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Old 20th November 2020, 18:14   #61
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

My First PC:
Year 1993
Monitor: 14 Inch Second hand Monochrome CRT Digital Connector
Graphics: Hercules Graphics Adapter.
Processor: 80286 - 8 Mhz or Turbo (16 Mhz)
Sound: PC Speaker
Ram: Maybe around 640K
HDD: None
FDD: 1.2 MB Drive
OS: MSDOS 4.2 to 6.22
Games: Paratrooper, PacMAN, Tandy and Cricket.
Input Device: Only keyboard and much later mouse.

Unbelievable fun.
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Old 20th November 2020, 19:16   #62
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Boss View Post
Early 2000
You made it simple for me , this is the exact configuration of the first PC (except the printer) in 2001 in my family. My father bought it for my sister when she is in 1st year B-Tech. I used to play PC games (CD bootable) like Tekken, Pepsiman and Need for Speed on it.

Last edited by aah78 : 21st November 2020 at 04:36. Reason: Quote trimmed.
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Old 20th November 2020, 19:31   #63
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

It was an HCL Desktop, must be somewhere in 1996

What makes me laugh now is that the hard drive was 1GB and the RAM was 16MB.

I used to play EA Sports - Cricket 97 at a resolution of 320x240 as mine did not have AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port).

I used to look upto my friends computer which had an AGP and the same game was playable at 640x480.

How times have changed!
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Old 20th November 2020, 19:38   #64
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

Siva PC XT
20 MB HDD
5.25'' Floppy Drive
4 Mhz Intel Processor Intel 8088 Processor
640 KB ram
14inch Mono monitor
Epson Dot Matrix Printer

This was back in 1988!
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Old 20th November 2020, 20:10   #65
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

1994. 386 with 4MB RAM, 260 MB HDD (120 was the standard then) with 1.2 FDD. Later on added the 1.44 FDD along with a modem to connect to the then available VSNL internet. This was a non UI DOS so the surfing was done on Lynx.

Just think, current file sizes are in multiple MBs today and processing power in a scientific calculator is more than that of the Apollo spacecraft. Mr Moore - you have been very accurate with your predictions.

Last edited by mmxylorider : 20th November 2020 at 20:12.
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Old 20th November 2020, 20:38   #66
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

Year was 1996. It was an assembled PC with Pentium 1 processor. Don't remember the RAM but the hard-disk was a ginormous 2.1 GB
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Old 20th November 2020, 20:47   #67
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

My first exposure to anything that was related personal computing was the Sinclair ZX Spectrum+ and the Commodore 64 which couple of my friends owned. Other and BASIC language coding they were good only for games. The game loading to internal memory via cassette tape using the counter was a very unique feature.
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Old 20th November 2020, 20:58   #68
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

2005 - My first Laptop was a Dell Inspiron 600M, the specs were as follows -
  • Pentium M 725 1.60GHz Processor, 2MB L2-Cache
  • ATI Mobility RADEON 9000 AGP 4X video graphics at 32MB
  • 14.1-in SXGA Monitor
  • 60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive, 4200RPM
  • 512MB, 266MHz RAM
  • Microsoft Windows XP Home with Service Pack 2
  • 1-year limited warranty
  • Dell Wireless 1450 Dual Band (802.11 a/b/g) internal Wireless card
  • Internal 56K Modem and Integrated Network card
  • 24X Combo DVD/CD-RW for Inspiron 600m
  • 53 Watt-hour Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery

It was an amazing machine and it served me well till 2009.

Incidentally, I have purchased a Dell G7 15, last week and after reading/replying to this post I realized that I have paid similar amount of money (leaving inflation aside) for the laptop bought in 2005 and in 2020.
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Old 20th November 2020, 22:11   #69
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

Quote:
Originally Posted by MunnabhaiMBBS View Post
- Experienced the "buffer underrun" error every now and then while writing CDs. Was annoying to slow down the writing speed from 8x to 2x/4x.
- Was super happy when I could watch a VCD using Xing media player without adding any extra hardware.
- Used to eagerly await for every single issue of Chip/Digit
- Extensively used Pkzip and pkunzip to copy games in compressed format
- How could I forget the thousands of Autoexec.bat and Config.sys combinations

It was a different era altogether!
Wow such nostalgia. Buffer underrun, Xing media player, Chip, Digit etc. During college days and on my first job I used to edit the autoexec.bat file to load my preferred applications. If I recall correctly I think mouse settings etc used to be entered in config.sys.

My first PC was an Wipro Pentium bought in 1998. I don't remember all the specs, but what I do remember is that it came with original Windows 98 CD. Those were the days of Creative Soundblaster. I even fitted a TV tuner card.
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Old 21st November 2020, 01:59   #70
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

It was somewhere in the 80s and my first computer was a handed down Sinclair ZX81. I've learnt BASIC programming on this one during my 7th standard.
Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!-sinclairzx81.png
It hardly had any storage capacity and everything had to be saved on cassette tapes. To complicate things further, the programs would only be read when fed via a mono (not stereo) tape player.
Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!-sinclair_zx81_setup.jpg
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Old 21st November 2020, 02:31   #71
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

I must admit, this is such a nostalgic thread. While my father owned a Toshiba laptop (those really fat and bulky ones) from a long time back, the first time me and my younger sibling got our own computer was in the year 1999. Someone known to my father had opened up a new computer assembly business at Nehru Place, Delhi and we got to be one of his early clients.

The specs were as follows:

Brand: Nehru Place Delhi (Assembled... Haha!)
Chassis: ATX Tower Cabinet
Processor: Intel Celeron (I think it was clocked at 733 Mhz)
RAM: 512mb
HDD: 10.8 GB
FDD: 1.44" Single (and never used)
Optical Drive: Samsung CD-R
Monitor: LG 14"
Speakers: Stereo Speakers (I think they were logitech)
OS: Windows 98
Software: MS-Office, WinAmp
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Old 21st November 2020, 05:00   #72
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

Quote:
Originally Posted by sachind View Post
Just finished my class X exam and got a Commodore C-64!
Aah, someone from the rival camp! My father brought home the Sinclair ZX Spectrum + over the Commodore 64 (for whatever reason).
Of-course, I had no say in the matter as I was probably about 5 years old then.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prowler View Post
My first computer was Sinclaire Spectrum 48k RAM (no floppy drive) in 1985.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HDarsi View Post
It was somewhere in the 80s and my first computer was a handed down Sinclair ZX81
I remember the cassette tapes needed to load software on the computer.
All I did was play this game called Jetpac.
Good times!
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Old 21st November 2020, 07:16   #73
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

Mine was an Apple Macintosh LC475 somewhere in the mid 90s.
25Mhz 68LC040 Processor.
It had 4mb RAM and 250MB HDD.
I don’t remember the OS. It was a classic Mac OS which was so fabulous.
Had floppy disk and a SCSI port for all high quality peripherals.
A serial port for connecting to printers and I think an external modem as well.
It had sound in and out ports and came with a wired microphone for audio recordings.
The Apple Monitor was excellent.
The Operating System came in 4 floppy disks.
It was so robust, even 10/15 years down the lane, I never had to reinstall the OS and the original OS Floppies survived in their original shrink wrap.

I used Photoshop Version 1 (I think) on it. It had only one undo command and no layers.
I would also use Aldus Freehand, which I think is the greatest graphic design program ever made. No comparison even today, 25 years later. Sadly (Macromedia purchased it first), then Adobe purchased it only to shut it down.

Those were the days when Apple was facing plenty of trouble and it wasn’t easy getting peripherals in India with Apple support. My dedicated Apple vendor had given me a telephone modem which was for windows PC and very time I needed to connect to the net, I had to type a command line Code which I had memorised. Everyone around me made fun of me for using Apple products, company which has “no future”. Wish I had bought shares then.

I loved using it so much I never bought anything other than Apple for my computers.

Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!-26fa2fbbd6e44627bfa070cfa418ecba.jpeg

Last edited by aah78 : 21st November 2020 at 07:28. Reason: Picture inserted in-line.
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Old 21st November 2020, 14:07   #74
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

My first computer was a 1995 486.

Below was the configuration:
PCL Computer
Intel 486 80 MHz
4 MB Ram
1.2 MB Floppy Disk Drive and 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive
DOS Operating System
14” Color Montor
TVSE Mechanical Keyboard, Logitech Mouse
16 Color Graphics Card which was later upgraded with onboard graphics memory to support 256 colors which made a huge difference
IDE Card for HDD connectivity
428 MB HDD was added after a month (Delayed delivery)
Windows 3.11 was installed later after HDD delivery

Somer upgraded added later:
8 MB Ram
1.2 GB HDD
8x Creative CDROM (If anyone can recall, it had a Orange coloured button for Turbo)
Sound Card and speaker (Don’t remember the model which was later upgraded to Yamaha Gold Soundblaster Card)
Windows 95 (which used to crash every second day because of low memory)
33.6 Kbps External Dialup Modem (It used to be an accomplishment to download a song of 4 MB in a night!)
Scanner (Don’t remember the model)
2x CD Writer
Processor upgrade to Intel Celeron 400 MHz (Did the assembling work myself, same PCL cabinet was used)
32 MB Ram
14” Viewsonic Monitor
HDD - 2.1 GB -> 4 GB -> 6 GB -> 8 GB -> 10 GB -> 20 GB (The computer assembling guy was a friend, so used to upgrade the HDD by paying the difference in cost every 6 months)

And many more upgrades in future as well. Assembled many computer for friends and relatives saving them some money.

Last edited by Navsangeet : 21st November 2020 at 14:10.
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Old 21st November 2020, 15:37   #75
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Re: Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!

If we are talking personal computers, here are "mine" (belonged to the university, but was on my desk in the lab).
That Tektronix was fun, learnt Basic on it. And that tape cartridge, still remember it whirring as it wrote and read stuff.
Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!-tektronix_4051_ad_april_1976.jpg

The IBM-XT had a 10 MB - yes, that's 10MB! hard disk and 640 KB memory. I had partitioned the drive to have DOS and a Unix! Even had a RAM-drive in that 640 KB for lighting quick response!
Configuration of your first computer and anecdotes!-pcxt.jpg

Last edited by aah78 : 21st November 2020 at 22:10. Reason: Pictures inserted in-line.
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