What was you're first experience with a computer?

[CryingWimp]

6 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

Glad you was able to get parts for free from Friends and Family. I had to buy older Systems to have anything usable.

 

So how did you "Fix" the P4 with a changed BIOS Setting? As I recall you could still boot into the BIOS of such Systems or set a Jumper, turn on, then turn off, changed Jumper back. Then the System will boot set Default.

"usable" is debatable   Most of it was really old until I built my first PC in 2010.

 

I can't 100% remember, I cleared the CMOS and it instantly worked. I vaguely remember thinking that it might have been set to display through a GPU rather than the onboard output.

[Heliian]

My first memory was of the ICON as a schoolchild.  The trackball was amazing!  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICON_(microcomputer)

We didn't have a home pc at that time but a couple years later we got a 286 or 386 machine, can't remember what brand, it had a DOS based OS in stunning 16 colour. 9600k modem got me onto the BBS and then 14.4k became the new fastest and we could play Warcraft with friends via direct phone line modem to modem.  It's all a blur after that, Pentiums, sub GHz then GHz.  

[whm1974]

19 minutes ago, Heliian said:

My first memory was of the ICON as a schoolchild.  The trackball was amazing!  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICON_(microcomputer)

We didn't have a home pc at that time but a couple years later we got a 286 or 386 machine, can't remember what brand, it had a DOS based OS in stunning 16 colour. 9600k modem got me onto the BBS and then 14.4k became the new fastest and we could play Warcraft with friends via direct phone line modem to modem.  It's all a blur after that, Pentiums, sub GHz then GHz.  

So you are from/living in Canada then? Here in the US We used mostly the Apple IIe during the same Time Era. Some IBM PCs depending on what Classes you taking in High School.

 

Now I understand that Typing or Keyboarding Classes  are now required in Grade Schools.

[Heliian]

12 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

So you are from/living in Canada then? Here in the US We used mostly the Apple IIe during the same Time Era. Some IBM PCs depending on what Classes you taking in High School.

 

Now I understand that Typing or Keyboarding Classes  are now required in Grade Schools.

In Ontario, Canada!  In a strange twist, I learned to touchtype on an IBM, an IBM electric typewriter that is, and that was way later on in the early 90s in grade 8 or 9.

My first internet experience was all text based through York university hardware my uncle had.

[whm1974]

2 minutes ago, Heliian said:

In Ontario, Canada!  In a strange twist, I learned to touchtype on an IBM, an IBM electric typewriter that is, and that was way later on in the early 90s in grade 8 or 9.

My first internet experience was all text based through York university hardware my uncle had.

I too learn typing in HS using a Electric Typewriter. I can't recall the Make and Model however.

[Jay427]

Watching my dad poke the keyboard with all of his might, one key at a time and only with his index finger, like it was made of a solid block of steel.  Our first home PC rockin' windows 95

[whm1974]

11 hours ago, Jay427 said:

Watching my dad poke the keyboard with all of his might, one key at a time and only with his index finger, like it was made of a solid block of steel.  Our first home PC rockin' windows 95

Back then Mechanical Keyboard had nowhere the Popularity they have now. Yes I knew about IBM Bucking Springs. but nothing about Current Keyswitches.

[YoungBlade]

I don't remember too well, because I was only 3 years old at the time. Around 1994, my dad was given a laptop for use with work. It ran Windows 3.1 and DOS. He got a game for it called "Solitile" that was basically mahjong with decent graphics and features for its day. I would sit at the kitchen table when he got home from work and play on it.

 

Apparently, I rapidly got better at using the computer than him, doing things like changing the desktop background that he didn't even know was possible. He actually struggled to use it for work, because it crashed when doing things like adding an image to a document until it was upgraded from 4MB to 8MB of RAM.

 

I vaguely remember playing that game itself, but the rest of the details are from my parents.

[Alexeygridnev1993]

My first experience was with Pentium PC, it was around 1997. I remember I learnt how to launch a game: I had to reboot Windows 95 to MS-DOS emulation mode, then it loaded to Norton Commander, and from there I could find my games (the two I remember were F-19 and LHX, jet fighter sim and helicopter sim respectively).