What was your first build? [CONTEST] **CLOSED**

Very cool builds, If you have not already share / start a build log on it.

 

Hey guys,
Today's the last day for the contest so I wanted to be sure to jump in and talk a little about my first build...well, the ones that I can remember and that stand out most to me.

A little background on my childhood - First of all, I think it should be said as I think it played a large part in shaping my love for the Build is that our family grew up without a TV in the house. Most of our time and imagination as kids was used for activity outdoors and for me building things and taking things apart to see how they worked.
As far back as I can recall I loved to build. I believe it started with cool fort designs whether they were tree forts or tunnel style forts. In the summers I would spend the week designing and laying them out then on the weekends my friends and I would build them. We always pushed the limits of the designs at time even incorporating zip-lines (made from extension cords) for a quick secret escape from a hatch on the top of our tree forts we would slide down the line over the smaller tree canopy's to end up stopping by hitting an old mattress we tied to the end tree. This would give us a great head start far way from the fort which when we needed it (from rival neighborhood kids attacking our forts) which was a nice fort feature to have.
On the tunnel style forts we would dig shallow crawl-ways (trenches) in the ground and cover them with plywood.

This plywood would then be covered with a light coating of dirt and we would strategically plant shrubs/grass and bushes even bits of trash around to make it blend in the the rest of the surrounding ground cover.
Some of these tunnels were very elaborate with meeting rooms and individual rooms for the group. These forts also had escape hatches that were well hidden and tunneled far from the fort itself.

I remember well my 6th grade math teacher bringing in and showing us the Radio Shack TRS-80 computer and then going above and beyond to teach us how to write simple basic programs. We were teamed up and assigned to make a game some time after. Our group made a simple exploration game of multiple choices.
Our game was based in the jungle and the idea was to explore ancient jungle ruins. The outcome of the game depends on the choices made.
'You are standing in front of a large stone door, it looks like there is some kind of symbol covered with jungle growth.'
A) Go East
B) Go West
C) Try to read the symbol
D) Try to push on the door
Your Choice: _
This simple act of kindness from my teacher made a huge impact on my life as from this point on I was hooked on computers, programming and a little later on (once I realized it was possible) robotics!

I played Trumpet in the Jr High School marching band. A used car dealer that my Dad knew had a 'large computer' at his lot that he told my Dad about and my Dad told me. I immediately asked my Dad for a ride to check it out. We found it was an IBM system 32 mini mainframe

To say the least, it was in love at first sight!
I excitedly asked my Dad if he would let me trade my trumpet for this computer. He agreed and that was the start of learning computers closer to the core of how computers work on a whole new level. This thing was the size of a small fridge and we needed a place so I could work on it. So my Dad made a deal with me that if I would help him build a shed in the back yard we were needing for yard tools, he would put a wall down the center and allow me to have half of it for my 'lab' (as I called it)

That lab was another stepping stone to learning so much more about the world of computers and robotics. It was in there that the Builds really began. From homemade hand held rocket launchers to low orbit satellite concepts and video phones we did it all in there. It was a true secret lab and I loved it!
Soon after for Christmas I received a Commodore vic 20 (and later the 64) computer.


I would sit and program all day and without a tape drive I had no way of saving the programs. So I would watch them run for a little while then it was in for dinner. I would have to turn the computer off losing all the days work. The attraction of seeing what could be done with these machines pushed me everyday to do the same thing.
I received the Compute!'s Gazette magazine for a birthday and I was in heaven. Having so much fun learning more about the computers and typing in and watching what the programs in the back of the magazine could do.


One of the big moments in building for me was using a Fischertechnik Interface on my Commodore, this little gem allowed my computer to control objects in the real world and that opened my eyes to another level of amazing ideas.

On Christmas I received the Armatron toy robot arm.

I maybe played with it once before tearing it down to see how it worked and how it could be interfaced with my computer so that I could write programs to make the arm do task.
It was an awesome eye opening experience that again changed the way I thought about computers and what could be done with them.

Tons more projects followed and my computer was upgraded to the Commodore 64, still no tape or disc drive to save my work, but after a few more Christmas's of asking I did finally received a disc drive! I was so happy about that but the effect it had, to be honest, was to make me a little more lazy about programming. I could save it and come back to it any time where before I would push all day so just that I could see the program running before having to turn the computer off when called for dinner.
I guess for a lack of a better one I am going to call the Armatron interface my first Build



Good times for sure!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter the 'My First Build Contest' making it a great success! You guys are awesome and I love being a part of this community. Looking forward to see who wins.

p.s. Remember guys please Submit your Builds. Every build here would be great to have. This helps grow the community so that we can all ask questions and learn together. Just having them there so that Builders can see pictures of them and ask questions would be a great help. Thank you in advance.

Stay tuned as there are many more contest and fun ideas planned.
Mark

 

lol I remember those tone generators well Sounds like you had a fun school year!