53 replies to this topic

[Blues76]

Hi,

in this thread: http://www.atariage....el-of-computer/ one of the sub-topics were : what people had access in 1982/1983 for home computing. It could be anywhere, but since the movie is based here in the US, special interest for people that were living here during that time. (USA)

The reason is that the director claimed that the use of Imsai 8080 it was due to how inexpensive it was compare to others at the time and it was more likely that high school student had it?
If you can, post:
Computer Brand and Model
The computer you were using during 1982/1983 , When did you get it? (e.g., 1979 which could be before 82,83)
Did you had a modem? If yes, what applications were you using (if you remember)
Printer?
from your friends of that time, if they had a computer, which computer was that one (at least brand) ?
Country?
if you were in school, what grade? (1-12) or college? or working? or retired?

Comments:

thanks,
Francisco

[jhd]

In 1983, I would have been in about grade 6. That Spring, I sold my Atari 2600 and bought a Coco. It was about Cdn$600 (16K RAM, Extended BASIC) on sale. I never had a modem for this system; I got a 64K memory upgrade and printer in Fall 1984. I never did have a floppy drive for the system -- always cassette only.

As best I remember, most of my friends/classmates had a Commodore 64, one poor fellow had an MC-10. Most people I knew did not have home computers at that point. We had one TRS-80 Model III at school.

I mainly played games and did some programming (i.e. writing games). I never had any "application software", other than a really crude wordprocessor.

My "rich" Uncle, who was then living in Illinois, had an Apple II. He used it for productive work, including maintaining a mailing list.

Edited by jhd, Tue Nov 29, 2011 3:42 PM.

[jaybird3rd]

That's around the time I was given my first computer at age six: a Texas Instruments 99/4A. My parents got it for $50 during the very aggressive price wars that TI was waging at about that time; I think my father's employer bought a bunch of them in bulk and were offering them to the employees at a discount. My uncles (in high school at the time) got Atari 800 computers and an Atari 1025 printer the same year. Their systems came with disk drives and color TVs, and they got lots of pirated commercial games from a friend with BBS access, whereas I was using a black-and-white TV with my bare 99/4A and didn't even get a cassette cable for it until a year or two later. I usually preferred to visit my uncles and play games on their 800s, but on the positive side, having to re-enter my programs all the time on my 99/4A taught me to type pretty quickly. We also had an Atari 2600, which we got about a year before I got my 99/4A.

The only other computer I had access to at that time was a Commodore PET, which my school had; it was the school's only computer and they'd wheel it into class on a cart every once in a while, even though nobody else really knew what to do with it. I used to sneak out of class so I could play with it in the library, which is where it was set up most of its time. I don't think any of the other kids I knew had computers of their own; they were either indifferent to them or were from ultra-religious families who believed video games were evil.

[save2600]

I remember we had TRS-80 Model III's, Apple ]['s and even an Atari 800 in the schools at that time. Would have been 5th and 6th grade. Guess it wasn't until '84 (8th grade/Freshman) that I bought my first computer, a TI-99/4A, from a friend with money I had saved up from working odd jobs. Was really into Extended BASIC and TMS9900 and from there, I went crazy and bought and traded all sorts of computers including an Atari 400, Apple ][+, C64, Amiga 1000, Timex Sinclair and even an Aquarius.

Out of ALL of the computers I owned throughout the 80's, I never really saw the value of spending money on a printer. Only time it *might* have come in handy, was to print out a program you were trying to debug, but I got along just fine staring at the computer screen. Printers back then, their output very much had that consumer computer *look*, which was not a good thing. While I have fond memories of seeing dot-matrix stuff today, no way were they ever accepted as part of a homework assignment. Between the tractor feed paper (even if you did rip off the feed ends, still looked like crap - just as home made business cards look today), how slow they were and the unprofessional pixelated lettering, they were just not good enough for serious use. Can't comment on the daisy wheel printers of the time either as I'm sure they were cost prohibitive and the family had a typewriter or two anyway.

I do remember getting a Gorilla-Banana printer with my Atari 400, but I never really used it much.

..and modems? Nah. Didn't really see the value in them either until the mid 90's when Compuserve, Prodigy and America Online were compelling. You could go bankrupt back in the 80's, paying for long distance charges messing around on peoples boards. Heck, in the unlikely event they were even local, time still ticked away! SUPER slow speeds on the more affordable modems too contributed to the reason I was never interested in pirating software or putzing around "online".

All my friends had varying computers, but I don't remember modems being a big part of their diet either. Printers, more so as most of my friends' fathers were business professionals.

Edited by save2600, Tue Nov 29, 2011 4:30 PM.

[thegoldenband]

Computer Brand and Model: 16K CoCo 2.
When did you get it? The CoCo 2 premiered in 1983 according to Wikipedia, so I guess it was Christmas 1983 (I don't think it was 1984 since I'm pretty sure we got an Atari 5200 that year).
Did you had a modem? Nope.
Printer? We got a thermal printer within a couple years, probably in 1985.
Friends' computers? My sister's boyfriend had a TI-99/4A, as did one of my grade school friends (though that might have been 1984). One of my father's coworkers had an Atari 400 in the family. Everyone else I can remember just had consoles, though the following year in 1984, a different sister's boyfriend had a compact Mac, and so did my mother's boss.
Country? United States
if you were in school, what grade? I started 2nd grade in the Fall of 1983.

[bigbee99]

I was four around that time. My 1st 1st memories of a computer didn't come until I was about 8 and my step father had one. It was a c64 with 2x 1541s. He was a HAM. About that same time I remember the school started getting c64's in each classroom. '86 I guess.

B

[magnusfalkirk]

Computer brand and model: 48k Apple ][+

When did you get it?: about Jun or Jul 1981. A friend told me about a computer store having an Apple sale in Van Nuys, Ca. We went out there and I bought the Apple ][+, one disk drive, a couple programs and a modulator to hook the Apple ][+ up to my tv, I spent $1500 ( I got the ][+ at their price ). I bought the modulator because I didn't have the money for a monitor at the time.

Did you have a modem?: No

Printer?: No

Friends computers?: TRS-80 Model I Level I, Osborne portable

Country: United States

Wasn't in school. At the time I had been in the Air Force since Jan of 77.

[desiv]

I'd like to say something nicer, but...

Computer brand and model: Commodore Vic-20
When did you get it?: Almost to the day when the price dropped to about $99.
Did you have a modem?: Yes. 300 baud.
Printer?: No
Friends computers?: Atari 800, Apple ][+
Country: United States

We had a teacher who stopped by our school once a week with his luggable (Osborne, Kaypro??) and I used to program BASIC for that.
(We had to get our code right. If it had a bug, you had to wait a week to try it again.
My "rich" friend in high school had an Apple ][+ we used to play with. He got me hooked on Ultima.
A kid (not really a friend, but...) down the street had an Atari 800 which I used a "bit," but not too often.
So I wanted one of those 2..
My family really stretched tho and got me the Vic-20. I'm not going to say it was the greatest computer of the time. But it was "my" computer and I used the heck out of that...
(Upon re-reading, it almost sounded sarcastic, but it wasn't. It was a big stretch for my family to get me that computer. 5 kids, single income... I truly appreciated that...)

I work with computers now, so I have no complaints...

(Also, I'd seen pics of the ZX81 kits for $99 or so in the mags and I was trying to save up for one of those... That money eventually went into the 300 baud modem. :-)

desiv

Edited by desiv, Tue Nov 29, 2011 9:42 PM.

[atarian63]

Atari 400 & Cassette and Atari 800 with 810 disk drive

[Random Terrain]

Computer Brand and Model (the computer you were using during 1982/1983)

Commodore VIC-20.

When did you get it? (e.g., 1979 which could be before 82,83)

Family friends gave it to me in the summer of 1983.

Did you have a modem?

No.

Printer?

No.

From your friends of that time, if they had a computer, which computer was that one (at least brand)?

Commodore VIC-20.

Country?

USA.

If you were in school, what grade? (1-12) or college? or working? or retired?

11th grade.

[cimerians]

Computer Brand and Model (the computer you were using during 1982/1983 - Commodore 64.
When did you get it? (e.g., 1979 which could be before 82,83)- Father got it for me either in late 83' or early 84'. I cant remember. (I know it was winter in my parts)
Did you have a modem? - No.
Printer? - No I wanted to play games.
From your friends of that time, if they had a computer, which computer was that one (at least brand)? - Everyone had a Commodore 64. One guy I knew had a Commodore VIC-20.
Only two other guys I knew in school had an Atari based computer and nobody had the expensive Apples including High School. Nobody I knew had an Apple.
Country? - USA.
If you were in school, what grade? (1-12) or college? or working? or retired? - 7th grade in 83'.

Edited by cimerians, Tue Nov 29, 2011 11:57 PM.

[wood_jl]

ATARI 400

[Goochman]

Computer Brand and Model: Atari 800
When did you get it? 1981
Did you had a modem? Yes, 300 baud 1030
Printer? Okimate 10, though I may have had an Epson 80 compat printer by then.
Friends' computers? Neighbor had C64 and another an Apple II+
Country? United States
if you were in school, what grade? 6th or 7th

[random_rodder]

Computer Brand and Model: TRS-80 Color Computer, with Floppy Drive
When did you get it? 1981 or '82
Did you had a modem? 300 baud Direct Connect modem
Printer? Okidata 82a
Friends' computers? Atari 400/800, Coleco Adam, Apple II - Some cousins had Ti99-4/a and CoCo as well
Country? United States
if you were in school, what grade? 8th or 9th

Comments: Remember having an Apple IIe smoke on me during my 9th grade year in math class - that wasn't much fun... I used Telewriter 64 on my CoCo to write resumes and type up reports for friends - at $10 a piece, between that and my paper route and cutting grass, I always had spending money. Spent a LOT of time playing Donkey King, Space Race, Cashman, Time Bandit, Sand of Egypt (never did finish it - attention span too short), Zaxxon and a few others. Also used Color Spectaculator to create a digital and paper inventory of everything in our house. Came in handy when we got robbed in 1984...

[bennybingo]

Computer Brand and Model (the computer you were using during 1982/1983 - Commodore 64.
When did you get it? (e.g., 1979 which could be before 82,83)- My parents got it for me either in 83' or 84'.
Did you have a modem? - Yes.
Printer? - Yes.
From your friends of that time, if they had a computer, which computer was that one (at least brand)? - One friend had a TI, one had a c64 and another had a PET.
We had Apple II's at school. That about sums it up
Country? - USA.
If you were in school, what grade? (1-12) or college? or working? or retired? - I was 10....what grade was that???

[Rybags]

1982, a couple of mates had Atari 400s. One previously had a System 80 which is one of the TRS-80 clones.

At school there was just the single Compucolor II - pretty crappy system, about the only game we played was "Shoot" but I got a listing and later converted it and called the result "Shootout" (should be on AtariMania).

By mid 1983 I had my own Atari 400 and school aquired about 6 Microbee computers. The Microbee was a short-lived Aus made machine, it was similar architecture to the TRS-80 but could do programmable graphics for the top 128 characters and that was also utilized as a way of generating a bitmap mode.
Funny thing about that is it'd run out of characters once you got anything complex going and would reuse them, so bits of an image would disappear as it went along.

By 1983 a few friends had also gotten C64s so I got into that fairly early.

I've used a real Apple 2 maybe once ever - that would have been late 1983. Ever since then I've regarded Apple as overhyped, underperforming boxes of crap.

[5-11under]

My brother's Sinclair ZX81 (and ZX80 for a while when he was away for some college work terms). No modem, no printer.

Nobody else I knew had a computer at the time.
I was in about grade 12, in Canada
I didn't get my second-hand Atari 800XL (eventually with printer, modem) until a couple of years later.

[krslam]

82/83: Just a few years out of college.

At home I was using a Commodore 64 with disk drive, monitor, and Star Micronics printer (can't remember model number, had a '10' in it). No modem.

At work I used an HP9825 and a Kaypro II. The HP was part of a industrial testing rig. Printing was done on either the internal paper tape or a flatbed plotter. No modem.
The Kaypro was used as a portable data logger and had a Mannesmann-Tally printer and a Hayes modem. Sorry, can't remember name of the modem software used, but it was whatever was common for cp/m machines of the time.

I still have a C64 and a Kaypro, and am kicking myself for not grabbing one of the 9825's when we suplussed a couple pallets full of them in the mid-to-late 80's.

[Ransom]

In 1982, I was 14 years old and I had an Atari 400 and an Atari 410 data recorder. In 1983, I had a 1200XL, a 1050 floppy drive, and an Okimate 10 color printer. Didn't get a modem until I bought my first IBM PC compatible in 1990.

Edited to add:
I had three friends who had computers at that time. One had an Apple ][+. One had a Commodore Vic-20. And one had a Coleco Adam (in 1983).

[Briza1]

In 82-83 I was using a good old faithful Vic-20, with EXapnsion pack, 16k ram memory upgrade and countless other goodies. Loved using the Vic-20, Hated using the C-64's my friends had
PLayed my 1st game of pac-man on that machine, spent 2hrs typing in the listing
never did get a disk drive or any other hardware. Only ever had the expansion pack and Datasette

laters

Briza

[high voltage]

Quite a few US C64 users already in 83 (C64 release date Sept 82).

Edited by high voltage, Thu Dec 1, 2011 2:21 AM.

[Mirage]

Computer Brand and Model (the computer you were using during 1982/1983)

Commodore VIC-20 with 3rd party tape drive.

When did you get it? (e.g., 1979 which could be before 82,83)

1982.

Did you have a modem?

No, not until getting the C64 later.

Printer?

No, not until getting the C64 later.

From your friends of that time, if they had a computer, which computer was that one (at least brand)?.
(1) TI, (1) Atari 400, a few Apple ]['s... that's all I can remember from then until later when everyone got C64's. From about 3rd grade (maybe 2nd), the school had a room ful of PETs.

Country?

USA.

If you were in school, what grade? (1-12) or college? or working? or retired?

5th grade.

Edited by Mirage, Thu Dec 1, 2011 5:01 AM.

[Retro Rogue]

I had a smart terminal with built in modem that I used for calling up BBS's and other misdeeds. Didn't get a full blown computer until I bought a 520ST in '86.

As far as what my friends had, Apple II+'s, IIE's, Atari 800's and Commodore 64's.

[Tempest]

Computer Brand and Model: Atari 400

When did you get it? Christmas 1980

Did you had a modem? No (not until I got my first PC in 1992)

Printer? No (not until I got my Apple IIe in 86)

From your friends of that time, if they had a computer, which computer was that one (at least brand)? Our neighbor had an Atari 800, they did have a printer and possibly a modem (her father used it for work). I think our other neighbor had an Apple II at that time (they got it right around the end of 83 IIRC). In our school we had Commodore PET's and a few Apple II's.

Country? USA

if you were in school, what grade? I would have been about six so I'm guessing second.

[littleman jack]

I had an Atari 800 that we got the year it came out I believe, so 1979 or 1980? I remember getting a memory upgrade for it and pushing the little memory packs in.

We eventually had a printer, dot matrix, and not a brand I remember. We looked at the Epson printers, but they were too expensive. Eventually we also had an 810 disk drive and a modem. This was in the USA, and my brother and I were in elementary school. Second or third grade. It took a few years to get all the frills. At first we just had the computer and some cartridges.

Several of my friends had Atari 800s as well. One had an Apple II, one had a TI 994/A, and one had an Atari 400. I never did see a Commodore computer until much later.