A Stroll Down Computer Memory Lane -- Realizing It's All About the Net
My first computer was a Commodore VIC-20, precursor to the Commodore 64. I got my VIC-20 with 5kb of RAM in 1981 for $299 plus tape drive. The VIC-20 (the VIC stood for video interface chip) beat the Apple II to the one million sales mark, although today it’s largely forgotten. I'm told that the VIC-20 was also Linus Torvalds' first computer. My VIC-20 was great for playing and modifying early games. The graphics were crude by today's standards but it was easy to use and was a great platform on which to learn Basic programming.
My second computer (really my mom’s, though she didn’t use it too much) was an Epson QX-10 CP/M machine which ran Valdocs and Peachcalc software. The QX-10 had a Z-80 processor and two (wow!) 5.25” floppy drives.
My first “real” PC was a Compaq Portable with an 8088 chip and, again, two 5.25” floppies. I bought it in 1986 and it ran MS-DOS with WordPerfect, which got me through four years of college (along with MS Flight Simulator version 2). This was the first computer I networked with, using an early text-based Compuserve service to play with travel reservations and online shopping. I had the Compaq for five years, longer than any PC before or since.
Following the Compaq portable were a series of less exciting computers, including a Gateway 386SX, a Zeos 486, an off-brand Pentium, another Gateway (Pentium II), and a series of Dells leading up to my current Dell 8400. Along the way I also had a few laptops, culminating in my current MacBook, which I love.
It's hard to believe it's only been 25 years since the introduction of the IBM PC. It's also hard to believe that until 1994, when I first started using Mosaic to browse the new web, all I ever used my computers for was word processing, some spreadsheet work, lots of gaming and email (via Prodigy until 1992 when I started using Internet-based email through my Penn State account). In retrospect, the computer was nothing without the net.