Andrew T.
Experienced Member
Hi folks!
The first computer I recall using was actually an IBM PCjr. My kindergarten classroom circa 1990 was outfitted with five or six of these machines; equipped for word processing and an educational software package called Writing to Read. I vividly remember the fuzzy 16-color graphics, the (revised) keyboard with its color-striped "Esc," "Alt," and "Fn" keys, and the multitudes of sidecars that had to be tacked on to the case to do anything worthwhile.
I became interested specifically in older computers around 1997. Windows 95 at the time was being rolled out en masse, command lines were being chased out of view, once-proud relics like Apple IIes, Tandy 1000s, IBM XTs, black-and-white Macintoshes, and terminals of all sorts were being rapidly swept from circulation, and I felt a yearning to save some of this before it disappeared. Around the same time my grandfather picked up a handful of 8088 and 80286-based IBM systems that were being discarded locally, and treated computers as a natural outgrowth of his radio hobby. Before long, he was "upgrading" from one set of technological discards to another...and through him, a genuine IBM AT fell into my hands. I loved the AT and wished that I could have done more with it when I had it.
It's hard to believe that 13 years have swept by since this was taken, but for a time my bedroom workstation looked like this. I devoured information about understanding, upgrading, and repairing computers, I pored over websites like Uncreative Labs and the Obsolete Computer Museum, and I loved to tinker with the machines. Unfortunately after some hardware troubles, frustrations being unable to obtain parts, and upgrade attempts that failed or went awry, I started burning out. Before long I was off to college, and my opportunities for embracing vintage computers from day to day were over. Stacks and boxes of parts laid about the room gathering dust, untouched. Soon a long-distance move forced my hand, and I gave my accumulation (including the AT, some miscellaneous clothbound IBM manuals, and a PS/1 2121) away to another collector. Five years have passed since.
Although I'm no longer actively collecting vintage computers, I feel renewed and back in the mood to discuss them once more. And if another IBM AT somehow fell into my lap tomorrow, I wouldn't pass it by!
The first computer I recall using was actually an IBM PCjr. My kindergarten classroom circa 1990 was outfitted with five or six of these machines; equipped for word processing and an educational software package called Writing to Read. I vividly remember the fuzzy 16-color graphics, the (revised) keyboard with its color-striped "Esc," "Alt," and "Fn" keys, and the multitudes of sidecars that had to be tacked on to the case to do anything worthwhile.
I became interested specifically in older computers around 1997. Windows 95 at the time was being rolled out en masse, command lines were being chased out of view, once-proud relics like Apple IIes, Tandy 1000s, IBM XTs, black-and-white Macintoshes, and terminals of all sorts were being rapidly swept from circulation, and I felt a yearning to save some of this before it disappeared. Around the same time my grandfather picked up a handful of 8088 and 80286-based IBM systems that were being discarded locally, and treated computers as a natural outgrowth of his radio hobby. Before long, he was "upgrading" from one set of technological discards to another...and through him, a genuine IBM AT fell into my hands. I loved the AT and wished that I could have done more with it when I had it.
It's hard to believe that 13 years have swept by since this was taken, but for a time my bedroom workstation looked like this. I devoured information about understanding, upgrading, and repairing computers, I pored over websites like Uncreative Labs and the Obsolete Computer Museum, and I loved to tinker with the machines. Unfortunately after some hardware troubles, frustrations being unable to obtain parts, and upgrade attempts that failed or went awry, I started burning out. Before long I was off to college, and my opportunities for embracing vintage computers from day to day were over. Stacks and boxes of parts laid about the room gathering dust, untouched. Soon a long-distance move forced my hand, and I gave my accumulation (including the AT, some miscellaneous clothbound IBM manuals, and a PS/1 2121) away to another collector. Five years have passed since.
Although I'm no longer actively collecting vintage computers, I feel renewed and back in the mood to discuss them once more. And if another IBM AT somehow fell into my lap tomorrow, I wouldn't pass it by!
Uncreative Labs is still running allbeit with a lot less posts 