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Hello from Illinois

uxwbill

Member
Joined
May 10, 2012
Messages
47
Location
Illinois
Hello all.

I've been into vintage computers for a long time now. I've been playing with computers in some way or another almost since I knew what a computer was. Most of my interests center around IBM PC or compatible stuff, with a particular focus on the IBM PS/2 line and the few clones that exist. I also have two Kaypro PC clones, a Zenith PC, along with Apple and Tandy 1000 series PC stuff. Despite my focus on PS/2s, I'm always willing to give any homeless vintage computer a good home. :cool:

I came here mainly to find out more about some of the projects that have been done or discussed here, such as the AT keyboard adapter for PC/XT computers and (especially) the IDE/CF card adapter. I suspect that will be just the beginning, however.
 
Welcome to the forums!
This is certainly the place to get all the information on old computers that you could want.
I have a PS/2 Model 30-286 and a Model 50. The Model 50s hard drive is ailing, but I hope to get that fixed sometime.
Enjoy it here!
 
Welcome to the forums! So when did you know what a computer was? ;-) We have folks of all ages here, pretty good range actually. Not sure who the most collectible member here would be lol. What sparked your interest in computers? Why'd ya start to get into vintage computing?
 
Welcome to the forums! So when did you know what a computer was? ;-) We have folks of all ages here, pretty good range actually. Not sure who the most collectible member here would be lol. What sparked your interest in computers? Why'd ya start to get into vintage computing?
Beware, this might be long. :D

I made the scene on November 30th, 1982...so basically, I'm a few months away from being thirty. My dad was into computers before me and my mother never had much interest in them. He had an Apple ][+ and a Zenith Z/100 series PC. I wasn't allowed to play with either one until much later on, but I came up with an acceptable substitute as a kid. A series of Tupperware boxes and a large box that a birdfeeder (or something similar) had come in were my "computer system". The big box was actually my "printer". It "printed" all kinds of things, even objects. :) I do remember that my mother asked me what I was doing. At the time, I told her I was "on CBS". As far as my young mind knew, you could get to CBS from a computer. This is either totally ridiculous or rather prescient depending upon how you look at it. I was probably all of 5 years old at the time.

(My dad is still around, but not into computers like he was.)

A little later on, my dad did let my brothers and I play on the Apple ][. We had a lot of fun with that computer until it started breaking down in the early 90s. It left and was replaced by a secondhand Epson Apex PC. Not long after that, my grandmother moved and gave her basically unused Kaypro PC clone to me. It had a long persistence Samsung monochrome monitor that accepted CGA input. I was in about the second grade or so at the time. That computer became my world. I had a word processor, a paint program and some other stuff. I wrote stories and essays on it when I wasn't goofing off with the paint program. In a rare bit of forward thinking, I did transfer them to 3.5" diskettes and I think they're still kicking around somewhere.

Moving on from there, we later had a Packard Bell 386SX join the "stable" of computers. And then, in 1994, disaster struck for the first time. Our basement flooded and unfortunately, that was where the computers were located. Most of them were lost. My dad replaced them with multimedia computers, a Packard Bell "Multi-Media" 486SX-25 and a Dell Precision 433Si. At first we only had the one VGA monitor to go with both of them.

Years later, upon graduation from junior high, I received a custom built "white box" 486 clone. I still have most of the parts. I don't remember exactly when it happened, but a few years after that, there came another white box system based upon an iWill P55TV and Cyrix "PR200" (IIRC) or so processor. I used that system until about 2001 when I graduated high school and bought some inexpensive Compaq thing.

I started building a computer collection around that same time. I'd used IBM PS/2s in school, thought a lot of them and one day I saw a TV ad for a place that was lined ceiling to floor with PS/2s. My dad and I went there so many times, filling a Taurus station wagon with treasures. I got a call from my old school one day...one of the secretaries knew me, knew that I was interested in computers and said they had two pickup truck loads of stuff that would be going to recycling. I had only one truck and by the time I was done, they had no trucks of computer stuff to take. Much of it was PS/2 stuff. I don't know how my mother didn't kill me.

I've made some mistakes over the years. One of the worst was letting my computer collecting activities get out of hand and exceed my budget. I ended up in a bad situation and owing some otherwise good people money. I did and said things that I regretted during that time. Though I did apologize and make some things right, there were some things I never did get to making right. I still feel bad about that stuff at times.

Disaster struck again in 2004. The sewer collapsed outside of my house during a heavy storm and my basement spent days underwater before order was restored. Even though I saved a ton of my stuff, even more got away. I just wasn't in the emotional state to cope with it all, what with the power being off and the 24/7 roar of trash pumps trying to empty out the fallen sewer. My hometown walked away from the damage, though I submitted an itemized and serialized list of things that were lost. I could go into a rant on this, but I won't. Unfortunately, my like new and nicely equipped Apple IIe also somehow walked off.

Since that time, I've recovered almost everything. I managed to save many of the computers and a lot of the parts. This was a labor of love, drying stuff out, cleaning it and rebuilding it. It was stuff like monitors that tended to wander off without my knowing about it and being able to intervene. As previously mentioned, most of my collection centers around x86 PC and PS/2 stuff, though I will give a home to any homeless computer that needs it. I've traveled to various parts of the US to pick up truckloads of PS/2 stuff. At last count that was Texas, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Missouri and even my home state of Illinois. Since 2006, I've had a safe place to store these things. I am sitting on something of a Micro Channel and PS/2 warehouse.

One of the stupidest things I ever did was to part with the Epson Apex PC that my grandmother bought new for some other members of my family. I was there when she bought it. My mother talked me into turning it in to the recyclers because I didn't have the room for it at the time. Stupid, stupid, stupid. :(

I have a Youtube channel full of videos, some silly, others serious and all covering many different topics. Its success came as something of a shock and still does today.

So...these days, I have my PS/2 collection and some microchannel clones. I have white box vintage PCs (286, 386 and 486) as well. I'm the guy who runs the Greyghost mirror of the IBM PCCBBS. (I have a mirror of 3Com's FTP site as well, that I haven't gotten around to putting up yet.) I have an incomplete Apple IIgs, a few Tandy 1000 machines saved from the curb--one equipped with a Trackstar 128 board, two Kaypro PC clones (one complete with CGA monitor and Epson printer) and the odd old laptop. There's also a 7012-397 RS/6000 sitting around somewhere. I have a few EISA machines as well. Those I keep well hidden from the Micro Channel boxen. I'd hate to have them start fighting each other. :razz: And there are some vintage Macintosh things, from the original 128K to early Power Macs.

Oh no, he's here! Quick, hide your PS/2s!
It's already too late! :razz:

Aw darn it, I already put mine into the spotlight. Don't you mess with them! :D

What model is your Zenith computer? Z-248 by any chance?
S'Okay...I'm no PS/2 thief. Unless nobody's looking, you know. And I may be able to help you find that Model 95 you're looking for, though the one I've got needs some love to go again. Shipping might get real pricy tho.

The Zenith PC is a Z/100 clone. Specifically, it's a ZF-152-42 model. I made a video about it. It's what my dad had back in the day, though his was later hard disk equipped.

Well, that's about all I can think of to say for now. There are some things I'm looking for and maybe I'll find them here. Topping the list would be an EGA monitor or a Dell Precision 4xxSi computer system in almost any condition as long as it's fixable.
 
Well that story explains the old computer smell sometimes j/k. Rough times and sucks to hear joking aside but great story so thanks for sharing. Funny how similar my past was too. Fortunately my employer has thought thoroughly and blocked sites like youtube and linked in now so I can't tell right now but is the ZF-152 the same as a ZF-151/150? That was our first family computer and is my favorite in my collection naturally since it's really the first computer our family had. So many fond memories, upgrading it with my dad and eventually it became mine in middle school as my sorta junior high gift. Later like you they bought me the newest computer in the household instead of the family computer as a HS graduation gift which was a Packard Bell P200 MMX system. That thing screamed compared to what was out at the time. The family computer was I think a P120 or the 486 that we had... I think it was the 486 and they bought themselves a P120.

Either way, cool to see another similar model Zenith out there and appreciated!
 
Hey bill! Another F-i-B here too... (to you not in the midwest, means f'n illinois bastard). I've actually run into your videos a few times on youtube before you joined, so huge welcome. Whereabouts are you, im not far from Gurnee (Six flags great america)
 
Well that story explains the old computer smell sometimes j/k. Rough times and sucks to hear joking aside but great story so thanks for sharing. Funny how similar my past was too. Fortunately my employer has thought thoroughly and blocked sites like youtube and linked in now so I can't tell right now but is the ZF-152 the same as a ZF-151/150?
From what I can see, the casing looks similar. The ZF-152 is your "average PC/XT clone" with an 8088 CPU. Someone upgraded my example with a V20 and an 8087. CGA video, I/O and the floppy disk controller are all built into the two boards that compose the system logic.

The flood was a bad deal. I had some neat stuff in my collection and I felt so awful that not all of it could be saved. But...as they say, it is only stuff and can be replaced. I'll get there.

So many fond memories, upgrading it with my dad and eventually it became mine in middle school as my sorta junior high gift.
Oh definitely! My dad's Zenith PC had an amber "CGA" monitor and two 360K 5.25" disk drives. Later, he added a Seagate ST-251 hard drive, along with a fax board and it was just The Business. I can well remember going down to the basement where he kept it to start the fax program so the various newsletters he subscribed to would come in.

He bought the computer new from the local Zenith TV and radio dealer.

I want to enhance the example I have while still keeping it relatively true to what it was. In particular, I want to get ahold of the IDE/CF add-in card that was designed here. I'm not quite sure yet who I should ask about that or even if any are available.

Hey bill! Another F-i-B here too... (to you not in the midwest, means f'n illinois bastard). I've actually run into your videos a few times on youtube before you joined, so huge welcome. Whereabouts are you, im not far from Gurnee (Six flags great america)
Hello there! I'm more in the central part of the state.
 
Hey Bill! welcome to the forum! I am surprised i didn't see you on here earlier. I am suscribed to your youtube after a haul video you made of IBM PS/2 items.
:p
Have a good one!
 
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