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  #31  
Old 12-05-2012, 02:32 PM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
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Location: Fairport Harbor, Ohio (near Lake Erie)
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I have owned several computers; however, all but two are long gone. Here is the list.

________________________________________

1. Commodore 64, DOS operating system, with external 5.25" floppy drive and Commodore MPS-803 dot-matrix printer; used an old TV as a monitor. No modem. Got rid of the entire system when I moved in 1999 (space constraints in my then-new apartment).

2. "Explorer" (off brand, don't know who actually made it) with integrated keyboard and Emerson b&w VGA monitor. 3.25" floppy drive, operating system (DOS 3.1) built in, probably on the internal hard drive. No modem. This computer was given to me by an old friend in the early '90s. No printer.

3. AST "Adventure!" 200 (off brand, again I don't know the actual manufacturer), with an off-brand monitor. OS was Windows 95. I added a printer shortly after getting the computer, but cannot recall the make or model. This computer was my first Windows system, and it got a lot of use -- on the Internet, with e-mail (I began e-mailing a couple of old friends whom I had lost contact with by now, shortly after getting the system) and also as a word processor, although the Explorer system I mentioned above also had WP software and was used in the same capacity. This system had only 8mb of RAM and was constantly crashing due to the sheer number of programs besides the word processor and Internet software I was using with it, but it was the best I had at the time, so I made the best of it.

I gave the AST system away when I moved, again due to space limitations in the apartment I moved to. I don't know what became of it after that.

4. IBM "Aptiva" desktop tower. My second Windows computer, this one had Windows 98 (I later upgraded it to Win98SE), a 600 MHz CPU, 128mb of RAM, a Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 832c printer, and was TOTL at the time (late 1999). Kept it 11 years, used it to death, and still have it, although it is now in storage in my bedroom closet and has a dead CMOS backup battery.

5. My current system. It is a "PowerSpec" (house brand of MicroCenter, Columbus, Ohio) model 8736 desktop tower running Windows XP, 2.23 GHz CPU, just under 1GB (991 MB) of RAM, with an HP flat-panel monitor and an HP LaserJet 4+ lasser printer. The FP monitor and laser printer were later addons to the system; the laser printer was given to me by my friend who had given me the Explorer system I mentioned above. He has an accounting business and was upgrading his entire office to Windows 7 at the time, so, knowing that I had been running Windows 98 (by this time becoming obsolete), he decided to give me one of his old Windows XP systems for Christmas two years ago, followed by the LaserJet 4+ laser printer last year.

BTW: For now, the Windows XP system does well for what I need it to do, but I'm wondering just how much longer I will be able to run that operating system before being forced to upgrade to Windows 8 (old software refusing to run on Win8, etc). I'm sure this system will run Win7, but eight....I don't know.

I used Windows 98 for 11 years (!) and got by, but I'm not so sure I'll be so lucky with WinXP. I use this WinXP computer for online banking and other tasks on the Internet, and am wondering how long I have before I start seeing warnings online or elsewhere that XP is not secure enough for such activities. I realize the end of XP's life cycle will be some time in 2014, but I wonder if the end is already in sight as far as some applications or secure Internet sites are concerned.

I am using the Lotus 1-2-3 office suite (presently, word processor only) and am wondering if I will need an entirely new WP system after XP is declared obsolete. I am concerned about the word processor because every file I have written using that processor, including a story 500+ pages long I've been writing since at least 25 years ago (until 1995 the story was typed using a standard typewriter), can only be read by that word processor and no other. I do have QuickView Plus, a file viewer which, according to its developers, can read most if not all text-based files written with any word processor, so I guess reading the old files won't be much of a problem -- unless QVP32 won't run under Windows 7 or 8. I'm wondering if WordPerfect 5.1, which I downloaded recently, would run on the newer OSs in DOS mode, or will there be such a thing as DOS mode in Win8? I'm thinking by the time Win8 goes mainstream in offices and such, there may be little or no need for DOS.
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Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten.

Last edited by Jeffhs; 12-05-2012 at 02:42 PM.
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  #32  
Old 12-05-2012, 02:36 PM
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Title17 Title17 is offline
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I don't have much anymore, I used to have a ton of stuff... mostly 90s early 00s stuff. I have a old IBM Eduquest 486 that I have DOS 6.22 on for a old gaming machine. I have some old Compaq "portable computer" in the basement though. I think it has a 6in green and black CRT, 2 low density disk drives, i think its a 8086 and a built in daisy wheel printer. the keyboard snaps to the face of it. Never been able to bring myself to get rid of it though.
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  #33  
Old 12-06-2012, 02:21 PM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
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[QUOTE=Jeffhs;3055880]I have owned several computers; however, all but two are long gone. Here is the list.

________________________________________

1. Commodore 64, DOS operating system, with external 5.25" floppy drive and Commodore MPS-803 dot-matrix printer; used an old TV as a monitor. No modem. Got rid of the entire system when I moved in 1999 (space constraints in my then-new apartment).

2. "Explorer" (off brand, don't know who actually made it) with integrated keyboard and Emerson b&w VGA monitor. 3.25" floppy drive, operating system (DOS 3.1) built in, probably on the internal hard drive. No modem. This computer was given to me by an old friend in the early '90s. No printer.

3. AST "Adventure!" 200 (off brand, again I don't know the actual manufacturer), with an off-brand monitor. OS was Windows 95. I added a printer shortly after getting the computer, but cannot recall the make or model. This computer was my first Windows system, and it got a lot of use -- on the Internet, with e-mail (I began e-mailing a couple of old friends whom I had lost contact with by now, shortly after getting the system) and also as a word processor, although the Explorer system I mentioned above also had WP software and was used in the same capacity. This system had only 8mb of RAM and was constantly crashing due to the sheer number of programs besides the word processor and Internet software I was using with it, but it was the best I had at the time, so I made the best of it.

I gave the AST system away when I moved, again due to space limitations in the apartment I moved to. I don't know what became of it after that.

4. IBM "Aptiva" desktop tower. My second Windows computer, this one had Windows 98 (I later upgraded it to Win98SE), a 600 MHz CPU, 128mb of RAM, a Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 832c printer, and was TOTL at the time (late 1999). Kept it 11 years, used it to death, and still have it, although it is now in storage in my bedroom closet and has a dead CMOS backup battery.

5. My current system. It is a "PowerSpec" (house brand of MicroCenter, Columbus, Ohio) model 8736 desktop tower running Windows XP, 2.23 GHz CPU, just under 1GB (991 MB) of RAM, with an HP flat-panel monitor and an HP LaserJet 4+ laser printer. The FP monitor and laser printer were later addons to the system; the laser printer was given to me by my friend who had given me the Explorer system I mentioned above. He has an accounting business and was upgrading his entire office to Windows 7 at the time, so, knowing that I had been running Windows 98 (by this time becoming obsolete), he decided to give me one of his old Windows XP systems for Christmas two years ago, followed by the LaserJet 4+ laser printer last year.

BTW: For now, the Windows XP system does well for what I need it to do, but I'm wondering just how much longer I will be able to run that operating system before being forced to upgrade to Windows 8 (old software refusing to run on Win8, etc). I'm sure this system will run Win7, but eight....I don't know.

I used Windows 98 for 11 years (!) and got by, but I'm not so sure I'll be so lucky with WinXP. I use this WinXP computer for online banking and other tasks on the Internet, and am wondering how long I have before I start seeing warnings online or elsewhere that XP is not secure enough for such activities. I realize the end of XP's life cycle will be some time in 2014, but I wonder if the end is already in sight as far as some applications or secure Internet sites are concerned.

I am using the Lotus 1-2-3 office suite (presently, word processor only) and am wondering if I will need an entirely new WP system after XP is declared obsolete. I am concerned about the word processor because every file I have written using that processor, including a story 500+ pages long I've been writing since at least 25 years ago (until 1995 the story was typed using a standard typewriter), can only be read by that word processor and no other. I do have QuickView Plus, a file viewer which, according to its developers, can read most if not all text-based files written with any word processor, so I guess reading the old files won't be much of a problem -- unless QVP32 won't run under Windows 7 or 8. I'm wondering if WordPerfect 5.1, which I downloaded recently, would run on the newer OSs in DOS mode, or will there be such a thing as DOS mode in Win8? I'm thinking by the time Win8 goes mainstream in offices and such, there may be little or no need for DOS.
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Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002

Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten.
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  #34  
Old 12-08-2012, 06:26 PM
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ChrisW6ATV ChrisW6ATV is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffhs View Post
every file I have written using that processor, including a story 500+ pages long I've been writing since at least 25 years ago (until 1995 the story was typed using a standard typewriter), can only be read by that word processor and no other.
Most word-processing programs, even older ones, have various options to save files in other formats. If you can skip italics or other text enhancements in your files, you should be able to save copies of each file in basic text format and/or other simple ones that any newer program can read easily. I have word-processor files from 1990-92 that I can still open in Microsoft Office 2010 just fine.
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  #35  
Old 12-08-2012, 06:33 PM
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lnx64 lnx64 is offline
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My word processor on my IBM is PFS First Choice and it has no other saving options. BUT! You can print to a file, which just becomes a regular ASCII text file.
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  #36  
Old 12-11-2012, 01:46 PM
jbivy jbivy is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Louisvile Kentucky
Posts: 395
I actually just picked up my first vintage computer. Its a new in the box DEC 486 with the floppy drive and windows 95 as the OS. Im definately going to need a lot of help from my techie gf, i know so very little about computers.

But a brand new desk top that was still in the box and shrink wrap for 40 bucks?! How could i turn it down.
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  #37  
Old 12-12-2012, 03:05 PM
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Nick_the_'Nole Nick_the_'Nole is offline
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Ah, I assume that must've been you that posted the thread over on the VCF. Pretty good deal you got there, considering pretty much any beat up 486 crap-box tends to fetch $40 these days.
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  #38  
Old 12-20-2012, 01:03 PM
Geist Geist is offline
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Posts: 350
Hi All;
I have an Altair 8800, with (2 each) 8" Floppies, (hard sectored).. I have many, many 8" floppies (soft sectored), a PDP 11/44 and a PDP 11/04.. Both have power supply issues.. the 11/44 is backplane with boards only.. A Data General Eclipse S130, Power supply issues.. The other DG, Digital Group (8080-Z-80) two machines.. my oldest is a Varian 620i.. Not functional..
THANK YOU Marty
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  #39  
Old 03-31-2013, 07:13 PM
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josephdaniel josephdaniel is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Texas / Missouri
Posts: 462
I also collect vintage computers right now here is wht I have
IBM 5160 with two half height floppy drives a 22 MB RLL Hard disk, Ethernet card, 640k of RAM, v20 processor upgrade, and a EGA graphics adapter/monitor.
macintosh +
commodore 64
TRS-80 model 1
and a few 386'es and 486'es of no intrest
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  #40  
Old 04-01-2013, 01:58 AM
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Telecolor 3007 Telecolor 3007 is offline
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Location: Bucharest, Romania
Posts: 2,079
I have 3:
1) "Olivetti" M290S: an 386 computer with an 286 processor. Desktop style. I took it for free;
2) "I.B.M." <<ThinkPad>> Type 2610 486 laptop. I need more R.A.M. for it. I don't know what I did with the bottom cover . I get it on a exchange for a 386 server computer which I got it for the same person that gave me the 286 ;
3) An "Fujitsu" (P1 or P3) (this one I alsp got it from somebody);
I'm dreaming to get me an 486 laptop with monochrome display. There where any Pentium 1 or Pentium 2 laptops with monochrome display? Colours are wonderoful, but the color displays and the sun light aren't good friends!

Well, it's not a computer, but it have and "A.M.D." 486 processor and it's the world 4th smart-phone and the 3rd one to be salled (the 3rd smart-phone was an prototipe). Unfourtenley, I got it without the small door that covers the S.I.M. and memory cards, but I still use the phone!
http://oldmobil.hu/phones/nokia-9110i
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  #41  
Old 04-03-2013, 10:37 PM
uxwbill uxwbill is offline
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Location: Illinois
Posts: 52
Guilty as charged!

I'm mostly into the IBM PS/2 lineup and have been almost since I first worked with them in the early to mid 1990s.

Even so, I've been unable to resist the appearance of many an old computer. There are a few old Macintosh machines here, some of which are one-owner specials in amazing condition. There is also a very sizable pile of random PC clone "junk".

People around here know of my interest and I've received both known and anonymous "gifts" on my lawn or driveway.

One thing that galls me (a topic for another day and quite possibly another forum) is the relatively new Illinois law prohibiting computers from being placed with general trash. Almost no one who collects computers for recycling or actually recycles them will let me have anything from their piles. This is infuriating.
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  #42  
Old 04-03-2013, 11:14 PM
Chip Chester Chip Chester is offline
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I've got an NEC Ultra Lite ("netbook" almost pre-net), a Toshiba Libretto (full Pentium laptop) about the size of a VHS cassette, a couple of Compaq Portable III (?) 286 lunchbox-style computers with orange plasma screens, 5.25 floppy drives, 10 meg HD, and a clip-on expansion chassis for full-size ISA cards. Those are the "collectables". I've got a few general desktop 386s that are hosts for ATT Vistium desktop videoconference systems (via ISDN) which are now retired, as I can do the same thing with my phone.

Chip
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  #43  
Old 04-05-2013, 01:44 PM
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AdamAnt316 AdamAnt316 is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: MA
Posts: 140
I have several dozen old computers, mostly 8-bit types from the early '80s. I'll attempt to catalog them all:

Apple ][+
Apple //e (2)
Apple //c
Apple //gs
Apple Lisa 2
Apple Macintosh Plus
Apple Macintosh SE
Apple Macintosh Classic
Apple Macintosh Classic II
Apple Macintosh LC III
Apple PowerBook 150
Apple PowerBook 165
Apple PowerBook 5300c
Apple Power Macintosh G3 Beige (2)
Apple PowerBook G3 Lombard
Apple PowerBook G3 Pismo
Apple iBook G3
Apple Power Macintosh G4 Yikes!
Apple Power Macintosh G4 Sawtooth
Apple Power Macintosh G4 Digital Audio
Apple iMac G4
Apple Power Macintosh G4 Quicksilver 2002
Apple Power Macintosh G4 Mirror Drive Door
Apple Power Macintosh G5
Apple iMac G5 (3)
Apple PowerBook G4
Atari 800
Atari 800XL
Atari 1040STf (4)
Atari Portfolio
Casio PB-700
Coleco Adam
Commodore VIC-20
Commodore 64 (3)
Commodore SX-64
Commodore 64C
Commodore 128
Commodore 128D
Commodore Plus/4
Commodore Amiga 1000
Commodore Amiga 2000
Compaq Portable III
Digital HiNote Ultra
Franklin Ace 1000
Hewlett-Packard 200LX
IBM XT (clone?)
IBM PCjr
IBM PS/2 Series 70
Kaypro 2X
Laser 128
Multitech Micro-Professor MPF-1B
Sinclair ZX-80
Sinclair ZX-81
TRS-80 Model 1
TRS-80 Model 4
TRS-80 Color Computer 1 (2)
TRS-80 Color Computer 2
Tandy Color Computer 3
TRS-80 Model 100
Tandy Model 102
Tandy 1000SX
Texas Instruments TI-99/4A (2)

Plus all sorts of peripherals and accessories to support them. I've long wanted to start some sort of museum with them, but I'm not sure how I'd go about doing it. I've always loved putting these old machines to good use in the modern world; used a Commodore 64 or 128 to do much of my typed homework back in high school (graduated in 2001, so it was pretty darn old even then!).
-Adam
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Last edited by AdamAnt316; 10-19-2013 at 04:21 PM. Reason: How could I forget?! + more additions
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  #44  
Old 05-26-2013, 02:46 PM
Mad-Mike Mad-Mike is offline
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: Reno, NV
Posts: 42
I used to have a ton, now I have a few, most of them are pretty tricked-out from stock.

- 1985 Tandy 1000A - Bone stock except for the Intel EtherExpress NIC and the VCF IDE Controller with a Seagate 540MB EIDE HDD attached to it, and the customer 5.25"/3.5" Drive bay adapter with a custom LED added for HDD activity. I usually run it through my old Mitsubishi TV. DOS 6.22

- 1989 GEM 286 - Full AT IBM 5170 clone chassis with 3 instead of 2 external 5.25" drive bays. It's got the same HDD as the Tandy on a 16-bit IDE controller, and was upgraded to SVGA and a SoundBlaster Vibra 16. DOS/Win31

- Home Built 486 - A 486 DX2/66 in an XT clone case running a 8GB HDD split into 2 4GB FAT-32 Partitions, dual boots Win95 and WFWG 3.11 with an option to boot into DOS as well. It's currently running and displaying the Flying Toilets AfterDark Screensaver after getting loaded with Sim City 2000 and Civ II.

- Apple Macintosh SE FDHD - I bought this for $10.00 at Goodwill many moons ago. I've got 2 mice for it, a deluxe keyboard, the standard keyboard, external 800K Floppy, the Manual, and ir runs OS 6.1.
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  #45  
Old 05-28-2013, 03:02 AM
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ChrisW6ATV ChrisW6ATV is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamAnt316 View Post
I have several dozen old computers, mostly 8-bit types from the early '80s.
-Adam
With your name, you need... A Coleco Adam!
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