Re: First computers . . .

[Cat Fud <catfud@mailcity.com>]

dev.null@personal.information.com wrote:
> 
> While reading about the bad-old-days of computing I came across the statement
> that, "it is well known in the computer science field that programmers tend to
> think of the first machine they ever used as being one of the most interest-
> ing."  And I am curious, how many of you started out on an Apple II?
> 
> The Apple II was probably the third computer I used, but I am most fond of it
> because it is the one machine that I spent a lot of time learning how to
> program.  (The first two were more like toys, the C=64 and VIC-20.)
> 
> Byron.

	The first computer that I used was an Apple IIe in grade school about
'80 or '81 (I forget if I used a computer in kindergarden).  With it we
played Oregon Trail (still my favorate game), Math Munchers, and did
some programming in Logo.  One of my favorite computer classes in grade
school was when the teacher brought a mechanical turtle that hooked up
to the Apple IIe, and it could be controlled by the computer.
	As for owning a computer, the first one I owned was an Apple IIgs that
I bought 4 years ago.  It was a used one, but it had an AppleColor
monitor, which was very cool to me because only one of the Apple IIe's
in grade school had a color monitor.  I also got an ImageWriter II with
it, which I use with my Macintosh Performa.
	I still have my origional IIgs, and two more (one with a full 1.5MB of
RAM), and some Apple IIe's.  Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room
where I live to keep all the green phospher monitors, so some of them
had to be recycled.  A friend of mine was nice enough to store three of
them in her basement.
	I also have collected up some other computers and game machines from Goodwill:

	Atari 800XL (they had a disk drive for it, too, but I didn't know it
was for the Atari, so I missed out on that, but I did get some game
cartrages there.)
	Commadore Vic-20 (I also picked up a second one from an auction at the
college that I go to which has a homemade reset button and a tape drive
with it)	Also I got the Commadore 1541 Disk Drive from a friend who
didn't need it. (I happen to have a manual for it, but it only has
commands for the C64 and C128.  Would this be the wrong place to ask for
references for commands for the Vic-20?  I can only find newsgroups on
the C64 and C128 (although they may be able to help))
	Atari 2600 (they had a lot of games there too.)
	Origional Nintendo

	I also have picked up a few other computers from the Computer
Renessaince store.  I try to use the computers as much as I can.  (I'm
rambling on now -->) Recently, I got to do a report on anything that I
wanted to, so I did mine on computers vs. game consoles: which are
better for games?  I found out that that subject is just as obscure as
"Which operating system is the best one?"  In any case, I brought my
Atari 2600 for a deminstration.  The teacher thought that was cool (but
it didn't help my grade any).
	In any case, I have been interested in computers ever since I was
introduced to them in grade school.  As soon as I get out of college
(May 2001), I'll be looking for a job with computers. Hopefully I can
get one where I can deal with legacy computers.
	That's all I have to say about that.

	Cat Fud