Any collectors of old computers around?

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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 7:45 pm

This is one of my hobbies. I always wanted to see what I missed, growing up behind the Iron Courtain.
So when I had enough ca$h I started to collect. Some of them are damaged. Some I managed to repair.
My first computer was a local clone of ZX Spectrum, still up and running after 17 years of ownership (well, he saw major use only in the first 5 years, but I like to fire it up from time to time).
I would like to show you my collection, but it is listed at http://www.old-computers.com under my real name. Some of you have enough clues to find it.
This is how my first lad managed to find my e-mail address. I was careless. I put it on my personal data at http://www.old-computers.com.

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:03 pm

"Collect" is probably the wrong word. They seem to have accumulated of their own accord for nearly 3 years.
Nascom 1
Nascom 2 (Both built from kits)
Dragon 32
CPC 464
CPC 6128‎:
I'm still using the PC I built in about 1995, It's been upgraded several times, with the original floppy disk drive to give continuity.

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:24 pm

I still have my TRS-80 Model 100 laptop from 1984, along with all the manuals describing the awesome computing power of this high-tech machine. Actually there is one big plus: it boots up instantly the second the switch is turned on. (Try that with Vista....) It has 64KB memory (half for RAM, half for ROM) and a built-in 300bps modem. No hard drive, no floppies -- though it can be hooked to a cassette deck to store data.

Times have changed....

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:39 pm

I forgot about my three Sharp Pocket PCs from the early 1980s.

I managed to squeeze about six useful work related Basic programs into less that 4KB of RAM. Quite impossible with any modern computers.
Happy days!

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 11:41 pm

Not exactly a collector, but I still have my North Star Horizon, circa 1979. Some highlights:

Wood cabinet top and sides
S-100 bus
Z-80 processor at 4MHz
64K ram
2 5-1/4" floppy drives
2 8" floppy drives
OS: CP/M (Digital Research)

Wikipedia Link Here

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 11:45 pm

Not exactly collecting but I like to retro-game on the DS from time to time. it works great (>80%) as an Atari, NES or Colecovision and less well as an SNES and C64 Smile

anyway, I believe this is off-topic because the trusty machines I had are now all gone to relatives or to the dustbin (imagine what I thought when, at the age of 20, I found my Atari gone, dad has thrown it away Surprised

).

Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:13 am

I have an Osborne 1. Still working fine, with original software, CP/M, Visicalc, Wordstar, MBasic; interfaces with IEEE-488. Screen's a little foggy, but I could easily polish it up.

http://oldcomputers.net/osborne.html

I keep it in my guest room, and tell guests before they go in there that there's a laptop in case they need to do any work. Very Happy

Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:24 am

I had to surrender my ZX81 some years back, but I loved that thing, it taught me to program. Now it's all games consoles etc, but back in the day you had to work at it Wink

Anyone interested in this please go and support The National Museum of Computing http://www.tnmoc.org.uk where they have living examples of many very early computers including a complete Colossus which saved thousands upon thousands of lives on both sides of the 2nd World War by making it feasible to crack the German Enigma code. It pre-dates ENIAC, and is the worlds first programmable computer, and we all owe it a massive debt. It is our computing heritage, and a work of true pioneering genius.

TNMOC really need donations, please help them with their incredible project - they have instances of pretty much all the early 80's explosion of computers like Dragons, NewBrains, Orics, etc saved for posterity but have collection gaps still. Ancient business machines are also welcomed. Please visit TNMOC and support them financially if you are able to do so or this important phase in history will be lost in the modern race to upgrade.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 11 Oct 2009 Posts: 79

I have an AMD Athlon 1,4 GHz with 512 RAM (but for a serious buyer I'll jack it out and put in 256).
I treasure it above anything, but will grudgingly part from it for a nice pile of $.
It's still in working, as you can see.
It even can run latest and most modern applications or games like Notepad++ or Open Transport Tycoon 0.7.3

Not quite a Newb Joined: 09 Sep 2009 Posts: 44

I have always wanted an original Mac. The work gone into them is amazing. A dedicated team 90hours+ a week to bring us to where we are today. To see the first point and click OS too, stolen from the guys down Xerox PARC.

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 11:50 pm

I learnt/spent loads of time with an Apple ii with 32k RAM and Basic with some machine code.

I later bought a BBC microcomputer with the same memory and once again a cassette drive. I later got a floppy. I learnt so much about this machine it almost became part of me. Extremely well designed machine by people who knew what they were doing.

I had View the wordprocessor and the Pascal plug-in chips saw me through a degree in computer science (83 to 86). Only about 25% of people on the course had their own computer!

I have tried giving away this machine without any luck. Crying or Very sad

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 11:54 pm

I still have one of these amstrad laptops

It needs a good home, but it WORKS!!!

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

I had a Kaypro10 and threw it in the garbage a few years ago. Crying or Very sad

(Stock picture, not one of the actual machine)

Edit: re-size picture

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