Return to Vintage Computing

[mpickering]

Hello all,

I'm a returning vintage collector. Been a bit out of the game for a couple years but having moved, I am finally pulling my old hardware out of storage and getting it back up and running. I'm having fun with all the old machines and trying to round out my small collection.

Here's what I am up to right now:

Tandy Model 100 24K
Tandy Model 102 24K
Tandy WP-2
NEC PC-8201A
Panasonic CF-150 (recently repaired with new LCD, good floppy)
Tandy 1500HD x 2 (one good, one bad, 3 spare CP2024 drives)
Timex Sinclair 1000 (my first computer)
Timex Sinclair ZX81
VIC-20
Apple Powerbook 5300c (need an OS for this but floppy/HD good)

Not vintage but old:

Thinkpad 560Z x 3 (complete with dock, slimline USB CD, many batteries, floppies, etc)
SGI Personal Iris 4D x 2
SGI Indigo x 2
SGI Indigo2 R4400 x 2
SGI Indigo2 R10k x 6
SGI Octane 1 x 2 (Dual 200Mhz, 2GB, Irix 6.5.12)
SGI Indy
Numerous add-on boards, software CDs, various hardware configs
Sun Ultra 2 (Netra faceplate, 2 x UltraSPARC 300Mhz, 2GB, 2x18GB)
Sun Sparcstation 10 x 3 (Ross Dual 180Mhz)
Sun Ultra 5
Numerous Sun peripherals (external CD-ROMs, tap drives, tons of SBUS cards, etc)

I would very much like to expand my Tandy collection. I've developed a thing for the Tandy laptops for some reason. I'd also like to add a few Ataris including an 800XL (my 3rd PC) and a complete Atari ST setup. They seem like nice machines. For the moment, I'm learning machine language programming on my VIC and PC-8201A (since I can burn my own custom EPROMs for direct use in the option ROM socket).

I'd be interested in any vintage computing events in the Mid-Atlantic region and I'm open to acquisitions. Dream machines would be an Onyx and a Cray but I am realistic.

Matt

 

[Erik]

Welcome back, Matt!

Enjoy your collection and the forums!

 

[pontus]

Welcome back, and what a nice collection of SGI's you have there. At first I thought you said you had an Indigo2 with six R10k, but of course you must have six Indigos :D

 

[snq]

Yea, welcome back

I used to have an SGI Indy complete with original screen and everything.. I used it a lot actually, my first unix steps were on that machine Unfortunately the power supply blew and I sold it.

 

[barythrin]

Always cool to have your first computer(s). Is it actually YOUR original or the model? That's a nice list of machines. I too have a few old but not vintage servers in my hands. I used to use them a lot more than I do now for learning different operating systems/environments but it's become a bit too much as of late and I can't seem to make time anymore.

- John

 

[mpickering]

Alas, the Sinclair 1000 is not my original, simply the model. Ironically, I sold my original Sinclair 1000 for what I paid for it in 1980 some fifteen years later. Today, they seem to be selling for roughly the same which it quite a feat.

But I cut my programming baby teeth on that machine. Even tried to write a beginner programming book for it at age 9. The VIC-20 was an upgrade as a very nice Christmas gift a year later.

Having these hardware again is a lot of fun. Now I'm actually learning the things about them I didn't have the ability to learn when I was a kid. Like machine language. It is a fun distraction to try to make the old play with the new (like RS-232 programming to transfer data from old Tandys to new Linux).

Matt

 

[barythrin]

Very cool that you're getting to rediscover your old systems. It's pretty sweet getting that nostalgic value back and then improving what you knew about them in the first place. I love getting ML up on my systems though I'm still pending my heap of projects and learning the ins and outs of all the systems.

 

[TandyMan100]

Hey matt, nice to see you again.

I have a thing for Tandy laptops, too. Got a 1100FD, 32k 100, 24k 100. Pretty fun. Lookin for a FD for the 1100FD.

wishlist: Kaypro 2000

(see also: the sexiest beast of a laptop in the world)

 

[Luzur]

nice collection!

my friend found a Sun computer att he dump some years ago, and it worked perfectly.