Was there one computer that got you interested in computers?

Discussion in 'The Lounge - Off Topic' started by JK2447, Aug 25, 2009.

  1. JK2447
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    JK2447 Petabyte Poster Administrator Premium Member

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    Hi all,
    working just a little late so a very random thread I guess. Was there 1 computer or console that made you want to learn more about computers?

    For me its the Sinclair Spectrum 48k (The rubber keyboard model). We were pretty poor when I was young so when I was given one at age 7 or 8, I was instantly hooked. I used to spend hours getting it to draw a circle!

    From there I had the usual suspects, Commodore 64k, Spectrum 128k, Amiga 1200, 486DX etc.

    James
     
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  2. simongrahamuk
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    simongrahamuk Hmmmmmmm?

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    Nope.

    Was never really into my computers, just sort of stumbled into it........:oops:
     
  3. UKDarkstar
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    UKDarkstar Terabyte Poster

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    Being of a certain age :biggrin we didn't have computers at school even by the time I left the sixth form ( we did have the Sinclair Cambridge pocket calculator tho' :p ).

    I started work for the Halifax in 1981 and the staff got me into their Xmas savings club. By the September I wanted out as I just *had* to use the money saved to buy a Commodore VIC20.

    I was going to learn programming and allsorts :p

    Hmmn, many cartridge games later I did write a little advertising prog in Basic to advertise the new cash machines (ATM's) and my little 'puter and monitor sat in the window advertising away !

    Got me hooked alright ! :biggrin
     
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  4. Kitkatninja
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    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    No, it was one of my dad's mates, who in turn became my mate. He was one of the developers for a NHS trust down in London. In a sense I kinda owe my current career path to him :)

    -ken
     
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  5. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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    It was the amiga for me, the gameplay on them was excellent and ive still got a A1200 in the loft. I had other computers before that such as the acorn electron, speccy, commodore 64 but the amiga ruled.

    Another good thing about them is you can download all the games legally now as they are abandonware so even if you havent got an amiga, you can still enjoy the games with emulaters like WINUAE
     
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  6. Meshan

    Meshan Bit Poster

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    The BBC micro at school making little (turtle) robots go backwards and forwards

    Spectrum at home playing jet set willy and manic miner.

    10 write bum
    20 goto 10
    run
     
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  7. JonnyMX

    JonnyMX Petabyte Poster

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    ZX Spectrum - does that count as a computer?

    :oops:
     
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  8. twizzle

    twizzle Gigabyte Poster

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    For me it would have to be the goodl old zx 16k spectrum. Spent hours programming games on it, justt o have my mother crash them befor ei'd even saved them to disk! Gota voice synth add on for it to and spent time making it talk like Stephen hawkings. It was also my first hardware upgrades, 16k to 48k with aome memory chips and a hard keyboard as teh rubber one had worn away!

    Funny thing is, at the same time i had my speccy, i wasnt allowed anywhere near teh BBC micros at school. even when we did pair work i was told to watch and not touch while the other kids could learn to program!.
     
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  9. Arroryn

    Arroryn we're all dooooooomed Moderator

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    For me it would have been the Amstrad CPC 464, green screen and all :)
     
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  10. Len

    Len Byte Poster

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    Windows 3.1.. It was an old Gateway

    :oops:
     
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  11. greenbrucelee
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    Twas the same for me in almost the exact same order, my speccy was the plastic keys version though and I never had a Commodor 64 but had an ST instead :)

    My brother had a BBC Micro which I used to play Elite and paperboy on and we had a Dragon 32k but until I got my speccy at age 5 (I think) I didn't really think about them too much.
     
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  12. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Snap! Managed to hook it up to my portable TV for full colour in the end!
     
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  13. simonkn

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    It was the BBC Micro B at school, playing Hunchback and Frogger.

    Then we got our own computer. In this flat in South London, a guy took us up to the airing cupboard in the bathroom and removed a ZX81 and the 16k RAM pack attached to the back with velcro. £95 all in - BARGAIN!

    My dad and I spent weekends typing in BASIC programs from a magazine. Great days!

    Then I went all Amiga and got an Amiga 500 and then an A1200. Like Raffaz, mine is still in the loft!

    The Mac still holds a special place for me and my Audio/Video studio is mac orientated.

    SK
     
  14. Jakamoko
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    Jakamoko On the move again ...

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    Thank goodness for simonkn ... I thought no-one else was going to mention the ZX81!!! :rolleyes:

    Yes, I remember long, artificially-lit evenings pouring over magazines, typing out BASIC programs hundreds upon hundreds of lines long (although that fully made you aware to how sub-routines and processes hung together).

    Only for it all to go t1ts-shaped when you went to save it to tape, and the thing would crash, or you'd knock the power supply cable, or just discover your tape was finally too old to record the screeching data clearly :cry:
     
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  15. Josiahb

    Josiahb Gigabyte Poster

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    BBC Micro at school and an Apple Mac II at home, my dad used to carry this huge lump of a computer home from the office every weekend and we'd take over the dining room with it. I remember once he was taking ti all out to the car monday morning and dropped the printer, that lead to an interesting discussion with the guy who came to fix it.....

    Luckily he decided to accept my dads version of events that it had just spontaneously exploded whilst sat on the desk!
     
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  16. Colloghi

    Colloghi Kilobyte Poster

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    Mine was the Commodore 16, Loved it as a kid, hours upon hours of playing fire ant, Treasure Island and Exorcist.
    I want one again:(
     
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  17. JK2447
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    JK2447 Petabyte Poster Administrator Premium Member

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    Oh wow I forgot I had one of those. Fireant and Treasure Island were amazing. I completed Treasure Island online a while back cos I could never get that far as a kid but I loved it. Throwing the swords. Brilliant :)
     
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  18. BosonMichael
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    Programming on WANGs and TRS-80s. The Commodore 64 was my third computer, and I adored my 64.
     
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  19. JK2447
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    JK2447 Petabyte Poster Administrator Premium Member

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    Great machine. 64k back then seemed like loads of memory, amazing when you think of the amount in modern computers. Commando on C64 rocked!
     
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  20. BosonMichael
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    There wasn't even 64K for the apps... only a shade under 39K remained after the OS was loaded!
     
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