craigb Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 4 hours ago, Bapu said: Pretty much the same for me. Although by that time I was already programming in Fortran, Cobol and Basic on the HP-3000 Series III "mini computer" at work. What? No PL1 Ed? ? Actually, that was only on IBM machines (we had an IBM mini-mainframe in college named Kermit). PL1 was really just a combination Fortran and COBOL. In addition to the ones you listed, we had to learn Assembler, C and RPG3 too! More languages came along once I was working at a defense contractor (CSC) back in 1984 (ADA, Lisp, DCL, etc.)... The guidance system for the Tomahawk cruise missiles was written in... *Oops!* I'm still not allowed to tell, sorry! ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 5 minutes ago, craigb said: What? No PL1 Ed? ? Actually, that was only on IBM machines (we had an IBM mini-mainframe in college named Kermit). PL1 was really just a combination Fortran and COBOL. In addition to the ones you listed, we had to learn Assembler, C and RPG3 too! More languages came along once I was working at a defense contractor (CSC) back in 1984 (ADA, Lisp, DCL, etc.)... The guidance system for the Tomahawk cruise missiles was written in... *Oops!* I'm still not allowed to tell, sorry! ? To me that all just sounds like a combination of COBOL and LKS. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitflipper Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 My first personal computer was an RCA COSMAC VIP. Came with 2KB of RAM (had to design and build my own circuit board to bring it up to 8Kb), no operating system, no keyboard (all data entry via a hex keypad), using audio cassettes for storage. My first serious program was a recreation of Space Invaders, which I played with a home-made controller made from Radio Shack parts. In 1984 I got my first real job in the industry, where they foolishly handed me a roomful of million-dollar superminis to play with. It was there that I learned to code in just about every programming language in existence at the time, ultimately settling on C as my native tongue because it ported perfectly to my Apple ][. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bapu Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 56 minutes ago, craigb said: What? No PL1 Ed? HP 3000s had a proprietary language called SPL (System Programming Language, novel huh?). I played with that a little (modified some simple things, never a new program). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandolin Picker Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Started with a Commodore 64 then upgraded to a Commodore 128 (like the one below). It was a really nice computer. Used it until I did a home-built 486DX-33 (had to have the math chip) with 8MB of RAM and 330MB hard drive. About a year later bought the 'media upgrade kit' that had a CD-ROM, a sound card and a bunch of CDs with games that no body ever played!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Fogle Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 The Coleco Adam had a variable keyboard feel. Some thought that compared favorably with the feel of the IBM Selectric keyboard. It had a bladder that could expand or contract against a plate to change the feel. There was an air valve to relieve bladder pressure and an air bulb to increase pressure; very clever. It also had the same sound chip used in the Texas Instrument 99/4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zo Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 (edited) Preety sure nobody knows my first one ! https://www.google.fr/search?q=philips+vg5000&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=fr-fr&client=safari#imgrc=fadvL_smHXb12M Edited March 19, 2021 by Zo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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