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BarnacleGrim

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 18, 2010
24
0
I hope it's not too off-topic. IBM PC and compatible will be considered an insult. :D

I'm guessing quite a few of you have other vintage hardware as well.

I have a Tiki-100, a Norwegian Z80 system.

I would like a
Xerox Alto
NeXTcube
NeXTstation
BeBox
68k SGI workstation
68k Sun workstation
 
Good call on the 68K SGI and Sun workstations!

I'd love an old school RS/6000 based on the POWER1 architecture. And even though you're gonna be insulted, an original 5150, 5160, or even the 5170 would be cool too.
 
I want an original BeBox!!! photo:

bebox_front.jpg


Be_BeBox_System_s2.jpg
 
I have my gaming PC right next to my iMac, it's only used for Windows only applications such as Steam, Garry's Mod, Steam Software Development Kit, and I'm working on getting OSX86 running on it (It IS running on it via dual boot, but I am missing some video drivers, Does anyone know where I can find the right drivers for the ATI Radeon X600?).

I made the whole thing for free, my father's boss gave me 3 PCs, He also gave me my PowerMac G4 733Mhz awhile ago. One was junk and I parted it out for my other macs, and I combined the other two to make this:

3.2Ghz Intel Pentium D
1Gb RAM (I need to upgrade this soon)
80Gb SATA HDD - Windows Boot drive
120Gb SATA HDD - OSX86 Boot drive
120GB SATA HDD - Time Machine drive for OSX86
ATI Radeon X600 w/ 256Mbs of vRAM
Superdrive

It runs Windows 7 pretty well.

If I had to choose a new PC, then it would have to be the Alienware Area 51 laptops with the customizable lighting systems. Also paired up with one of Dell's new 24" LCD displays. My father got the same display with his new PC HP laptop (Ironically, the loaded OS was corrupted so I had to format the HDD and re install when we bought it) and I am still stunned to this day by the screen's quality.
 
On my desk at work I have a TI-99/4A and a Sinclair ZX80. Here's a pic. You can also see a TI Datamath 2500B calculator from about 1974 sitting next to them. (The photo isn't actually from 2006; the clock was just off on my cell phone.)

I also have a Timex Sinclair 1000 with the 16K expansion module, and a Laser 128EX (yeah it's an Apple clone but it's still technically non-Apple, especially since VTech reverse-engineered the hell out of everything).

I've been lusting after an Atari 800 for quite some time. Might pick up a Commodore VIC-20 or 64 at some point. Strangely, I've never felt a huge draw to Commodore machines, although the original PET-2001 is kind of alluring just by its sci-fi appearance.

Oh and I know you didn't ask about Apple, but I feel it's worth noting that I also have an original Apple ][ (yep, Integer BASIC ROMs and all) and an Apple ][ Plus. Inside the ][ Plus are a Microsoft 16K RAM card, a Super Serial Card (for disk transfers with ADT), a Videx VideoTerm card, and a Disk II controller.
 

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All I've got is my Commodore 128. I guess if I had to pick an old non-Apple system it would be an SX-64.


i have one , a commodore SX64 with 2 floppy drives found it in the mid 80's at the american airforce base in rammstein / germany ,they literally have dumped them beside their bins outside all in the original boxes , sadly i could only pick one of them on my moped to get it home :(they had dumped about 20 :eek:,so did only cost me a bit petrol mix :)
and a commodore pet 2001 with tape drive, a computer very easy to maintain , just open it like you open your bonnet ;)
and a atari 400
all in working condition, for the atari i even have a working printer, but has one flaw this printer is refusing to start printing on top of page , have to look at that again when i am back in germany
 
About 10 years ago I threw away Commodore 64s, many third party add-ons like a Optical Card reader and 8" floppy drives for Apple II, and an original TRS-80 :eek:

I wish I hadn't now, but I still retain a Dick Smith Cat, a re-badged Laser3000. :)

Of course, I kept most original Apple stuff and have a II, II+ and II Euro+.

I wouldn't mind having an original PC-1.... there! I said it. :eek: I used to do on-site setups of them when they were new.
________
marijuana seeds
 
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Ya, I junked my Apple IIe too when I got a screaming 386 back in the day lol. Wish I would have hung on to it, but I'm not much of a collector.
 
What motherboard revision is in your II?

Good question. I don't really know for sure. I'd need to "fish it out" of storage to check. Is there a good source of info you can point me to?

I do have an original silver cased powersupply with a stock toggle switch rather than the black rocker switch on that beast. I've always assumed (given this was the only PSU I've ever seen like it) that these PSUs were pretty rare.

I suspect that the motherboard isn't as old as the case/PSU. :(

EDIT: Found a reference to the motherboard differences here
________
Mitsubishi GTO
 
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Good question. I don't really know for sure. I'd need to "fish it out" of storage to check. Is there a good source of info you can point me to?

I do have an original silver cased powersupply with a stock toggle switch rather than the black rocker switch on that beast. I've always assumed (given this was the only PSU I've ever seen like it) that these PSUs were pretty rare.

I suspect that the motherboard isn't as old as the case/PSU. :(

EDIT: Found a reference to the motherboard differences here
Yeah, there are some differences in circuitry between the various revisions, but really the definitive way to tell is by the 820-XXXX-XX part number, whether it's under the 6502 or on the left side of the board. The original Rev 0 had no part number, but everything else did. (You can tell at a glance, though, whether it's an older or newer rev, just by the chip count; newer boards had fewer chips, though still essentially the same layout.)

It wouldn't surprise me if the motherboard had been replaced at some point - but if it hasn't, then the value of your machine just went up. Even more if it still works!
 
Absolutely. And a lot of SGI boxes look great too. I'd love to have some of the MIPS machines.

As for the earlier years of computing, what about one of those big mainframes with reel-to-reel tapes and front panels? Or maybe something refrigerator-sized for convenience?
 
My current non-Apple vintage-y computers:
  • IBM PC/AT (286-16) running IBM-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1
  • IBM PS/2 model 77 (486-66) running OS/2 2.1
  • NextStation Turbo (the "slab" - 68040/33, with original MegaPixel grayscale display, NeXT external CD-ROM, original keyboard and mouse, and even matching NeXT laser printer,) running NeXTstep 3.3
  • SGI Indy running Irix
  • HP Apollo 9000/735 (PA-RISC machine) running HP-UX
  • IBM "Personal Computer Power Series" - AKA the PowerPC PC. It's basically the same as an RS/6000 of the same era, only with more commodity parts, and meant to be a "Personal Computer", not a workstation. Roughly on par with a Power Macintosh 7600 in specs.
  • IBM ThinkPad Power Series - Same, it's a ThinkPad with a PowerPC 603e processor. Roughly analogous to the PowerBook 5300c in specs.

Wanted:
  • IBM PC/XT
  • IBM ThinkPad 701C, with the "Butterfly" keyboard.
  • HP OmniBook 300 or 600-series.
  • HP 200LX (I owned one in college, and did programming on it; but sold it after college.)
  • Sun machines. A Sun5 and an Ultra5 would be nice.
  • An Alpha box.
  • A BeBox

Have, non-vintage:
  • Quad Itanium-dual-core server, 16 GB RAM.
  • Dual Xeon "Nehalem" workstation, Hackintoshed
  • Core i7 desktop, sitting unplugged since I got the workstation Hackintoshed.
  • HP Mini running HP's "Mi" Linux.
 
Absolutely. And a lot of SGI boxes look great too. I'd love to have some of the MIPS machines.

As for the earlier years of computing, what about one of those big mainframes with reel-to-reel tapes and front panels? Or maybe something refrigerator-sized for convenience?

I spent several hours looking through this website a few days ago, marvelling at what these guys are upto with an old IBM 1401 system. They've even built a box that emulates several tape drives simultaneously.

The "schedule of events/daily logs" pages make for some interesting reading for a restoration nut like me. :eek:
________
Mercedes-Benz W209
 
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I still have have my sparcstation 20 from 1995 and i still do unix development work on it. Upgraded all the way to solaris 7. The fans are so loud that it sounds like a vacuum cleaner, guess i really oughta find some replacements. Cant get myself to throw the thing away.

Wife says when i die shes gonna throw my ashes in it and bury it. She hates that machine and its ginormous monitor :D
 
sunburn.

ok, all the 'sun hardware lovers' are freaking me out... ya'll know it runs on intel too, right?!?

anyone want a lonely ultra 10? now just lurking in a corner of the garage...

i already recycled all the SGI hardware, so you irix folks are out of luck... got tired of the lights going dim every time i turned on the Octane, and the Indigo2 (purple, feet, stacked video card) had a power supply problem.
 
I want an original BeBox!!! photo:

This is the one in my signature. They're darn hard to come by. Took me until just last year to finally acquire. Only about 800 ever made of these dual 603e 133 MhZ. Check out all the ports. :D

bebox01.jpg
bebox02.jpg
 
ok, all the 'sun hardware lovers' are freaking me out... ya'll know it runs on intel too, right?!?

Well, yeah. I'm running Solaris 10 in a VM via Fusion at work. Personally, I just think the hardware is cool and it reminds me of my early days in the tech industry.
 
ok, all the 'sun hardware lovers' are freaking me out... ya'll know it runs on intel too, right?!?

As someone that's been through an SGI stage, you should know that it's not all about the software. And nothing is cooler than watching the lights in the garage dim as my Onyx2 comes to life! ;)
 
Hardware also includes the computer's case. If you can kick it it's hardware.

Those sun computers look pretty nice for how old they must be =O
 
I think a BeBox would be a rather unique and fun item to have, I would probably end up trying to run the latest Haiku build on it though :)
 
I've recently been playing with Classic 99 on a x86. It emulates a TI 994A plus some of the software that was available for it. You can program in Basic as well.
 

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