My first exposure to ANYTHING Personal Computers was MS-DOS 3.x (I think) and Lotus 1-2-3 ver 1.0...first spreadsheet software on the market for PC, I believe (Circa 1984-85). My previous experience from 1981-1983 was mainframe systems with terminals...had a tape drum and those big-ass 12" floppy disks.

Remember the first 82 lb. "portable" computer by Compaq? I think that's how I got my hernia...

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my first IBM DOS machine, my first software packages were WordPerfect for DOS

WordPerfect was a HUGE advancement...
I can remember writing law school briefs and papers on MultiMate.

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Originally posted by furlough:
So many references to the TRS-80 warms the cockles of my black heart.

I remember being at a meeting of the San Diego Computer Society in the auditorium at Grossmont Junior College when it was announced that a member had sold his Z-80 computer design to Radio Shack. Everyone stood and cheered. I was out of law school then, so it may have been in 1976 or so. I bought a very early Apple II, 16 k memory, built in BASIC, cassette tape storage. The floppies were introduced later. I still have it.

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Originally posted by erj_pilot:
Lotus 1-2-3 ver 1.0...first spreadsheet software on the market for PC, I believe (Circa 1984-85).

VisiCalc as ported to DOS predates the introduction of Lotus.

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Originally posted by chellim1:

WordPerfect was a HUGE advancement...
I can remember writing law school briefs and papers on MultiMate.

WP still is considered the gold standard for law offices.

After decades of being loyal to WordPerfect (before and after the Corel take over), I recently migrated from my old version X4 to LibreOffice v6.1.2. Since I have no real need for database management at this stage of my life, I can opt out of needing Java to support aspects of that part of the suite. I've been quite impressed with LibreOffice.

And FWIW LibreOffice development teams are working to have a Java free version in the future. https://ask.libreoffice.org/en...-no-longer-use-java/

WordStar for word processing, Lotus 123 for spreadsheet and dbase II for database work. Tandy 1000 with one two 360K Floppy Drives, no hard drive. 15" color monitor with DWP 210 daisy wheel printer.

I was mnfr's Rep for coated fabrics.

Had a handbook for dbaseii that had sample programming illustration that I used to teach myself how to write a program for lead management.

Also had a funny little Tandy book size computer that hat a built in modem I believe for telephone communication.

Crazy to think back to those slow computers.

My first personal computer was a TI "luggable" (46 pounds) machine. I learned to write BASIC on it and had a compiler for it (GBASIC, I think). I also ran a modest COBOL compiler on it. I did have a spreadsheet (don't remember what it was called). I used SPFPC as my file editor--it looked just like the SPF I edited with at work. I took the luggable to the shooting range each week to score USPSA matches using a program I'd written in BASIC. Eventually USPSA wrote their own program and mine fell into disuse. That machine has not been turned on since Y2K (but it's still in the garage somewhere).

I was not "into" games (still am not). I wrote COBOL code for hours every day at work and did not do a lot of recreational computer use at home. I was able to sign into work if called with a problem.

Now, if you are interested in the first software I was exposed to, that would go back to my last semester in undergraduate college, when I was learning to program an IBM 650 machine. Besides its intrinsic machine language, we learned to program it in SOAP (Symbolic Optimized Assembly Program) and RUNCIBLE (Revised Unified New Compiler IT Basic Language Extended)--both written by the Computer Science department at Case Tech. RUNCIBLE was kind of a very basic FORTRAN, but very limited in capabilities. In later year in USAF I learned simple programming in COSEAL and JOVIAL (Jules' Own Version of the International Algorithmic Language) on the IBM SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) computers. And in my Masters Degree work in the late 1960s I learned IBM ALC on a System 360 and COBOL on a Honeywell 200. I had additional COBOL training in 1975 via USAF, and programmed on the Honeywell WWMCCS (World Wide Military Command and Control System) computers. When I retired in 1980 I then worked 26 years for Texas Instruments doing COBOL programming on their IBM mainframes. (Some of what I wrote in the early 1980s is still running....)

flashguy

First computer ever was a Pionex with windows 3.1 and 25mhz. Didnt have internet back then.

I was so happy when I was able to get Doom 1 shareware to install and play on it.

Looked just like this one, Turbo button and all. haha

Turbo Pascal running on my IBM PC.

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Originally posted by JALLEN:
I bought a very early Apple II, 16 k memory, built in BASIC, cassette tape storage. The floppies were introduced later. I still have it.

That’s awesome.

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Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:
Writing BASIC code for TRS 80s.

That's where I started. Moved up to a IBM dual floppy with Visicalc.
Mike

I started with an Tandy 8088 right before the 286 came out. I remember WordPerfect and an AOL account.

Palantir and Visi-Calc on a Kaypro.

My abacus and slide rule.

In the modern digital electrically powered type our cable provider offered timesharing on a mainframe called NABU. I learned BASIC that way.
Then a 2 floppy IBM that cost almost as much as a good used car, around $2000 in late 1970s dollars

It was a software suite by spinnaker.
I’m trying to remember the pc utility program; it did move files and such.

Very first program was pc dos and I did edlin.

CPM rather than DOS 2.0 in an Eagle luggable.

I had a simple computer class for 1/2 yr in high school,
that was 1980,

used a very basic computer at work about 15yrs later for internal only email, as well as some other work related functions,


Dad went all high tech and had someone build him a machine in the late 90's, damn thing had a tower that was maybe 2 feet tall, used earthlink to connect via internal modem,

he had no idea how to use it, I have even less of an idea (not used to the internet, we did not have access at work) and used it mostly to play Doom,,


in 2004, when I bought our first computer (late bloomer,, ) we still did not have internet access at work, but did have an extensive intranet for the company,


that cheap gateway , using comcast broad band, had a pirated copy of microsoft office (2003 edition iirc) and that was about it,

8086 and Altus Page Maker.
Lotus 123 for spreadsheets

WordPerfect couldn’t even guess the rev. 3 maybe?

Kermit comm software and a Supra fax modem!

Discounting game programs for my Apple II+ and C64, it would probably be the WordStar suite for CP/M-86 on my NEC APC, the first computer I owned that I used for "real" work.

I also...(ahem)...accumulated compilers for that one, and got a copy of AutoCAD 1.0 among other programs. The NEC was a workhorse and it also came with MS-DOS, but finding software in either CP/M-86 or MS-DOS released on 8" floppies was a real bitch.

Wordstar on 720K floppy for Osborne computer with 4” green screen. Printer was a converted electric typewriter.

My favorite old package was Ami Pro...so sad it lost to excel.

I had the only PC at the bank where my first job was. I used a lot of Lotus123. The secretaries had dedicated word processing machines. My PC had some word processing software on it, but I deliberately didn't learn how to use it, lest I become a de-facto secretary.