Computer Experience Evolution

[Brunellus]

Just curious as to what peoples' first OS was; if you want, post the approximate year you started using computers. Sorry if your first OS isn't in the poll, but I've posted this as a means of finding out how "old" this community is.

Mine was MS-DOS, probably v. 3.3 or thereabouts (?) running on our PC-XT clone in 1987. (precocious kid, eh? playing othello on the family PC at age six, was I. I shoulda been 1337, and probably would have done, if there were such a thing as general 'net access in those days....)

PS: Sorry if your OS isn't on there. I've omitted a lot of them (Amiga, Atari ST....etc). If your OS isn't there, go ahead and post it in the thread.

[aysiu]

I don't know the name of the OS, but it was on an NEC computer with 12" x 12" floppy disks (two slots)--monochrome monitor.

[heimo]

WorkBench 1.2

[stuporglue]

Mac something. It was a used computer in about 1988 or so. Grew up on used Macs (we'd get them as my dad's business upgraded), untill we got a PC in 1997. It didn't have Windows Explorer, but some GUI that looked like a book, where you'd flip pages to get to programs or settings.

Windows 95 laptop from 2000-2001

Mac OSX from 2003-2005.

I've had one Linux computer since about July 2003, and one OSX comptuter. The OSX one is for the wife and editing movies.

[xaque]

I started with DOS on an old XT computer. We actually got the computer before I knew how to read, so I taught myself to read just so I could play games on it. :)

[Malphas]

Acorn OS

[bored2k]

Dos

[zenrox]

dos 3.2 thru 6.22 with win 3.11 WFW
awsome system back in late 80's
also another os that ant listed is OS2 warp??
hu hu hu welp fix it

[JogerNaut]

DOS on an XT with CGA display. :D

[matthew]

The BASIC editor that the TRS-80 Color Computer booted into. Here's a screenshot I found on the net...I got mine in 1981, so I had the version just previous to this one.

[LorenzoD]

Well, out of the ones mentioned in the poll I had to choose CP/M which I (very rarely) used on my Commodore 128. The BASIC interface that I had used on earlier Commodore home computers, such as the VIC=20 and CBM 64 wouldn't really qualify as an operating system.

The first operating system I really used a lot was Amiga OS, v1.2.

[Lux Perpetua]

Windows 3.1 was actually my first OS, as a child. I remember the family having a very rudimentary personal computer before that (pretty much a toy, no hard drive or anything), but I don't know what it was running.

My first *nix was Irix, as a high school junior (did a project at the university and had to work at an SGI workstation).

[PatrickMay16]

The first operating system I used on our first home computer was RISC OS 3. We were using an Acorn A3010 computer. After a few years, we needed to buy a PC with Windows 98 because my brother wanted to be able to run newer programs and games.
The first operating system I used on a computer which I could call my own was Windows ME. After awhile of that, I messed it up pretty well since I didn't know what I was doing so much back then, so my brother decided to format the drive and install Windows 2000 for me. That was a lot more stable. After some time, I tried BeOS 5 PE, but I didn't get on so well with it.
In April 2005, I got Mandrake Linux 10.1 and tried that, but it didn't suit my needs. In September 2005, I got Ubuntu Linux 5.04 and that's fit my needs greatly.

[23meg]

PC-DOS --> MS-DOS --> C64 Basic --> Amiga OS --> Windows 95 --> Windows 98 --> Red Hat 6 --> Windows 2000 --> Windows XP --> Fedora Core 3 --> Ubuntu Warty --> Ubuntu Hoary --> Ubuntu Breezy

[drummer]

I'm not sure exactly what version, but I put DOS6. That was what my family's first computer ran, on which I remember playing EGA Trek (Star Trek clone) and my mum used word perfect (?). I was pretty young then, but thinking now (after voting) the first OS I used could have been Mac OS Classic on my primary school's macs (remember those little beige boxes, with a built in 7", or thereabouts, crt?).

[ember]

Hmm ... I cannot tell it's name ... the thing that run on a C64 ;)

[heimo]

Hmm ... I cannot tell it's name ... the thing that run on a C64 ;)
:) I don't know if that counts as an operating system... (Commodore Basic V2) But the boot times were optimal. ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64

Those were the days. My computer history goes back to 1985, 20 years now - and I still have my C64. *sniff*

[GeneralZod]

If whatever ran on the VIC-20 can properly be called an OS, it would be that :)

[snowjunkie]

Started on a BBC Model B computer, followed by an 8086 with amber screen and hercules graphics running DOS on a 20mb harddrive. Battle chess was my favourite game at the time!

[Pablo_Escobar]

The first OS in my case was Basic (Timex - ZX Spectrum counterpart :) ).
It was back in 86-87 - sweet times, sweet box :)

[Jussi Kukkonen]

Why, in 1984 I ran CP/M on my laptop.


... Ok, it wasn't mine, it was my fathers.

... It wasn't a laptop either. It was a Kaypro II "portable", which meant it had a handle and weighed less than 15kg.

... And I really had no idea what to do with it.

Nevertheless, it's what got me interested in these things. Here is a picture of a similar machine (sadly I have no pictures of the one we had):
http://oldcomputers.net/pics/kayproii.jpg

[ember]

:) I don't know if that counts as an operating system... (Commodore Basic V2) But the boot times were optimal. ;)


Hehe - that's true. And you could really instantly start programming *remembers all the lines of hex code he typed in from magazines* ...
But the loading times for games were ... hmm ... a bit suboptimal without TurboLoader or one of its friends ;)

[rpgcyco]

The first OS I used, was Mac OS "Classic" at school in Year 1. The OS that was on my first PC was Windows 95 [100Mhz, 16MB, 346MB HDD, Win 95]. That PC is now resting peaceful in some dump somewhere. :)

- Rpg Cyco

[Samuel]

Oric Extended Basic v1
ORIC 1 (http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=180) was my first computer, not sure if it qualifies as an operating system though


10 print "hello world!";
20 goto 10
was about as far as i got

[Malphas]

My first computer was one of these:

http://www.canopus22.demon.co.uk/comp/acorn/BBC24A-BeebMission.jpg

[kassetra]

If whatever ran on the VIC-20 can properly be called an OS, it would be that :)

HA! I'm not the only one! The VIC-20 and the oh so lovely TRASH-80.... those two would be my "first" OS experiences...

[stimpack]

Spectrum Basic, yes the OS was a BASIC interpreter, really pretty nifty when compared to MSDOS.

1st "real" OS, Workbench 1.3 on an Amiga, which was better than versions on Windows 10 years later

[public_void]

Whoa, my first OS was Win 95, not as old as some of the ones others are talking about. Then Win 98 -> Win XP -> WinXP dual boot with Ubuntu. But it kinda shows what a stong influence MS have on the OS market. I've only known MS OS's, and now I'm really enjoy the different with a Linux distro. Today though, most children will be introduced to a MS OS and live with it, not really experiencing any other OS, kinda sad.

[nsa_767]

Hi there,

My first OS (which I actively used) was MS-DOS, together with MS Windows 3.11 (Windows For Work-groups)... LOL, that was the last and only good version of Windows ever!

Anyway, by reading these posts, it seems to me that the average Linux user tends to be somewhat more mature than the average Windows user... (Well, that is if you discount all those large accounting firms...)

A survey of the average Linux user's age might be interesting?

[Malphas]

Anyway, by reading these posts, it seems to me that the average Linux user tends to be somewhat more mature than the average Windows user...
Only because the Linux userbase for the home desktop market is a tiny minority, and even then I doubt it. Most of the computers and operating systems people are mentioning are from the eighties, that's hardly the stone-age; there are plenty of Windows users over the age of thirty-five or however old you'd have to be to have been old enough to use a computer when those systems were around. A better argument might be that the average Linux user has been using computers for longer than the average Linux user.

[getaceres]

My first PC was a PII 300 MHz with Windows 95 in 1998 (I could have chosen Windows 98 but I prefered 95 since it was more stable). Almost immediatly I installed SUSE 5.3 without knowing even what Linux was. Since then, I always had Linux and Windows in different versions in my PC.
Now I have an AthlonXP 2200+ with Windows XP and Kubuntu 5.10 but my old PC is still working with Windows XP and Kubuntu 5.04 that I plan to change to Xubuntu 5.10.

[nsa_767]

A better argument might be that the average Linux user has been using computers for longer than the average Linux user.

I stand corrected... Yes, that would be a far better argument. Though, I am assuming you meant for the underlined bit to read "Windows".

[jeffreyvergara.NET]

win98 1998, but we used msdos at school around 1994-1996, I've only heard about Linux on late 1999.. lol

[Malphas]

I am assuming you meant for the underlined bit to read "Windows".
Oh. Yes it should have.

[wishyjr]

DR-DOS 5.0 on my 386SX 40 for me.. many moons ago :)

[WildTangent]

First that I used was DOS/Windows 3.1 on the school computers. First that I owned was Windows 95.

-Wild

[BWF89]

The first OS I used was some kind of Macintosh (probably MacOS) at the school computer labs in elementary.

The first OS I had at my house was a Pionex computer with Windows 95.

I wasn't sure if you ment the first OS we actually used or the first OS we had at our home so I voted for Windows95.

[mike998]

The BASIC editor that the TRS-80 Color Computer booted into. Here's a screenshot I found on the net...I got mine in 1981, so I had the version just previous to this one.

I was going to say a Sinclair Spectrum (Oh! How I wish I could get the emulator to play nicely on my laptop!) but... The first computer was a TRS-80 MC 10 from Radio Shack. A picture of this wee beastie can be found here (http://www.trailingedge.com/~dlw/comp/htemplate.html?theKey=tandymc10&byCompany=0)

[asimon]

Does the "Commodore Basic 2.0" operating system count too? ;-)

[mikedtemple]

Ahh- it was ~1986, and I had MS-DOS 2.11 on a Leading Edge 8086 with Hercules Mono and a 300 baud modem. No HD, 640K RAM, MS-BASIC on a floppy and Word Perfect on 5.25" Floppies.

We paid (I think) ~ $3000 USD.

My mom used that computer for a Word Processing business until she bought a 386 with Windows 2.0. I remember installing the 20 MB HD that she paid $250 for.

That thing was a beast. I still have the old floppies laying around somewhere. Too bad I don't have a drive to stick them in.

Funniest thing is, up until she finally threw it out 3 or so years ago, it still booted.

[Sheinar]

DOS. Have absolutely no idea which version.

[mlomker]

TI 99/4A running extended basic in 1983.

My parents spent over $300 on that computer. When I think back on it I become a little misty because that was like 1/2 month's pay for my parents back then. They made *real* sacrifices for my future and I love them for it.

[raublekick]

DOS, whatever the current version was in '89. Soon after we got Win 3.1, but other than using MSPaint and solitaire, I used DOS the most for shareware games like Commander Keen and Duke Nukem.

[Kapre]

D.O.S on Apple II (put the 5.25" floppy and turn your pc on)...

K

[Teroedni]

Your missing one
Amigaos;)
My first Computer where an Amiga and therfore i must say Amigaos

[rubinstein]

My first computer had a preinstalled dual boot system: OS/2 Warp and Windows 3.11 and DOS, so really 2 and a half systems! OS/2 had also Windows compatibility mode where you could launch Winows programs and didn't need to reboot... OS/2 was a better system, but it had no programs... So after a few months I deleted the OS/2 partition...

[SilentCacophony]

I'm with the '...whatever was on the Commodore...' crowd. ;)

First one used was the basic interpreter from the Commodore Pet, in school. (Probably around '81)

First one owned was much the same, but from the Commodore 64. (Around '83)

If those don't count, then Amiga OS v1.3, in 1988.

[Master Shake]

My first was technically EOS, otherwise known as the built-in OS for the Coleco ADAM. Second was CPM on the ADAM, and the third was GEM/TOS on my Atari ST

[mstlyevil]

I guess I am the only one that Win XP was my first operating system. I feel left out.

[carlosqueso]

MS-DOS on an early Compaq Deskpro.

[Riverside]

In order, some overlap (multiple machines):

1. Windows 3.1 with PC-DOS 7.0 (IBM's own DOS version).
2. OS/2 Warp 3.0 (briefly, wouldn't really run on the PC it came pre-installed on dual booting with "1.", due to lack of system RAM).
3. Windows 98SE (I stuck with Windows 3.1 until November 1999 through preference).
4. Windows NT Workstation.
5. Windows 2000 Professional.
6. Solaris 7.
7. Solaris 8.
8. SuSE 7.3 (then 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 9.1, 9.2, 10.0).
9. Windows XP Professional (briefly, pre-installed on two new machines).
10. FreeBSD 4.10 (then 5.2.1).
11. Ubuntu Warty (then Hoary briefly, then Breezy).

My main office and home business machines are currently running SuSE 9.2, my experimental/test machine is running Ubuntu Breezy. I am currently considering a migration to Ubuntu completely, but may wait for Dapper due to its reported three year support (security patches, bugfixes) cycle.

[shade11]

Mac OS 6.1 I think.
Centris 660 AV
1992

[MartinJ]

Amstrad Basic v1.0 on an Amstrad CPC464 !
Was that really over 20 years ago :o

[-Rick-]

MSDOS 3.X I believe...

In order:
MSDOS 3.X
MSDOS 6.X (later on and *sometimes* windows 3.11)
Windows 98
Windows 95 (for my own comp)
Windows XP
Gentoo Linux
Ubuntu Linux
FreeBSD and after a while NetBSD, now switching between them

[dspp]

Just curious as to what peoples' first OS was; if you want, post the approximate year you started using computers. Sorry if your first OS isn't in the poll, but I've posted this as a means of finding out how "old" this community is.


My mighty 8 Mhz computer ran DOS (3.21 I think) and even had a GUI, Gem. After a few hours, I reformatted the Gem disks so I could use those 5" disks (floppies were expensive for a student).

[roachk71]

CP/M on the old Kaypro at my middle school.

Since then, among the best I've used was MagiC for the ST (GEM and TOS sucked!)

[Ampersand]

Amiga workbench first, and whatever was on the BBC Micros at my primary school.

First one I used anywhere near seriously was Windows 95.

[Brunellus]

I started this thread to get a general sense of the computing "age" of this community. This is, of course, not a scientific study by any means, but the data thus far are illuminating.

The vast majority of respondents thus far seem to have started their computer lives on at least one variant of DOS. Some might have questioned my division of the MS-DOS era, with my admittedly arbitrary dividing line of v. 3.3. I decided on this (rather than include Amiga Workbench) because it gives me a clue as to when various DOS users started out.

I regret the omission of Amiga Workbench. I never saw a real live Amiga in my whole life, but I did see an Atari ST.

I am frankly quite surprised at the number of microcomputer users...and the CP/M users out there, too....

Am also somewhat surprised that there are so few UNIX people.

Oh a point. Right.

It seems to me that when most of us here started our computer lives, we were faced with a number of computing "hassles." Hardly anything "just worked"--under DOS there was always a fair amount of overhead, tweaking one thing or another. And of course, the comforting glow of the C:\ prompt command line.

The advantages--knowing exactly what was runnign when (who here ever poked around the config.sys and autoexec.bat files?), and, most of all, cheapness, were tough to ignore.

As a result of these formative experiences, I submit that we are, as a "generation" not so scared of GNU/Linux. Its rapid development and command-line roots don't intimidate people who cut their teeth on MS-DOS.

Knowing this, I want to know if most of the growth in Ubuntu, and in desktop Linux in general, is in this "DOS generation" of users. Is it possible that at some point in the near future that "market" will be saturated, and desktop linux adoption will peak or plateau?

Not a troll, just a few thoughts fed by the data.

[matthew]

I regret the omission of Amiga Workbench. I never saw a real live Amiga in my whole life, but I did see an Atari ST. No problem. Several of us started even earlier...C-64/TRS-80, etc. Plus, I had experience on the Amiga at 2 different friends' houses (those were AWESOME machines), another had an Apple IIc, a IIe, yet another a IIgs (that was a cool one). You had to put the line somewhere so you made a choice.

Knowing this, I want to know if most of the growth in Ubuntu, and in desktop Linux in general, is in this "DOS generation" of users. Is it possible that at some point in the near future that "market" will be saturated, and desktop linux adoption will peak or plateau?

Not a troll, just a few thoughts fed by the data. I didn't take this as troll-like at all. It's an interesting idea. I do think it has been taken into consideration by various linux developers (not just in Ubuntu) and this is why we see such a focus on the development of the desktop and the GUI apps. I am glad to know that this time around it is pretty close to impossible to lose my beloved command line (unlike when I moved kicking and screaming from DOS to Windows...especially after going to 98 ).

[Wolki]

Basic on a amstrad 464. CP/M was the second one so i chose that, didn't really know what to do with it though. ^^;;;

Then DOS, OS/2, 98, and several distros.

[xequence]

Windows 95 on the family computer. Nice pentium 70mhz, 16 MB RAM, 1 GB HDD ;)

I still have it. Its about a foot behind me right now, though with no OS as I reformatted it to get rid of the junk and Windows 95 wont install because it says the floppy isnt a valid system disk, and damn small linux does some error.

[Riverside]

Am also somewhat surprised that there are so few UNIX people.Unix people tend to be fairly dedicated, and before Linux came along, installation and system administration of a UNIX system tended to be quite difficult. In fact, it still is.

For example, to update an Ubuntu system and obtain all current bug fixes and security patches etc, is as simple as:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Here's how one accomplishes the same task on a FreeBSD system:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cvsup.html
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/makeworld.html
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/ports-using.html
http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=portupgrade&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports

If you think that's complex; it is. And one also needs ideally to be logged into a console to do it reliably, attempting to fully update a remote FreeBSD system is for experts only, and even for experts it is not without its risks!

Having taken the time to learn and gain the not inconsiderable amount of knowledge and experience needed to adminster a FreeBSD (or NetBSD, or OpenBSD, etc) system correctly, users tend to value that degree of intellectual investment and wish to continue to put it to good use.

[towsonu2003]

PS: Sorry if your OS isn't on there. I've omitted a lot of them (Amiga, Atari ST....etc). If your OS isn't there, go ahead and post it in the thread.

I'm impressed w/ the number of people using MS-DOS as first one.

Amiga was my first but, well, due to my usage statistics, I would say "Kick Off" soccer game was my first OS :) ahh I miss itttt! (private message me if you know where to get it for win xp or linux; I could even install BSD -scaaryyyy- if it has "kick off" hehe)

[majikstreet]

One of those Win 98 or 95 computers.

[normf]

The BASIC that my Commodore 64 booted up into.

Followed by Kickstart/Workbench 1.2 (AmigaDOS).

Norm

[23meg]

What's everyone's word on whether C64 Basic should be considered an OS as well as a language? I guess it should be; it loaded on startup, was responsible from file operations, etc.

[CurlyChris]

Spectrum BASIC - my brother and I actually managed to convince our parents that it was worth paying the extra for the 48k version!! (Can't remember how much that was now, though!)

But before that I remember selling Sinclair ZX-81's at our local branch of a well-known UK stationery chain in my Saturday job! You could always tell who was a real computer buff, cos they not only bought the machine but the 1k RAM add-on pack as well (to double their computing power!!!) :D

Of course, there was always the rich kid down the road who's Dad had waited then forked out for the 4k Acorn Atom... :mad:

And does anyone remember the Dragon - 16k wasn't it? Or was it 8k? I never owned one but I remember playing with one at a friend's house.

But after my Spectrum I had a Sinclair QL for a year or so. Dead easy to program (BASIC again) but the mini-tape drive cartridges were a bit fiddly, and never caught on (thankfully!).

After that, an Atari ST, then nothing until Win 95 > 98SE > XP > FC2 (very briefly) > MEPIS > Hoary > Breezy (and dabbling with SUSE 10).

Chris

[Naglfari]

I don't know the name of the OS, but it was on an NEC computer with 12" x 12" floppy disks (two slots)--monochrome monitor.

:) I remember that thing. Mine was an IBM S-23, the workstation/monitor was a one piece deal that weighed about 70 lbs. Mine had a HDD as well, a separate unit the size of a 3 drawer file cabinet. Someday I'll get adventurous enough to go dig it out of my dad's barn and take pics of it.

Edit: PS: I still counted DOS as my first OS, because I never got the S-23 to do much more than save lines of text.

[personman]

Windows 3.1

[Brunellus]

Windows 3.1
I didn't include Windows before windows 95, because prior to that, windows was nothing more than a GUI hanging on top of DOS. Windows 3.1 and earlier were nothing more than programs running in DOS.

[SilentCacophony]

What's everyone's word on whether C64 Basic should be considered an OS as well as a language? I guess it should be; it loaded on startup, was responsible from file operations, etc.

I consider it to be an OS, although very simple and limited by default, the benefit of that was lightning fast bootup and stability. :)

Anyhow, there followed many options for alternative and expanded OS functionality on the C64, including the first graphical one that I personally saw, GEOS:

3218

It was around 1986 when that first appeared, I think. Fairly impressive, although slow loading times from the ancient media available then.

[Footer]

This one wasn't in your poll either.

:)

[Toddy]

My first machine was a VIC-20. I spent hours keying programs (games) from magazines, then debugging the typo's I made. Got tired of having to key them in everytime just to play, and eventually got myself a tape drive (cassette recorder). Those were the days...

http://www.classicgaming.com/museum/vic20/commvic20.jpg

[matthew]

My first machine was a VIC-20. I spent hours keying programs (games) from magazines, then debugging the typo's I made. Got tired of having to key them in everytime just to play, and eventually got myself a tape drive (cassette recorder). Those were the days... Man, that is identical to my experience, except I had the TRS-80 CoCo. I was so happy when I got the tape drive, even if it took 7 to 10 minutes to load a program.

[Freddy]

A little to few of options to choose from :).
My first "OS" was a kind of basic from MS for my SVI128 from MSI Computers, don't really remember the name of it though.
The first OS I really used was Workbench 1.2 for the mighty Amiga1000 (Ohhh those glorius days :() /// Freddan

[fuscia]

i used windows ME for the past five years. it's easily the best OS microsoft ever made. so far, breezy appears to top even that. cool!

[Dr. Nick]

DOS, whatever the current version was in '89. Soon after we got Win 3.1, but other than using MSPaint and solitaire, I used DOS the most for shareware games like Commander Keen and Duke Nukem.

You just made one of my many decessions for me, I was thinking yesterday about installing a DOS emulator to play games like the old Oregon Trail on my laptop since its not powerfull enough for any newer games.

When you mentioned Duke Nukem and Commander Keen it dawned on me that I still have the floppies for them in my closet. Those are games from my early chilidhood that took most of the day to download demo versions off of BBS.

I think I will pull those out and have a flashback, maybe I can beat them this time.

My first OS expierence was DOS, I remember typing my name in when I got the "Bad Command or Filename" error :)

I went from their to 98, skipping 95 initially until someone gave me a computer it was preloaded on. then on to ME, 2000, XP home and Pro. Used old apples in elementry school like others have mentioned and played with windows 3.1 and Windows 1 a few years ago.

Discovered linux around Mandrake 8 or so and used it occasionally but really got into linux around the time of warty.

Still have the 2nd family computer which was won off the radio. Screaming 33 mhz which was upgraded to 120 :) just got rid of the 33mhz board and chip a few years back. My parents had a commodore 128 but I rarely used it and never did anything but game on it.

[poptones]

My first hands-on experience was as a teen when a local business owner agreed to be sort of a mentor to me and allow access to his altos 8086 system that ran xenix. One day while he was out on a call he allowed me to use the console and, while trying to "ls" a file I somehow ended up starting a low level format of the 40MB hard drive. No matter what I sent from the console the drive wouldn't stop whirring; It ended up wiping out about a week's worth of work before I finally worked up the guts to simply pull the plug.

Obviously, he didn't welcome me back. He wasn't angry - sensibly I think, he blamed himself for poor security and stupidly letting an inexperienced 15 year old sit at the root console. Still, that was the end of my tenure there.

After that it was on to a vic20. I made my own 6502 system before that, but it didn't really have an OS - just a front panel of switches and LEDs.

[skydvrgrl]

Mine was BASIC on a ZX81 when I was about 6-7 years old!

Writing;

10 PRINT "you are a dork" (only when my little brother was looking!!)
20 GOTO 10
30 RUN

:D

[jonny]

Brunellus, your poll options suggest that you're not British and not as old as me.

The UK had a very early boom in computer ownership, sparked by an eccentric English entrepreneur, Clive Sinclair. He lauched, by mail order only, the first £100 computer in 1980 (the ZX80) and followed it up with the much more successul ZX81 the following year. Apart from the well known ZX Spectrum and Sinclair QL, we also had some other British delights like the Acorn Proton, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro and the Jupiter Ace (you needed to learn Forth to use it). We also had the well known international computers like the Tandy TRS80, the Commodore Pet and standardised Z80 devices running CP/M.

I started with a friend's ZX80 and bought a ZX81 for myself. At the time I was very proud of a space invaders clone that I wrote in two pages of hexadecimal machine code (I couldn't afford any assember software in those days). It took about 2K of RAM to run, including 768 bytes for the video display - you didn't get 256MB video cards in those days.

But the ZX81 didn't have a proper operating system as we understand the term now - my first experience of that was my University's Prime 1 mainframe running PrimeOS. Anyone remember anything about that? I certainly don't!

whole succession of innovative designs that wer

that started with the ZX80 in 1980.

[XDevHald]

I ran windows 98 first, then moved all the way to XP from every version of windows.

I will never go back :)

[BoyOfDestiny]

Some version of DOS on a machine that I can't quite remember (cactus 8088 ) or something...
Anyway, used DOS up to version 5 or 6 I think eventually with win 3.0-1, chips I went through were 286, 386, 486dx2, 486dx4, pentium 120 (the horror of win95), pentium II 266 (win 98 and se?), pentium II 450, (xp)Athlon xp 1800, then my current rig opteron 140 (win2003 and ubuntu64).

At my elementary-middle school-jr high (same one) they had c64's for a long time (and eventually replaced them with "horrible" IMHO lc550's). I missed the c64's a lot when they replaced them with macs... The c64's were more stable I tell ya...

Sorry if this was somewhat vague (I was around 3ish when using DOS and can remember, I more clearly remember playing things like king's quest III and having to swap floppies, so I was around 5...)

Well that's it, and btw those sierra games are going to have a re-re-release (check amazon!)

And to the guy who wants kick off for his amiga. Seems there are ports, or just google for the original and run it in an amgia emulator. There are kickstart roms floating about, or you can buy it legal... Just google man!

[John.Michael.Kane]

Mine was an Adam computer followed by a comadore64 then some machine running os2 follow by dos with 3.1 over it. 95 98 all the nt based os'es novell. Now linux..

[Brunellus]

Brunellus, your poll options suggest that you're not British and not as old as me.


Correct.

I've been frankly surprised by how "old" some of the responses to this thread were. I thought CP/M was going to be about the oldest (not counting the various UNIX-es) OS to get any responses, but the number of Commodore/Sinclair/TRS80 responses has been surprising.

It amuses me to note that in Britain, the computer boom that came with the sinclair and bbc micro, etc never really amounted to much, in the end. I was at uni (Cambridge) at the turn of the century ('98-'01) and when I first went up, hardly anyone had his own PC at uni. Here in the US, PC use among undergrads was far more widespread....

[qalimas]

I guess you could call it DOS 6.22, but ran the 3.1 GUI on it :)

[mark]

I checked CP/M, but my first "operating system" was the "system monitor" built into the Bill Godbout/CompuPro boat anchor (I say that affectionately) that was my first computer, back in 1977 or '78.

Essentially a chassis/enclosure and power supply, the Godbout/CompuPro was based on the S-100 bus. Offering a certain amount of standardization, it allowed a variety of boards (CPU, CPU/memory, I/O, peripherals, etc.) to be plugged in. When the Moon was right & the wind set in a certain way, everything would work.

My first lash-up was the basic chassis (don't recall the model, the faceplate was long missing) with the 8080 CPU board, some kind of basic I/O board and a beat-up ol' VT-52-compatible terminal. Featuring every bit if 4K of on-board RAM, this was Really Neat Stuff to a guy that didn't understand anything about computers. Power it up and the terminal's cursor would just blink. Enter the right commands on the (detachable!) keyboard & it would spit a lot of incomprehensible debugging information at you. So I guess you'd say this was my first "operating system" (I actually came to find out what some of that stuff meant!).

Then, I upgraded to a Z-80 board with 64K of memory! I remember thinking "how could you possibly use all of that???" Anyhow, also added an ST-506 controller board, 8" floppy drives and (with the help of a friend) assembled my very own CP/M BDOS and BIOS from the Digital Resources kit.

[NeoChaosX]

...what, no Windows 3.1?

[SpectralDesign]

(You know you're getting old when a "What was your first OS" poll doesn't have any of your first 3 OSes included in the options! :)

Sinclair ZX80 (with the 16K expansion... uh.. dongle?)
Apple ][
Mac, first breed
Atari ST
DOS/Windows 3.1 on an AMD DX2/66
SCO - SGI - PowerMac (all at the same time, at work, I didn't buy these :)
Solaris / SunOS
P II \
P III - All running a form of windows, and often a form of linux
P IV /

[dbott67]

As a student in high school, our school had a lab of Commodore PETs, and in my last year (85) we got a new lab of ICON (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisys_ICON)s. A few friends had Vic20s or Commodore 64s, as well as the Coleco ADAM.

As a professional in the computer industry (starting in 1991), it was MS-DOS/PC-DOS/DR-DOS, Windows 3.0, GeoWorks and MacOS6.x (I think).

-Dave

[Psquared]

I started with DOS on an old XT computer. We actually got the computer before I knew how to read, so I taught myself to read just so I could play games on it. :)

Same here. I started with DOS 3.3 in about 1992 or 1993. Switched to Windows 3.1 in about 1994 -> Windows for Workgroups -> Win95 -> Win98 -> Win982nd -> ME -> XPee -> FC2 (2003) -> Ubuntu Warty -> Ubuntu Hoary -> Xpee SP2 -> Ubuntu Breezy about 3 weeks ago.

[megamania]

- Atari 800 (in 1983 - I was 13), then Atari 130XE
- Atari ST
- DOS 3 and following releases
- Windows - all versions up to XP
- Mac Os from 8.6

Currently I use Ubuntu and recently bought a second-hand powerbook G4. No Windows in my house at the moment, for the records. :-)

[Saul Perdomo]

Does the Atari 2600's kernel count as an OS? ;)

[HJThis]

Hey,All

Win98-WinXP Pro Suse9-10
& now Ubuntu & not going back.

Thank you

[Collin]

The BASIC editor that the TRS-80 Color Computer booted into. Here's a screenshot I found on the net...I got mine in 1981, so I had the version just previous to this one.

Yeah I think it was pretty much the same for me, I'm not too sure which os it was but my mom thought me a few BASIC (a keyword i remember) commands, plus it had a tape player for the softwares. That was somewhere around 1984

My first computer however was a mac lc475 with mac OS 6.x
but the first OS I truly learned and used was mac OS 7.5.3 (will all the crap it entail) and mac OS 7.5.5

[Arktis]

Windows 3.11 with Navigator. Anyone remember navigator? Painfully simplistic... I must have used it for over a year before I even touched Program Manager or knew anything about what it was. Ah, then began the regular break and fix process. I can remember screwing up things all the time and then franticly trying to fix the computer before my mother, usually in the next room, found out. Sometimes this would happen twice a day, though I only got busted a few times. :rolleyes:

There's nothing like an extreme fear of punishment as a motivator to learn.

[gorkhal]

dos was nice,

i used to use a prog called direct access 5.1, sort of a precursor to windows one might say, it would let you categorize your apps and games and make it really easy to access stuff, without using the prompt..ancient times indeed

and oh yeah never boot your computer with a virus infected floppy to increase available mem

[parktownprawn]

Atari OS Rev. B on an Atari 400

[Minyaliel]

Win 3.11 lol. I must've been about four years old, my mother let me play games on her lap top... man, I still miss those... alleycat and other really fun things... then I've been on every single version of windows until I swapped to Ubuntu what, a month or two ago. I now run only ubuntu, since I, as a total noob, managed to delete my windows when I installed linux. But, come to think of it, my winXP cdrom isn't really a temptation.

[Optimal Aurora]

Windows 3.1 was my first real use of a PC, then Windows 95 and 98, then I final brought my first system when windows M.E. was out. Then I upgraded it to Win XP and then brought me a 64 bit system and with Windows XP Home SP2 and then I went to Fedora Core 3 then Ubuntu Linux then Kubuntu then back to Ubuntu then back to Windows then Fedora Core 4 then Windows then FC4 which is what I am using now. because I can't get ubuntu to recognize my network connection to my dsl modem, so no internet in ubuntu but FC4 has access. Go figure...

[fif]

ZX81 basic.

[Hatchetfish]

Windows 2 and Dos godknowswhat on the "Hardware compatibility? Sure, any color you like, long as it's IBM" IBM PS2 that bit them so hard when people went for the clones anyway. Parents bought it when I was about 5. It was still running (though long replaced) until it choked on dust and fried around 2002.

[deNoobius]

Windows 3.1. And getting on the Internet with Winsock Trumpet and Mosaic, via my new uber-speedy 14.4 baud modem. LOL.

[YourSurrogateGod]

Windows 3.1. I used to play Sim City 2000, it was a revolutionary game of its time.

[Kelpie]

i started out on a win 3.11 box at the age of 13 (16 now) xD it was soooo cool it had fonts win98 didnt have it had games windows didnt have it had things i loved which i dont have anymore cause my stepdad tore it all apart :{

[chatuser]

1. Commodore VIC-20. At, school, 6805 (or 6502 ?) processor, 4 KB RAM
2. Canon MSX-1, Z-80 3.7 Mhz, 32 KB RAM, 32 KB ROM
3. MS-DOS 3.3, 4, 5.x
4. MS-DOS 6.x + Windows 3.1
5. Windows 95 + Slackware
6. Windows 98 + Red Hat
7. Windows 2000 + Red Hat
8. Windows XP
9. Ubuntu (90% of time) + Windows XP (as second OS, 10% of time)

I also have tested BeOS, FreeBSD, SCO OpenServer and Solaris.

I have moved to Ubuntu for personal used and I just use Windows for some tasks of my job.

[DiscoKiller]

i went all teary eyed at the thought of worbench on my amiga 500 then, not seen that old girl in years, didnt even have a hd. bless.

[mcduck]

I started with a Commodore PC20-III with a superfast 80088 CPU and DOS3. If I recall right it worked at 1,8 MHz :D

Then came DOS6 (wich I liked very much), Win 3.11 for Workgroups, Win98, Win2K Pro (that I'm still using for some audio/3d stuff), PS2-Linux and Ubuntu.

Yes, I've also used VIC-20, Amiga, C64 and some macs etc, but I've never actualy owned any of those so I'm not counting them here. I also have an unopened packet of IBM-DOS 4 with all manuals and stuff on my bookself, but I've never used that one. Now I don't even have a disk drive anymore..

[J.C. Denton]

ProDOS on an old Apple II/c. The II/c was my first computer, "we" were practically inseparable.

[wondering_jew]

The very first computer i used was my moms trs 80 and I'm pretty sure there was an apple IIe in my kindergarten and first grade classes. I probably started using computers in 1988 ( i was 6-ish) and had the benefit of starting school as macs started to make their big push into public schools

[OneWingedAngel]

Hmm... mine wasn't there:

Acorn BBC B OS 1.2

If computers that old don't count, then the next one I had was an Acorn A3010 (RISC OS 3.1).

[Rackerz]

My very first was the Amiga, best little thing i ever had! :D It died, sadly.

[Turgon]

Dos/windows 3.1

[futz]

Whatever ran the TRS-80 Model 1 back in 1978.

[doitashimashite]

My very first computer was a ZX 81, so that would make my first OS Sinclair Basic (in ROM) right?

[infoseeker]

ZX81, Commodore64 (with cassette tape drive), XT with MSDOS 3.1 (Hercules monitor) :)

MSDOS 3.1
MSDOS 6.22 (I have a Dos 6.22 bootable CD, see thumbnail)
Windows 3.1 (stored on a backup CD somewhere)
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows XP
SuSe 9.1
Gentoo 2005.0
Ubuntu Linux

[benplaut]

i grew up with DOS 3.3 ;)

[dcast]

win 3.1

[ardchoille]

Actually, my first OS was GEOS on a Commodore 64/128 (circa 1985?)
I then went to DOS and then Windows 3.1 on an IBM PS/2. Then to Windows 95 on a PC, then Windows XP. Tried an Appli IIe, hated it. My first taste of Linux was on Fedora Core 1, then Mandriva, MEPIS, KNOPPIX, debian, CentOS, Fedora Core 4 and now on Ubuntu 5.10.

Ubuntu is the best distro I have ever seen :)

[Paulus]

Amiga workbench! Not much has changed since imo, plasma looks to be just as revolutionary from (going from their site).

[spdl]

Ok, my first was DOS.

Great poll BTW, but your missing one, Amiga OS.

Commodore Amiga, ahhh...I miss them. ~tears

[dosed150]

my first was windows 95

[Raoul Duke]

My first OS was...ME!
The computer, which I built from a kit (Z80@2Mhz, S100 bus,32K ram) , had only a hex keypad to manually input obect code for execution. Later I added an EPROM from which I ran Tiny Basic. Later hit the big time: added a floppy drive and ran CP/M.

[sharpie05]

really started on 3.1, but i got into it when i was about 7. I became GOOD with pcs when i switched(personally) to 98 in about 2000.

[lowlymarine]

I started out on an old 80's IBM-clone that ran DOS 3.something and the short lived GUI operating system called GEM. Couldn't do much with it other than play Zork and do basic word processing, spreadsheets, etc, but I was only about 6 or 7 at the time.

I don't recall the specs exactly, but I remember the 12"-ish monitor and 5.25" floppy drive really set it apart from the crowd.

[Deaf_Head]

I said CP/M ... but I'm not old .. i'm 19 .. it was the first computer I ever used though, it belonged to my dad.

[Galiphraen]

Apple DOS on an Apple II+

[Brad wilkinson]

Apple dos? for the apple][

[nami]

My first PC operating system was Windows 3.1. However my first computer was a C64! ;)

[DiscoKiller]

My first OS was...ME!
The computer, which I built from a kit (Z80@2Mhz, S100 bus,32K ram) , had only a hex keypad to manually input obect code for execution. Later I added an EPROM from which I ran Tiny Basic. Later hit the big time: added a floppy drive and ran CP/M.

uh?...

[Luuraja]

First OS I saw was some kind clone of DOS which was installed on Juku computers 15 years ago.
But first real experience was Win 95 nine years ago, when I bought my first personal machine - P166MMX, 16MB RAM, 1,6 gig HDD. Oh, that was a machine in these times!

First Linux was Redhat 8 at 2003. After that tested Suse 9.1, Fedora 3 and one of BSD's - PC-BSD.
Switched on Ubuntu on september 2004 and seems like it stays, because I like it.

[lila]

In 1993 my high school bought the first computers, Apples, you know, those tiny little square grey boxes. I learned to navigate a desktop on that. When my mum decided, a year later, that we needed a computer at home for her work (she's a university lecturer), we bought the same one, so that I'd be able to show her how to work it (i.e. how to turn it on and type, save, and re-find later a text document). It had a program that would teach you how to use a mouse... really nice.
My cousin (who is a mathematician and early unix user) installed it. He asked my mum what screensaver she wanted and she looked at him a bit puzzled and said "I'll just hang a tea towel over it" (she had never heard of screensavers, and thought the screen needed to be protected from the sun)...
Fond memories I have of that computer. We had to get rid of it a few years later when the university decided to kit out all the staff with MS computers, and we couldn't easily transfer anything from here to there. So now she has Never-quite-working and always virused Microsoft computers. Which annoyes her a lot, since all she wants it for is as a typewriter plus 2 or 3 e-mails to friends and family per week... :mad:
And I, having moved out from home 10 years ago, have a shiny lovely new Ubuntu-only computer!:razz:
Lila

[GoldBuggie]

Hmmm...vic 20 was my first computer going to C64. During that time got a 80x86 which has some early DOS variant on it don't remember which but DOS together with NC had me tripping for a long time.

hmm...I think linux isn't as scary if you have used DOS anytime in your life. Since one has seen and used a non gui OS then.

[Toontwnca]

First 'puter I ever owned was a Mac 5260.
System 7 was the OS. What a nightmare.
1996 was the year.

[serenity]

first OS would be windows 95

first computer was an Apple II but that just ran different programs/games off of those big 5 inch floppies

[Archer]

Windows 3.1

[spipe]

Atari 600XL I think it was (I'm old), then Atari ST, and there was some brief use of Windows For Wallowing 3.11, but I have been using Linux (initially Slackware) ever since learning it existed. Occasionally have to boot up a XP machine at work, but even there my primary desktop is Ubuntu.

And I get to write Ruby for a living, so I'm a lucky guy. :)

[arctic]

Amstrad 464 and Atari 800XL were my first serious computer experiences. Before that, I played space invaders and pacman on a monochrome console occasionally.

10 goto 20
20 goto 10
30 this line is useless but I wanted to write it anyway. :P

[afhp]

First OS was dealing with the cassette reader on a Commodore PET. Played around with a TRS80, Apple II, Amstrad CPC, finally got an Atari MegaSTe (with the monochrome monitor. 640x400 was high-res then...).

First "compatible" was a Compaq 386SX25 notebook (640x480 grayscale LCD) which was running OS/2 2.1 (painstakingly installed from the ~25 floppies it came on...)

Used OS/2 all the way to Warp 4 before I switched. I would have remained with BeOS if it had been possible, but that's when I went to Linux full-time.

I've always been a sucker for alternative and more-or-less doomed platforms. Now that Linux is becoming mainstream, I wonder where I'll end up ;)

[geekchic9]

Commodore 64. I was 6. It was fun. Played games, and wrote a few.

[eriqk]

Something that ran on an Amiga 2000. Kickstart? You could toggle something with switches, but I was functionally computer illiterate, so I never messed with that.
I knew enough to mess around with Deluxe Paint, and to open Caligari only to be completely dumbfounded.
Fun though.
Wasn't my computer, however, and when I started to get the hang of it, the owner sold it. Heh.

Groet, Erik

[Bandit]

MS/DOS 2.1 was my first OS. Came with my Tandy 1000HX and I ran Tandy Deskmate 2.0. I miss that ole computer.

I did use a few Apple IIe's, but I dont know what was on those oldies..

[DomH]

With PC it was DOS 2.1 beginning of 1984 on an Olivetti 8086 with 2 5"1/2 floppy funny was Word 1.0 for about 2 month before finding Word 2.0.

but I started to try to understand computing with perforated cards running on a CDC

[Galoot]

MS/DOS 2.1 was my first OS. Came with my Tandy 1000HX and I ran Tandy Deskmate 2.0. I miss that ole computer.

You've got me beat by a year or so. Mine was the 1000SL (ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/tvdog/tandy1000/faxback/01261.txt) running MS/DOS 3.2 and Deskmate. I loved Deskmate, too, for the first few months anyway. The sound! The music I could make!

I eventually toggled it to boot to DOS instead of Deskmate, though. I learned to love the command line.

Check out this archive of Tandy Faxback Documents (http://www.oldskool.org/guides/tvdog/faxback.html) for a trip back. :D


I had one earlier computer, but SmartBASIC couldn't really be considered an OS. It was the closest thing to one for the Coleco ADAM, though.

[bonzodog]

well, I ticked in CP/M as I used it on an amstrad word processor in 1989. My first computer was a Sinclair ZX spectrum 48k that I wrote games on in 1984.

[ubuntu_demon]

commodore 64

[BSDFreak]

Unix, can't really remember the first version anymore.

[Evil Whisper]

DOS & Win 3.1

[dada1958]

System 7.1 on a Macintosh LC II.

[dyous87]

If I remeber corectly my first os was MS/Dos around the 3.xx series. That was back in around 1990-1992. Then we eventually got the windows 3.1 shell where you had to type in 'win' in a command prompt in order to start the gui which was very arcaic.

In school when i was in kindergarden I believe we used Apple II or some other apple os, I'm not sure what the apple computers where using back then but I do recall them being very basic.

Around '95 we completely upgraded the dos computer we had and by that I mean my dad's friend basically gutted it out and put all new components in it. This then took the windows 95 os.
When 98 came out we bought a Gateway (i still wasn't old enough to build the family computer lol).

And finally about 3 or 4 years ago I builta new computer with XP installed. (No XP is not my current os it's just what my computer illiterate family uses) ;)

[Strike Team]

Mine Was Acorn OS on the BBC Micro. My first "proper" compter was a 286 running DOS.

[steevc]

I voted CP/M, but I used other, multi-user, systems before that. My first computer experience was using an acoustic coupler to connect a Teletype to the local college computer, but I can't remember what that was.

Since then I've done loads of DOS version, most types of Windows, BBC Micro, Amiga and now Linux. It's been an interesting journey.

[bearbigears]

ms dos 3.3 it was a blast, then i wished i had learned unix. i wasted a lot of years and money on upgrading ms.

[thedarksavant]

Wow, your poll makes me feel old. The first OS I worked on was on a TRS80. I can't even remember the name. The first computer I owned was an Apple IIc, which I think ran something call ProDOS.

[nealklomp]

Oric Extended Basic v1
ORIC 1 (http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=180) was my first computer, not sure if it qualifies as an operating system though


10 print "hello world!";
20 goto 10
was about as far as i got

Gosh that brings back memories. I remember counting pixels to make lightening then spending half the summer writing code to make a stick figure run across the screen chasing a bouncing ball that changed colors every bounce.

Um, wow was I a geek. What made me ever think I could be anything else?

Anyway: C64 (wasn't mine, but my best friend had no clue, I was all over it.)
TSR-80 at school, I got in trouble for hiding in the class room with it after school was out, and a couple times when I was supposed to be on recess. (Side note, they have fenced off half the playground, its just empty, so the kids can't use it, but the school is bigger than when I was there. Does that seem right? We used to have this huge field of a playground, and now the kids only get about 1/3 the space. I mean what gives? So the kids don't get to run, cause they can't cause their fat, ot the teachers have to discipline the skinny kids more, because they have too much energy. America land of complete stupitity, 'hi, how you doing?' Get fat, conform punk.)
Ok back on track, then my very own Atari 600 which was ok until I got the 800xl so basic.
Eventually puberty and beer and fighting (should've been girls), and no box for almost ten years then, windows 3.1 although I spent more time with dos and the dosshell. Moved through windows, more or less hitting the major changes, never really looking at anything else until this year and: Xandros, ubuntu, fedora, suse.
I run Ubuntu on my laptop and Xp on my desktop for certain hardware stuff.

[Get]

My first contact with computers was about 1993 I think. My father had a computer called Schneider or somthing like that. I don't know what the OS was called, but I remeber that you were able to play golf and fly flight on it ;)

[Christmas]

Windows Me, I used it for almost four years on a AMD K6/2 500 MHz and 64 MB RAM with 8 MB Share Video. I configured it a lot and after all it wasn't a bad OS. I remember quite nostalgic the days blue screens and the reset button were my daily activities... just routine hehe.

[awakatanka]

First contact was at my uncles place with a commodore pet computer with if i'm right cp/m. After that i bought a texas instruments 4a if i remember right and started to type the listing in magazines. Then i switch to a commodore 64 where i programmed in basic and made a BBS. My dad bought a pc 8086 with the first caddy cdroms, i started to try to learn the inside of computers at that time ( my dad wasn't that happy but now he is ;) ).
Then a atari and a amiga and i had more eye for games,and programming i forget the programming part, never started it again. And after that i only had PC's.And now i work in service, i repair hard- and software for home users and little business.

Linux gives me the feeling i had in those early day's, i want to try everything again and learn a lot.

[htinn]

First OS for me was TRS-80, then Atari 800 and C64. Then Atari ST and Amiga. None of those are on the poll. :p

[MenZa]

Windows 3.11.

/me sniffs

I miss you, Commander Keen -- and Home Alone.

[gonçalo]

DOS in 1988, on a 286 if I recall right. Befre that I had a ZX spectrum, but that didn't have a OS, you just fed Steve Vai solos into it and then you played something called Jet Set Willy.

[Rikostan]

My first computer was a TRS-80... I still have a model 100 TRS-80 "laptop" that runs on triple A batteries.

[gingermark]

I haven't read through the whole thread, but what did the old Amstrads run? Around the late 80s I think?

Then Windows 3.11, but of course that wasn't an OS. Still, damned if I can remember which version of DOS was running under it.

[thomashauk]

Oh. An Amiga though I must have been three or four at the time. I still played civ mind you although not very well.

[htinn]

I know people whose first computer OS was Apple ][ or one of those mainframe university jobs. I also know a few people whose first OS was some unrecognizable IBM univac or whatever it's called. This poll really needed an "other" choice.

[John.Michael.Kane]

Frist OS was CP/M (on tape) with a Coleco Adam..

[djsroknrol]

I don't remember what it was called, but I was running a Timex Sinclair ZX-80, and it wrote to a cassette recorder...then I moved up to a VIC-20...boy oh boy...the old days...:)

[AndyCooll]

First OS I actually used was the original "Apple". then had an Amiga and played early versions of Championship Manager on it.

However I placed a tick in the 95/98/ME box as this was the OS on hte first pc I bought.

:cool:

[ndhskp]

The poll did not have my first os. I had the custom Tandy MS-Dos os on a Tandy 1000TL desktop computer. It used some kind of Blue Yellow static GUI on top of a Tandy custom MS-Dos. I remeber that the custom Dos was tied to the bios so that you were not able to use any other os. However it did have a redeeming quality in the music program in that it had a bitchin pacbell or something like that recording. This was in the 80's.

[MethodOne]

The first OS I used was the Apple //e ProDOS. Mostly used educational programs like Number Munchers and PAWS. The games I played are Sabotage, Payday and Oregon Trail. Also did some BASIC stuff.

I used several Mac LCs and CRT iMacs after that.

First one I owned was Windows 98.

[K.Mandla]

Does the "Commodore Basic 2.0" operating system count too? ;-)
That was mine too. Unless you can count the way-cool LED calculators they used to line up in the stereo department at Sears, back in 1976.

Oh, and let's not forget the Atari VCS.

[bluenova]

None of the above.

No Windows 3.1? If Windows 3.1 is not an operating system, then niether is Windows 95/98/ME, they all run on DOS.

N E way, My first o/s was BASIC (if you can call that an o/s as it's a programming lang) for the ZX Spectrum.

[dmacdonald111]

DOS? Now THERE was an operating system. lol

[ComplexNumber]

my first OS is none of the above. the first OS i used and programmed on was the zx81 OS (i don't know if it had a name because most of the OS was the BASIC interpreter). then i had a BBC micro.

[rado_london]

I begun with Windows XP. It was 2004. then i went to slackware and so on.........

[NetMatrix]

I had some old Commodor when I was a kid (the one that saved info on cassett tapes), can't say what model though. The first OS I uses was I guess PC-DOS on an old 8080 (boy was I cooking with grease then... HA).

[ComplexNumber]

I had some old Commodor when I was a kid (the one that saved info on cassett tapes), can't say what model though.
waas it the vic 20 or commodore 64 by any chance?

[NetMatrix]

Could have been. I remember that it connected to my TV.

[uqbar]

Mine was a NCR Unix Sys V running on a 8 MHz Motorola 68K cpu with 256 KB RAM, 20 MB disk and serial terminals (not VT100, of course).
With some friend we rewrote the Tetris and people were asking "How did you manage to insert a floppy there inside?"
The old good days are gone! Sigh!

[Reshin]

Workbench 2.0 on A600 with two floppydrives and no harddrive. *sigh*....those days...

[donovan1983]

The OS on the first computer I owned was PC-DOS 3.3 in 1997, although the first OS I ever used on any computer was Macintosh System 7 in 1996. The computer I had back in 1997 was an IBM PS/2 Model 25 with dual 720K single-sided 3 1/2" floppy drives and MCGA graphics. I would later run PC-DOS 5.0 on it, too, as well as MS Windows 1.04. It was an oldie by then, but I learned a lot on it and had fun using it.

[retrocade]

The Vic 20 not being in the list it was some anchient form of dos.
My first linux kernel was version 1.2.8 (and easier to remember than my first dos version)

[awakatanka]

For who didn't know the URL here you can find youre old glory days and pictures of the systems and info about it. http://www.old-computers.com/news/default.asp

[ComplexNumber]

For who didn't know the URL here you can find youre old glory days and pictures of the systems and info about it. http://www.old-computers.com/news/default.asp i don't remember any of them. maybe you're not from the UK. in the UK, the common ones' that i remember were the atari console(can't rememebr the name, but i remember having such games as space invaders where if i switched off then on again quickly, i could get double shots :D. this was a games console rather than a general purpose computer), then the zx81 was popular. the next wave of systems was the vic 20, apple II (more for businesses and education. i always wanted one fo these), and zx spectrum. shortly after that, it was the commodore 64, acorn atom, and bbc micro. after that, it was the atari st and the amiga. shortly after, it was dos based systems and the apple lisa etc, then windows and macs.
thats the way i remember it anyway.

[oblio]

For who didn't know the URL here you can find youre old glory days and pictures of the systems and info about it. http://www.old-computers.com/news/default.asp

My first computer use was back in 1972 with a Digital PDP8 that was not used anymore - at work. We devised a new interface to connect it to one companymade Flexowriter (with tape punch and reader) and programmed (hardware programmed in the backplanes) it to speed up setting-up of our CMM Measuring Machine which was used to release the manufacturing programming of our CMM Milling Machines....

Don't think that qualified as having an OS........:-)

I started with CP/M86 on a brandnew IBM-PC with DOS 1.0 in 1982. Very expensive hardware at the time; fortunately my employer bought it....!

My first PC was a Tulip with 256KB RAM, two floppy drives and MS-DOS 2.0 (and also included was Windows 1.03). Hercules Green screen 12#.
Putting in a brandnew 20 MB harddisk after a while set me back Hfl. 1800 - which amounted to $ 500 at the time). That was 1985.

Jeez.....time flies !

Regards, Ko

[yabbadabbadont]

The BASIC editor that the TRS-80 Color Computer booted into. Here's a screenshot I found on the net...I got mine in 1981, so I had the version just previous to this one.

Oh the wonders of the cassette tape for program storage... :D (it was bload something something something, wasn't it?)

I had the CoCo 2 in '82 or '83. It was the first version of that series to include *almost* normal keys instead of the "chiclett" keys.

P.S. I don't suppose helping my dad with his IBM 80 column cards for an IBM 360 counts? They only had one key punch machine that printed what was punched onto the top of the cards and dad is a terrible typist. So I would read the cards and write what was punched onto them so that he could check for typos. I've never met anyone else who could read EBCDIC while they were in grade school...

[wpshooter]

Waaaaaaay, before any of those listed.

IBM 80 column punch card system on an IBM system 360.

I hated sorting those old punch cards on the old IBM 029 card sorters.

[graigsmith]

i voted dos, that was my first pc os. before that i had a hand me down commodore 64. that was fun. :)

[awakatanka]

i don't remember any of them. maybe you're not from the UK. in the UK, the common ones' that i remember were the atari console(can't rememebr the name, but i remember having such games as space invaders where if i switched off then on again quickly, i could get double shots :D. this was a games console rather than a general purpose computer), then the zx81 was popular. the next wave of systems was the vic 20, apple II (more for businesses and education. i always wanted one fo these), and zx spectrum. shortly after that, it was the commodore 64, acorn atom, and bbc micro. after that, it was the atari st and the amiga. shortly after, it was dos based systems and the apple lisa etc, then windows and macs.
thats the way i remember it anyway.
You have to look under museum most of what you had must be in there, consule maybe difficult there not many in atm.

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/default.asp?st=1

At left side you can pick year our name etc also pc , consule our pongs ;)

[khr1z]

mine was Windows 95 lol it was so boring back then.

[ComplexNumber]

You have to look under museum most of what you had must be in there, consule maybe difficult there not many in atm.

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/default.asp?st=1

At left side you can pick year our name etc also pc , consule our pongs ;) cheers for that, fella :mrgreen:. now there's a few blasts from the past! i've just had a look at the bbc micro again (first time in about 20 years), the acorn atom....all the computers that i remember from my teenage years. i had a look for the newbrain(this was intended to be the bbc micro, but it got passed up in favour of the actual bbc micro from acorn), but i couldn't find it. i remember talking to the shop assistant about the newbrain, and he was saying that it could display at "significantly" greater resolution than 640x256 with the use of plugin cartridges. i remember thinking "wow! i really want it!". i ended up with a bbc micro instead. not a bad thing, though. it must of had one of the fastest versions of BASIC i ever used in those days.
ahhh the memories 8)

[dmb]

My first was some variation of the apple II. We used a whole bunch of them in school, each one was diferent. It seemed to run some kind of basic, of course i wish i new basic at the time that the schools had them so i could have some fun. Anyway, they only had monochrome monitors, and no hds, you booted everything from a floppy. Oh yeh, the REAL floppies disk, the ones you could bend.

We eventually moved onto apple IIGs, which was fun. Then, they somehow networked the apple IIGs together in a lab, and had a whole ton of games/apps we could chose from. I remember we just pushed the letter, and the program would load, just as if it was on a floppy. Anyone know exactly what this was? I didn't even know apple II were able to be networked.

[enopepsoo]

I voted dos 3.3, even though it wasn't. Chronologically this was the closest. Really the first computer I used was a TI 99. After this I used dos a bit on one of the original compaq "portable pcs" then a 386 (which was my real start) with dos 5.something.
sorry for the erreneous vote, maffs!

[enopepsoo]

my first OS was difference engine 2.
:P

[Lunixfanboy]

First OS==TRS-DOS on a TRS-80 Model 1. Set me back 800 USD in 1977. Before that, best thing I had was an HP-65 Programmable which used mag strips that help up to 256 CHARACTERS of code-YeeHAH! That fellow set me back 900 USD in 74.

[confused57]

Paid approx. $1200 back in 1993 for a Gateway running win3.11, 512 mb hd, 4 mb ram, 33 mhz processor, really top of the line back then...my how times have changed. Upgraded to 8 mb of ram, so the system would be blazingly fast.
Bought a local computer shop build in 2000 with win98SE, 500 Mhz, 128 mb ram, 18 Gb hd and finally got on the internet, dialup of course...really miss dialup...if you believe, that I have some oceanfront property in Kansas for sale.
Got a Dell Dimension 4550 in 2002, switched to broadband...only way to go.

Selected up to Dos 6.2 in the poll, since wasn't choice for 3.11.

[Arktis]

It had to have been mac OS 6.something and then into version 7 shortly thereafter. But if I was to say what my family owned first it would have to be Windows 3.11, which came bundled with Navigator (not the browser, the interface). Anyone remember navigator? That thing was for total idiots. :mrgreen:

We also had a separate really super outdated computer lab at school which had old dos machines that took the REAL floppy disks. You, know, the large *** kind you can literally bend without any trouble.

[Morgon123]

Workbench 3.1 -> Windows 3.1/DOS -> Win95 -> Win98 -> Win XP -> Mandrake 9(very briefly) -> Red Hat 4(?) -> Win XP -> Ubuntu Breezy (and nothing else :))

[3rdalbum]

I started with an Atari ST running GEM TOS. Then I got a Mac running System 6. Continued until OS 9.1, then switched to Ubuntu.

[Sushi]

Whatever OS ran on C64 ==> Whatever OS ran on C128 ==> AmigaOS ==> DOS (5 & 6 IIRC) ==> DR-DOS ==> Win95 ==> Win98 ==> WinME ==> Win98 ==> Win2K ==> Linux

[takayuki]

HA! I'm not the only one! The VIC-20 and the oh so lovely TRASH-80.... those two would be my "first" OS experiences...

me too!

i took a computer class that had the hole-punch-card-reader-thing (tech term) to store data. archaic.

first real computer i owned was an ibm xt clone with dos. norton commander, baby! monochrome monitor! i was excited because it used the new 3.5'' floppies.

then mac os 7.5.3 - 10.3.9, and now ubuntu.

<strokes chin, wistfully stares into space...>

[mfarquhar]

mine was probably "Windows 3.1" it seemed really fast when i was 6 playing klotski that was a fun game, at least for me;) .

[zachtib]

Ibm Os/2

edit: why can't i capitalize that?

[wrtrdood]

I started out with Clipper Unix (a SystemV flavor from Intergraph) but right about the same time I started fiddling with CP/M. You left out AmigaDos, also a great OS which I used a couple of years later. Yes... that means I've been banging keys since the early '80s. My very first start was on an Ohio Scientific box that had an internal BASIC interpreter but not much of an OS to speak of.

[paul cooke]

Just curious as to what peoples' first OS was; if you want, post the approximate year you started using computers.

cut my teeth programming in Fortran way back in 75 on the Uni machine... had to submit programs on punched cards for running overnight... First personal machine was the Science Of Cambridge MK14... (a whopping 256 bytes of RAM!!!) then got a ZX80 followed by ZX81 (both in kit form, both 1kilobyte of Ram (although I hacked my ZX81 to take 4K)), ZX Spectrum 16K... gosh I didn't have the funds for the 48K version... Next came a Sinclair QL... note any theme here?

After that, things fell down as Sir Clive failed to release anything... got a secondhand old Amstrad PC1512, hogged out the ram myself to 640K and stuck a 32Meg hard card into it... there was oodles of room for programs on that.

managed to stick with that for several years until had to upgrade to use win3.1... had a 486 sx 2 50 for that with 4Meg ram... cost me an arm and a leg (£1400 in 1994 (UK prices have always been a rip-off))

Every machine after that has been self built. Had win98se OEM for a while and now am exclusively Linux (apart from a vmware image of win98se) since 2001 (first dabbled in Linux back in 1999)

[Monster_user]

Ibm Os/2

edit: why can't i capitalize that?

Because you didn't have enough in your post. There is an automatic "YELLING!!!" detector. It makes sure that there are no all capital posts. Just add a few words, before IBM OS/2, and you will be able to capitalize it.

I started with a TRS:80, when my Dad got his Packard Bell 486. It had Windows 3, and Jurassic Park!
I really started with the PB:486, since I could never get the TRS:80 to do more than print "hello", or turn the keyboard into a "Midi" piano.

I enjoyed using MS:Paint, untill I found Photoshop 3, and The Gimp.

[mostwanted]

Started out with whatever version of MS-DOS was available when Windows 3.11 was out. I had Windows as well, but back then it was completely rubbage and unusable for running DOS apps.

[RavenOfOdin]

The Midnight Commander-like interface of the Tandy 1000.

I didn't know what to put down in the poll so I just clicked "MS DOS (up to 3.3)"

[Resurrection]

Well, the first one I ever really used at home was MS-DOS, but I had experience as a real little kid in front of a Commodore 64 (that was a computer made into a keyboard and you had to plug it into the TV set as a monitor). I also first started using a computer for real "work" by programming in BASIC and playing Oregon Trail on an Apple IIe machine.

How cool was "The Oregon Trail" when I was like 7? Man that was the best game ever.

That and 5.25" floppy discs..........

http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:0tZNmJN41Z7aqM:www.dpts.co.uk/media/images/media/5_dshd.jpg

[RavenOfOdin]

(sorry for the off topic post) Anyone remember Tank Wars?

[ubuntu_demon]

You forgot the "other OS" option.

I don't know the name of my first OS but it was a commodore 64 computer and I got it around 1990. I think got my first pc (386) in 1992 with MS DOS 5.0.

[pedwards]

Where's the love for the mac's,
grade school was full of Apple II's and my first personal one was a macintosh

[Rhapsody]

MS-DOS 6.2, with Windows for Workgroups 3.11 providing the pretty face. The PC was supposed to come with Windows 95, but it didn't. We had to pay extra for that. Things never really recovered for the old 486 after that...

[Seaman]

My very first computer I used had Mac OS 8.6, tough my first own computer had Mac OS 7.1 which I got later. I must have been about five or six years old then, about 1994-1995. I remember that I used my dad's Macintosh Classic II as well, but I can not really remember if it were before or after, so I might have used it even earlier then 1995.

Those old times, I felt poor for the Windows users, today I would rather use Windows then Mac OS Classic. However, except Linux I see Mac OS X as my primary OS.

[gabbman]

Well although dos was installed I never really considered my Commadore Vic 20 an operating system, more of a place to plug in those 8 track looking game cartridges.

When I bought my first i286 with the 1200 mb hard drive and 5 1/2 inch floppy and the onboard 640kb of mem, I installed GeoWorks (http://www.guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/gwe2). Version 1.2 was all that my box could handle as the Ensemble V2 required at least 1000kbs of ram. I used GeoWorks until Win95 was released, and was playing with linux installs within a year or two after that, Red Hat 5 I believe it was with all the neat little bomb icon thingy's in the file folders. :)

[jmcgough]

Whatever ran the Timex/Sinclair computer.

[Mustard]

My first system was an ATARI ST, which was a bit disappointing. I jealously watched those commodore 64 systems and all the great games they had. Eventually I got myself a Commodore 128. I did have a look at GEOS on C64, but never really used it extensively. None of these have any real operating system to speak of, so I guess my first OS was the Amiga workbench. I was an avid Amiga user for quite some time. From Amiga I moved to Win95, then to win98/win98SE. I got stuck on win98 for quite some time, although I used XP a lot on my brothers system. Eventually the age of win98SE as an operating system became frustrating and my search for affordable alternatives brought me to the Ubuntu world. I still have win98SE on a spare partition for running games.

[rkoep]

I started using a computer in the days windows '95 started to become the standard for Windows machines, I used that because Dos was just too difficult for a four year old. It did help me to learn my English a lot faster than non-computing classmates (I live in Holland). Right now, I'm not so satisfied with Windows anymore, so as soon as I've got the money I'll switch to a Mac, until then im very happy with Ubuntu.

[bigken]

its was on an amega 1200 some form of dos christ all floopy swapping lol :mrgreen:

[phorque]

I'm assuming CP/M because we had an Apple sometime in the late 80s. We then moved through several DOS versions and even Windows 3.1... I also remember programming silly drawing things for the Turtle on the Acorn machines in primary school.

I really wish I could see exactly what I used to use... must ask my father sometime.

[calx]

Amiga OS :D

[Genican1]

very first system was something from IBM. My grandfather worked for them, so he had one of their computers. all I remember is a game where a dragon ate me. elementary school was all apple IIe's, but the first system i knew anything about was windows 95

[Stew2]

Commodore basic on a Vic-20 that I scrimped and saved to buy. Not really sure if that qualifies as an operating system. Twas quite revolutionary in its day ;) . Spent lots of time typing peeks and pokes into that thing (whatever the heck that meant :) )

[prismatic7]

My first computer was one of these:

http://www.canopus22.demon.co.uk/comp/acorn/BBC24A-BeebMission.jpg

oh, yeahhh - mine too! then an Acorn Archimedes 310, an A3000 and finally a Risc PC (which I still have in a cupboard...)

[sudomania4]

my first computer was an amiga, so what OS is that?

[bruce89]

Where's Atari Tos?

[ronlybonly]

Where is Windows 3.1/3.11?

[tseliot]

my first computer was an amiga, so what OS is that?
Workbench

[Minyaliel]

Win-3.11 (you forgot that on the poll, by the way). I was probably four years old and playing "Prince of Persia" was one of my favourite things to make time go when I had to go to my mom's office with her :P

[chadk]

WorkBench 1.2
C64 OS whatever that was... I remember WorkBench most though.

Yep, WorkBench. Viva Amiga or whatever. -- I actually worked for Gail Wellington once. I didn't even know she used to be involved with my favorite system of all time. huh.

[lavinog]

To use Windows pre 95 you had to have dos -> windows wasn't the operating system.
My first would have to be a apple iie, but i had a texas instrument cartridge based machine that you could boot into BASIC.
Then we got a 286 with PC-DOS 3.3 (it could of been 3.1 at first). The computer had a video card with a vga and a cga connector (or was it ega)...anyway, my father hooked up the apple joystick to the cga connector because it fit and screwed up the card. All vga based games had a funky color pallet until i figured if i plugged the joystick back in and move it to a certain position and tie it with a rubberband everything would be fine.

[caldevil]

I guess not many of us have used linux to start with. But I started with Red Hat Linux 6 or something in 1998 in my college. Before that I never even touched a computer keyboard. I still remember the time when the system admin of my college lab asked me to type the password twice and I couldn't do it right just because I was so unfamiliar with the keyboard :D

Anyone else in the same boat as me?

[Ob1]

I started with Windows 95

[siimo]

my order so far:
Win 3.11
Win 95C
Mac OS 9.x (at high school)
Win XP
Linux

[croak77]

Started with:
Apple IIGS

Such a sweet computer. Thank god my Dad was a nerd.

[Jucato]

First time I remember using a computer was when I was 12 (around 1995) in my Mom's office. Some of them were still using those green monitors. But others had monochrome displays. First software I ever used (aside from MS-DOS) was AshtonTate's dBase IV. :p Then I moved to using QBasic and got quite familiar with MS-DOS.

First computer our family ever owned had Windows 3.1. We obviously skipped Windows 3.0. Then onto Windows 95, to 98, skipped both 2000 and ME, then XP.

Only started using Linux last December. :D

[mcduck]

I started in 1988 with Commodore PC-20/III with a 7.16MHz Intel 8088 CPU, 640Kb RAM and a 20MB HDD, running DOS 4 (later I upgraded to DOS 6)

At this point I should not that at that time I was 8 years old and I didn't understand english at all. Still I managed to learn my way around command line, and that's why I find it funny when people complain that "CLI is too hard and far beyond what normal people can learn".. If 8-year old kid who doesn't even understand the language can learn it, it can't be too hard for an adult.. ;)

[Simian]

Sinclair ZX Spectrum was my first. But That was nothing compared to my BBC Micro 32K!!!

[Sushi]

What is this, a forum for young whippersnappers :)?

I started with C64 in 1984 (or so). The old version. The OS of C64 was KERNAL (IIRC). Then I moved to Commodore C128 few years later, and few years later I moved to Commodore Amiga 500, running AmigaOS (don't remember the version). After that came my first "PC" (33Mhz 386 IIRC), that ran DOS5.0. From there I moved to 80Mhz 486, 450Mhz Celeron, 900Mhz Duron and my current machine: 2.2Ghz Athlon64. The OS'es of my PC's went from DOS 5.0 to DOS 6.22 and Win3.11 (I did run DR-DOS at some point), to Windows98, Linux & Windows 2000, and that's where I am today (although I hardly touch Windows anymore).

[dada1958]

I started with a Mac LC II with System 7.1 on it.

[bluenova]

Ok,

A ZX Spectrum with BASIC

An Amstrad (running what ever Amstrad ran) 1st one had a green screen, 2nd had a gray screen.

Windows 3.11
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows ME (with a bit of Red Hat)
Windows XP

Fedora Core 4
Ubuntu 5.10
Ubuntu 6.06

[Klaidas]

Started with Windows 98
Then saw a bit of Windows 95 at school - never really used that
Then Windows XP - still using
Then Linux - still using too :)

[patrick295767]

I started programing at 12 with CP/M !!!

Someone knows or had experienced ? :-):-):-)

[azazel-]

I think it's pretty safe to assume, what with their being practically zero OEMs selling systems with linux pre-installed, and with almost no way of getting access to linux without some sort of internet connection, which requires a pre-existing OS, that virtually everyone here didn't have a linux machine as their first computer.

[matthew]

I started in 1982 with the TRS-80 Color Computer (I) that booted into a BASIC/DOS combo. It had 4K of RAM and a cassette drive for storage. I remember upgrading to 32K and a floppy drive and thinking I was in heaven!

[oyvindaa]

My first computer was a 586 100Mhz AST Advantage! with 24mb RAM, 840mb HDD and Windows 95.

Those really were the days, I remember I was so proud of my new computer, hehe.

[Christmas]

I started with Windows Me, it came with my first computer. Now I wish that it was Linux the first time, but I know back then I'd uninstall it and put Windows just for games. Well my actually first computer was a Cobra but I don't know what SO had that. It was really ancient, but on that I liked the Basic programming language.

[vertigo]

Started out with the Comodore Vic-20 then on to the C16+4, next came a 386 running win3.11, then switched up to a pI 75mhz win 95, win 98, winxp, then several different linux distros on my main rig till I settled on Ubuntu.

I miss the old Vic20 it had some excellent games (i was 12 at the time), unfortunately I managed to blow it up, nice little pop and the pretty smoke out of the back of it.

[vertigo]

double post sorry

[John.Michael.Kane]

Frist computer was an ColecoVision ADAM running CP/M (on tape) Second was a Commodore 64. redhat 5.1 was my frist try at linux.

[mips]

Apple IIe clone in -1986
Commodore Amiga 500 -1988
Commodore Amiga 1200 -1993
PC AMD k6 something -1998
PC AMD based up til present

My best & fondest memories were of the Amiga's =D> , they were simply lightyears ahead of any competitor.

Been using linux since Ubuntu Hoary days.