Since we're talking about our earliest computer experiences - my middle school was on the cutting edge of technology, and in the mid-70's we had access to a computer lab with about a dozen huge terminals - all BASIC, tied into a single enormous computer in the basement. I remember that behemoth had reel-to-reel tape drives - I even got to swap them out once. They also had a portable terminal, and I got to take it home a couple of times. It had a small 9" black and white monitor and a suitcase keyboard with a modem. I remember lugging that thing home, getting everything hooked up and plugged in, pushing the phone handset down into the two foam receptors above the keyboard, and quickly dialing on the rotary phone. Had to be in a quiet room, because background noise could mess up your data connection. I still remember those tones. If you were lucky, the line wouldn't be busy, and you could have uninterrupted access to the computer for hours on end. After debating over whether or not to buy a Commodore, I waited a couple of years and ultimately bought something much more practical - a TI-71B. It was TI's mac-daddy programmable calculator, and it allowed me to program a lot of useful equations and formulas in BASIC - and it wasn't RPN. I smoked everyone around me with their wimpy little TI-41's. Good times...
