253 replies to this topic

[tntoak]

My first computer was a Commodore Vic-20 with a tape drive, which I got for Christmas 1982 (I was 6 at the time).  The next summer, I decided I wanted to see how it worked, so I disassembled it to take a look.  My mom thought I had killed it, but it still works, even today.  Ironically, the little 13" Panasonic TV I also got to hook it up to also works.Since then, I have had a wide range of PC's, ranging from a Xerox 8088 to an Apple II GS, a Mac Powerbook 145, a Performa 630CD, a 286 (that I couldn't remember the name of if you paid me), a Compag Presario laptop, and a HP PIII-1.2 gHz.  My current machines are both Athlon-based; the first is an EMachines I bought at Sam's for $580 and upgraded the videocard, soundcard, memory, and added a DVD-ROM.  It was originally an Athlon 1600, but I went to the motherboard manufacturer's website and got their BIOS update, which allowed me to overclock the proc to the equivalent of an Athlon 2100+ with no additional cooling (Motherboard Monitor 5 shows the CPU temp as 36 degrees C, and 90 degrees is the max).  The other machine is a custom built Athlon 2700+ with 1 GB DDR Ram, 120GB HD, ATI Radeon 9700, a CD/RW I salvaged out of an old machine, and a DVD-ROM.

[L_P]

ComputerBob, on Apr 6 2003, 02:34 AM, said:

Yeah, I know I could install Win98SE on my newer computer and dual-boot it with the different Linux distros that I try, but I'd really like my newer computer to be 100% MS-free, if possible.

ComputerBob, I don't know what distros you've tried, but I was running pure RedHat 8 on one of my towers for quite awhile.  No Windows at all.I only changed it because I wanted to run UD on the tower and it won't run on Linux.

[L_P]

ComputerBob, I'm still very much a Linux noob, but I do like playing around with it. I never could get my printer to work on it. Of course, brave soul that I am, I still have 3 towers running XP, and when I get exasperated by Linux, I just switch towers.  

[zox]

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I was encouraged to see that 9.1 has fewer problems with my hardware, but it won't give me any sound (SoundBlaster sound card), which is really weird, because MDK 9.0 worked just fine with that sound card

Computerbob, I think you have common problem which I and almost all SB live users experienced with Mandrake 9.1What happens is that Audigy driver gets loaded instead of SB live one (they are different) and there is no sound.You just have to go in Control center and in Hardware section change driver to SB live one and it will work.Another similar problem was where driver loaded fine but volume control was lowered to minimum by default.Merely pumpimg up the volume resolved it :)I hope this help you to get your sound back.As I said in my previous posts Mandrake 9.1 looks promising but IMHO this is the buggiest release by Mandrake and yes Suse 8.1's KDE was slow (the reason I am not using it either).I am hoping that 8.2 which is due in couple of days will bring some speed improvement to KDE as well as all the bells and whistles of new KDE 3.1.1 and XFree 4.3.0.By the way, CUPS is defacto standard for printing and if you want to achieve really good results with PS and printing, you don't need anything else.

[Peachy]

ComputerBob, on Apr 6 2003, 02:09 PM, said:

And does anyone know how to enable 3D graphics acceleration in MDK 9.1? It was on by default for my system in MDK 9.0, but it's off in MDK 9.1. TuxRacer stutters along slowly and horribly in MDK 9.1, and I can't find any settings in the Mandrake Control Center to enable 3D acceleration.

What's your 3D accelerator? Acceleration is not enabled by default in XF86. You need to download your video card manufacturer's Linux drivers. Nvidia has great Linux drivers as well as Matrox and ATI. Should not be a problem. I had Red Hat 8.0 installed on two different machines, one with an nVidia GeForce 2 MX-400 and the other with a Matrox G400MAX. I downloaded the RPM files for each card, installed, verified the xf86config file and then restarted X. Tux Racer was a smooth as butter. I could also play Quake III with the same refresh rates as in Windows XP setup on the same machines.

[Bruno]

Computer Bob:Glad you sorted out your sound problems !  ( had the same in 9.0 )"LPN" has to be "lpr"Cant help you for the 3D, am still waiting for my 9.1 powerpack to arrive.In the case you have a nvidia card: on the nvidia site there are NEW drivers available, they say that installing them is a lot easier then it used to be. ( check:  http://www.mandrakeu...=nvidia drivers )Bruno

[Hochie]

My first computer was a Leading Edge 8088 running at a whopping 4.77mHz....not even a turbo....later I added a 32meg Hard Card for "more storage:...

[Peachy]

ComputerBob, on Apr 6 2003, 02:30 PM, said:

Hmmm, TuxRacer had run fast and smooth for me in MDK 9.0, using my cheap little nvidia TNT2 video card. I know that I never downloaded any other drivers or did anything to enable 3D acceleration in MDK 9.0. In fact, I'm not even sure if my video card has 3D acceleration or not, but TuxRacer ran great with it in MDK 9.0.

Why not give the new Nvidia drivers a try anyway? I'm making my Linux-Mandrake 9.1 cds as we speak, so I will try them myself, too.

[dicknite]

Heh-heh...  This is going to date us all!First "personal" computer I played with was a Timex Sinclaire...  Didn't do much.  The calculators you can buy hanging at the checkout at the supermarket are more capable!My brother loaned me a Radio Shack Color Computer (trash-80?) that he had modified - something like making it have 8k of memory instead of 4k.  I think he might have "winged" the mod, because while learning "Poke and Peek" locations with basic, smoke started billowing out of the keyboard!  Never worked after that.My first computer was a C-64, with the tape drive and cartridges for spreadsheet and database...  How cool!  Turn it off, plug in a cartridge, turn it back on and it is a spreadsheet computer - or a database management system - or a word processer!  300 baud modem was totally awesome!  Remember watching lines of text fill the screen one character at a time?  You could keep up with it just reading as the text came over!The first real computer I had was a Kaypro PC - 8mhz, 768k, 20MB Seagate drive (I still think RLL ruled over MFM!), green screen, and Gemini 10X dot-matrix printer.  Man! was I flying!  It only took one and a half cigarettes to load my inventory spreadsheet in VP-Planner (1-2-3 Clone)!!!  Went to a 1200 baud modem - Holy Cow!  Who would ever need anything faster than that?     I remember downloading some REALLY HUGE files from BBS's that were 128k and having to go in every now and then to see if it was done!Things then started snowballing... My current computer's memory is 51.2 times the Hard Drive in my first PC!  Memory is over 1300 times first PC memory!d|:^)Dick

[Stryder]

I had access to some.........old thing, for lack of a better description, and an original Macintosh at my best friends house when I was growing up. And then a girlfriend had a PC with 3.1, but I did not own a computer of my own until 1996. So I never got into computers real deep until Windows 95. Here is a pretty cool site on old computers. http://www.old-compu...eum/default.asp

[Bruno]

Bob:I'm sorry that it looks like so much trouble . . . . If you would like me to help you through it give me a post in the Linux section ( The link for the "easy tutorial" is posted by me ). . . . .If not perhaps go back to 9.0 if that was the one you were satisfied with.I'm willing giving you any help you need, but post it in the right forum (Linux) so that other people might take advantage too ;)Bruno

[teacher]

Wow.  I am amazed by the variations from the old to the new for the first computer. I just walked down memory lane and remembered all the frustration of doing basic on a teletype machine in college and worrying about guys trying to get my room number/phone number off the first card in my punch card programs.  Never mind the time I dropped a stack and had to refigure out the order they went in  or the time the currency fluctuations got my program stuck inside a loop inside a loop that the professor could not figure out what was wrong! My first attempt to buy a computer was in 1980.  It took four months and don't ask how many inches of paper to convince the Air Force that we could work smarter with computers in our squadron.  Would you believe the computers arrived the day I shipped out to Italy?  I always have such luck.Back in the US in 1983 or so I purchased my first personal computer.  It was a Zenith 171 luggable (portable computer).  The front flipped open to reveal the keyboard and its cord pulled out of a cavity.  It had a 7 inch amber screen on thre front.  The top flipped up to reveal two floppy drives (5 1/4 of course or is that 5 1/2 -- I can't remember details, that's what my students are suppose to do).   I remember dragging all 17 pounds up to the third floor at Indiana University where I was teaching ROTC.  I don't think anyone would call 17 pounds portable today).  My big upgrade was to add that 10 MB hard drive before I shipped out overseas again.  Then I got brave.  I decided I needed to up it to 1 MB of memory.  I pulled 64 chips and installed the new ones I had shipped overseas.  Wouldn't you know it.  My great luck struck again.  I had one bad chip and no way to tell which one was bad because they no longer matched the diagrams to tell which one it was.  Thus, I had to revert back to the 256 (I think and no that is not MB but 1/4 MB).  Since then I have been through every step up over the years.  I just bought my daughter a new computer with an Intell D845PEBT2 motherboard, P4 HT processor, 1.5 GB ram, and all the whistles in bells.  Since she is an animation major and needs the power for Maya she leaves me in the dust with my P4.  Curiosity:  I seem to spend about $1,500 to $2,000 for every computer I have owned (I think I am up to 7 or 8 - I lost track after multiple P4s).  Is there a magic point for everyone else when deciding to purchase a computer?Also, I started with Word Star, Dos, Lotus 123 and dbase.  What was your first software?P. S.  I am starting to feel old reading about people being born about the time of my first computer.

[Bruno]

Very, very nice story Teacher !Bruno

[jaflady]

First computer was a Timex Sinclair which my husband and I bought and never could get to do anything at all so shoved under the bed and forgot.  Then an Apple for my son which he immediately passworded so we couldn't use.   And I must admit it didn't seem too interesting with its "put the floppy in - take the floppy out" routine.Then one day while re-organizing a 3x5 card file of members for an organization -  I dropped it.  At that point I had an epiphany for the true usefullness of computers.  I think this was 1985.   We went out and bought an AST 286 with 15" monocolor monitor, a Citizen tractor printer and a Peter Norton's DOS Guide book.  We loaded it with WordStar and Dbase II, Harvard graphics and Professional Write and were off and running.   Later I upgraded to Dos5  and added Quicken and MS Works  That system still sits proudly in my Mom's house and is still running without a hitch.  Since then a lot of PC's have made this their home and the trouble is that few of them ever die so they are taking over the house.   Currently have a Dell P4 Dimension 8200 - 2 yrs old and an IBM ThinkPad T30 at home.  And a raft of local built white boxes at work.Have learned that I love messing around with computers but am totally "seat-of-the-pants" trained.  That's why I love these forums.   Lurk and learn.

[Bruno]

This is fun !  Starting this thread really seems to have hit a cord. ( 46 replies, 329 views in 24 hrs )  Don't we all just love to talk about our "toys" and the good old day's ? It's a joy to read all those reactions and a perfect way getting to know the people on this forum.  It's clear to me that Scot managed to bundle an exceptional resource of knowledgable people. Scot: Kudos and thanks to make us all feel at home here on your site.  And thanks to all of you who participated and made this thread such fun to read !  Keep posting your adventures with old/new computers.  Bruno Amsterdam      

[hkspike]

What a nostalgia trip that was?After battling with a PDP11/45 at college, I took a break until I got an Amstrad of some sort with a disgusting green screen about 6 inches across.  At least Alan Sugar had an ounce of marketing sense about him, unlike Clive Sinclair, who had some great idea but never let commercial realities intrude on his design.  Used to have a few beers with him in the early 80s in Cambridge (that's the English one); he never seemed to leave sober.What I have now usually depends on when I last got to go down the computer mall and sneak stuff back home without the wife noticing.Now shall be back up through this thread and figure the time and money we've all spent on our - er - hobby?Maybe not!Andy

[dicknite]

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and figure the time and money we've all spent on our - er - hobby?

Another good point - the prices!  My Kaypro PC in 84/85 cost me $3500!  Then when I added the 20MB drive, it was $350!  The Dot-Matrix printer (narrow, with a ribbon) was $250.  Memory was $100 a MEGABYTE!  Now it's $0.23 a megabyte!  (I recently got 256MB for $60!), a Color Monitor was $299 - That was CGA 640x480!  VGA was more...Things cost WAY less now!  Maybe we can get the chip makers to start running the petroleum industry...d|:^)Dick