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Hardware Happy 30th Birthday, PC

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Lizard, 12 Aug 2011.

  1. blood69

    blood69 What's a Dremel?

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    My first PC, that's interesting because i was lucky to have a computer enthusiastic father, with knowledge in both software and Hardware.
    When i was born my father had an Atari 800 laying around and he never let me use it afraid that i was going to break it. Eventually i broke the Atari by revenge.
    Then he bought an IBM PS/1 with 386, mathematical processor, windows 3.11 and 80Mb of HardDrive (wasn't enough disk space), Sweettttttt. But he still didn't let me use it that much afraid that i broke-tit again.
    When he bought the PS/1, i asked to have a computer of some sort, well, i was lucky this time, Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128k with the floppy disk reader on the right of the thing. Many games to play, played 6 and 8 hours strait. Getting older i begin to experience some coding on the spectrum, then my father let me use the PS/1 to code.
    Many machines passed thru my hands since then, wich since around 1997 i build them witch a pricipal in mind Money/Performance. Now i just need to read bit-techs hardware guide to now what to buy i no much effort.
    There was a good thing having my father forbidding me of messing with his computers, (the forbidden fruit is the most desired) and that i thank him, now im a mediocre sucessfull Program Writer, lol.
     
  2. Ljs

    Ljs Modder

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    This article makes me feel old.

    I am a little surprised by bit-tech staffs first PCs - P133? 486? I would have thought they had gotten in to PCs before those days.

    This article makes me feel old.
     
  3. JJW

    JJW What's a Dremel?

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    Herman Holloway? I think you mean Herman Hollerith.
     
  4. SMIFFYDUDE

    SMIFFYDUDE Supermodders on my D

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    To be fair a PC is quite expensive for a child to buy themselves
     
    Last edited: 12 Aug 2011
  5. MjFrosty

    MjFrosty Minimodder

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    I came in at just the right time with my very first being a P75. Had to upgrade my 8MBRAM to 16MB in order to play Quake, I remember that much. Also accidentally clicking 1280x1024 in Quake 2 using Software rendering was a bit of a mistake
     
  6. SpAceman

    SpAceman What's a Dremel?

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    My dad used to bring home PCs to do work on in the early 90's. We would play games on them of course. Our first computer was a Mac Performa 5400 that we got for Christmas in '96. I would have been 5 at the time. Most of my memories of that machine involve Doom. It's still in the wardrobe.
     
  7. Lizard

    Lizard @ Scan R&D

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    Read my entry again - my PC was the first PC.
     
  8. B1GBUD

    B1GBUD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Accidentally Funny

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    1st proper PC, Amstrad 5286, 286 @ 16mhz, 40MB HDD, 1MB Ram (640k conventional, 384k Extended) VGA 256 colours @ 320 x 240 or 16 colours @ 640 x 480.... what a beast!
     
  9. Phil Rhodes

    Phil Rhodes Hypernobber

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    That's not a "convertible" - that's a sentry gun control unit from Aliens!

    Well, OK, it's not, quite. But it very nearly is.
     
  10. TheDitherer

    TheDitherer What's a Dremel?

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    In paragraph 1, the inventor of the punched-card system should be Herman Hollerith. Great article, though.
     
  11. Jamie

    Jamie ex-Bit-Tech code junkie

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    My first 'PC' was a 286 with 2MB of RAM (upgraded from 1MB). I had previously been using a Commadore 16+4 to play games though.
     
  12. Lizard

    Lizard @ Scan R&D

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    Oops, fixed now :)
     
  13. Garfy400

    Garfy400 Master of the Universe

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    I have the same birthday as the PC, awesome!
     
  14. gcwebbyuk

    gcwebbyuk Dib Dabbler

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    First 2 computer were an Acorn Electron and an Amiga 500. I was then donated an old IBM XT PC by my cousin. From then it went to a Pentim 4 (early Time Machine) and then laptops up to my current i5 13" Acer laptop and an i2600k beast :)

    I remember copying out code from an Acorn magazine and saving it to a tape drive - happy days!
     
  15. TheLegendJoe

    TheLegendJoe Syntax error

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    ahhh windows 98 :) Haha, that was my first PC- Dont remember the specs properly as I was still relatively young! Cost a fair bit though, and played Unreal and Turok very well...

    Just to add, I was born just after the internet was supposedly created (19 years ago for me, 20 for it) ;)
     
  16. Digi

    Digi The not-so-funny Cockney

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    Excellent little article BT. I built a 486 DX2 with my dad out of spare bits and bobs he had. I was maybe 8-10, so you can guess who really did most of the building. Built everyone of my own from that day since.
     
  17. Madness_3d

    Madness_3d Bit-Tech/Asus OC Winner

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    One of the best articles I've read in recent years. Well done guys. My first PC was a White toshiba laptop running windows 3.1, played lots of educational games when I was about 3 :)

    Then had a Black Higrade laptop running windows 95 on a 1.25GB HDD. loved my Roller Coaster Tycoon. Loved that machine, managed to melt the underside of it :(

    Then got my first desktop, a K6 600Mhz, 128MB, 4.3GB HDD, Win 98SE, and a Geforce 2 GTS. lovely little machine.

    When that died, I built my first machine aged 11. She was an Athlon 3200+ 939, 512MB RAM, Gigabyte board, reused my Geforce, etc etc.

    History of PC's is amazing, let's hope the future is just as interesting :)
     
  18. V3ctor

    V3ctor Tech addict...

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    I remember having FIFA96 in floppys, and to load them one by one... I remember my frustration when one broke down, cd's were a "myth", too expensive...
     
  19. Fingers66

    Fingers66 Kiwi in London

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    In 1996 I threw away an IBM XT as shown in the photo, monitor and all...it still worked as I started it up before binning it!

    It would probably be worth a bit now as a collectors item...
     
  20. Paul2011

    Paul2011 Minimodder

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    That was awesome, and its amazing how technology has progressed in the last 30 years (im 30 soon) so i cant wait to see whats in store over the next 30 years, long live the PC.
     
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