Good Vintage Computers? 99
The Crooked Elf asks: "I'm going to be running an event dedicated to vintage computers and game consoles in a month for the computer science department at the University of Southern Maine. My current arsenal includes a TRS-80 Color Computer 3 and an old NES (with Zelda, Mario, etc), but I feel I need a few more items to display. I have a budget of around $600 for this event. Slashdot, what do you feel are other decent vintage systems that would be the most valuable and educational to present?"
Commodore 64 ? (Score:3, Insightful)
even more vintage: Commodore PET (Score:1)
And a link for a nice photo of this oddly shaped beast. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET [wikipedia.org]
NES? Vintage? (Score:1)
Try a Coleco, Atari 5200, Odyssey^2, something like that.
Kids, a NES isn't 'vintage'.
Vintage computers? Get some old portables, or some of the oddball computers with integrated printers, etc.
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But seriously, folks... 5200? How about 2600? I still have my Apple IIe that I bought a kit for and "upgraded" to a IIc. Heh, what a ridiculous increase that would be in today's world. I think an NES would get the kiddies interested. You could demo a game or two.
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But for truly vintage hardware, look for any of these:
* TRS-80 model 1.
* Anything from Commodore, but especially a PET (though I still think the C64 is a great machine)
* PDP-10
* Anything VAX
* early SPARC systems
* original IBM PC/XT
* first generation Compaq (early "luggable")
* first generation macintosh (early GUI designs)
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Old Sun hardware is always neat (Score:3, Interesting)
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Yeah, I had a SparcClassic, but my wife didn't like my collection of old computers.... So along with my Sinclair QL, I gave it away to a computer museum that a high school teacher maintained.
The only old computer I have left now is a C=64, with original monitor, and tape drives. I'd give it away, but the computer museum owner already had a few. Can't bring it to my heart to throw it away, so I wait for another geek that will take it from my hands and give it a nice place in his collection... (Warning:
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wewt!
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They're not even so expensive these days, either. I saw some Indigos on eBay for free the other week - the guy obviously just wanted the space, for them to go to an enthusiast & thought this would the best way for them to get exposure. IIRC the special [ifrance.com] effects [atariarchives.org] to The Wrath Of Kahn were rendered on a farm of these, so a screen capture or movie playing would help make the exhibit more multi-media and mainstream.
SGIs are also gorgeously [majix.org] good [apcad.de] looki [networktrust.jp]
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Any older Sparcstations that are on the smaller side are pretty cool, really.
Additionally, older SGI machines have some of the most awesome startup noises ever, as well as demonstrating that old hardware doesn't have to look like a pile of metal.
I have two TRS-80 Model 100s (Score:2, Interesting)
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On a local website,I post the results and tell about the cheaters.(Hey every penny counts nowdays) Keeps the bastards honest.
My collection (Score:1)
Pointers (Score:5, Informative)
For my money, you'd probably be in good if you got a Commodore 64 (for obvious reasons) and a machine like a IMSAI 8080. Perhaps an Apple 2.
In the grand scheme of things, the Tandy Color Computer 3 was largely irrelevant by the time it came to market...
Blinking Lights (Score:2)
Vintage Blinking Lights (Score:1, Funny)
Have you checked a movie set?
How about a vectrex? (Score:3, Insightful)
Mac SE/30 (Score:3)
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Every? You've got to be kidding!
"Some Mac faithful" would be more like it...
But it was a darned fine desktop machine. I really liked mine.
Home computer "must haves" (Score:3, Informative)
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In the end though, the little kids went back to playing Thomas the Tank Engine and setting up track- while my brother and I challenged each other to a two-player coopertative game of Hangman on the
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how about MSX? (Score:1)
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What about... (Score:1)
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An Apple ][, of course (Score:2)
One thing popular during that time were timeshare computers. You might be able to find an old Teletype or Silent 700 terminal with an acoustically coupled modem, and have those dial into a machine hosting a few games such as Hunt the Wumpus, tic-tac-toe, or global thermonuclear war. Dumb terminals of that era can be had for pretty cheap -- a buddy of mine just picked up a Tele
TRS-80 Model 100 (Score:2)
40 character, 8 line LCD goodness. Ran for days on 4 AA batteries. And featuring the last professional code that Bill Gates worked on personally.
You can get one pretty cheap:
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40
Anything NeXT you can get your hands on (Score:5, Interesting)
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My Age Showing (Score:3, Informative)
You need an Altair.
That was my first in the 70's. Great fun and very open. Build your own cards. Wire wrap. Learn to solder. Great fun, great fun.
Also, the Sincliar ZX80, Sinclair ZX81/Timex 1000, Kaypro II, Osbourne.
When I strapped a 32K, banked switched ram pack to my ZX81, a buddy told me that I was crazy to have wasted my money, that I'd never use the 16k in one bank. The Sinclair had a the nasty habit of recording the entire memory used or not, when you saved to tape. So, the more memory you installed the longer the load.
I also owned a few pirated computers:
Anyone remember the Orange? It was an Apple, made in Taiwan from the specs Apple provided a factory when they wanted to go into mass production.
I had a Genie, which was a knock off of the TRS-80 Model I, but you could get it in kit form. RS didn't much care until Genie started selling assembled units, if I remember correctly.
And, my first "IBM PC Compatible was a Heath-kit.
That was all when hacking meant building your own stuff, or getting into the hardware and making your own changes. Of course the lead solder didn't affect my mind...too much.
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"IBM Compatible" also meant that it might be compatible. An indicator was whether or not it would run Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Flight Simulator. (I seem to recall there was a third program, but it escapes me now.)
BTW, my first IBM PC Compatible had an 80286 that ran at 10MHz with 1 wait state or 12MHz with 2 wait states. 1 MB of RAM. The bus ran at processor speed, so it could be iffy running at full speed. Hard drive (40MB Seagate ST251-1, 5.25"
Apple I (Score:5, Informative)
Amiga (Score:2)
Diversity (Score:2, Informative)
Back in the day, before the "IBM PC", almost every company was coming out with their own computer.
Sharp had the MZ80K that had its own monitor and build in tape deck, and contrary to what others were doing at the time, instead of loading BASIC, it ran Pascal.
Now, anyone have any info on the Acorn, and the BBC computer?
I was stationed in the UK in the early 80's, at RAF Upper Heyford when the BBC ran a test. They broadcast, on TV, a short 1 minute blast of binary. I recorded it onto cassette (it had been
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The first laptop (well, luggable) (Score:2)
That 5" diagonal screen and 5.25 floppy drives were all the rage.
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The KayPro kicked the Osbourne's butt up one side and down the other.
Many good candidates.. (Score:2)
If you can finagle some minicomputer-era hardware, like parts of a DEC PDP system (no one expects you to transport and functionally install this), that'd be cool for the "look how far we have come" tip.
Some early kit-build micros would be nifty. An IMSAI or a SWTPC 6800 system perhaps.
Early (pre 1980) "consumer" PCs, like an Apple ][ or a TRS-80 Model I. Or an original "calculator keyboard" PET. (Hell, I'd pay money to see one of those again.)
Stuff from the 80s, too. The early 16-bitters.
Now, a question for
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Good luck in running away with that Osbourne "portable". I might even take a nap before chasing you down. :)
Atari 800 (Score:2)
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The Commodore 64 had the same component video outputs. It used 1 RCA cable for each, whereas the S-Video uses a single cable with 4 wires.
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True. Commodore also had the awesome 1702 monitor. Still one of the best YC video monitors ever. Especially for the price.
It used 1 RCA cable for each, whereas the S-Video uses a single cable with 4 wires.
The Atari used a 5-pin round DIN connector, and you had to roll your own video cable. But the point wasn't the physical connector, it was that it was YC component video before Sony wrapped their marketing around it.
Commodore vs. Atari... (Score:2)
The Commodore 64 had the same component video outputs. It used 1 RCA cable for each, whereas the S-Video uses a single cable with 4 wires.
The C64 also wasn't introduced until three years after the Atari 800--the PET and Vic-20 were Commodore's initial offering against the Atari 800 and they were decidedly less capable with video and did not have compon
Suggestions and Questions (Score:5, Interesting)
Suggestions:
But seriously, if you post the location, date, and time here - I expect a few people would be willing to show up with their oldie-but-goodie systems. Mine got junked for my last move, otherwise I'd certainly bring mine in! Good Luck!
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Don't forget emulators... (Score:2)
This would be an inexpensive solution that would provide real interactivity.
Isn't that like a good, vintage hooker? (Score:1, Funny)
Commodore VIC-20 maybe? (Score:1)
I don't remember doing much with it but a bit of BASIC and playing some really weird games like Tooth Invaders (floss or die), Blue Meanies from Outer Space, and a bunch of text-adventure games.
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"they're going to get even meaner now!"
For Vintage, you have to include at least 1 computer that asked you to "Press Play On Tape..." to load a game!
SGI, NOVA, or Cray, oh my! (Score:5, Interesting)
I recently saved the memory from a DataGeneral NOVA-II; 16K of genuine Cores. You should look for some older core memory from an old IBM mainframe, or a Nicolet 1080, as those cores are big enough to see without a magnifier.
I'm still fond of the VAX, but that's a conniseur's architecture. Nobody is going to casually understand the significance of a washing machine with blue trim.
Just to be odd, you could try to get a full-sized picture of a Cray-1 or Cray-2, some add from the era touting their work in high-end computational science, and then put a Palm-pilot or some such down with its speed in Crays next to it. I had this discussion with my students the other day that I did most of the calcs for my thesis (not so long ago, either) on a machine that had less memory than a standard graphics card. It was a lot bigger too. It's good to show. Maybe just a big sketch showing size of machine at constant performance, starting with a Cray or IBM-360, and going to the modern equivalent.
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Universities are a decent place to pick up old UNIX workstations as they're 'repurpose
IBM PS/2, Apple ][, Commodore 64, ... (Score:2)
Tandem and AS/400 (Score:1)
TUHS (Score:1)
Contact MIT (Score:1)
The $600 might cover transportation and insurance.
Closer to home, try any computer or engineering school that's been around a few decades and see what they have in their museums or basements.
Look for Exhibitors, they are out there! (Score:2)
I regularly take parts of my computer collection to the West Coast Vintage Copmputer Festival [vintage.org] and I can assure you there are computer collectors in every state (finding them may be another matter)
It will save you time on getting things ready (except planning where to put various exhibits, power cords, etc.). The collectors know how to show off thier stuff, and probably result in a better presentation also as these collectors come with knowledge, history and lore about thier machines and using them in the
i know (Score:3, Funny)
Or an IBM Selectric... (Score:2)
you can rent my Wang for $100
And then he could locate an IBM Selectric and teach them how to forge old National Guard Documents [google.com].
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display something you know how to use (Score:2)
If you're hanging out here, there is some good chance you know UNIX or Linux. That said, getting an old Sun E4000 server would make for a great display. Shipping usually costs more than the street value of the machine, but within your budget. Hosting shell accounts on a 12+ processor old school UNIX box would be great fun and no doubt offer opportunity for nostalgia from those who enjoyed the golden age of UNIX.
Speak 'n Spell (Score:2)
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10 Open #1:"SPEECH", Output
20 Input A$
30 Print #1:A$
40 Goto 20
Even more entertaining, type all that in and then type LIST "SPEECH", and the computer will read you the program.
I have some you may want. (Score:1)
LK
IBM 602A (Score:2)
I'd love to see an operating IBM 602A [columbia.edu] again. That was the last and best of the commercial electromechanical punched card calculators. Plug board-wired, mechanical add, subtract, multiply, and divide, punched card input and output. First shipped in 1948, and in commercial use well into the 1970s. 0.000003 MIPS.
A full tab shop was an IBM 82 sorter, a IBM 407 tabulator, a IBM 514 reproducer/summary punch, a IBM 77 collator, and a IBM 602A calculator. Plus some IBM 024 or IBM 026 keypunches, of course.
Tandy 6000 (Score:1)
Ideas for "vintage" equipment (Score:2, Informative)
A MicroVAX II. First system with the CPU on one chip.
A "Jensen" AlphaStation 150. Representing early 64 bit processing.
A DECtalk or DECvoice unit. Featured voice in "War Games" and Steven Hawkings "voice."
An 11/780. Would take up a lot of space, but there's a guy that converted the cabinet of one into a bar...
Any of the long list of failed DEC PC products... better, but incompatible: VT180 "Robin", Rainbow, VAXmate, Pro 350... I believe that the "Rainbo
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http://www.obsolyte.com/dec/multia/ [obsolyte.com]
I have one and I've run Windows NT as well as OpenVMS-Alpha on it.
Here's how do to it ... (Score:1)
Can I make a suggestion?
Offer to recycle any vintage hardware that comes through the door, and spend the $600 to haul it to the recycling center.
And, as that crap comes in the front door, dust some of it off and put it on display. Have some old-timers handy to identify the items (or just a browser and wireless link--we don't need old-timers any more. Sorry.) Put the best on display. In no time you'll have colle
The Essentials (Score:1)
TI-59 - programmable calculator with reconfigurable ROM modules, magnetic strip reader/writer, and an optional printer. With its tiny, revolutionary 10-digit LED display it plays the hell out of Guess Number and Statistical Analysis. It was actually extremely sophisticated for a pocket calc
Re:The Bare Essentials (Score:1)
Some of the stuff mentioned may be difficult to find and borrow. I'd like to suggest a list based off of his so that you can focus more on the "gotta-gotta-haves" if resources and time put you in a bind. I'm presuming that you are focusing on microcomputers, so minicomputers, VAXen, Crays and such are "nice, but not necessary" for your purposes.
MITS Altair 8800 or other early model kit computer. Where it all beg
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As for incorrectly modding me, if that's the worst that ever happens to me on
Timex Sinclair 1000 (Score:1)
Compact Macs (Score:2)
not quite vintage (Score:1)
Get the most influential. (Score:2)
emulators (Score:1)
Robot Odyssey (Score:2)