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My First Computer

October 23, 2009

280px-Sinclair_ZX81.jpg

Cutting edge of home computing in 1982. More information here.

  1. Seamus
    October 23, 2009 at 11:43 pm | #1
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    Next up…the Commodore 64, and the joystick buster that was Daley Thompsons decathlon…

  2. John M. Lynch
    October 24, 2009 at 12:38 am | #2
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    Ah, you remember, don’t you.

  3. Bob O’H
    October 24, 2009 at 12:46 am | #3
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    Did you have the 16K ram expansion pack too? With the wobble?

  4. Joel
    October 24, 2009 at 1:03 am | #4
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    Luxury! My first computer couldn’t even output data to tape. We had to copy the whole program from the magazine every time.

    Well, actually, it probably could, but my parents hadn’t shelled out for that component.

  5. Wes
    October 24, 2009 at 2:18 am | #5
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    Back when I was just a wee little bastard in 1984, we had an Atari 400 home computer:

    http://oldcomputers.net/atari400.html

    I loved that thing. It could play all the old 8 bit Atari games, plus my dad used it to teach me how to spell words.

  6. Crudely Wrott
    October 25, 2009 at 8:36 pm | #6
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    Hoo Haa! I bought TS100 in a department store for $199.99. The 16K memory module set me back another hundred. It wobbled badly but a book of matches used as a wedge between the console and the module proved serviceable. As long as I didn’t bump it.

    I had a lot of fun plotting hypotrochoids and playing Mazogs.

    Remember “Synch” magazine? Lists of code you could actually type in and run. Then diddle with.

    Such warm memories . . .

    And in 2000 I found one in a second hand store, with original packaging and manual priced at $5.00. If only I could remember where I put it . . .

  7. Cera Lawrence
    October 30, 2009 at 12:29 am | #7
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    I had the Atari ST when I was 9. I played a spelling bee game and a math game, and sort of tried to learn how to use Logo.

  8. John M. Lynch
    October 30, 2009 at 12:39 am | #8
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    Hence Cera likes bees? :)

  9. DLC
    October 30, 2009 at 6:50 am | #9
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    Hm. I used a Timex-Sinclair and an Atari 400. Talk about primitive. The cool thing about the Z-80 chip series was they were just about as rugged as a tank.
    had to be, in fact, because they were also used for fire control computers on some military hardware.

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