# I remember...



## twyg (Oct 12, 2001)

lol... 

I remember when a 10 MB HD was $999.00. WTF? Who needs that much space... lol

I remember when 512k of memory was ridiculously huge...

I remember when the system, PageMaker, and half your documents fit onto one 1"1/2 floppy. (and you room to spare)

What's the nostalgia folks? Mac only, 'cause I could go into the Kaypro thing, and that's a whole other story


----------



## Soapvox (Oct 12, 2001)

I actually started on my dads apple ][e (he still has it and uses it atlease once a week, even with a modem where you have to put the phone reciever on it).

Then got the lisa then mac classic, dropped of the face of the earth for a while, then had a quadra 850av, Performa 6400, then 233 G3 (I still have that running as a OS X app, file and mail server), Wall Street and now a Ti powerbook, I love macs and apple loves me 

I also have a pc for linux, but I haven't touched it in 4 months (he he it is streaming mp3s though) also just a little cool note I have not shut down my Ti since installing 10.1 (just put to sleep, move, wake right back up!!!!!!)


----------



## AdmiralAK (Oct 12, 2001)

I nurture my nostalgia with emulators


----------



## genghiscohen (Oct 12, 2001)

Comparative newbie here.   
First computer I ever owned was a Performa 6300CD that I bought in February of 1996.  I was sooo impressed with my lightning-fast 100Mhz chip, my huge 1-gig HD, and my state-of-the-art internal 28.8 modem.
It still sits in the spare room, ready to serve as needed.


----------



## uoba (Oct 12, 2001)

whilst studying for design (where else!) I was using PCs at the time, but knew, just knew where my destiny was. Those machines (even though they where 4 classic machines running crappy Quark up against fairly good new PCs) just had that special mysticism about them.

Apple Mac 8200 (geez that was powerful) in '94-'95 I think.

I love Apple so much It makes me cry. Group HUG everyone!!


----------



## edlake (Oct 12, 2001)

My first exposure to a Mac was in 1985 when I saw one in a department store. I first got to play with one at the McGraw-Hill Book Store, which sold them at the time. A year later, I started using them at work. I worked for a commercial type shop them and the Mac was an experiment. I've been using them ever since.

My first computer was a Commodore VIC-20 in 1979 or thereabouts. It had 5K of RAM, no hard drive and came with a tape recorder. Later I got a 5 1/4" floppy drive. I think the drive cost $250 or so.

I had 2 different Mac emulators on my Amiga 2000 (which is still in use, BTW), one was called AMax and the other was Emplant. Both worked pretty well, including networking with localtalk.


----------



## Soapvox (Oct 12, 2001)

Ah I feel so close to you guys


----------



## twyg (Oct 12, 2001)

This is... so.... wonderful...

*wipes tears away from his eyes*

It's good to see that we've got the hardcores, and the newbies together in harmony! 

My first machine ever was a kaypro... Wow... what a powerful machine! 

Kaypro


----------



## fryke (Oct 12, 2001)

My first Mac wasn't even one. We had some Macintosh Plus machines at school (remember? 1MB of RAM already, that was a cool cube...) and I had an Atari ST with a Spectre GCR 128 Macintosh emulator (hardware & software). My first real own Mac was later a PowerBook 150. Ever since I used PBs.  ->

150, 180c, 520c, 5300ce, iBook/300, TiBook/500 ... And I had a Performa 630 and a PowerMacintosh 8200 inbetween. desktops suck. 

I still have a Color Classic btw. It sits around and does *nothing*. A pity, I know. If only there was an AirPort card for it, I'd surf webpages on its Trinitron 512*384 screen.


----------



## AdmiralAK (Oct 12, 2001)

Here is my computer history

1st computer to be used:  Amstrad CPC at a friend's house. had monitor and joy pad.  The computer was an all in one (keyboard+tape drive + computer = one unit)

2nd computer was actuallu and Amiga 500 which my best buddy had.  We'd play for hours and hours... man did I love the "chaos engine" 

3rd to be used was an Atari ST (my brother's Godfather had one).  Didnt use it much.  Played some matchbox cars game 

4th to be used --> Amiga 1200.  Now THAT was a kick arse machine for its time   My best buddy had upgraded from a an A500 to an A1200

5th computer experience was with my Godmothers 16Mhz PC running windows 3.11.  What a horrible experience!  I somehow got into DOS while she wasnt there (I was playing price of persia) and could not get out!  The stupid thing kept giving me the options "Bad command or error"... It was that day That dispise for M$ grew in me 

6th computer to be used Apple Classic all in one running OS 6.0.8 with an external 5-10-or 20MB SCSI HD.  Used it to write papers for english

7th & 8th computers was an LC III and a Centris 650 (pizza box).  I graduated to the computer lab bellow in my highschool where I had my first experineces with At Ease and learned to hack it he he he.  After that experience I bought my own macintosh!!!!!!!!!


First bought computer: Performa 635CD, Ir enabled, 250MB HD, 2X CD-ROM, That thing kicked arse (but it dod not have an FPU damn it )

Then after 4 years I bought my current Blue And White G3 @ 350Mhz.  It was brand new then and I was on top of the world!

Ever since I bought my first mac I have dabbled with other computing platfroms too... I am VERY inquisitive in nature.  I wish I could have an SGI irix machine now to play around with


----------



## uoba (Oct 12, 2001)

BBC Microcomputer B (don't know if these where available in USA!)

Then a Spectrum + (same again, not sure if in USA either, very english machines!)

But, I did have a rain coat! (gett it!!)


----------



## marmoset (Oct 12, 2001)

Computing experience:

- In 7th grade (1979 or so), our science teacher, Mr. Nedela, got a 16K Apple II + with a cassette drive.  The big upgrade he got during the summer was a floppy drive.

- I programmed in Apple Basic and UCSD Pascal on Apple II's in high school.

- 1st computer owned was a Coleco Adam (remember those?)

- First used a Mac in the summer of 1985, in the U of Michigan computer labs while doing a pre-college program.

- Used tons of Macs during undergrad: 128Ks, 512Ke's, Mac Plus, SE, Mac II, IIcx. 

- Spent lots of time on my roommate's Atari ST and Amiga 2000

- Did level 1 tech support during summers for a bank that had lots of IBM PC XT's and AT's

- Family bought an LC II, later replaced by a IIci

- Bought a uMax S900, followed by the little guy in my sig.


----------



## ElDiabloConCaca (Oct 12, 2001)

I won't recount all my first experiences -- that would take WAAAAY too long, but I will ask one question: remember the Commodore PET computers?  I LOVED making my little "froggy" jump around the screen -- what program was that?  Remember?  "GO FORWARD 2," "TURN RIGHT," "GO FORWARD 5," and the "froggy" would draw little lines of asterisks and what not... and that game "Hammurabi?"  Where you had to feed your country and hope they don't starve to death?  Man... 3rd grade rocked... and don't even get me started on the tape drives.  I thought whoever invented those things had hung the moon and stars!

Well, since then it's been a combination of Amigas, Apples, Macs and PCs... I'm sitting in front of my beloved G4/400 PCI machine, which I will probably keep until the day I die... I LOVE this machine.

Apple is a lifesaver.  They made computing FUN.  I still remember the good ol' days of MS-DOS 3.3 which I had for years upon years... I became a Mac convert when I got into the pre-press/graphic arts industry right around the time the Quadra 950 was introduced.  In fact, my company STILL has one loaded to the gills with 128MB of RAM.  It has eaten only ONE hard drive in its entire life, and it hasn't been shut off for more than 15 minutes at a time in over EIGHT years!  Man, that thing is a powerhouse...

Ok, enough ranting.  Props to the person who posted this poll and got us all thinking back to the good old days.  I can't wait until I'm old and decrepid and recounting my experience with the first G4 computers to my great-grandchildren...


----------



## Soapvox (Oct 12, 2001)

I actually had a Commadore 64 (wow 64 k of ram I rocked) and had a cassette drive, but on the apple ][e we had a program called logo that you could do the vectors (go forward 5, right 3, (it hink velocity as well, it was a long time ago)) and it would draw a vector shape, and the thing that drew it I thinlk was called a turtle .  Also I used to prgram on my com64 in basic and had the voicebox hooked up to it, I was 8 and my parents thought I was a genius because I could program the VCR, so I look back now and basic was so..... well basic, I love computers but have a love affair with macs!


----------



## ElDiabloConCaca (Oct 12, 2001)

YES!  Logo was the name... and it WAS A turtle... wow -- memories!  

Who remembers Hammurabi?!


----------



## AdmiralAK (Oct 12, 2001)

I learned how to program in applesoft basic on the Apple II gs 

The teacher had made us disks with ProDOS and the Basic compiler...
of course she had boot disks for the IIgsOS but she did not give it to us 

No one knew it existed till I hoocked up 2 floppy drives on the GS and made a copy of the OS floppy and used it he he he  .. I was the envy of the class


----------



## Ghoser777 (Oct 12, 2001)

Oh my GOD, that thing rocked!  I had no idea what I was suppose to do with that at the time, butI had a lot of fun.  Oh, to return to the days of my Steve Wozniak insigniated Apple IIgs.

F-bacher


----------



## twyg (Oct 12, 2001)

Remember the line of SE's that had all the Apple employee (big guy's and gals) signatures on the inside of the box? That's when I got into IT. Someone told me names were cast into the plastic, and I got my dad to buy the tools to open the SE up... Ah... the joys of memories... 

No more 14" allen wrenches, or box crackers nowadays!


----------



## Matrix Agent (Oct 12, 2001)

Anyone play those MECC games in school? We had an Apple II. Lemonade Stand, Math Master.........wow


----------



## Soapvox (Oct 12, 2001)

I remember lemonade stand and Oregon Trail, I also had a bunch of games (my dad still has them) on real floppy's I think they are 5.25"


----------



## LordOphidian (Oct 12, 2001)

> _Originally posted by twyg _
> *
> I remember when the system, PageMaker, and half your documents fit onto one 1"1/2 floppy. (and you room to spare)
> *



Inch and a half floppy!!!! Damn man, I didn't know they made them that small.

PS. Sorry to give you shit man, just couldn't help my self.


----------



## AdmiralAK (Oct 12, 2001)

LOL 
When I came back from greece they stuck me in a stupid ESL class 9even though my english was good )
Damn stupidos think not I could speake good Engulish 
in any case I would spend time doing HW for other classes and playing games on the Apple IIgs


----------



## mailseth (Oct 12, 2001)

I dont remember how long ago we got our first mac. My dad got it for the family  before i could remember 

Mac 512Ke


----------



## twyg (Oct 13, 2001)

I don't know why I said 1 1/2... whadda crack smoker... It was 3 1/4 in drives. 

MECC... Totally forgot about them! Oregeon Trail baby! What about the Election game, where you ran for office?

later, and sorry for the f-up on the 1 1/2 thing


----------



## TommyWillB (Oct 13, 2001)

My family's first computer was the Texas Instruments TI 99/4a. Having full color (well 16 of them anyway) and multi-voiced sound, it was super cool. That was where I got my first taste of programming Basic.

Unlike my 4 older siblings, I got a shiny new Kaypro PC (a DOS IBM PC AT clone running at a whopping 4Mhz) for my HS graduation present. I was SET for the big time in college.

... at least that what I though until I saw the Mac lab at school. I did a lot of work on my PC, but I used the Mac's when ever I could. (The lab was always jammed.)

I ended up with 2 floppy disks by the time I graduated. On these I had a complete copy of MS Word 4 and all of my essays. Today this would probably require a 20 pack of ZIP disks.


----------



## NUDrew (Oct 13, 2001)

Number munchers and word munchers, where you controlled those funny looking pac-man-with-leg type things, and you had to eat the numbers that added up to 5 or the words that rhymed?  I remember playing these things back in 1st grade (1986).  And I do remember Logo also.  The apples in school were the first ones I used, until I got my own in 1990...I really don't remember what it was...but then we replaced it with a PowerPC in 1996 (120 MHz, I think!), and then a Beige G3 333? when I left for college, followed by a B&W G3 450 when there was some weird thing with the beige one's hard drive, and then my mom got a tangerine iMac, and now I've got my Ti G4!  ahh...happy days.


----------



## TommyWillB (Oct 13, 2001)

One of the cool things about this thread is to hear how people manage to keep thier old Mac's running for some purpose. Unlike PC's Mac people so love thier machines that they try to keep them running forever...

I seemed to have started this trend in the family where old Mac's simply get handed down. This is especially funny for me because I have two older brothers and I always got their hand-me-downs. Now they argue over who is going to get my old Mac's.


----------



## TommyWillB (Oct 13, 2001)

> _Originally posted by ElDiabloConCaca _
> *...I LOVED making my little "froggy" jump around the screen -- what program was that?  Remember?  "GO FORWARD 2," "TURN RIGHT," "GO FORWARD 5,"*


Wasn't that called LOGO or something like that?

Oops... I just read a little further and realized that Soapvox beat me to this answer.


----------



## TommyWillB (Oct 13, 2001)

> _Originally posted by LordOphidian _
> *Inch and a half floppy!!!! Damn man, I didn't know they made them that small.... *


The first place I worked in out of college had a computer running an audio mixing console (very high end) that used those enourmous 8 inch floppies. I think they only held something like 150k.

This was the great-grandfather of current audio tools like DigiDesign's ProTools...


----------



## marmoset (Oct 14, 2001)

> _Originally posted by Soapvox _
> *I remember lemonade stand and Oregon Trail, I also had a bunch of games (my dad still has them) on real floppy's I think they are 5.25" *



Lemonade was the first program I ever ran on our school's Apple ][ -- from a cassette!


----------



## AdmiralAK (Oct 14, 2001)

I forgot to mention that I used a C128 once with a tape drive 

I powered up my Peroform a month ago and all these memories came back 

If I had another monitor I woould have it running 


Admiral


----------



## sithious (Oct 14, 2001)

... *lol* ... i remember when everyone in my class at school was jealous because i had gotten a 16k ram upgrade for my sinclair zx81 (remember those?) ... then the c64 came around and it seemed like 64k was enormous... that was in '82 or something? does anyone remember when sinclair went out of business? still got that thing lying around somewhere at my parents house... 

next computer was an atari mega st (30 mb harddrive, wow!!) which actually lasted until about three or four years ago... incredibly stable machines, those ataris. didn't crash once in about ten years. not one single time ... and perfect for making music with cubase ... 

next an imac 350mhz slotloader, which i loved, but i soon upgraded to my current g4 and passed the imac on to my dad...
never owned  windoze pc, never will...


----------



## AdmiralAK (Oct 14, 2001)

Being an OS/computer/technology freak I have a ZX emulator 
When I frist say it I though that they keyboard was well suited for a hacker   Each key had like 5 different functions he he he

Have a look:
http://emulation.net/zx/

I wonder if I could network a mac an atari and an amiga together 

On an aside not Atari clones are STILL made today!  Used for publishing. They even upgrade the OS every so often!


----------



## squirell1357 (Oct 14, 2001)

my first ever computer at home was something called a timex sinclair. It was like 5k of ram with no disk. you had to hook it up to the tv to use it. You had to sit and program until you had it working then enjoy your results... then go eat dinner and have your mom turn it off (i was 10). After that commodore pet, apple IIE, trs 80, mac original, MacII, Next Box. (All compliments of computer labs). My first owned mac was a IIse. (wow 25Mhz). Thanks for the memories guys.


----------



## AdmiralAK (Oct 14, 2001)

A NeXT box ?  Damn you're lucky !!!!

Does anyone know where to find a collector's BeBox ??


----------



## squirell1357 (Oct 14, 2001)

I remember trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do woth a box that had no floppy. (NeXT box.)


----------



## AdmiralAK (Oct 14, 2001)

It had an optical drive, did it not ?


----------



## squirell1357 (Oct 14, 2001)

For a poor college student, optical disks may as well have been formed of pure gold. Plus, I think the lab they were in was CD-ROM only. I remember the interface and Mathematica literally taking my breath away. These NeXT boxes seemd magical. 


I can see me then... sniffing the next box like the apes on 2001.


----------



## HyperLiteG4 (Oct 15, 2001)

I remember Macs at my elementary school that I went to for the longest time. We started with those green screen ones that worked off a large floppy disc drive and didn't even have a mouse! We used to have to boot into games and typing programs.

I remember that school was like started by the guy who either invented or helped invent the mouse and sold the invention to Apple. I could be totally wrong about this but that is what I heard. John Couch is his name I think.

But anyway, we had macs for the longest time at that school. We went through those black and white ones with the smaller floppy built in, then to the color ones and then to ones that had cd-rom drives! I remember when that was the coolest thing. We used to play Oregon Trail and use Kid Pix and also we used HyperCard a lot. Oh, those were the days....

Now I'm 19, a graphic designer, video editor and multimedia guy and I couldn't imagine doing any of this without a Mac. Seriously, I tried using a PC at home for a few years and it just didn't work out. Now there are 3 Macs in my house. The only PC now is through Virtual PC. lol....

ah.....


----------



## TommyWillB (Nov 3, 2001)

> _Originally posted by sithious _
> *does anyone remember when sinclair went out of business?*


I thought the Sinclair was made by Timex... the people who make watches? 

What was the Timex computer then?


----------



## TommyWillB (Nov 3, 2001)

> _Originally posted by HyperLiteG4 _
> *...the guy who either invented or helped invent the mouse and sold the invention to Apple. I could be totally wrong about this but that is what I heard. John Couch is his name I think... *


I just read a book called Bootstrapping by Thierry Bardin. It is basically a biography of a guy named Douglas Engelbart. According to this, Engelbart was the guy who invented the mouse...???


----------



## adambyte (Nov 3, 2001)

I know I am a youngin' here, 18 years old, and my first Mac was my dad's "Centris 660AV"... hehe..... And to use my "Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego?" multi-media game with the blazingly fast 2X CD-ROM player, I put CDs in... a CADDY, and THEN loaded them.... buahahahahahahahahaha!.... hahahaha!... haha.... heh.... hehe.... heh...
(silence)

Alright, fine, I'm the only one that finds the idea of a CD Caddy funny....


----------



## AdmiralAK (Nov 3, 2001)

The CD caddy is a laughable idea 
I have used em a lot during high school 

They remind me of NeXT optical discs


----------



## jarinteractive (Nov 3, 2001)

I used a Mac 128k that my dad bought!  Now I'm a freshman in college with a TiBook and a G3 Tower.  I grew up with the Macintosh 

-JARinteractive


----------



## chemistry_geek (Nov 4, 2001)

My First computer was a Timex/Sinclair 1000 (Sinclair ZX81 clone):

4MHz Z80A processor, 2K of RAM, 8K of ROM

My 2nd computer was a Timex/Sinclair 2068 (Sinclair Spectrum clone):

4MHz Z80A processor, 48K of RAM, 32K of ROM (I think).

3rd computer was an Apple IIgs, Woz Limitied Edition

4th Computer was a PowerBook 520c

5th Computer is a Blue & White Power Macintosh G3.

All still work.

chemistry_geek


----------



## Jerommeke (Nov 4, 2001)

we started with a plus when I was young
we bought a 45 MB hard drive for it, that first needed to get warm before it started to function 45 MB was huge whow man, back then... I could saven thousands of applications on it

Then a classic, it's still alive, although it is now at our neighbour who can't afford herself a new computer 

Then my dad bought a performa 450, that was the last time his computer was better then the computer from the kids. now my mum uses it

coz lateron we bought a performa 630 and we were really so amazed by groliers encyclopedia and so 

then came a performa 6400/180, which is now workless, coz it has serious problems, it sometimes won't even startup and can give system errors even teh error-databses don't know what it means (error -127?, anyone?)
then came a b&w g3 350 Mhz, a great machine, it is still in use by my brother

and since the end of march, i have my own iMac 500 Mhz. 20 GB! I guess the Plus won't even see the whole disk 

and I'm soon on OS X


----------



## funkyoucrew (Nov 4, 2001)

1984: Apple ][c (my first Apple experience, loved MousePaint, I was 6 years old)
1985: second hand Apple ][+ (I think it was released in 1979)
1991: Macintosh LC (our first Mac, had an Apple ][ emulator card)
1994: Macintosh LC 475 (first time connected to the internet)
1995: second hand Macintosh Quadra 800 (once was the "most powerful mac ever")
1997: PowerMac 9600/300 (a real beauty!)
1999: PowerMac G4 (my Mac at work)
2000: PowerMac G4 Cube (my favorite Mac all-time! I use it every day for hours)
2001: PowerMac G4 466 (my new Mac at work, with internal cd burner)


I still have the ][c, ][+ and the LC 475 somewhere in the house ;-)
The first time I "used" a Mac was in 1984, at our Apple dealer, I was 6 years old...

can't wait for the G7 ;-)


----------

