What year did you first use a keyboard, mouse, trackball?

[mr_a500]

There have been many threads lately about people getting their "first mechanical keyboard". This seems strange to me because I remember when nearly every keyboard was a mechanical keyboard. (yes, those were the days...)

So, at the risk of demonstrating how old some people here are... let's hear what year you first used a:

1. mechanical computer keyboard
2. rubber dome computer keyboard
3. membrane computer keyboard (i.e. rubber or plastic sheet, no physical keycaps)
4. mouse
5. trackball

[mr_a500]

 

[enoy21]

I couldn't tell you. What I can tell you is that I started on a commodore 64  at age 4 with cassette tapes and true 5.25 floppies.
Then on to 286/386

Probably my first mouse was a p75 when Windows 95 came out. (right before I graduated HS)

[mr_a500]

I couldn't tell you. What I can tell you is that I started on a commodore 64  at age 4 with cassette tapes and true 5.25 floppies.
Then on to 286/386

Probably my first mouse was a p75 when Windows 95 came out. (right before I graduated HS)

Oh come on. According to your avatar, you have a big pulsating brain... and you can't remember?

[kps]

1. ~1977 - Capacitive - Sol 20
2. ? 1994 - Rubber - Apple Keyboard II
3. ~1979 - Membrane - Atari 400
4. ~1983 - Mouse - Apple Lisa
5. ? - Trackball - can't remember
6. ~1985 - Buckling spring - IBM PC
7. ~1984 - Beam spring - IBM 3278

[enoy21]

Oh come on. According to your avatar, you have a big pulsating brain... and you can't remember?

It's too full with other more important stuff.... like.... clouds of boobs  and boobs of clouds... and you know... plates full of boob.

I can say that the first time I consciously bought a mechanical was in Oct of 2011.  Prior to that I used an alps Del 101w unknowingly for a while.


As for the track ball. I think my physics teacher had one in HS that I played with a little.

[mr_a500]

It's too full with other more important stuff.... like.... clouds of boobs  and boobs of clouds... and you know... plates full of boob.

Well, of course. My brain is full of that too.

[alaricljs]

Hmmm, some linear terminal board on a home-built Altair 80 in ~82
IBM model M BS in ~86

No other notable landmarks to remind me of when anything else was...

[mr_a500]

1. ~1977 - Capacitive - Sol 20
2. ? 1994 - Rubber - Apple Keyboard II
3. ~1979 - Membrane - Atari 400
4. ~1983 - Mouse - Apple Lisa
5. ? - Trackball - can't remember
6. ~1985 - Buckling spring - IBM PC
7. ~1984 - Beam spring - IBM 3278

Whoa. You used an Apple Lisa in 1983? Back then, those things were ultra rare and über expensive - especially in Canada.

I like how you added non-existent points 6 and 7. I was going to go into more detail about which switch, but I thought it would turn this thread into a mess of confusion. (...which it probably will anyway, with ripster around)

[kps]

Well, of course. My brain is full of that too.

I require both tactile and audible feedback.

[kps]

Whoa. You used an Apple Lisa in 1983? Back then, those things were ultra rare and über expensive - especially in Canada.

Only for an hour or so, during a high-school visit to UW. Similarly, 1 and 3 were friends'; 2 was a job; and 6 and 7 were UW courses.

[SmallFry]

I haven't been around long enough to use any of the vintage stuff that I now have. So to answer your question, I haven't been a day without a computer since I was born.

[davkol]

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[czarek]

1. 1987-1988 (not sure, I was a 3-4 years old) - Cherry keyboard connected to some German IBM clone
2. 1997 - Optimus Win95 (non existing Polish computer brand), made by Chicony - it was decent keyboard
3. 2001 - Samsung low profile keyboard, worst keyboard ever
4. 1992 - Amiga Mouse
5. 1994 - Alfa data trackball made for Amiga/Atari

[tomten_alle]

There have been many threads lately about people getting their "first mechanical keyboard". This seems strange to me because I remember when nearly every keyboard was a mechanical keyboard. (yes, those were the days...)

So, at the risk of demonstrating how old some people here are... let's hear what year you first used a:

1. mechanical computer keyboard
2. rubber dome computer keyboard
3. membrane computer keyboard (i.e. rubber or plastic sheet, no physical keycaps)
4. mouse
5. trackball

1. 2011
2. 1995
3. -
4. 1995
5. 2003

I find it sad that I have used terrible keyboards almost my entire life. Luckily the rubber dome keyboard I have used the most is a Keytronic Ergoforce.

[IvanIvanovich]

1. Apple 128k / II 84/85
2. probably early/mid 90's on Apple Performa?
3. Atari 400 mid 80's
4. Apple II 84/85
5. arcade games in mid80's, else never as a mouse replacement

[mr_a500]

2. 1985 TRS-80 Color Computer 2 [Rubberdome]

Are you sure the CoCo 2 had rubber dome? I know it sucked badly, so maybe you're right. I had the earlier 1983 version with the "melted keys". Maybe I need to alter my first rubber dome date.

I also had a CoCo 3. It must be the first keyboard ever with a red ESC key. (CoCo 1 and 2 had red Break keys, but they didn't actually say "ESC".)

[demik]

only one i can say for sure is trackball, used my first one yesterday. loving it so far.

[mr_a500]

only one i can say for sure is trackball, used my first one yesterday. loving it so far.

Which one? Ever since I first played Centipede in 1980, I thought trackballs were great. I never liked mice and thought they were a dumb idea.

[demik]

CST L-Trac X, got a pretty sweet deal for it since i believe it's like 150+ USD?

i got used to it pretty quick and felt a little annoyed when i went back to using a regular mouse on my gaming pc.

[mr_a500]

CST L-Trac X, got a pretty sweet deal for it since i believe it's like 150+ USD?

i got used to it pretty quick and felt a little annoyed when i went back to using a regular mouse on my gaming pc.

Ah yes, I have the great grandfather of that, back when they were made by MicroSpeed. (see the discussion in ripster's All About Trackballs wiki)

[jkercado]

My first keyboard was an IBM PCjr chiclet keyboard back in 1984.

[mr_a500]

if I could have done it all over again I would have skipped the 8 bit micros and got my geek on with more advanced mathematics and saved all my pennies and nickles to buy up Apple shares at $5 a pop.

I hear if you get a DeLorean, they're fairly easy to convert into a time machine. Then you can go back in time, invest in Apple, then come back to the future (...so to speak). Eventually, you'll have to go forward to 2015 to stop your kid from screwing up, but don't worry about that now.

[mr_a500]

My first keyboard was an IBM PCjr chiclet keyboard back in 1984.

I pity you.

[Tony]

1986: IBM model M (on a PC), Apple mouse (on a Mac)
1995: trackball

[sawedust]

Compared to everyone, I'm relatively new to the game.  Would love to participate anyway.

Mechanical keyboard - 2011
Rubber dome keyboard - 1993
Membrane keyboard - never
Mouse - 1993
Trackball - mid-2000s or so, can't remember.

[fohat.digs]

1985 First Keyboard (mechanical until about 2003, then rubber domes, back to mechanical 2009 - strictly clicky)
1987 First Mouse (went to left-handed last year, love it, use only lightweight symmetrical mice now)
1994 First Trackball (used it for a couple of years, then gave it up)

Membrane keyboard - ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME ?

[jkercado]

I pity you.

Even then, in all my ignorance, I found it hard to type on. The improved version was so much better! I typed thousands of BASIC code lines on that thing.

[Findecanor]

1. First mechanical: 1988. Commodore 64 (my first computer), IBM XT with first-generation Model F (school)
2. First rubber dome: 1990. Atari 520 STe. My second computer, with one of the worst rubber dome keyboards ever made.
3. First membrane: Never used
4. First mouse: 1990. Atari 520 STe. Bad clunky ball mouse.
5. First trackball: Tried out in 1993. Got my first one in 2011, a TrackMan Marble.

[mr_a500]

I found some pictures of the first mouse I ever bought - for the CoCo 2 (1985?):



(notice the metal ball)

I bought it because advertisements said the mouse, "Allows you to move the cursor anywhere on the screen!" - and I thought that meant I could move the cursor anywhere in BASIC and have full-screen editing (like Atari and C64 had). I was horribly disappointed and took it back, telling them it didn't work. They said it only worked in programs written to support it - and no programs currently supported it. It was just after the Mac hype, so Tandy made a mouse to say "Oh look, we have a mouse too!"... but it was useless.

[mr_a500]

 

[Deverica Wolf]

Keyboard: 1999, WebTV!



:jaw:

[kps]

Only a few still exist, but they're all later Unisys models. There were different versions of keyboards - some had green ALPS, some had black Cherry.

Dang, I'd completely forgot I have one of those (keyboard only — got it in case I ever find an ICON). It has double-shot caps over yellow ALPS, which are complicated, linear, have a short white plate, and upper shell with an LED cutout.

Unfortunately the trackball is missing the ball and one roller.

[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 37521[/ATTACH]

[mr_a500]

Dang, I'd completely forgot I have one of those (keyboard only — got it in case I ever find an ICON). It has double-shot caps over yellow ALPS, which are complicated, linear, have a short white plate, and upper shell with an LED cutout.

Unfortunately the trackball is missing the ball and one roller.

(Attachment Link) 37521[/ATTACH]

Wow, I'm surprised somebody actually has an ICON keyboard... but that's one of those ugly later Unisys ICON II models. I only ever saw the the black key, metal, all-in-one, Burroughs ICON model. By the time they came out with the later models, I was out of school. I read that the last models ditched QNX and became boring MS-DOS compatible, like the rest of the computer industry.

[sam113101]

1. mechanical computer keyboard = 2010
2. rubber dome computer keyboard = 1999 I think, maybe 2000 or even 2001
3. membrane computer keyboard (i.e. rubber or plastic sheet, no physical keycaps) = never used one, not tempted to either (hahaha)
4. mouse = same day as for rubber dome
5. trackball = 2005, not quite sure

[jbluzb]

Mechanical Keyboard - 2011
RubberDome Keyboard - 1998
Mouse - 1998
Trackball - 1999

[TacticalCoder]

I don't remember all the years exactly but...  I had an Atari 600 XL which may or may not have had a mechanical keyboard (I still have it somewhere in a garage, so I could check... Or I could check here on GH, but I'm lazy).  Then I received a slightly older Texas Instruments TI99/4A for a few weeks, from a friend of my parents (this one still looks gorgeous IMO).

Then C64 and although I remember playing with a mouse on an Apple at a relative's home my first mouse was for the C64, which I used with GEOS.

But not all the computers had mechanical keyboards back then : I remember the Z81 and the ZX spectrum (see my avatar) : )

First trackpad I have no idea: probably on a laptop.

[FinancialWar]

some old IBM machine from 1983 ish. Back then no one in China had has access to computer, luckily dad happens to be "programmer" back then for a government printing company that pirate American books. lol.

[insilica]

2012 - Realforce (87U Variable Silent Topre)
2011 - Filco (MJ2 Cherry Brown Ninja)
2000 (I think) - 2011 Microsoft Natural Keyboard (blue rubber multimedia keys)
1993 - 2000 - When I had access? Rubber dome (Amstrad?)
1993 - (I was 9!) some RM rubber dome (if memory serves me right)

[mr_a500]

I don't remember all the years exactly but...  I had an Atari 600 XL which may or may not have had a mechanical keyboard (I still have it somewhere in a garage, so I could check... Or I could check here on GH, but I'm lazy).  Then I received a slightly older Texas Instruments TI99/4A for a few weeks, from a friend of my parents (this one still looks gorgeous IMO).

Then C64 and although I remember playing with a mouse on an Apple at a relative's home my first mouse was for the C64, which I used with GEOS.

The Atari and TI-99/4A are mechanical - both had multiple keyboard versions: ALPS and a strange DEC-like switch. The C64 had the Mitsumi "rubber dome on stick", so technically not mechanical. (but technically, not rubber dome either)

[edada]

3. 1983 - horrible Timex Sinclair 1000 - nearly impossible to type on

There are traces of this thing in my memory !!
I suppose I was just learning to read, the father of a friend had one for few times. Looking at pictures I can't remember if it was the ZX81 or the ZX-Spectrum. All I clearly remember is : "Sinclair", "black with little white keys" and "nearly impossible to type on".

I have better memories of the Macintosh (the first one, not yet the 128k) my father bought when I was 6 or 7. The first evening it was at home, I printed my first infografic work ! Now I think this mouse was a tank.

[PalaDan]

1. October 2011
2. 1995
3. Never, not very interested in trying one from what I'm reading here
4. 1995
5. approx 2000

My dad bought his first PC in 1995, I was 3 at the time.  I remember playing Sim City 2000 a lot, which you had to use MS-DOS to run the executable.

[rvrebel]

I couldn't tell you. What I can tell you is that I started on a commodore 64  at age 4 with cassette tapes and true 5.25 floppies.
Then on to 286/386

I had the same experience too (born in 77). Though we never got the floppy drive for the 64 only the cassette player.

On the 286/386/486 it was various chicony style keyboards. Pc-trac was the first trackball probably when Windows 3.0 came out.

Don't remember the first mouse or dome kb.

Other things I remember was my first modem, 2400 baud bundled with Prodigy. BBS took over for a couple years. Also shopping for a video card to upgrade my super VGA and drooling over the 1MB ram model.

When upgrading to 386 and 486 I had all the old ram sticks. They actually sold Y adapters to put 2 sticks into one slot. Back then our mobo had like 6 slots. I ended up with a tree of ram sticks from stacking the adapters and it actually worked. I don't recall how much total ram it ended up being but probably only like 8MB!

[mr_a500]

Pc-trac was the first trackball probably when Windows 3.0 came out.

Wow, you had a Microspeed (now CST) PC-TRAC when Windows 3.0 came out in 1990? You must have been one of the first people to get one. They were just introduced in 1990.

It's now 22 years later and the design hasn't changed much.

[Forin]

1. 2011
2. 1994. It was chicony keyboard I believe. PC was 486DX - it had 40Mhz. I think it had 256mb hard drive.
3. don't remember but tried one recently - no comments
4. 1994.
5. tried one in primary school - like 10 years ago

[boredgunner]

1. mechanical computer keyboard
2. rubber dome computer keyboard
3. membrane computer keyboard (i.e. rubber or plastic sheet, no physical keycaps)
4. mouse
5. trackball

1. 1997
2. 1997
3. Never?
4. 1997
5. Never?

[Rumudiez]

1. Around '95 on my dad's old Amiga 1000. lost that keyboard :/
2. Rubber domes have (sadly) been a part of my life as long as I can remember..
3. Never and intend to keep it that way. i don't let myself cringe at the thought of all the crap display keyboards in Best Buy.....
4. ^(2.)
5. Only once something like 10 years ago. not sure if i liked it, but don't want to sink $50 into something i'm unsure of

[stpbozin]

My first keyboard was mechanical Ibm model m. I got it, along with ibm486 in the late 90s. But then I did not understand nothing in computers and even more so in a mechanical keyboard. By this, I quickly got rid of that big and noisy keyboard, replacing it with usual membrane keybord. Sad story, right? But its not all.
Over time, the membrane keyboard just stopped working and my father brought me to the keyboard of Fujitsu. Heavy, noisy, yellowed, without Russian layout, probably mechanical too... In general, I threw it to the dump, too =)

[mrbonk]

So, at the risk of demonstrating how old some people here are... let's hear what year you first used a:

1. mechanical computer keyboard
2. rubber dome computer keyboard
3. membrane computer keyboard (i.e. rubber or plastic sheet, no physical keycaps)
4. mouse
5. trackball

My old man arrived home one evening with one of these in about 1984 http://www.sharpmz.org/mz-700/first700.htm  We had the 731 model with the 4 colour plotter and the tape drive.  I have NFI what sort of keyboard that is though.  I must have written thousands of lines of code in Basic on it.  From memory, I think it was around the same time that my school started getting XTs (and later on ATs), so there's a good chance I was using some sort of mechanical keyboard back then.  In my final year of highschool (1988) they had some Amstrad CPCs too.  Man....now I feel really old!!

[GreyLion]

First computer keyboard was in 1973'ish -- those years are a blur, so I might be a little off. A University of Texas prof had a party that I attended. He had an entire room dedicated to a terminal hooked up to a mainframe on campus. We played UT Super Star Trek on it. No monitor, just rolls of paper.

It was gloriously mind-bending. The acid didn't hurt the experience a bit...

I resisted mice until well into Windows 3.1, whenever that was. Real geeks didn't use mice. Grrr.... :rofl: