Why do you collect vintage computers?

[BG101]

And, why exactly, are there TWO W!ndoze keys on modern keyboards? They are normally only used for one purpose, opening the Start menu ... and not used during normal typing! I do use them for fast user switching (WINDOWS+L) and there may be other shortcuts. But I would think one of them could be assigned to something else. Perhaps a Tux can be printed on one of them

As for collecting, a part of the reason (for me anyway) is being a custodion of something that isn't made any more, and it's enjoyable being able to get things working on these old machines. My C=64 has special value to me since I spent countless hours writing my own stuff for it, as well as playing games. Something I've not been able to do with a modern PC (apart from the odd game or two).


BG

 

[barythrin]

Yup, agree with all the recent posts. They're still useful and it's funny to see people think they're not. I'm not sure if we can calculate the number of cycles the human brain can take in linear math but I'm still willing to put my money on any computer post 70's will be quicker than a human at the same task.

kiyotewolf, you should get out of of those 6502 systems and whip out some sweet code to show off a demo, etc. A friend and I (we don't know 6502 assembly but it's still on my todo list) decided to try and do something "advanced" from memory of Apple Basic (without the manual or learning something new) just to see what we could come up with for a 1Mhz machine. Fortunately he remembered Apple basic a bit fresher than I did although I helped with the syntax and correct code (dunno he wasn't grasping that at the time) but we made a 3d rotating wireframe cube. A bit slow but still pretty neat for 1Mhz. I'm sure in asm it would have spun great lol. Some games still were pretty impressive.. there's a flight sim I can't remember the exact name of (maybe it really was FS1 I thought it had an A-4 or something in it).. anyway.. the graphics were still pretty darn impressive, even more so when you think what you expected to see vs what it could really do.

One thing we were going to start doing (which I'm sure there are a plethora of folks here who already know and could do this) was write some diag tools for different vintage systems. Try and write a memory tester or video RAM tester, etc and release them for free for folks.

BG101, that's a great memory too and also exactly why a lot of people collect or seek their first computer/gaming system. It's somehow not comparable to new stuff which seems to focus only on graphics but lacks that personal experience we got on our classic machines.

 

[Ole Juul]

BG101: And, why exactly, are there TWO W!ndoze keys on modern keyboards? ... Perhaps a Tux can be printed on one of them

Just to let you know that they make them, I have one keyboard with "Tux" keys - theres a little penguin logo. I'm sure you know, but under Xkb options you can define both right and left win keys for all sorts of things - that's in KDE, I don't know where you do it in other windows environments. My daily keyboard is a model M (101 key) so extra keys is not an issue.

BG101: As for collecting, a part of the reason (for me anyway) is being a custodion of something that isn't made any more, ...

I think that is a very important point. My feeling is that we all have a responsibility to take care of things and carry as much stuff forward as possible. There are, of course, many reason for preserving thing and they are not just economic. Old things are nice to have and we can only have them if someone had the foresight to not throw things out. If one wants things with an age of three digits (or more) then that concept becomes even more important. Yes, we are indeed custodians.

Yesterday, I was over at a neighbour's house fixing a computer. He is 80 years old and has had computers for many years, although he is not very computer savvy. There was a stack of 3 dusty old boxes sitting there and he asked me if I wanted his old computers. I didn't look too closely but the oldest one could be a 486, the other two were perhaps a PI and PII. Nothing interesting there - but his story made me stop and think. He said he had taken computers to the dump before because they say they recycle there, and they "just destroyed them". He couldn't accept that, and that is why he had kept the ones he had. The idea of destroying things that worked was abhorrent to him. Clearly, he didn't buy their recycling "lie" and could see that they were really downcycling.