Your owned computer history/upgrade path

[vegas]

myself & f0dder were discussing computers a bit in the irc chan, just thought this might make an interesting thread.

I'm 30 years old now and this is my history with computers I've owned.

tandy1000 (1986) -> 286 (1993) -> pentium75 (1995) -> pentium 300 (1998) -> pentium 550 (1999) -> amd 1100 (2001) -> amd 2500 (2003-current) -> ????? (amd x2 4400+ coming soon)

[mouser]

cromemco z-2d z80/cpm/teletype (1978?) -> ibm pc (1981, were on early waiting list) -> ibm pc at (woot a hard drive!) -> boring upgrades -> amd xp2000 (current machine)

favorite computers to program on other than those above: trs80,radioshack colorcomputer
least favorite to program on: apple macintosh
most drooled over and never owned: apple lisa

interesting chart: http://www.colombialink.com/01_INDEX/index_tecnologia/03_computing_history.html

[f0dder]

24 years old from .dk, been using computers for "a while".

Started with a Commodore 64, later upgraded to amiga 600. For a while my PC access was limited to school computers and when I visited my dad.

Then came 486dx4-100 -> pentium/mmx-200 (new box) -> amd k6-II 333mhz (same parts as the pmmx, borrowed mobo+cpu from a friend) -> athlon700 (new box) -> P4 2.53GHz (new box) -> AMD64 3500+ (new box) -> AMD64x2 4400+ (new cpu+mobo)

That's the chart for my "workstation". I also have a p3-celeron 1.3 working as server, and I have a p4-celeron 1.7 that used to be my secondary workstation, which my younger brothers have inherited (along with the main P4). For win9x/win2k/linux/osdev testing I have a p2/mmx 350MHz which a friend of mine found lying around at his company's basement

I really wouldn't mind playing around with some embedded-size computer that still has reasonable power - like somehing ARM based, or perhaps just one of those nano-ITX boards from via. But it's a bit much cash to spend on something that I'd only toy around with

[nudone]

atari 2600 (i know it's not a computer - just wanted to point out i've still got it and it works!) -> sinclair zx spectrum -> commodore 64 -> atari st -> 386 -> 486 -> pentium 133 -> amd 500 -> pentium 3 -> amd xp2200 (current machine) -> amd athlon 64 x2 dual core 4800+ (by the end of this week, yep, buying my own christmas present, sad eh?)

sorry, but i really can't remember the years - it's hard enough trying to remember the model numbers.

a few other computers (pentium 2's and the like) lying around the place not worth even turning on - i'd throw them away but it would be unfair to the environment. oh, and a couple of laptops - pentium 2 and pentium 4. er, pocket pc ipaq 5500. you know what - i still ain't got enough 

wr975's post reminded me i had an amiga 500 also.

[wr975]

Philips G7000 (aka "Magnavox Odyssey 2") -> C64 (w/ datasette! Yay!) -> Amiga 500 -> 486 DX2/50 -> P60 -> K7 500 -> K7 1000 -> XP 1700 -> XP 2400

Graphic cards history: Trident (yay!) -> Matrox Mystique -> 3dfx Voodoo 2 -> Geforce 2 MX 440 -> Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9600 -> Leadtek Winfast GeForce 6800

[Zeph]

I'm 30 and from the UK, computers have always been a erm...weakness.

Here's my computer history.

CBM VIC20 > Atari 800XL > Amiga 600 > Amiga 1200 > Amiga 1200 tower (with PowerPC phase5 Powerup Card) > cyrix 200mhz > amd k3-450mhz > athlon 1ghz (tbird) > athlon 1800+ (palomino) > athlon 2700+ (barton) > Athlon64 3000+ (venice) [Current system] > Probably a Athlon64 x2 next year.

I'd hate to work out how much money has been spent on my love of computers over the years.

[Carol Haynes]

I'm quite a bit more than 30 (though I don't feel it) ...

ZX80/Spectrum > BBC Micro B > Acorn RISC Machines (Archimeded and A5000) > Pentium 3 > Athlon 1600 (home built - current machine)

I have also been responsible for installation and user support of computer systems including networked PCs, Networked Macs and also various other standalone systems (Commodores/Apple IIs etc) and 2 minicomputers (each supporting 25+ users). I have also used Windows since version 2 (when it didn't do anything worthwhile) !!!

It has to be said though that my current system is more powerful than either of the two minis

I still maintain that Acorm RISC OS was the best and fatest system ever produced, and written in such a way that you could run multiple apps (including things like DTP) with a minimum of resources. My last system had 8Mb of RAM and a 120Mb hard disc. I still have the A5000 (sadly sitting in a box in the loft).

[m_s]

I'm 36 and have been playing around with computers since I was 10.

Commodore 64 > 386 > 486 > Pentium I > Pentium III > AMD Athlon XP-M > Pentium IV

Since the first Pentium, all have been laptops - except my current P4 is a Pavilion ZD7010, which means it's really more of a desktop than a laptop (17 inch screen, weighs a ton!).

Also had a Sharp Zaurus handheld, which is a Linux-based handheld PC, but I downgraded myself to a much smaller and less capable, but does-just-what-I-need-very-well HP iPaq 1945.

[mouser]

my father bought me a programmable hp41cv calculator in the early 1980s:
http://www.hp41.org/Intro.cfm

it was a remarkable thing in that some early hackers had figured out how to use a buffer overflow in the calculator to hack it to do things it wasn't originally meant to do (like play different sonds), and they put out these underground self-printed books with instructions on how to do it.

[f0dder]

haha, how nice - shows that buffer overflows certainly isn't a new phenomemon

[mouser]

forgot to add my other little gadget that is fun for programmers:

Rex 6000
(credit card sized pocket compuer; discontinued but can be found on ebay)
can be programmed in c.

http://gregsearle.tripod.com/rex.html
http://www.rexextras.net/
http://rexforum.vrillusions.com

in fact i wrote a little addin for it last year (see http://rexforum.vrillusions.com/viewtopic.php?t=293)