Sinclair-Speccy

EDIT: I made a follow up poll as from someone’s suggestion to this one: https://oldbytes.space/@SinclairSpeccy/113705509782999197

How long have you been using computers for?

I remember back when I was a little kid my first actual experience on a computer was on the janky XP machine I still own.

I’d play flash games and all before getting my own laptop running Windows 7 that had to get reset constantly because I don’t think anyone in my family know how to use an antivirus…

EDIT: Okay it seems that most of fedi is old 😅

#Mastodon #Fediverse

5 years
0.4%
10 years
1.9%
15 years
3.6%
20 years
5.7%
25 years
12.7%
30 years
15.5%
Even longer
60.3%
Poll ended at .
Sinclair-Speccy (@[email protected])

So on my older poll about how long people were using computers for, most of them said “even longer” meaning the majority of people (60%) have over 30 years of computer experience, indicating a predominantly older, more experienced audience (https://oldbytes.space/@SinclairSpeccy/113662681677892696) It was suggested to me to do a follow up poll about the relation to age to computer experience, which is this post will be about I suppose. I’ll do another follow up poll besides this one at another date about what decade people used computers but… How old were you when you first started using a computer? #Mastodon #Fediverse [ ] Under 5 years old [ ] 5-10 years old [ ] 11-15 years old [ ] 16-20 years old [ ] 21-30 years old [ ] Over 30 years old

OldBytes Space - Mastodon
Dec 16, 2024 at 1:14pmWeb
Show threadMichael StancliftDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy @Meyerweb my first computer experience was using an Apple IIe in our school library to play Oregon Trail and print banners on a dot matrix printer in Kindergarten.
Show threadJerry D. Harris 🦕👣Dec 18, 2024
@vmstan @SinclairSpeccy @Meyerweb Same! I also used it for early word processing and learning to program in BASIC. My stepdad refused to learn word processing on a newer computer for ages, so I had to write a manual for him on how to do it on the IIe!
Show threadPicks the EvangelistDec 23, 2024
@vmstan @SinclairSpeccy @Meyerweb Ahh so much dysentery
Show threadLawrenceDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy My first computer was a VIC-20
Show threadmORADec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy
Show threadajDec 16, 2024
@mora @SinclairSpeccy +1! My uncle would come round with the latest issue of whatever the sinclare print magazine was on a Friday night and we'd stay up late to key in a a game from printed source, and then play it over the weekend, with a big warning taped over the plugs not to turn it off because we didn't have the cassette tape to save anything. Sunday night he'd collect it again and we'd start over.
Show threadRobDec 16, 2024
@mora used to write up the programs that were printed in certain magazines...
Show threadRoss of OttawaDec 17, 2024
@mora @SinclairSpeccy same!
Show threadNick RadcliffeDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy You needed some more, longer options!
Show threadSinclair-SpeccyDec 16, 2024
@njr 🙃 How much longer?
Show threadNick RadcliffeDec 16, 2024

@SinclairSpeccy Well, in my case, 50 would just about do it.

But I’m a youngster!

Show threadNick RadcliffeDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy Are Turing, von Neumann or Lovelace on this service?
Show threadSinclair-SpeccyDec 16, 2024
@njr Sure 😅
Show threadNick RadcliffeDec 16, 2024

@SinclairSpeccy I see you’re quite Spectrum-ish.

My Z-80 work was on an RML-380Z.
https://njr.prose.sh/CTRL-C

Then I moved over to the dark side (BBC Micro Model B; 32K, expandable to 64K!)

CTRL-C (Hard Lessons of Computing Series)

prose.sh
Show threadTim AidleyDec 16, 2024
@njr @SinclairSpeccy They had one of them at my high school, although I'm not sure anybody knew how to use it or it was broken or something. I never remember seeing it working. By that time the computer lab was full of BBC Model Bs, replaced later on by lots of RM Nimbus 186s. We had a Winchester! 40MB for the whole school!
Show threadViennaMikeDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy @njr
About 55 years for me, maybe 56. Started on a TTY linked to the GE time sharing service when I was in junior high. Then onto PDP-8's in high school. First computer I owned was an Apple ][+ circa 1980.
Show threadDudula the DudDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy My first PC was a Pentium II 233 with 32MB RAM and a 3.2GB hard disk. It came with Windows 95 OSR2, and I got Quake II with it.
Show threadMatt McIrvinDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy My first experiences with computers were on my dad's engineering account at General Electric in the 1970s, over a dial-up terminal that used a thermal printer. So, getting close to 50 years ago.
Show threadMatt McIrvinDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy At the time, I thought all dads brought home a portable terminal and would sometimes get online after dinner. I was living decades in the future and didn't realize it.
Show threadViennaMikeDec 16, 2024
@mattmcirvin @SinclairSpeccy My first use was on GE's time sharing service when I was in junior high school. A TTY with a paper tape reader / writer connected via dial-up by a modem.
Show threadAmanda BeeDec 17, 2024
@mattmcirvin @ViennaMike @SinclairSpeccy I took an Apple Logo class in middle school. Possibly several Logo classes? Turtles that follow instructions.
Show threadTom ChadwinDec 23, 2024
@amanda @mattmcirvin @ViennaMike @SinclairSpeccy "Couldn't complete instruction because the turtle has hit the fence"
Show threadMatt McIrvinDec 23, 2024

@tomchadwin @amanda @ViennaMike @SinclairSpeccy I never took a Logo class, but I've always loved turtle graphics as a recreational-mathematics interest and have been messing around with it in recent years:

https://mathstodon.xyz/@mattmcirvin/109560276225118739

https://mathstodon.xyz/@mattmcirvin/109851931460686089

Matt McIrvin (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image So, why is it that (as I mentioned earlier), when you draw a line that turns left at every nontrivial zero of the Riemann zeta function (it actually works for just about any turn angle), it coils up into these lovely whimsical curlicues resembling Euler spirals? I think I have a general understanding of it now.

Mathstodon
Show thread4everpushingaboulderDec 16, 2024
@mattmcirvin @SinclairSpeccy similar experience, terminal to the mainframe on my Dads account playing tic-tac-toe and hangman on a green screen.
Show threadMatt McIrvinDec 17, 2024

@boulder @SinclairSpeccy GE actually encouraged this kind of messing around and had a weekend workshop for family members where they taught BASIC programming.

Dad also brought home some manuals that were looseleaf binder copies of overhead transparencies from their internal programming classes, about using GCOS and FORTRAN.

I think they figured they were teaching their next generation of developers, which I'd say was farsighted but their mainframe time-sharing business didn't actually last that long, eaten by the rise of PCs which they had refused to adapt to (they actually had a thriving sidelight in the GEnie online service, but didn't pivot to that as the main service as they clearly should have).

Show thread4everpushingaboulderDec 17, 2024

@mattmcirvin @SinclairSpeccy Perhaps instilling curiosity in you (and me) was the point.

My Dad brought home Hollerith cards we used as grocery lists. He also saved old disc platters.

He also started me with a TI-99 and an epson dot matrix printer. I wrote grade and middle school papers on a word processor when my classmates used typewriters.

When my kids were young I made the conscious decision to expose them the same way. It was intentional inspiration.

Show threadstarfrostDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy Something like 16 or 17 years. I am 19
Show threadCassandrichDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy FFS fedi is olds.
Show threadSinclair-SpeccyDec 16, 2024
@dalias IKR? I was expecting most to be around the 30 years mark
Show threadCassandrichDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy Nearly 40 here I think.
Show threadcuan_knaggsDec 16, 2024
@dalias @SinclairSpeccy Who'd a' thought 40 years ago we' be sitting here tapping away on all these computers
Show threadSzymon Sokół 🇵🇱🇪🇺🇺🇦Dec 16, 2024
@mensrea @dalias @SinclairSpeccy 41 in my case, and yes, my first computer was a Sinclair Spectrum.
Show threadHydrianDec 23, 2024
@dalias @SinclairSpeccy Because the old remember how important a distrubuted systems are. They remember the internet before the tech giants tried to take over the internet.
Show threadCameron PurdyDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy My first computer was an Apple ][+, but before that, I had programmed the TRS 80 model 1 (with a cassette tape for storage!) in school.
Show threadeuroplus Dec 16, 2024
@cpurdy @SinclairSpeccy ditto on both counts!
Show threadryaninteractiveDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy
Mid 80s.
Apple IIe.
Rollin' on two double-sided floppy drives
Show threadBart AllenDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy Your story makes me feel old. The first computer I interacted with was something my parents bought in 1994 or 1995. They still have the receipt. From what I remember it was $2500 for a 256MB HDD, definitely single core, RAM in the KB and pretty sure floppy only.
Show threadAnnica 🇸🇪Dec 16, 2024

@SinclairSpeccy Um...
How old is Atari 520st, it's old, like antiquated? I think I bought mine in '90-91, the eldest child was born in '93 and by then I had had it for several years.

That's more than I care to remember, thank you.

*feels ancient*

Show threadTroed SångbergDec 24, 2024

@nemorosa

I got my (first) Atari ST in 1986 - by then it had been on (some) markets for a year.

@SinclairSpeccy

Show threadAnnica 🇸🇪Dec 24, 2024
@troed So long! But... late 80s was just recently!
@SinclairSpeccy
Show threadAbram Kedge🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇨🇦Dec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy I borrowed one of these (with the built-in cassette recorder and calculator-style keyboard) in 1978. I was supposed to be writing custom calculator programs for the guy I worked for during the school holidays, but I managed to write an awful lot of silly little games too while I had it.
Show threadg-clefDec 16, 2024

@SinclairSpeccy Atari 1200 for the....win? (https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/22449/Atari-1200XL/)

Yes, I've been doing arcane bullshit most of my life. It explains a lot.

Atari 1200XL - Computer - Computing History

Ataris Home Computer Division HCD introduced the new replacement computer to its ageing Atari 400800 line.Atari's Home Computer Division HCD introduced the new replacement computer to its ageing At...

Show threadDavid 🇵🇹Dec 16, 2024

@SinclairSpeccy I have to chime in for us youngins.

My first experience was playing racing games on my dad‘s Win95 machine on a chunky and loud CRT monitor. That thing still had a turbo button and a display that showed the current clockspeed.

He eventually upgraded it to Win2000 which I then used up until I got my first Win7 laptop at around age 15 or 16. that thing miraculously made it all the way to Win10 before I had to hit the brakes and switch over to Linux (for my sanity).

Show threadLeszek KarlikDec 16, 2024

@SinclairSpeccy

My first computer (which I used as a primary school kid) was, funnily enough, a Sinclair ZX Spectrum :-)

Show threadTim AidleyDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy Wait how do you end up with a handle like SinclarSpeccy (which came out over 40 years ago) but only have a survey that has specific entries up to 30 years?
Show threadSinclair-SpeccyDec 16, 2024
@planettimmy 😭 I'm not that old
Show threadTim AidleyDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy I'm curious how you got in to the Speccy!
Show threadSinclair-SpeccyDec 16, 2024

@planettimmy I picked this name as I was searching to replace my old username and remembered that I wanted to go with something catchy so I picked “Sinclair” from the company, and “Speccy” from the nickname for the ZX Spectrum. I was into retro computers at the time and still am :).

There’s so many replies to this post I don’t think I can comment on every one

Show threadMetin Seven 🎨Dec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy Even longer... I mean... I'm just 25 years old of course! 🤥
Show threadT.J. CrowderDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy Yeah, your poll would have need a further three options with the five-year gaps you were using before I could pick something other than "Even longer"... 😀
Show threadSinclair-SpeccyDec 16, 2024
@tjcrowdertech Figured. I didn't think many people would vote what I expected so...
Show threadVille Ruohonen Dec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy I was there, Gandalf! I was there 3000 years ago, when all the monitors were monochrome green and people still didn't have email addresses. 🧙
Show threadPseudonymous BearDec 16, 2024

@SinclairSpeccy

I lied and voted for when I remember first using a computer even though I know there were computers in the house when I was born since my father worked in the field.

Show thread13 barn owls in a trenchcoatDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy The fediverse demographic weighting effect has entered the chat.
Show threadMarty FoutsDec 16, 2024

@SinclairSpeccy The first computer I used was released by IBM in 1959. The IBM 1620, model 1. It didn’t have discs. You loaded programs from punched cards and it punched the output onto other cards that you then fed to another machine that printed them out. I got my first programming job in 1973, writing FORTRAN programs for it.

My first personal computer was a DEC PDP 11/03. I ported Research Edition 6 Unix to it in 1979.

Show threadmrlich 🎨Dec 16, 2024
@MartyFouts @SinclairSpeccy respect!
Show threadDavid PerrisDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy An Amstrad CPC464 with green screen, and built in cassette deck for loading games, from 1985. With a 8-bit 4 MHz processor and a whole 64 kB RAM. [Amstrad founded by Alan Sugar, later of Apprentice UK and now Baron Sugar of Clapton] Actually well-built, and I used a word processing programme on it for my secondary school assignments (printed on a dot matrix printer with continuous feed paper).
Show threadMacCruiskeenDec 16, 2024
@SinclairSpeccy Are we all old farts here? I think my first hands-on time with a computer was c. 1977. It probably involved playing 'Star Trek' and 'Colossal Cave' on a Decwriter attached to a VAX.