anybody remember having a computer before Windows existed ?

[bmacd]

We had an old Epson ($$$$) that ran Dr. Dos (5.0?) and the GUI was GeoWorks (1.xx). Compuserve was the only real "user friendly" online suite, and you had to pay for EVERYTHING on it (you paid your basic monthly charge, but most of the service was setup like a pay-per-view). Those were the days of 2400 baud modems. I can't even remember the year...

-=bmacd=-

 

[Gurck]

Yeah, my first computer experience was on a pc-xt in the early (mid?) 80s, my mother worked for IBM at the time. My first computer was a 286. I remember 3.1 and how you'd boot into dos, remember modifying my autoexec file to automatically boot windows and then deciding to take it out, as most of my stuff was done at a dos prompt anyway Oddly enough I'm not nearly as knowledgeable about computers as I should be given that background

 

[Feldenak]

Yes.

My first home computer was a TRS-80. I eventually moved on to a Commodore 64 and was still using the C=128 when I graduated HS.

 

[Wuffsunie]

I had (and still have) a 286AT. Classic dos, lottsa stuff right off disk

 

[notfred]

Yeah, I had a 386 w/ 4mb of ram and an 80mb HDD. It ran DOS and I used it to play Wolfenstein, Doom, X-Com, and Falcon 3.0. No one except a few computer nerds at universities even knew what the "internet" was back then.

 

[NetGuySC]

Commodore 64 - remeber buying my favorite magazine "Compute's Gazette" and then programming in the machine language programs they had in it and then saving to a tape drive ... finally got the 1541 floopy drive for $200 and I was high tec

Commodore Pet - had one but do not remember doing much with it

Atari 400 with Windows basic programming cartridge. ... Miner 2049er was a game that I remember .. (released in 1982)

I remember being on Compuserve and paying $12/hour off peak time and paid a long distance charge also ... seems like it was the 300 baud days for I remember thinking that the 1200 baud modem was the shizit

 

[PowerEngineer]

I sure do. I remember that my first version of Excel (maybe 2.0?) came with a run-time version of Windows.

 

[SilverThief]

Packard Bell 286 with Windows 3.1, 2400 baud modem.
1985
I remember playing Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego, Bard's Tale II, Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and connecting to BBS's for my porn fix.


SIGH

 

[KarenMarie]

I had a commodore 64.
I had a desktop that ran DOS.
then windows 3.1 made a big splash.

 

[UlricT]

dad had an 8088 that ran wordstar and lotus 123. I had to wait till I was 5 to play frogger!

 

[Epinephrine]

I too had a C64 - Start to load Ultima III ----> Mow lawn -----> Play game!!

 

[thomsbrain]

my family had a 286 with DOS and Xtree. We used WordPerfect (totally text-based! all keyboard commands!), some old games, and other stuff.

 

[datalink7]

Apple IIe
486-66 with DOS

 

[oboeguy]

I used my Apple ][e through HS, IIRC, and we had gotten it when I was in 4th grade. Ahh, the memories.

 

[sonambulo]

Commodore 64 that I wasn't allowed to play with until my father got: An Apple IIe. Which, in turn, I was not allowed to play with until he got: An IBM XT. I don't think we got another machine until the days of the 486.

 

[Linux23]

Tandy 1000RL, 740K floppy and no Hard drive. Fastest computer I used.

 

[Bootprint]

In the 80's, had a RadioShack Colour computer 1st version, and a 8086 machine with dual 5 and 1/4 discs that ran Dos 3.1. First machine I purchased myself was a 386 40Mhz, that ran Dos 6.0 Damn, I remember buying win95 the day after it came out.

 

[vexingv]

i was using an ibm 286 for a decade (from 1989 up until 1999)...it was such hell when my friends at school were first going online

 

[DWW]

Originally posted by: SilverThief
Packard Bell 286 with Windows 3.1, 2400 baud modem.
1985
I remember playing Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego, Bard's Tale II, Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and connecting to BBS's for my porn fix.


SIGH

Sorry but you are off by about six (6) years. Windows 3.1 came out in 1991.

 

[boomdart]

I have a couple of pcs before windows was made :>

Such as the very first IBM PC, remember that? I also have 2 8086's, an 8088, a 80286, hell, I have every x86 computer, and they all work. I like my 133mhz 486

However I have used Windows 1 and Windows 2, they're kinda like a really bad DOSSHELL...

 

[replicator]

Yep..

I started out with an Amiga 500 using Workbench, which was wayyyyy ahead of its time.

You were able to multitask in a graphical user environment with 1MB of ram.

There were a tons of great Amiga BBSs

 

[JC]

Timex-Sinclair 1000.

 

[Horus]

Originally posted by: vexingv
i was using an ibm 286 for a decade (from 1989 up until 1999)...it was such hell when my friends at school were first going online

OMGWTFBBQ? You used the same system for 10 YEARS?!?!?!?

Mind you, I dealt with a 486 w/ windows 3.11 and a Compaq PortableIIC for 8 years.

 

[ChefJoe]

My dad wrote a program for the 8088 IBM that helped to teach me math when I was a young-un. I don't remember much about that time as I'm but 24 now.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: JC
Timex-Sinclair 1000.

Me too, somewhere around 1979, had to build the kit.

Upgraded my TRS-80 to a 2 MHZ Hitachi CPU from the Motorola at 1 MHZ (simple Xtal change in those days too) and blue-wired a bunch of chips to take it from 64K to 1 Meg.

1982 wrote my own BIOS in Assembly code and re-worked the OS. Was able to run 7 programs all at the same time in their own memory regions. Way before Windows.