Someone on twitter started a #goonline tweet where people are describing when the first went online. I twittered stuff until I realized that I really needed a blog post.

I have been teaching CS for 16 years, so you can probably imagine I've been involved in computer for some time.

Since I am a ham radio operator, etc. Most of my computers have been home built.

My first real computer though was a TI-84 computer (real meaning it plugged into the wall, had a monitor, could save data, etc).  Primarily because I was working for TI at the time.  My second was a TI PC, company issued.  That was when I really first went online but only to the company computers.  There wasn't really any where else to go.

My first real online experience was Prodigy as it had a fixed price.  I couldn't afford AOL.  Once Prodigy realized they were bleeding money, I left to be online with FIDONet and became a node on FIDONet.  I was pretty active with that group.

I had the second private internet account in the Dallas Fort Worth area with Texas Metronet.  They were the first here that allowed private accounts, not associated with a university or with a business.

Most of my computers have been home built until recent years.  Now I buy refurbished computers at Fryes, usually under $300.  My philosophy now is that cheap and more than one is better.