1980s / early 90s kids - what computer did you have?

When I was young, I dreamed of an Atari ST because my school music department used them for sequencing. First computers to use midi I believe.
 
I started with something called a Binotone. It was awful. But it got me hooked on games and it also was a present from the family so I can't complain - I think it had 4 'in-built' games.

Then there was the Atari 2600. Followed by a Spectrum 48K+ which I quite liked. The main computer I had was a Commodore 64 - this was superb - I've spent many hours on Microprose Soccer, Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, Target Renegade, Turrican, etc. to appreciate it.

After the above came an Amiga 600 - I can't thank my parents enough for this - it started me really getting into them. After that I went on to my first PC a DX4-100 16MB monster with 40MB hard-drive! This started it all with DOS then Windows and the constant upgrades and also helped me find work!

Strangely I now have a converted A1200 (towered), Amiga 2000 and a Commodore 64 still in my house. I still play on them now and again - I wouldn't say regularly but if I had more room then I'd have them setup and still play them.



M.
 
Commodore 64k +
ZX Spectrum +2A
ZX Spectrum +3 with fancy disc drive!
486 with turbo button
P90

Games consoles I had:

Sega Mastersystem
Super Nintendo
Mega drive
Playstation
Dreamcast
Playstation 2
Xbox
Xbox360
Wii

The best moment in gaming was the jump from super nintendo to playstation. First time I saw Twisted metal an tomb raider graphics I nearly messed myself. Now the change in graphics doesn't impress me.
 
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robfosters said:
When I was young, I dreamed of an Atari ST because my school music department used them for sequencing. First computers to use midi I believe.
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Yeah my school's music dept had the ST as well. It was meant to be the best computer for music at the time (early/mid 90s).

Thanks Feek regarding the composite in/out ports. I think my Beeb's got that, so I'm going to try and hook it up to a USB converter to capture in a Windows environment like what I did with my VHS player.
 
quickshot89 said:
Acorn A3010

Still works to this day

Ran RISC OS

Acorn_A3010_System_2.jpg
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Was the first computer I owned to - had to chuck mine out about a year ago as it got the dreaded "green" rust inside and the video output stopped working. (Tho lotus turbo challenge 2 to didn't work very well on it which made me want the 4000).

RISC OS was light years ahead of its time - I bootstrapped mine with a custom edited UI template (that I did myself), gel "3D" icons and an app that gave transparent windows back in the mid 90s or so and tbh its only with windows 7 that I feel another OS has a comparable user experience - it never even felt slow either, even with tons of stuff running, except when you loaded a ton of data from FDD.

Before that as a family we had a 286 which I spent hours programming in qbasic on heh.
 
5 pages deep, pretty sure im not alone in ownership of a dragon 32 at first time of asking.

We used to hire a 2600 at weekends, loved by all, mum included:)

While the focus was very much about the games (in my eyes) my mum got me the dragon because of the keyboard and the whole homework thing!

Course that never happened, the great arcade knockoffs and the superb Dragon Trek certainly did though:)
 
I'm pretty sure my dad had the early game consoles as I remember at least one system before having a Sega Megadrive myself (played Lemmings?) and we have the original Gameboy.

Computer system itself? I don't remember the specs but it was an MS DOS job to play things like Doom and Monopoly. I did play Starwars X Wing v Tie Fighter without sound (no sound card) but I can't remember if that was a later system. I remember Windows 3 though. The system was my uncle's and he'd just be starting a full time job after Uni when he bought it.

I'm 23 btw - 88 baby.
 
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lokiss said:
5 pages deep, pretty sure im not alone in ownership of a dragon 32 at first time of asking.
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Five pages? You have the wrong number of posts per page, this is only page 2!

I had a Dragon 32. I bought it for a specific piece of radio software but I can't remember what it was, some data comms stuff. That's all I ever used it for.
 
My first pc I ever saw was a 386 and the first pc that i ever went on was a 486. The first pc that I owned was a p133mhz. The second Pc that I owned was a p200mmx with 32mb edo ram. I got my first pc in 1997.

I have seen older PCs after that, but I never got to see the early macs or commodore 64. Probably due to growing up in south africa.
 
My first computer was an Amiga 1200 my Dad bought off a friend in what would have been 1993.


PZoKT.jpg

I remember playing so many awesome games on this thing, it rocked so hard.

Here are a few examples of such gems.

Gunship 2000
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The Chaos Engine
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Simon the Sorcorer
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Cannon Fodder
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North and South
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wvRti.png

MGgKQ.png


The Aquatic Games
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Silkworm
NLQ63.png


Sensible World of Soccer
IPRFB.png


Rise of the Robots
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AUTLI.png


Rainbow Islands
kp9WN.png


Pinball Fantasies
NVStD.png


Wings
RyrFS.png


Desert Strike
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Rise of the Robots = LOL! Shiny graphics, rubbish gameplay.

Oh and, how many disks? It's nearly as bad as Wing Commander 2 on the PC (15 IIRC).
 
My first was an Atari 800XL. The computer club had a bunch of C64s and it was BBC model Bs later on at school.

Thinking back I remember there being this weird security device (I can't remember if it was on a computer or console). It was a black piece of plastic with a clear window in the middle. You bent it into a U shape and held it against your monitor to reveal a code you had to enter. Can't remember what it was called! Anyone?
 
Muban said:
Thinking back I remember there being this weird security device (I can't remember if it was on a computer or console). It was a black piece of plastic with a clear window in the middle. You bent it into a U shape and held it against your monitor to reveal a code you had to enter. Can't remember what it was called! Anyone?
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LensLok
 
Started with a Sinclair zx81....used to love my football manager type game.
Then had a Dragon32, recently found and subsequently thrown out after clearing my moms loft out.
Then moved onto an Amiga 500, with that damn wobbly modulator thing in the back.....cost me a fortune over 3yrs from Dixon's.
 
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