First computer

[sixtyten]

Re: First computer

I must investigate..
Always enjoyed vector games like Battlezone,Tempest,Lunar lander,Asteroids,etc over normal games anyway

[Mulletino]

Re: First computer

The January edition of Retro Gamer magazine has a great article about the Vectrex.

[Desulph]

Re: First computer

Apple back in 1978. Game called lemonade were you had to sell lemonade from a stall. You had to buy ingredients, cups etc and see if you could make a profit. No graphics, just text! Gripped for hours

[sixtyten]

Re: First computer

I remember playing two games on a Mac, a bi-plane one and a boxing one.no idea what they were called though

[Stale Elvis]

Re: First computer

Speccy 16k

10 PRINT "MICHAEL RULES OK"
20 GOTO 10
>RUN

...then a BBC Micro... then a Commodore Amiga 500...

[barry21]

Re: First computer

my first was a ZX81 like the one pictured above.
i was blown away with the expansion pack a huge 16k of memory !!!!!!!!
if i remember i exchanged my CB radio for the ZX81 - that's how desperate was i to get hold of a computer - well, i was about 14 at the time.

[yelever]

Re: First computer

Had a ZX81 as well. Remember typing in games from magazines and making a mistake and not knowing where the delete button was and having to start all over again.

[Elbmek]

Re: First computer

....... or typing out a half page of code saving it, waiting the usual 15 minutes for it to load from tape, and then ERROR!!!

Having to check all the script again, to find out that, in line 153, you put a comma instead of a full stop!!

[yelever]

Re: First computer

Having to check all the script again, to find out that, in line 153, you put a comma instead of a full stop!!

That used to really annoy me. Typing in games from magazines only to find it full of errors. Remember doing a karate on my brother`s electron then ran it only to have my brother basically re-type it coz of all the errors.

[stevef]

Re: First computer

That's coz the magazines were always badly printed so you could hardly read half of it anyway.

[Jill85]

Re: First computer

I remeber my dad bought one from our cousin and it was like a tape player one. The only game we could play on it was The Diary of Adrian Mole!! Took about 5 days to switch on and was a groovy cream/grey number!!

[Austin 1100]

Re: First computer

My first memory of a computer was of a Binatone TV Master MK 10... it was one of those pong machines that came in a lovely orange casing and pluged into the back of the tv.
This is the machine i had:



For more info on it:
http://www.old-computers.com/museum/...sp?st=3&c=1038

Ah memories :-)

This was my first "computer" also lol!
The next one was an Atari 2600 as a Christmas present back in 1981.
I then had a Spectrum 48k with the tapes which made screeching noises and coloured lines on the TV while taking ages to load and then often didn't work when the tape finished.
I had a Spectrum 128k with the disk drive for a short while afterwards before saving up to get an Amiga 500.

[mwtrag]

Re: First computer

Commodore 64 - with the tape drive and later the 5 1/4" floppy drive. I set up a bulletin board system where my friend could call my phone line and connect to my computer. Way before people were using the internet.

[absinthe_boy]

Re: First computer

ZX81. And I still wish I had it...somehow in the 90's my dad cannibalised it for some project he was working on without asking my permission!!

It was great, as many here have already noted. It could be quite fussy with what cassette recorder you used, I once tried a 60's reel to reel machine and it hated that...but loved some really **** unbranded thing I picked up at a jumble sale.

Anyone remember Sinclair Programs? They had type-in listings, you spent an hour or four typing in a program and then hoped it worked! If not you went through line by line to find your mistakes...but it was great fun.

I remember a friend had a ZX80 with the add-on 8K ROM, very basic computer that could run some ZX81 software.

A year later I recieved a 48K spectrum, which was great but never quite as much "fun" as the '81. I customised mine, painted the case (the upper portion above the keys) in blue Hammerite while the Sinclair and ZX81 logos were white. Seems daft now, but I liked it.

Through school and friends I got to sample most of the 80's machines. I never enjoyed programming the Commodores because their BASIC was awful. The BBC micro was great, years ahead of its time, but with a price tag to match...Texas-Instruments Ti99/4A had some great add-on peripherals...Dragon 32 which was more or less compatible with the Tandy Color Computer...even the awful Mattel Aquarius. But the Sinclairs were always my favourites.

Ram-Pack wobble, anyone?

[Elbmek]

Re: First computer

I remember buying those ZX81 magazines with the page and a half of programming. I would spend about a week inputting the data, saving the tape every half hour or so, only to find at the end, there was a > the wrong way around or a , in the wrong place. AAAAGGGHHH!!!!