http://www.old-computers.com/museum/com ... =1011&st=1
This wasn't the first computer I ever used (that one was a year or so earlier and was even cruder. And I'm sure it was this one: http://www.old-computers.com/museum/com ... st=1&c=600 ). Like the Amiga, you inserted a floppy disk just to boot it and teachers wheeled it out as an occasional reward to play Granny's Garden, or that interesting questionnaire tree program I was always amazed by. The slightly non-standard IBM compatible must have had some merits - my college still used one or two machines by the end of the '90s. (EDIT: Albeit the later Pentium-class upgrade.) I first saw that around 6 and thought nothing could possibly top it if the school decided to use it.
Over twice that age later at big school, I discovered the BBC BASIC chip and had hours of fun saving little games and having all the PCs in a room play the same improv jingle at once. I would like to have known how to transfer disk programs from a real BBC collection we had there onto the PC network. They had disks and tapes of real crackers, such as Pole Position and Yes Prime Minister.
I still remember this warmly, despite our computer teacher being a blubbery overbearing POS.
Well that's that seen again after about 15 years, especially the RM Link which I haven't clapped eyes on for nearly 30. I could look out for an old machine but I don't think it would ever earn its keep past nostalgia: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE- ... 1030wt_825
I can still Ebay bid on an old mouse though: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RM-Nimbus-Mou ... 500wt_1076
