As an influence from friends, again, I got to use a PC Compatible [at the time, they were still referred as “Compatibles” because IBM was still building and selling PCs]. This one, in particular, was a Tandy 1000 x386 model. I didn’t have a CD-ROM but it had dual 5.25” floppy drives. I don’t think this one had a 3.5” drive, either. I am pretty sure, no I know it had a small hard drive. It might have been massive at the time, but our phones and thumb drives have more storage than hard drives during this era.
The Tandy 1000 (Radio Shack)
Well, now I wanted a PC because my Apple //c was getting long in the tooth and I really liked the GUI (graphical user interface) of Windows, Macintosh, and Apple IIGS. The only machines that were affordable for us was the PC, rather a compatible. For some reason, I was attracted to a company in South Dakota called Gateway 2000. Maybe it was the cow-spotted box or the design of the PC’s themselves. After convincing my Dad that I NEEDED one (along with help from his friend Mark, who also had a Gateway 2000 PC), he ordered one. Yes, Gateway was one of the first BTO (built to order) mail order PC companies. They had no presence in stores (along with Dell), but relied on magazine advertising (PC Mag, Computer Shopper, etc) for business. My Dad also thought he was going to do online card trading so he allowed me to have a modem installed. 56K, baby! That is 56kb for you youngsters. Here is is what one looks like (I have a picture with me with my G2K but it is on a picture CD in my attic):
Gateway 2000 4SX-33
This was not the top of the line but on the lower end, but it was a freaking PC. It had a Intel i486sx/33 CPU, 4MB RAM (yes, megabytes), a 100MB hard drive (I think), a 3.5” FDD and a 5.25” FDD, and one empty bay for something like, oh a CD-ROM. It had a couple of expansion slots, one of which had the modem in it. It did not have a sound card but ti did have a discrete graphics card because there were no IGPUs, yet. I think it was an STB card. I fail to remember the chipset…. It basically got pixels on the screen. It was not anything more special than that.
Upgrades I did to this Gateway system:
- Upgraded the RAM to 8MB from 4MB.
- Installed a “Multimedia” upgrade kit that included: a Gateway 2000 branded SoundBlanster compatible sound card, a CD-ROM, and a binder full of CD-based software.
- Installed a larger 250MB HDD from the stock 100MB (I think…)
- I upgraded the CPU to a DX2/66 using an Intel Overdrive CPU
- Then, I upgraded that to a DX4/100 using an Intel Overdrive CPU.
Check this out… I still have the i496SX/33 and the DX2/66. The DX4/100 was in the machine when we sold it … but time capsule time.
Top of CPU
Intel used to PGA but now they use LGA for their CPUs.
I was already upgrading PCs myself. It wound up looking quite like the picture above. There were no digital cameras at the time, so I got my film developed onto paper and on Kodak Picture CD. I could import pictures from the CD onto the PC. I was on a multitude of BBS and met quite a few locals on them. The Internet had been invented but only students on college campuses were using them at the time. Later, I would get on the internet for the first time on this computer. I will do separate blog post on Internet.
Well, you always upgrade and I have had a long line of PC’s until I could afford my first Macintosh.
Here are just a few:
- Gateway 2000 P5-133, which was in a tower configuration with a Pentium at 133MHz, 500MB HDD, built-in CD-ROM and sound card. 8MB RAM and graphics card. I don’t remember some of the specs, but it had a 15” monitor included in the package. At the time, this was $1500 bucks. I am sure that is $3000 in today’s money. And if a PC casts more than a few hundred, people freak out. That’s how prices have come down.
- Compaq Presario. This had an AMD K6-400, which was their version of a Pentium II (I think…). Cyrix and AMD were making competing chips to Intel. CD-ROM, decent amount of RAM, etc.
- Dell Inspiron Desktop. You know, I am not even sure what was in it. I think it was Pentium IV. I know I never had a Pentium II or Pentium III.
The Dell was my last desktop PC until the gaming PC that I have now. I started buying Macs in around 2006 when Apple switched from PowerPC to Intel. My MacBook was also my first laptop. I haven’t owned a proper PC laptop until I took possession of my mother’s Dell. I had an ASUS transformer that I sold to my niece. That was more of a table than a laptop. My wife had a Dell for a while that she needed for work, but that really wasn’t mine.
Up next is my history with Apple Macintosh.