• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Howdy from Austin, Texas!

B

Brendan

Experienced Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2006
Messages
146
Location
Near Austin, TX
After reading the threads here a little and exchanging PMs with a member, I figured it was high time to introduce myself...

I never meant to be a "collector", but my (bad?) habit of never throwing things away and continuing to lust after some of the old 8- and 16-bit machines, the occasional *nix box, and various game consoles seems to have resulted in a fairly room-filling "collection".

Here's what I hope to be a fairly concise timeline (I still have all of this equipment, in working order - note that the dates are to the best of my recollection, so they may be off by a year):

1979: Atari 2600: You may wonder why I've listed it in this chronology, but I do have the Basic programming cartridge for it and eventually wrote simple programs using the keypad controllers. It's also one of the earliest gadgets that piqued my interest in electronics. I now have 200+ unique game cartridges.
1981: Apple ][+ with 64k RAM and floppy drives: I was 7 at the time. After Dad showed me Basic it quickly migrated to my bedroom, since I was the one using it all the time anyway.
1984: TRS-80 Color Computer 2 with 64k RAM and Extended Color Basic: This is the computer I've spent the most time with. I cut my teeth on assembly language programming with EDTASM+. It's also the first machine I learned about OSes much more powerful than simple DOSes, specifically Microware OS/9. I could say much more about printers/plotters and other hardware I played with on this box, but I'm trying to be somewhat concise.
1985: Radio Shack Microcomputer Trainer: For those who don't know, this was one of those Radio Shack-style spring-terminal kits that allowed simple machine language programming via a hex keypad.
1989: Tandy 1000 TL: There were other PCs hanging off my home network later, such as an AST Premium 386/33 and a Zeos Pantera Pentium 60 and generic 486 DX-4 120, but I count my Tandy 1000 as my first PC.
1995: NeXT Computer (original cube): While in college, I got to work on NeXT, Sun, Stardent, DEC, SGI, and IBM Unix boxes. This really made me appreciate Unix and I couldn't resist installing Linux on my Zeos Pentium 60 and picked up this NeXT from a friend. (Incidentally, this friend was the same person with whom I spent several years experimenting with the Color Computer 2.)

Here is a list of working hardware acquired from family, friends, or thrifts within the past 10 years:

Apollo DN 3500
Apple //c
Apple Mac Classic
Apple Mac LC
Atari 800XL
Atari 520STFM
Commodore 64
IBM RISC System/6000 250
Sun SparcStation IPC
Sun SparcStation IPX
Sun SparcStation LX
Sun SparcStation 5
Tadpole SparcBook 3
Tandy Micro Color Computer - MC-10
Tandy Color Computer 3 (now decked out with 512k RAM, Hitachi 6309 and Pro-Tector, hacked Multi-Pak, AT keyboard interface, SCSI controller with RTC and hard drive, dual floppy, etc.)
Tandy 1000 TL/2
Timex Sinclair 1000
Timex Sinclair 2068
Miscellaneous PCs which I've made a habit of retasking and trying to give away to friends or family

Additionally, I have various video game consoles, such as the Intellivision, ColecoVision, Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Nintendo DS, Sega Master System, Genesis, Dreamcast, and Vectrex.

I miss the days when it was possible for 1 person (such as myself) to thoroughly understand the inner workings of a given computer with simple OSes that were reliable, close to the hardware, and did exactly what I asked when I asked.

I'm glad I found this forum of like minded folks. BTW, Nathan Allan is a great person to trade with.
 
Wow, thats quite a collection. Yeah, Nathan Allan is a pretty cool guy.

Welcome to the forums!

-Vlad
 
I miss the days when it was possible for 1 person (such as myself) to thoroughly understand the inner workings of a given computer with simple OSes that were reliable, close to the hardware, and did exactly what I asked when I asked.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know what ya mean. That's why CP/M is still my OS of choice, with OS/9 a close second. They're the only systems I've ever really understood.

--T
 
Sparcbook......3GX? I had one a few years ago. Someone was selling a bunch on a website somewhere, and I bought 3 of them. Came with external scsi cables, carrying cases, chargers, extra batteries, SCSI cd-rom, and even a PCMCIA hard disk, like 40MB or 100MB or something. Apparently some company used these fopr field sales or engineers or something, and then they were done with them.

I remember there was something fishy about the HD? Like if you had under a certain size you were screwed, but if you had over a certain size, you could swap it easily? I believe first case was notebook-size scsi, 2nd case was notebook IDE?

I have a pdf manual, if you need it.
Also, tadpole, not that long ago, still had parts, spares, and acc for them!


Tony
 
Ya got alot of Unix boxes in there.

You need to add an SGI to that mix. If you like Solaries, and AIX, you'll love SGI's Irix - especially the awesome 4Dwm GUI..

Try to find a nice O2, or even an Octane, though they're heavy as hell.
I wouldn't really go Indigo2, unless it's an R1000/195 MaxImpact unit.
Stay away from the O2 R5000/180 - get at least a 200. Preferably, get an
R10000 or R12000. The RM5200's are expensive, but there's alot of speed-up hacks on the net for them.


Indy's are cute, but relatively useles. 256MB Max RAM
And noone start hammering me - I know - I've got 4-5 of 'em!

And Irix indigo is good for collecting - only look at the R4000 version, though.
You can pop the R4400/150 out of an Indigo2 in it (only - the higher speeds won't work)




Tony
 
In college, when working for the Mechanical Engineering department in the mid-90s, I worked (played?) on an Indigo, a Crimson, and an Onyx with AVS and other visualization tools. I've always wanted an SGI and have considered an Indy or Indigo, actually. (Well, what I'd really like is an old Crimson or Onyx and an old Stellix box - I used to spin 3D surfaces around on a Stardent whose console was on my desk. The only problem with any of these boxes is that they're the size of a large appliance and produce twice the heat - maybe I can tell my wife we need a more functional coffee table?)

As for the SGI, my only complaint with the Indies and Indigos on eBay are that they typically only have 8-bit graphics, although I guess for $50 plus $30 shipping, I shouldn't complain. Elan would be nice... *drool*

The SparcBook 3 is a XP, actually. I think the GX was actually nicer, but this is still a fun little machine to play with. The 500MB hard drive or whatever it has is pretty tight, especially for Linux, so I typically hang some external drives off of it. I think there was a way to shoehorn a SCSI to IDE converter in the drive sled to put a bigger drive in it. I recall something about the drive size limitations, too, but can't remember any specifics right now. I also cobbled together a cable for the transceiver port so I could hook it up to the network at home and work. Since getting my ThinkPad T30, though, it doesn't see much use anymore - the 640x480 color LCD on the 3XP is a little dim. :( I also have a non-functional SparcBook 2. I don't suppose you have any docs or old HW that might be applicable to the 2 or 3XP as opposed to the GX, Sharkonwheels?

Thanks for the welcomes and the tips, everyone!

Cheers,
Brendan
 
Elan isn't hard to get on an Indigo. Get an XS24, and then get the extra 3 GE's

Indy? hehe...I got the IndyVideo and CosmoCompress card-pair!!

OOOOOOOH! Talk about rare!
ALso got a Phobos 10/100 GIO for the Indy/Iris Indigo - Ooooh! a 100Mbit Indy! I actually use that nutjob Indy as my bootp/install server. Dropped 2 18GB drives in the b!tch, copies every single Irix install CD I have onto it, and go to town!

Only problem, is the NVRAM batteries are dying, and it's hard to get those dallas chips....



Tony
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top