I've owned a number of personal computers since being introduced to the utility of mainframes in the early 1980's. Here are some of the ones I've experienced.
The Commodore VIC 20 was the first computer I owned. It connected to our family TV, and used a specialized tape recorder to store programs. I spent a lot of time entering code from enthusiast magazines to create programs on this computer. Needless to say, there was lots of competition for that screen!
My folks bought a Commodore 64 a few years later, and began keeping spreadsheets of financial information on the newer iteration of the computer. By this time, Commodore had developed a 5 ΒΌ" floppy drive unit, and information storage became much easier. Boxed software became the norm around the house, and I remember many sequels of Zork being played on the Commodore 64.
Next came an Amstrad PPC 640. This IBM compatible portable computer got me through Ryerson Polytechnical school, where I completed my PHI training. The dual floppy drive unit with a 640 x 480 four 'colour' screen enabled me to complete all my reports, and take a floppy disk to the computer room at the college to print them out for handing in the instructors. This was a major advantage over spending time at the computer room itself battling for space at a keyboard. This began my real interest in the use of computers for work and other interests. This computer also introduced me to BBSes. There were few local Bulletin Boards available to me at that time, and all were a direct call to the owner's phone number. Info and programs could be downloaded, and managed while disconnected, then uploaded once complete. Network games played in similar fashion - I'd make my move, then wait 24 hours for the other players to make theirs. It was faster than playing chess by mail, but not by much!
Once settled post schooling, and actually earning a regular income, a series of generic PC's came through my hands. Over the years I used a number of operating systems on these computers: MS DOS, Windows 3, then 3.1, followed by 95, 98, 2000, and ME. Windows ME was so troublesome, that I switched away from the platform completely, and used IBM OS/2 for quite a number of years. I returned to Windows XP as OS/2 became a legacy product, and was not able to properly manage much of the web content being presented on th internet. It was the operating system I most enjoyed. Along the way I dabbled in a number of flavours of Linux, and spent some time with Ubuntu, but it was never a major player in my day-to day computing.
Time came for an upgrade, and laptops were becoming the new place to be. I acquired a new-to-me Dell Laptop from DFS Direct - Dell's lease return arm. Included with this was a docking station allowing me to easily connect the laptop to a regular keyboard and monitor. This was still the age of CRT monitors, so it was a pretty robust dock! This computer brought me fully back to the Windows world, as it came preinstalled with XP. It's downfall though was the battery technology - not the best when new, and got worse as the batteries slowly cooked as they sat on the charger.
The disappointment of the usefulness of the laptop resulted in it being replaced by another tower in 2006. This unit also came with Windows XP preinstalled. My previous experience with Windows upgrades had given me great caution, and the only changes made to this computer over the years was an upgrade to the memory, and a new ethernet card when I added a NAS to my home network. Though this computer now has Windows 8.1 installed, it is being used solely as a test bed for backup software, and a little learning about more recent versions of Windows. It was replaced by a MacBook Pro in 2011. This also was my first computer with an LCD display! What a joy to move to a lightweight monitor, and from a 17 inch display to a 21 inch; Those seemed SO large at the time.
Future article: current computer.