Subj : Re: My First Computers
To   : Mike Dippel
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Tue Mar 16 2021 01:21 pm

Mike,

 MD> My first PC was a Packard Bell 286 with a very slow modem.  I purchased
 MD> Wildcat DOS version from Mustang Software and had 4 phone lines
 MD> connected to it. I was able to share my internet connection because one
 MD> of the phone lines was on an auto-dialer to an internet provider.

  My first PC was a Radio Shack TRS-80 MC-10 Micro Color Computer, with 
the 16K RAM expansion pack. Programs were loaded and saved via cassette
tape, and I had a 300 baud modem that you flipped the switch to ANSWER
or ORIGINATE (the latter if calling a BBS, CompuServe, etc.) once you had
loaded the software, then manually dialed the phone number. You'd "hang
up" once you connected. I had a portable TV as a monitor.

  The next computer was a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 (then 102) laptop.
I found 2 programs in the Model 100 Special Interest Group when I was on
CompuServe, that let you run a BBS on the Model 100...but you could only
run it at one baud rate (I chose 1200 baud). I no longer have those two
computers, but the program is on the files area on my BBS.

  For my birthday 29 years ago in 1992, a friend of my brother's (I 
originally didn't know him) was an employee at Arkansas Children's 
Hospital in Little Rock. They were getting rid of their old computers,
so I got it as a present. It was an 8088 XT, with a monochrome green
monitor (you could see the burn in), with DOS 3.2, a mouse, a 3.5"
and a 5.25" floppy drive, with 640K of RAM, and a 20 Mb hard drive.
That was the birthplace of The Thunderbolt BBS, running GT Power 15
on dial-up.

 MD> We've come along way since then!

  Every time I look at the bulletin of the history of the BBS, it
brings back a lot of memories.

Daryl

.... I finally got 8 hours of sleep. It took 3 days, but whatever...
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