The 1984 Mac Ad turns 30 today. What was your first computer?
3A good interview with Phil Schiller and other Apple folks about the Mac today vs then.
You don't have to admit how old you are, but what was the first computer you used? For me (and I suspect, @snapster) it was an Apple ][. Apparently, one of the first words I learned to spell was RUN and I spelled it "R-U-N-Return".
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I worked phone customer support for the TRS-80 Model I before the expansion was added. I also wrote the manual for the first hard drive for the TRS-80 and the Multiplan manual for the. Model 100 portable computer.
@Del, Which was why she was the only one who could explain how to do stuff to people like me. I knew nothing!
My first computer was something my husband put together. The entire family shared it.
The 1st one I used was either an Apple ][ or an Apple ][e at school. The 1st one we owned was a Tandy, but I don't recall the model (1000 or 2000).
not really sure what the first one I used was, our family had some old beast that ran QDOS, I was too young to remember anything about it other than that
Commodore 64, then some ancient DOS machine with pong, a terrible word processor and a dot matrix printer.
The first computer that was 'mine' was a 286.
very awesome @del I wonder, did they have any sort of direction for what type of audience you were writing for? Like did they have to try and push to make it easier to understand or not bother?
I remember the cassette tape days (though on the Apple ][ dave mentions)
@Thumperchick, Ah right, the first computer that was "mine" was a 386SX, I guess. Though I think that was even a hand-me-down. I bet my first computer I bought myself was random parts from little computer stores all over thrown into some giant heavy box.
Ah, the 286, then 386, 386X, etc. were hand-me-downs as my mom upgraded.
Ah yes, my first (six years ago) was a One Laptop Per Child Computer (OLPC), linux-based and it was a cool green. (Sorry, I don't know how to post a picture.)
@snapster, Good question. For the Model I, I was phone support. I had enough programming classes that I could be useful. We got everything from hobbyist to companies writing programs for sale. We would let them send us their programs and debug them.
I think Radio Shack was one of the first that tried to break through the hobbyist barrier and get computers more mainstream. So the manuals were friendly with lots of pictures. We'd all gag at them today. They were large too, like coffee table books almost.
Hard drives back then were for those that knew what they were doing and were aimed at businesses. I actually worked in the systems engineering dept at that time.
By the Model II, there was a shift to more business use and less teaching BASIC. The first drafts of the manuals for the Model II were AWFUL. Full of cute phrases, "don't worry" and other consoling stuff. It got nixed pretty quick and the next one, I would call soft professional.
The CoCo was the mainstream home computer by then but I never worked on it.
The. Model 100 was fun because I got to work with an industrial designer to create the binder that could hold the manual and the ROM. I donated my manual to the Microsoft. Museum a few years back.
More trivia: I also wrote the manual for the first mobile phone - the brick with the phone attached by a coiled cord. I still remember the engineer explaining cell towers and that entire concept to me.
This brings back sweet memories. I was in love with Jill. Boba Fett defended all my Lego fortresses. My sister had the We Got the Beat 45. My sister's best friend was Jill's older sister, so we were definitely getting married. The TI-99/4A had TI Invaders and Munch Man, which was early proof that God didn't want me to be cool.