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Anyone into vintage computing?

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runzwithsizorz said:
LOL, speaking of noisy printers, I had a 20lb. daisy wheel with a fazer unit.
Anyone here even know what a fazer unit was?
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I remember daisy wheel printers, no idea what a fazer unit was.

Brigade HQ had one, I used to go up there now and then for admin things in the early 80's when in.

They had one of the earliest built word processors up there at the time, just being able to graphically cut and paste text on a green screen and edit things then looked almost like magic.
 
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I had an Atari 520 that I turned into a 1020 ST by hardwiring 512k more memory in it . Then the 386 'Sweet 16' came out . I skipped that one and went to a 486 of some type .
 
MongGrel said:
I remember daisy wheel printers, no idea what a fazer unit was.

Brigade HQ had one, I used to go up there now and then for admin things in the early 80's when in.

They had one of the earliest built word processors up there at the time, just being able to graphically cut and paste text on a green screen and edit things then looked almost like magic.
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It was an external memory buffer put between the computer, and printer via the 36 pin ribbon cable. It could store, *with the available upgrade options*, up to a whopping 64k of data, and thus free up your computer so you could do other things. IIRC, the program I used was called; Word Star, on a 286mx, or was it dx. I still have, stored down in the basement, and I don't know why, an HP printer that allows you to expand it's memory with a floppy disk. Damn I feel old!
The original Microfazer sold for $175 for 8k, and all the way up to 64k $300. AHA! found one for sale, http://www.ubbcentral.com/store/ite...Printer-Interface-or-Buffer_181836449780.html
 
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I dont know if I'd call a 486 vintage. They essentially are the same as PCs now. Same ALU and same FPU, just clocked a bit slower at like 25 or 33 or 40 mhz. You can run DOS 5 or 6 with Windows 3.1 or various older linux distros easy enough, and if you are masochistic, you can stick Windows 95 on there.
 
Vintage computing isn't something that you get into. It's something you endeavor to stay well ahead of. When my computers threaten to become "vintage" (i.e. slow) I replace them.

If you don't stay vigilant, you may look up one day and find all of your computers have become "vintage".
 
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disappoint said:
Are you capable of answering the question as to why someone would want a vintage computer or just ad hominem attacks? Because if it's only the latter, that would assure quite the disappointing discourse wouldn't it?
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He may not be capable of answering it, but I can. Nostalgia is the biggest reason for sure. While there might be emulators for the C64, Amigas, Atari 2600, and others, it isn't the same. Not even close. Also, by the time the more powerful Amigas were being introduced starting in 1990 (the 3000, for example), I was a poor college kid and couldn't afford one. It is pretty cool being able to restore one and expand it with stuff I could never have afforded back then.

Secondly, people aren't running Commodore 64s in place of modern systems. I have a Vic 20, C64, C128, Amiga 2000, and Amiga 3000. I run them occasionally because it is fun and brings back epic memories but my PC is my main system. Not sure how old you are, but if you're my age (44) or close, you'll recognize the late 70s-late 80s as the golden age of computers and the 90s-early 2000s were, IMO, the golden age of PC (PC clones) gaming.

BUTCH1 said:
They wrote a TON of software (mostly games) for the C-64 and considering it's an 8-bit machine operating at 1Mhz the programmers had to write efficient code for it and they generally did. The issue today would be display as I don't think it would hook up to today's TV's.
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Actually, it does. I built a cable and connected my C128 (and C64) to one of my Panasonic 1080P plasmas that has an svideo jack. Works great! The monitor out ports from the old Commodores are just svideo signals with a different pinout. The Vic 20 is different and I haven't gotten that to work, but I only spent about 10 minutes trying. 🙂
 
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lxskllr said:
I have one of these...

fmdZy02.jpg


Been thinking about firing it up lately. I have some decent software for it, and the size is great. Imagine what they could do with modern parts.
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Hey, I had that too! I think I threw it away many, many years ago.
 
bbhaag said:
Not sure if this is the right place to post but here goes.

So I recently purchased a 486 computer off Ebay and was looking for a good place to hang out and get some good info. I've found a few good forums like VC and Vogons but was wondering if I missed one? I'm also open to IRC chans or newsgroups that are dedicated to vintage computing as long as they are friendly.

So I guess if anyone here is into it where do you go to hang out and get some good info?
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Check out this guy's site:
http://www.bytecellar.com

His man cave (aka, the Byte Cellar):
http://www.bytecellar.com/photo_pano.html
 
What Commador 64 then Megatron ISA Slot MB with an embedded 286SX - Did that years ago when they where new - No thanks - LOL

But I will fire up my ASUS P3V4X Slot 1 with a 1300Mhz PPGA Taulatin and run it at 1800Mhz running WinSE now and then - Eat your heart out Abit 440BX.

Can still UnZip Win3.11/DOS6.1 in onto a FAT 16 Partition and Boot it.
 
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Vintage Computing to me is something like setting up an IBM 360/195 with a couple of DASD and a few terminals. sucker ran a whole 16mhz
 
How about a 71 IBM about the size of your desk with 1MB of Ram with a 10lb/5MB HDD clunker running on DOS and feed with FORTRAN & Keypunch .

The Keypunch Card Feeder machine was humungous - Screens came later and they were about 6" x 4" then the 5.25"/1.5MB Floppy arrived - Can't even remember the Mhz of the processor 😱
 
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Let's not confuse vintage and antique here, people.
Though honestly, using those monikers, a 486 probably qualifies as "classic" computing more than anything else.
 
nakedfrog said:
Let's not confuse vintage and antique here, people.
Though honestly, using those monikers, a 486 probably qualifies as "classic" computing more than anything else.
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Antique computing. We can discuss the IBM 407 accounting machines.
Or this beast. The Difference tabulator. You would program these machines via plugboards. Same with the IBM 40x series of equipment.
ibmstatisticaltabulator-740.jpg


Vintage, IBM 360 line.


486, meh.
 
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IBM 407 accounting machines.
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You're SICK PUPPIES - I actually ran one of them things.

That's an updated version with a screen and com-tel attached.

It did rid of Ticker Tape - LOL.
 
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I was handed one of these MicroVax's along with a huge cathode ray monitor. No one expected me to use its capability. And nor did I prove them wrong. It was used to access a relational database program running on a larger VAX located in the site data center. I also read email, used word processing and a spreadsheet, located on another VAX also in the data center. I realized that this hand me down had great capabilities that I would never know how to exploit. It was probably originally used by an executive who may have actually read email by himself.



$_57.JPG
 
Hugo Drax said:
Antique computing. We can discuss the IBM 407 accounting machines.
Or this beast. The Difference tabulator. You would program these machines via plugboards. Same with the IBM 40x series of equipment.

Vintage, IBM 360 line.


486, meh.
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It works for cars :colbert:
486 = classic
 
Gotta say I was impressed when the Intel 586 showed up.

I believed I payed something like $200 for one and I for the life of me I can't remember the year - Perhaps 1992
 
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