npjg
Member
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2023
- Messages
- 12
Hello! I fondly remember our family’s Dell Dimension XPS M266, which ran Windows 98. We had that machine - and Juno dial-up - until way after most people stopped using both. I’ve been fascinated with computers since my dad let me help him replace the hard disk… then took apart the old, dead disk with me! Also one of the first books I remember reading is the MaranGraphics Windows 95 Simplified. Must have been in the library within my reach. I still love the orange floppy disk character and all his antics.
I read Scott Mueller’s 10th edition Upgrading & Repairing PCs cover-to-cover about 10 times in middle school, and using that knowledge I did basic IT repair stuff for my friends’ parents. The oldest machine I’ve owned to date is a 286 Tandy portable I got at a yard sale when I was 10 or 11. It was broken and I didn’t have the knowledge or tools to fix it, so it eventually got recycled after I tore it apart to learn as much as I could. I kept the 286 chip - still have it on my desk. I also have a Compaq Contura 3/20 (386), love the keyboard on it. Great for journaling. Also the loudest 3.5” floppy drive I’ve ever heard.
I’ve been more fascinated with handheld/palmtop devices. Never gotten the chance to use a Newton MessagePad, but I'd love to. Through the years, I’ve had the following portable devices, most of which I picked up for basically nothing at yard sales:
- Palm m100, m125, IIIc, IIIxe. Why need cellular data when you have HotSync?
- HP Jornada 720, 680, 820. Love these palmtops. Currently just have the 680, and I’m considering selling it as the keyboard is now too small for me to type comfortably
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- Psion 5mx - Recently sold it, as I didn’t have a nostalgic attachment to it and was too worried about breaking the screen cable.
- Toshiba Dynapad T200/CS - Currently trying to find a spare one of these in good shape and with accessories… please let me know if you have one!
- A few older ThinkPads and Latitudes, mostly from Windows 2000 era.
It’s not vintage (yet), but I used a Lenovo T420 all through college. Can’t beat that keyboard. I still regularly use a T420-style keyboard that Lenovo stuck in a USB enclosure. It even has the ThinkVantage button! (Again not vintage, but I think they’re somewhat rare.)
As I’ve written elsewhere on here, I have always been fascinated by Windows 3.x - the thought of Windows without a Start Menu was alluringly foreign. I never actually used Windows 3.1 until far after its obsolescence. I put up a wanted ad on Craigslist for a setup disk set, and my dad drove me 40 minutes to meet a guy who sold me a working set for $10! I think I installed DOS 5.0 and then Windows 3.1 on a Pentium II Gateway laptop. Soon after that, we got better Internet access - then I discovered abandonware downloads & virtualization
In the world of "real hardware", I’m coaxing a Toshiba Dynapad T200/CS back to life. I had been looking for one for a while and finally got one, but it’s in bad shape. I will probably make some posts about that soon I also have several beige Pentium II-era towers - some Dells, Compaqs, and Tangents - that I’ve plucked from the trash and am slowly fixing up. Darn those caps!
I am particularly interested in “software archaeology”. I contributed to ScummVM’s Macromedia Director reverse-engineering effort over the pandemic, and I have some reversing projects of my own - namely creating a ScummVM engine for Media Station games (the folks who made the Disney’s Animated Storybooks among other great childrens’ titles).
I read Scott Mueller’s 10th edition Upgrading & Repairing PCs cover-to-cover about 10 times in middle school, and using that knowledge I did basic IT repair stuff for my friends’ parents. The oldest machine I’ve owned to date is a 286 Tandy portable I got at a yard sale when I was 10 or 11. It was broken and I didn’t have the knowledge or tools to fix it, so it eventually got recycled after I tore it apart to learn as much as I could. I kept the 286 chip - still have it on my desk. I also have a Compaq Contura 3/20 (386), love the keyboard on it. Great for journaling. Also the loudest 3.5” floppy drive I’ve ever heard.
I’ve been more fascinated with handheld/palmtop devices. Never gotten the chance to use a Newton MessagePad, but I'd love to. Through the years, I’ve had the following portable devices, most of which I picked up for basically nothing at yard sales:
- Palm m100, m125, IIIc, IIIxe. Why need cellular data when you have HotSync?
- HP Jornada 720, 680, 820. Love these palmtops. Currently just have the 680, and I’m considering selling it as the keyboard is now too small for me to type comfortably
. - Psion 5mx - Recently sold it, as I didn’t have a nostalgic attachment to it and was too worried about breaking the screen cable.
- Toshiba Dynapad T200/CS - Currently trying to find a spare one of these in good shape and with accessories… please let me know if you have one!
- A few older ThinkPads and Latitudes, mostly from Windows 2000 era.
It’s not vintage (yet), but I used a Lenovo T420 all through college. Can’t beat that keyboard. I still regularly use a T420-style keyboard that Lenovo stuck in a USB enclosure. It even has the ThinkVantage button! (Again not vintage, but I think they’re somewhat rare.)
As I’ve written elsewhere on here, I have always been fascinated by Windows 3.x - the thought of Windows without a Start Menu was alluringly foreign. I never actually used Windows 3.1 until far after its obsolescence. I put up a wanted ad on Craigslist for a setup disk set, and my dad drove me 40 minutes to meet a guy who sold me a working set for $10! I think I installed DOS 5.0 and then Windows 3.1 on a Pentium II Gateway laptop. Soon after that, we got better Internet access - then I discovered abandonware downloads & virtualization
In the world of "real hardware", I’m coaxing a Toshiba Dynapad T200/CS back to life. I had been looking for one for a while and finally got one, but it’s in bad shape. I will probably make some posts about that soon
I also have several beige Pentium II-era towers - some Dells, Compaqs, and Tangents - that I’ve plucked from the trash and am slowly fixing up. Darn those caps!I am particularly interested in “software archaeology”. I contributed to ScummVM’s Macromedia Director reverse-engineering effort over the pandemic, and I have some reversing projects of my own - namely creating a ScummVM engine for Media Station games (the folks who made the Disney’s Animated Storybooks among other great childrens’ titles).