What was your first computer?

[thecodedrift]

This question came from the old anonymous AMA I used to have. In relaunching the AMA concept on GitHub Discussions, I wanted to bring over as many of these as I could

[thecodedrift]

I've played around with computers since I was a teenager, mucking about in PC Dos on the family computer my Dad bought. He originally got the computer because he was changing jobs and wanted to do his resume at home, print it, and have full control of the result. To make it easier on everyone to launch WordPerfect, he used an app called Automenu.

Knowing nothing about how anything worked, I created a games subfolder so that I could easily access my games without having to "exit to DOS". Since I couldn't go Googling for how to add commands, I needed to reference the printed user manual. I eventually figured it out and decided that computers were really fun! My first computer (non-family) came from my Dad, who promised a hand-me-down; the catch was I needed to earn it! So I mowed lawns, did chores, washed cars, and eventually saved up the $120 I needed over more than a year. But it was mine. I still remember some of the specs.

• Intel 80386
• 4MB RAM
• 5.25" and 3.5" disk drives (though I don't remember using the 5.25 much)
• 40MB Hard Drive
• Windows 3.1 & MS DOS

I remember formatting and reinstalling Windows at least a half dozen times. I'd break something, it wouldn't work, and my dad would simply say "well, you saved your work to a disk, wipe it and start over" which in hindsight was awesome advice to back things up.