topic Re: First computer and internet connection in Electronics

First computer and internet connection

Bird mama — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 20:57:10 GMT

I was thinking about my first computer and the first time I connected to the internet.

When I think of it, I was late to the personal computer party. My sister and I split the cost for a PC when she decided to go back to school in 2000.

It was a Compaq PC, we bought it from Radio Shack.

I had MSN dial up as my service provider.

It was like a new world opened to me. What about you? Do you remember your first computer?

Re: First computer and internet connection

Suhse — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:11:07 GMT

My first computer, was also a Compaq..I bought it in a bundle, with a printer, from HSN(sorry QVC)😉

It it was a really good machine, and yes, opened up so many possibilities.

I dont remember, who my dial up provider was.

Re: First computer and internet connection

NickNack — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:30:36 GMT

My first computer was an Epson, and I had AOL. I think I had an Epson printer, too.

Came back to edit this after I read geezerette's reply. My Epson was only a word processor computer. I had completely forgotten that. My first computer with internet was a Dell with AOL.

Re: First computer and internet connection

geezerette — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:22:23 GMT

My first computer was an Apple IIC and I didn't even have internet. It was a glorified word processor with a dot-matrix printer.

Re: First computer and internet connection

chickenbutt — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:26:24 GMT

I actually had 'WebTV' for a year and that was fun.

Then, I wanted to do more and got my first desktop, which was an HP. That is why I'm not too much a fan of HP.

But my first internet experiences were with the WebTV. What was cool about it was that I had it set up with my 32" Sony bedroom tv which, at that time, seemed huge. It actually did weigh about a million pounds, being the old CRT type tv. Then I had the keyboard and could just sit on my bed, or lay down, and use the keyboard and have the internet on that big ol' tv screen.

Re: First computer and internet connection

nomless — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:39:04 GMT

Computer: Commodore 64. 1986, I think. Internet was not available to consumers at that time, but we had it at work. Military/government and universities were the only ones with access, IIRC. Browsers did not exist then. Navigation was done with command line code.

Re: First computer and internet connection

Caligurll — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:29:48 GMT

My first PC was a Compaq also, don't remember the year or my provider.

Re: First computer and internet connection

sunshine45 — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:37:01 GMT

got my first computer in 1999......i dont recall what brand it was, but the monitor and box were heavy, with thick cords in the back for connections. my we have come a long way in a relatively short period of time.

i had dial up aol for my service provider and it was pretty darn slow. it had to be rebooted several times a day.

Re: First computer and internet connection

PinkyPetunia — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:41:01 GMT

I got an Apple Performa around 1996. I think we used AOL for dial up and email. Browser was Netscape Navigator. The modem was free standing and made a lot of noise. We installed a second phone line then.

Re: First computer and internet connection

Mz iMac — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 22:26:19 GMT

My first computer-1999 was a G3 iMac, color strawberry, named Pookie. You could see right through the iMac!

I had the dial up AOL v3. I LOVED AOL & the yellow running man. AOL was my comfort zone. Back then I was scared of the WWW.

~~Boy have I changed!~~

Re: First computer and internet connection

hckynut — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 22:45:11 GMT

@Bird mama

Chapter 1

I remember buying a Packard Bell. This however was for my wife as she was determined she/we needed one. She mentioned being able to keep my hockey stats on a spreadsheet, and that convinced me.

She said she would do the stats as she used a computer at work. I had zero interest in learning anything about computers, since she said she would do the hockey stat spreadsheets for my adult league. Don't remember the exact year, but it was before I retired in 1991.

One of my hockey players was big into computers, so I asked him to write down the best specs and brand computer at that time. I do remember it used only a DOS system. I really didn't care until???

I read in our newspaper that there was a Nascar Racing Game for computers. That struck big interest because I was a Nascar and Drag Racing guy. I bought it on a 3 1/2" disk, then sat down and had my wife show me how to turn the danged machine on.

Step by step/night by night, I learned how to turn it on and sign in/sign out on DOS. When I retired there were times I stayed up all night trying to learn more. My wife showed me how to get on the internet, AOL dialup.

Worked until I figured how to find websites of those that knew the Nascar Racing Game. They also spoke computer language, I did not. So learning from the computer geeks was a long slow process just to be able to race this game took me weeks. Little did I know how much I didn't know.

Anyways, i learned little by little and was able to race, but not good enough to even know how to do it online. Even took the computer apart a few times, thanks to my friend. However managed to mess it up and my friend said "you know enough to figure it out. Guess I did, but it took me many overnight sessions for over a week.

More to come?

hckynut(john)

Re: First computer and internet connection

GCR18 — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 22:51:07 GMT

I remember the year because I had just moved to TN. The year was 1996, compaq and aol dial up.

Re: First computer and internet connection

Bird mama — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 23:23:10 GMT

@Mz iMac

I love that you named your first pookie, lol.

Re: First computer and internet connection

Reba055 — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 23:37:58 GMT

Mine was a Tandy from Radio Shack. Lol. Look that puppy up if you wanna see how long ago that was.

Re: First computer and internet connection

Marp — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 03:39:07 GMT

My first computer was a Commodore 64 followed by a Commodore 128. When I first started on the Internet it was through a local Freenet and used command line for navigation. At some point I graduated to Compuserve and Delphi and never looked back.

I do miss the control of my computer I had with DOS though.

Re: First computer and internet connection

Nuttmeg — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 05:21:13 GMT

I brought my first computer in 1987 or 1988. It did not have a hard drive. You would boot it up with MS DOS using a large 5 and 1/4 " floppy disk. You then,put in your program. This was a very interesting time for technology. You could buy programs at your local Shop Rite store for $3.99.

I did not get forum access until my second computer in 1992. A Dell I brought from Staples.

BIX run by BYTE Mag maybe one of the first companies to give average folks access to the web.

Re: First computer and internet connection

glb613 — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 09:17:00 GMT

I had a Compaq 15 inch all-in-one with AOL dialup. It had Windows 95 and no one else had it. My helpers were just as lost as I was.

Re: First computer and internet connection

Cats3000 — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 10:02:17 GMT

It was an old Dell desktop. Wasn't great then, either. Finally switched to Mac and haven't looked back.

Re: First computer and internet connection

jaxs mom — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 13:26:26 GMT

The first computer I bought was built for me, in the 90s for work so it wasn't a brand. I got internet at home around 2000 I'd guess?

Re: First computer and internet connection

Zhills — Sat, 24 Sep 2016 17:02:11 GMT

Your posts really make me feel old. I took computer programming in 1974 before it was even offered in colleges. A GTE Data Services company offered a class for the payroll department at the nearby air base and allowed their employees to attend. We learned how to write the programs that allow you to "fill in the blanks."

I received my first MAC in 1984 and later changed to the PC because we used those at work. They had a 64K memory at the time and you couldn't move or shake it or get a magnet close to it or you would lose all of your data!
The PC ran on DOS. I programmed mine at work to play "Happy Birthday" to my boss!

Now I have 2 musical programs that allow me to write the music with my computer mouse, transpose (?) it to Audio and make a disc of the song that will play on any CD player. Made discs for each part in the chorus to use for practice.

Don't remember when we got Juno and email on "dial up."