My Computing History - Part 5

Part 5 - our first Windows 95 PC

So after the world of home microcomputers and consoles, we finally got our first family PC running Windows 95, and boy, this was quite a step up specwise, but was it all that? 

Lets take a look .......

Specifications

Our first PC was a Packard Bell thing, it was actually alright and rather reliable, but, spec wise it wasn't all that, this is what we had (and keep in mind, this was late 1997 when we got this)

• Pentium 1 CPU @ 133 Mhz

• 16MB RAM

• 2 GB HDD

• 8x CD-ROM

• on-board SiS graphics (and this was the big down point)

• "Aztec" Sound Card

• 14.4kbps Modem

• a pair of rather crappy stereo speakers

• a nice 14" CRT monitor, which looked rather cool

Using Windows 95

Windows 95 was a huge step up in PC based GUIs for me. I was used to Amiga Workbench which always felt considerably better than that crappy Windows 3.11 stuff (I mean "Program Manager", what's all that about?)

Finally the PC got a UI that was usable!

This was also the first time I experience "The Internet" at home, although, we didn't get Internet access for at least another year - yeah, back then, not everyone was online.

For word processing, I was able to bring across the Seikosha 1900+ 9-pin, dot matrix, printer that I'd been using on my Amiga 500 Plus, and Windows 95 just recognised that thing straight out of the box, which was handy.

But what about the games?

To begin with, a family friend let us borrow a couple of games that I really enjoyed at the time, well, one more than the other, but it was a decent experience all round. Admittedly, most of the games we had were already old by the time I had them - PC games were expensive, or, my machine couldn't run them.

Worms

This got so much play, not just by me, but by the whole family - we found this an absolute hoot - we played this to death and had such a laugh. I also really like the FMV intro at the start, although, it's aged kinda badly these days, but it was the style at the time.

Dark Reign

This was a pretty neat RTS game, but I'm not really in to these sorts of games, but I did spend quite a bit of time with this to try and get in to the genre. Looking back now, I can't remember at all how to play this, 

First games I bought for the PC

So I did purchase a couple of games for the PC, both of which are old classics

Final Doom

Well it's obvious a version of Doom would make it's way on here, and Final Doom was excellent, with two complete sets of maps, brinigng a lot more fun

Epic Pinball

Another game we played as a family and I proper enjoyed. This was quite the upgrade from Pinball Dreams on the Amiga which we also played quite a bit. What I like about this one is that anyone can play it really, you don't have to be a "proper gamer" (whatever that means), it's just a bit of fun.

So what else did you use the PC for?

I did a lot of school work (mostly Microsoft Word) and some Internet usage (once we got it) - however, I really got into old MS-DOS games, and then, emulation of other computers and consoles, especially C64, Speccy and Amstrad CPC which this machine coud handle perfectly. I did then investigate the world of Amiga emulation too, but it was a bit shakey back then.

I also did a lot of learning about Windows, and upgraded to Windows 98, and even tried out Windows NT. I upgraded the hard disk and RAM on the machine, and I even purchased a Diamond Rio MP3 player and got in to digital music. Eventually I got a CD-Writer and started burning my own CDs.

What's next?

Well, it's probably going to be the Playstation, as that was the next big thing we got, but, I also have a real shock and surprise for you as well, as I acquired something else during this time.