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What was your first PC? Mine was "Headstart Explorer"

Malawhur

Malawhur

Member
Oct 27, 2017
175
My dad bought us our first PC when I was about 10 and it was a very unique PC called Headstart Explorer.
It was an XT clone with 8088 processor, 515 kb ram and it came with 3.5" 720kB floppy disk drive. Although it was very old even when we bought it, it had a nice windows like GUI in addition to DOS. I had my first gaming memories on that one with many DOS games like Renegade, Amazing Spiderman, Microprose soccer, California games and many many others. Does anyone remember this brand? Here is a video of it that I found on youtube:



So, what was your first PC ERA? Extra points if you had an obsolete one like mine!
 
HyGogg

HyGogg

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,495
Mine was a Leading Edge PC AT clone. EGA graphics, 640k RAM, 286 10 Mhz processor, a 5 1/4" floppy disk, and a spacious 30MB hard drive.

Eventually I put in a SoundBlaster, my first ever upgrade. I played the hell out of the early shareware games like Commander Keen, Catacomb 3D, Duke Nukem, etc. Basically anything Id Software (even the weird ones) Apogee, or Epic Megagames that ran in 16-color mode.
 
TangoAlphaLima

TangoAlphaLima

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,799
Commodore 64 for me. Played Archon, Indiana Jones, Batman, and a bunch of other games on it. Fond memories of that thing.
 
Isee

Isee

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
6,238
Intel 486 DX 33, 4 MB of Ram, 1x 3.5" floppy drive, 1x 5.25" floppy drive, 100 MB HDD, PC Speaker, don't remember what kind of monitor.
Was later upgraded with a soundblaster 2.0.
First PC game was Kings Quest 6 and I was blown away by the graphics. I had a C64 before that.

And so the need to upgrade something every 1-2 years started. Up to this day.
 
bmdubya

bmdubya

Member
Nov 1, 2017
6,584
Colorado
I think it was similar to this computer. I know it was an IBM, and it had a color monitor because I used to mess around with Paint in Windows 3.1. This was also when the computer would initially boot to a DOS menu, and you had to type in "win" to start Windows.

9353333_orig.jpg


After that, we had a Compaq Presario with Windows 95, and I loved that computer. Next we got a Sony Vaio with Windows XP, and that was the last computer I used before I moved out.
 

D65

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,862
I think it ass some Amstrad.

I remember gaming on an Athlon XP a lot though and some shitty Packard Bell before it.
 
tyfon

tyfon

Member
Nov 2, 2017
3,680
Norway
PC as in IBM compatible PC?

rcm-002-1500-ibm-portable.jpg


I think we had another one after this but then we got a Mac II Classic..
 
MaDKaT

MaDKaT

Member
Oct 27, 2017
269
Edit: My memory deceived me. It was certainly the IBM 5155 with an 8088. That orange screen still haunts me to this day.

ibm5155.jpg


We also eventually had a commodore 64
 
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DJ_Lae

DJ_Lae

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,938
Edmonton
Mac Plus, including the bulky carrying case and everything. I remember having an external hard drive too - think the thing was a whopping 8MB.

X0rhbeR.jpg


There's a reason I didn't push to have my parents hang onto that computer, though - I kept the Mac Classic instead. Hated the keyboard and mouse on the Plus.
 
petran79

petran79

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,025
Greece
Aside from Atari and Commodore computers, first computer we played games was a 8088/86 with a monochrome green monitor and PC speaker in early 90s. It took over 5 minutes to boot into DOS mode.

we played some of the classic DOS games and ports back then, like Monkey Island 1, Golden Axe,Lakers and Celtics,Green Beret, Elevator, Prince of Persia, Savage etc
 
sir_crocodile

sir_crocodile

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,628
Amstrad IBM compatible with a 8086 cpu. I believe it was the PC2086 model.

W231oLE.jpg


Like this with an addition 5.25 floppy drive. The 3.5 floppy drive was not High Density, which caused quite a few headaches. Took me a while a decade and a half later to get used to HD meaning hi def instead!
 
Indelible

Indelible

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,978
Canada
I remember we had a Tandy computer when I was young, not sure what model it was. I vividly remember playing Space Quest and Thexder on floppy discs.
 
plagiarize

plagiarize

It's not a loop. It's a spiral.
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
27,827
Cape Cod, MA
A Sinclair ZX Spectrum, if we're counting stuff that isn't IBM compatible. Followed by an Atari 520STM and an Acorn A4000. All my IBM compatibles have been self built. The first one I built myself had an original GeForce 256 in it.
 
Accoun

Accoun

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,905
My first PC? a hand-me-down PS/ValuePoint with a 486 that I got from my aunt.

Of course it was really obsolete when I got it - by then my dad had a Pentium 2, so I still used his computer to play games.
 
Dremorak

Dremorak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,831
New Zealand
Windows 95 PC(maybe even 3.1??), 3.5 inch floppy drive, and we had all the best shareware versions to play the first level of :D

The best thing about gaming in that era for me was finishing the shareware version of a game, you would get a screen pop up that showed you all the amazing levels in the full game.
There was always, ALWAYS, a fire level.
 

Deleted member 25600

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
5,701
My parents first machine was a custom 300MHz Voodoo 2 PC built by a friend. My first PC was a 1GHz Duron and Geforce 2 with 256GB of DDR2 RAM.

The contrast between the 2 machines was enormous to me. My parents PC ran Operation Flashpoint like a slideshow. My PC ran it smooth as butter.
 
Akabeko

Akabeko

Member
Oct 27, 2017
820
Our first PC was a Gateway 2000 486sx-33, 2mb RAM, 80mb hard drive. Eventually bought a soundblaster pro for it, upgraded the RAM, got a larger HDD and bought some kind of upgrade chip for it that turned it into a 486dx-66.
 

Shifty1897

Member
Oct 28, 2017
702
sam_1194_v01_by_mad_king_corduroy-d8ouyr6.jpg


She was a thing of beauty. I remember my seven year old self staring at it in amazement. 25mhz processor, 4 Megs of RAM, it ran Warcraft like a beast. Windows 3.1 was no match for it. I had file the computer's file structure memorized so well that I could run every game from DOS without so much as a DIR command. I later upgraded it to 8 Megs of RAM to play SU-27 Flanker in all of its 15 fps glory.

This machine solidified my life choice to start a career in IT. So say we all.
 
Like the hat?

Like the hat?

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,646
Some random does hand me downs from people my parents knew. First computer they bought new was a gateway in the cow box, I think it had Windows 98. I've never actually used Windows 95 outside of school. Went from 3.1 to 98.
 
Shrike

Shrike

Member
Oct 25, 2017
524
I don't remember anything specific about it at all except that it was a Windows 95 PC that was given to me by a now somewhat unfortunately estranged uncle. No network connection on it or anything, but he had it loaded with some shareware games and my parents bought me more games (mostly edutainment ones). We later got a Windows 98 PC, some prebuilt, as a family computer for anyone to use while I kept the 95 one in my bedroom for myself. I think this was the PC that I first got online with. Later we upgraded the family computer to a Dell on Windows XP and the Windows 98 PC truly became my own, replacing the Windows 95 in my bedroom though losing its internet connection as there wasn't a phone line to my room. After the Dell I would eventually go on to build my own PC at some point and we'd eventually get broadband and wireless networking allowing me to get an internet connection in my room.

I'm kinda sad I missed out on the truly early time of computers before Windows, I love reading about retro computing. Unfortunately I'm just too young I guess.
 
kenta

kenta

Member
Oct 25, 2017
862
I don't recall our first home computer having a brand/model on it... I know it ran DOS, and my dad even installed a customizable keyboard-only GUI on boot and you'd choose from a list of options that would put you directly into WYSIWYG or QuickBooks, etc.

The first computer I can specifically recall is one of these guys, it had a Pentium Pro 200 MHz (I felt really cool until Pentium IIs came out):

thm_Gateway2000_P5-75.jpg


My dad was loyal to Gateway computers big time
 
Teh_Lurv

Teh_Lurv

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,144
I was pretty late to the PC world, my first PC was a Macintosh Performa 575 I got when I was 14. I used that machine for about five years before I went off to college. I always wanted to get the PowerPC upgrade card to replace the aging 68040 CPU, but I never could scrounge up the cash for it. I did eventually upgrade the memory from 8MB to 20MB so I could run AOL and Warcraft 2 at the same time for online matches. The year after I bought it I was gifted a 28.8k baud modem for Christmas back when those modems went for $200+. It was worth it though, the jump in speed from the machine's stock 9600 baud modem was incredible in the mid-90s.

LC520.jpg


I still have the best tucked away in a closest, though it hasn't been powered on in 20 years and the mouse/keyboard are long gone. I sometimes wonder if it still works.
 
Rickenslacker

Rickenslacker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,415
My parents had no interest in PCs, so the ones I had experience with at first were at school and going over to friend's places. The very first PC that they got for me was a second-hand one from a friend of the family's for a couple hundred I think. I couldn't even tell you the specs on it, but it had Windows 95 on it and barely ran WarCraft at an acceptable rate, and could not handle WC2. My folks then got me a pre-built MGD PC shortly after. Pentium II 350MHz, 128 whole megabytes of ram. An 8MB Monster 3D II 3dfx Voodoo 2 alongside a 4MB Matrox Millennium II. Even had a ball mouse with a scroll wheel on it. My life was forever changed.
 
whiteninja

whiteninja

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
1,794
Acer aspire from early to mid 90s. Dont remember the specs but I actually still have to 1gb hard drive from it, and it still works!
 
IMACOMPUTA

IMACOMPUTA

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,586
Gateway Essential 433 $1999 LMFAO
ImageResizer.ashx

433mhz celeron
ATI Rage 128 8mb onboard graphics
Woo!
 
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MysteryM

MysteryM

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,761
My first pc was a Compaq 486 dx2 50hz pc, 12mb of ram, 120mb hard disk running windows 3.1. Doom, xwing etc were amazing. Stopped serious pc gaming after that era despite owning multiple PCs from then on.
 
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