Mar 14 2007
My First PC (and a little about my 2nd)
HMTKSteve asked his readers to recall their very first PCs and here’s my story.
I purchased my very first computer back in the spring of 1992.
I had just returned to school as an English major.
I signed up as an English major for 2 reasons:
- I needed to get a degree, any degree and English was something I was good at.
- I thought it might be difficult to apply as a Comp Sci major, so signed up as an English major and switching was all part of a Master Plan.
I was 27 when I returned to school. I had no computer experience. The closest I’d come to computer work was using the ATM and playing “Pong.”
It was a bit daunting to be in a programming 101 course surrounded by either 19 year olds who seemed several steps ahead of me and just-here-for-the-paper experienced programmers in their 40s who dashed off programs while I was busy taking notes.
I wasn’t even all that great at math. Anyway, I came into computer science at a dead stop.
I went from arranging flowers to counting in binary.
But back to my first computer. I needed one and had no idea what to get. Luckily, my then-boyfriend knew about such things. He read the PC magazines and reviews and I ended up ordered a PC from Zeos. Zeos built PCs to order.
My PC was a 386DX-33.
It had a:
- 130 MB IDE hard drive
- 1.2 MB 5.25″ Floppy Drive
- 1.44 MB 3.5″ Floppy Drive
- 4 MB RAM
- 24K internal modem
- 1 MB Stealth video card
- 14″ VGA monitor
The color was beige with gray accents. The PC case was a brick not a tower.
It arrived sans operating system. I recall my boyfriend loading 3.5″ floppy after 3.5″ floppy to install Window 3.11.
I never used the 5.25″ drive except to install drivers.
Amazingly, the monitor still works. It outlasted the ViewSonic one I purchased with my 486 machine.
That ViewSonic died suddenly – a sizzling sound followed by a pop and then a faint wisp of smoke. No more monitor.
I attached the old Zeos monitor to my 486 Pentium II. That PC was embarrassing. People were asking me to pull the plug.
It was running Windows 95 on 32 MB RAM. The fan rattled. It was a death rattle.
I managed to squeeze another year outta that thing and I even added a network card when I got DSL.
Yes. Ms. Q actually installed a network card. That was her geeky high point.
Update: I was looking through my computer file (a physical file – yes they still exist!) and found the Zeos ad I’d used to order my system. It looks like my particular package cost about $2400!! That’s some serious bucks even now!
Do you remember Ami Pro? And love that “plus Microsoft mouse!”
What year did you buy the PC in? My 486 from 1994 had a 210MB hard drive in it and only 4MB of RAM. It sounds like this thing was top of the line when you bought it.
Too early for you HMTKSteve? My post says I purchased it in 1992
Yes, that PC was fairly top of the line when I purchased it. I think I could have gotten more RAM if I could’ve afforded it but the CPU was as fast as I could get.
I had a Commodore 64 hooked up to my ham radio in the mid 1980’s.
I am not a geek! And I am not in denial, either!
Jake: the first stage is acceptance….
The first PC I ever purchased was an Atari 800… probably back in 1983 or so. It didn’t even come with a floppy drive — I had to save up about $200 or so for a shoebox-sized 5 1/4″ one. It had a slot for cartridges that would be used for apps to compile the programs I created. Resolutions weren’t so hot back in those days, so I could easily use my own TV as a monitor.
Does anyone remember cutting a notch out of the side of those floppies so you could use both sides?
Then I graduated to the big times with an Apple ][+ that came with two(!) 5 1/4″ drives. I don’t remember any other specs, though I do remember the monitor was in color. One color. Green.
I took a 15 year break from computer ownership and started thinking about getting a PC — a *real* PC — sometime around 1999. A tech-savvy friend suggested that I build my own rather than buy a pre-built because I could get a lot more bang for my buck. It was intimidating because I knew nothing anymore about hardware or computers and *a lot* had changed while I was “away.”
I read everything I could and after educating myself put together an AMD Duron-based system. The rest is a sordid history consisting of gradual upgrades and complete rebuilds. I never threw anything out, of course!
It’s funny how fast things change in the tech world. What I have now was bleeding-edge a mere two years ago. It’s now a middle- to low-end computer with no upgrade path left in it. I’ll have to replace most everything if I want another high-performer.
dietrologia: serious geeking here. Hooray for you for taking on building your own computer.
I don’t recall cutting a notch into the floppies. I’m still waiting for the day when some kid says, “What’s a floppy?”
dietrologia – Yes, well all cut the notch on our floppies. Why pay extra for double-sided floppies???
Do you remember the companies that existed that would sell you “back-up” copies of your games, and books and code wheels?
Oh yeah, when I said “First PC” I was refering to IBM-clone types.
Prior to my first real “PC” I had a C-64, TRaSh-80 and a few others. Including the “door wedge” of computers the Timex Sinclair!
@HMTKSteve
I don’t remember those companies that would do that. We kind of dealt with the “data redundancy issue” among ourselves!
Hey, we were poor middle/high-school students!
Wow. Ms. Q has entered…The Geek Zone. I’m back in college!
I purchased my first PC in the early Spring of 1998. I got it with an employee discount, too. Before that, I was using someone else’s computer (friends, employer (UNIX systems), etc.).
IBM 266MHz MMX (The system board died within 3 months of purchase. IBM sent a technican to replace the board. A couple months later, the CPU died and I had to get that replaced at one of their authorized dealers. It took about 2 months to get it back. At least I got a music CD out of it.
I guess one of their technicans inadvertently left his/her CD in it–presumably they were testing.)
4.2 GB hard drive
256 MB RAM
3.5″ Floppy drive
Very slow CDROM
56K Dialup
13″ IBM Monitor (2 monitors were dead on arrival–luckily IBM was pretty good about replacing them)
After all that, it ran pretty well for two years. For the follow on system, I built my own. The parts were puchased via newegg.com and then shipped to South Korea.
esofthub: I thought IBM had a rep for good machines! Your first PC had nice specs but awful performance!
What music CD did you get?
Yeah, Newegg is pretty good. Which reminds me – I need an enclosure for my hard drive. I’ve been hearing all sorts of “system crashed” stories and I just purchased a new PC for my mom (dang parents are so expensive) since hers crashed several months ago. We were lucky to be able to copy over all her gajillion photos. I back up my laptop intermittently and this new hard drive (once I get the enclosure) will be my backup drive.
Backup-backup-backup!
I hope you didn’t spend that much for your mother’s computer. Dell has tons and tons of deals going on all the time. The last deal I saw was a 500 dollar computer (1gig ram, 80 gig hd, CDRW) and there were tossing in a free 19in monitor. I don’t know how you could beat that. I use to build computers for people, and I have to play Tech Support afterwards. Now, I just tell them to buy them from Dell.
Or even better deals on Dell machines and monitors can be found on eBay. Some of the stuff is refurbished, but they still carry the 3 year warranties. That is where I got my dual monitor setup for work. We actually ordered 4 monitors for the office. My boss also out a dual setup as well. Even picked up a really nice new X41 Thinkpad (weight like 2 pounds) for my gf for about 600 bucks last year…
Just something to think about.
My mom’s PC is supposed to arrive today. I did get a Dell but missed out on the 19″ and got a 15″. But I got a bigger HD and DVD/CD burner. She has a massive CRT monitor so I’ll keep the 15″ although my laptop has a 17″. I had to buy something and you know how it goes – there is always a better deal.
MsQ — It was a Dru Hill CD.
That reminds me, it’s time for a backup!
esofthub: yep – backup-backup-backup! I have an upcoming post on PC backups. Less of a How-To and more of a warning!
How many from the dark ages bought a notcher puncher to make their flippy disks? Or, did folks just use hole punches and/or knives?
My first actual “PC” that I bought was a couple of years ago when a bought a refurbished notebook from overstock.com.
I did have a hand-me-down PC that someone gave me that was an 8088. I used that for dialing in to work to catch up on e-mail, etc. in the evening. And read news on usenet when we had a feed, way back in the mid 90’s or so.
I used to have a Convergent Technologies Miniframe too. Fully blown, it was 2MB of RAM, with a Motorola 68010 processor, small amount of HD, and a weird 5.25″ floppy drive. But, it ran UNIX, and that was my first experience with administering a UNIX system. Ah, the fun of adding users with ‘vi’.
ack: VI – VI-sual Editor. Even the acronym is overloaded! But yup, I likes VI. It’s my generation’s version of the punch cards that the “old timers” would tell me about when I went to school.