TRS80Ninja
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2023
- Messages
- 6
I have been in the process of building a new business known as an 80s themed Airbnb house in the Greater Philadelphia Area of NJ. Although there are a few others out there around the country, nothing is going to be like the experience I'm going to offer. My overall focus is accuracy and realism, which means I have to constantly work on ways to include as much 80s tech as possible.
This brings me to the subject of an office in the home, which must of course include a good retro computer from that era. Obviously, I want people to be able to experience this part of retro tech for themselves, but I also want to focus on something that is easy for them to use as well.
Some concerns are disk based systems where the renters would have to be required to insert disks. As we all remember, those large floppies were very touchy and you could ruin one just by looking at it wrong. The smaller 3.5" disks are better since they have their own spring loaded covers, and I'm sure I could stock backup blanks and recopy ones that got damaged. However, I would if possible want to try to get something that has a hard drive. I do understand that a system that old is most likely going to have a hard drive that is already fried or is about to give up. So I understand that there will most likely be some leg work on my end getting things replaced and working well.
Another concern are CRT monitors. I do not intend on faking it, the house will have both CRT televisions as well as a CRT monitor. In my own office I have gone through 3 of them in the past 5 years since they're so old. My friend who has been a television repairman for 40+ years told me that it's really going to be hit or miss with anything CRT since so many components have potentially degraded over time. After being quoted close to $300 to fix my vintage console tv, without a guarantee it would work, I ended up retrofitting the tube and boards from a 2001 JVC tv instead. I don't think such a task would be as easy with a computer monitor. So I'm interested in any feedback on how well the CRTs hold up in some of these vintage Mac computers as well.
A big part of me is leaning towards a vintage Mac. I know that I have seen devices that allow you to replace hard drives in older machines with brand new hard drives via special adapters, and I have tons of PC repair experience so that's not an issue for me.
So I'm basically looking for some input and possible suggestions. My dream office will have a computer that is hard drive based, or uses the smaller 3.5" disks, a working printer, game controllers, etc.
On the flip side, if I find that going this route would be too expensive or prohibitive, I've also considered getting an old Tandy Color Computer 2 and a bunch of cartridges, knowing I can connect it to any old CRT tv I pick out of the trash. This is my backup plan, although I really prefer a more extensive system.
I've lastly thought of seeking out an old PC system running DOS and me creating a simple boot up menu using Qbasic run from autoexec.bat giving guests simple choices of programs to use on the computer. I am even considering maybe building a newer custom built PC but putting it into a classic case and running DOS on it, but then there may be some compatibility issues (I don't know if modern processors are backwards compatible with older DOS versions.)
This brings me to the subject of an office in the home, which must of course include a good retro computer from that era. Obviously, I want people to be able to experience this part of retro tech for themselves, but I also want to focus on something that is easy for them to use as well.
Some concerns are disk based systems where the renters would have to be required to insert disks. As we all remember, those large floppies were very touchy and you could ruin one just by looking at it wrong. The smaller 3.5" disks are better since they have their own spring loaded covers, and I'm sure I could stock backup blanks and recopy ones that got damaged. However, I would if possible want to try to get something that has a hard drive. I do understand that a system that old is most likely going to have a hard drive that is already fried or is about to give up. So I understand that there will most likely be some leg work on my end getting things replaced and working well.
Another concern are CRT monitors. I do not intend on faking it, the house will have both CRT televisions as well as a CRT monitor. In my own office I have gone through 3 of them in the past 5 years since they're so old. My friend who has been a television repairman for 40+ years told me that it's really going to be hit or miss with anything CRT since so many components have potentially degraded over time. After being quoted close to $300 to fix my vintage console tv, without a guarantee it would work, I ended up retrofitting the tube and boards from a 2001 JVC tv instead. I don't think such a task would be as easy with a computer monitor. So I'm interested in any feedback on how well the CRTs hold up in some of these vintage Mac computers as well.
A big part of me is leaning towards a vintage Mac. I know that I have seen devices that allow you to replace hard drives in older machines with brand new hard drives via special adapters, and I have tons of PC repair experience so that's not an issue for me.
So I'm basically looking for some input and possible suggestions. My dream office will have a computer that is hard drive based, or uses the smaller 3.5" disks, a working printer, game controllers, etc.
On the flip side, if I find that going this route would be too expensive or prohibitive, I've also considered getting an old Tandy Color Computer 2 and a bunch of cartridges, knowing I can connect it to any old CRT tv I pick out of the trash. This is my backup plan, although I really prefer a more extensive system.
I've lastly thought of seeking out an old PC system running DOS and me creating a simple boot up menu using Qbasic run from autoexec.bat giving guests simple choices of programs to use on the computer. I am even considering maybe building a newer custom built PC but putting it into a classic case and running DOS on it, but then there may be some compatibility issues (I don't know if modern processors are backwards compatible with older DOS versions.)