's first computer: http://www.coool-stuff.com/wp-content/u ... mienny.jpg

[DigitalMaestro]

Here's a pic of Lochar's first computer: http://www.coool-stuff.com/wp-content/u ... mienny.jpg

Amazing, as always, Fifer

-DM

[Fiferguy]

Here's a pic of Lochar's first computer: http://www.coool-stuff.com/wp-content/u ... mienny.jpg

Amazing, as always, Fifer

-DM

*deep bow* Thank you, thank you, ah, thank you.

[dellstart]

such was life before Microsoft...indeed how we suffered.

[Fiferguy]

such was life before Microsoft...indeed how we suffered.

Microsoft: http://www.geekologie.com/2007/10/04/microsoft-sign.jpg

[dellstart]

such was life before Microsoft...indeed how we suffered.

Microsoft: http://www.geekologie.com/2007/10/04/microsoft-sign.jpg

LMAO

[dellstart]

My first "computer" was an old Odyssey console, quickly followed by an Apple II. The thing that used two 5.25" floppy disk drives, with no hard drive. Note I was born in 86, so I actually started with the relatively old stuff, then slowly upgraded to more modern equipment. So, I actually know all about some stuff that some others my age just go "Huh?" to...

Some of the games from the old Apple II I occasionally want to go and play again... but it is long since gone.
Note I say this when I have an XBox 360, decent computer (with a good number of games), and a good laptop. Sometimes you just want to go back to the classics.

However, I can tell you I did not start programming until a few years ago, so I didn't have to deal with all the crap that the older generation did.

Omegano

lol.I just was reminded of that ping pong game that was there when they first came out there was a whole art form ion just timing it right. Hell still remember dropping a few coins in a machine to play space invaders or asteroids as well.

[Deeb]

This thread feels like a tech version of the four Yorkshiremen ... =P


For those who don't know what I'm talking about ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eDaSvRO9xA

[Mizriath]

I was born in 1966... and the first computer I ever handled was in 1987 when I hit university. That was the start of the computer revolution I guess.

And I cannot even remember the 1st generation computers I used in the uni... I guess senility strikes early for me. During that time, girls are more fun than computers I guess. I met my other half there, so you know which is more important.. computer it does not.

[samuelmichaels]

This thread feels like a tech version of the four Yorkshiremen ... =P


For those who don't know what I'm talking about ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eDaSvRO9xA

Why, I used to get up every morning, scrounge around old electric parts on the dump where we lived and put them together melting old traces of solder over a file to make a working computer.
And every evening, me old dad used to take the open-board computer and sell it for a few bucks for cheap booze, get drunk and beat me before bed.

If it weren't for that, I'd be a computer millionaire by now...