Vintage computers

[ricky5050]

Hello there !

I'm having a clear out , does anyone here collect vintage computers? I have an amstrad pc with monitor from the late 80s or 90s , it has large floppy drive with mouse and books etc, seems a shame to bin it

I can post more info if anyone interested

Thanks Richard

 

[whirlcool]

I remember those things, wasn't it more like the mid 80's when they were popular?
I remember some models had the power supply in the monitor, so the PC had to plug into the monitor in order for the computer to work. And if I remember they were only about 95% IBM compatible.

 

[sudsmaster]

If it's got a mouse...

It ain't that vintage

 

[kb0nes]

Is this vintage?

No Mouse, no GUI.

Heathkit H89, I built it in 1882

Dual Zilog Z-80's 2Mhz clock, 64Kb (yes K) memory and a 100Kb single sided single density 5-1/4" floppy.

It sucks since I spent about 100 hours soldering it together, darned tough to hand it to a scrapper!

Runs fine, but my Honeywell programmable thermostat has more processor power!

 

[hotpointfan]

Hello

Any Mac stuff? Please let me know if you have any, my email is in my profile

 

[firedome]

yeah...

that Heathkit would be vintage... like the Heathkit tube amp I built in 1964, it's desirable to some folks.

 

[kb0nes]

Heath Tube Amp

Firedome, which Heath amp did you build?

I have a pair of W4AM's. I also have a slew of Dyanco stuff, mostly vacuum state but some solid state too.

The vintage stuff is cool, much like the joy one gets driving an antique car on a Sunday. Mostly happy not to use the old stuff as a "daily driver" though. Quality modern gear is simply better and with less hassles. I will admit the heat generated by a big tube amp is welcome in a Minnesota winter!

 

[danemodsandy]

Phil:

"Heathkit H89, I built it in 1882"

My, my - you were ahead of your time, weren't you? ;-)

* ducks and runs *

 

[kb0nes]

Well I have this Delorean

and one night I hit 88 Mph in a thunderstorm...

Sorry, damn late night typo! Why do they have to put the "8" & "9" keys right next to one another

 

[cfz2882]

vintage conputers

i have a few vintage PCs:
-1981 TRS-80
-1982 IBM pc(5150?)
-1984 kaypro
-1994 gateway
many more from around that era i got in incomplete or damaged condition i have junked for parts.
For "big"systems got these and mostly junked for (awesome)parts and materials:
-1981 DEC computer system from local bank-grabbed this in '93 and still using parts from it,had two huge hard drives and big printer.
-1975 burrouhs mainframe,was taken out of service in '95-had a long run!
-1983 DEC dual 8"floppy drive-about the size of a home trash compactor,i still have this intact so far
-1977 DEC big printer-parts have been taken and used,but still partly intact so far.

 

[whirlcool]

I have an Apple Airport box that someone gave us. It's not the current version, but one back from current. It's the one that has a hard disk in it so you can Time Machine with it.
Anyone interested let me know. It works too.

 

[kb0nes]

cfz2882

That's quite a list there! Although I couldn't help but notice you are lacking a nice working Heath H89 with two additional outboard 5-1/4" drives! How I wish I could find a home for them.

I also have an old 1995 Dell (old not vintage) Pentium 1 90Mhz that is close to the door to go to Best Buy for recycling. I still have the original divide-by-zero error processor that Intel replaced at part of their recall. It was a solid $3500 machine that ran 24/7 for better then 12 years. Other then a few fan failures it is all original! Are there any PC's sold today that will do that??

 

[cfz2882]

a heath H89 would fit into the vintage lineup nicely-i have some heathkit audio and radio related gear,including a 14w mono tube amp someone built in '69.Just got a heathkit VTVM for $5,took the cover off to try and date it(was from '72)and found a long-dead"c"battery badly corroded into it's holder.Like the 14w amp,the VTVM had mullard tubes in it.Besides semiconductors,capacitors, switches,etc.that i have salvaged and repurposed from "big"70s/80s era computers and medical electronics,lots of really nice motors and fans including a lot of those 3-blade rotron fans with the distinctive sound you used to hear at video game arcades,offices,and stores(IBM registers)in the early 1980s

 

[imperial70]

speaking of vintage computers

Anyone hear of an Infotecs IMP or CC2 system based on the Intersil 6100 chip?

The 6100 was a "PDP-8 on a chip." 

 

I used to repair those machines back in the early 80's....

 

 

[Iowegian]

Umm...

What do you want to buy and how much do you want to pay?

HP 2000? HP 3000? DEC VAX/11-780? How much is a used VAX worth without the text editor and Fortran 77 complier?

"Symbolic stack dump follows..."

Any chance you have used Gandolf boxes available?

 

[cadman]

Let's see some pics of that Burroughs!

 

[cfz2882]

'75 burroughs

i stripped the burroughs for parts shortly after getting it back in 1995-had card after card with metal transistors and white ceramic IC chips with little metal covers over where the "chip"was on the ceramic package.the computer frame was kind of a blue-gray color.the "dumb terminals"hooked to the main unit were a little more grayish in color than the main unit.I still have parts of the burroughs-some repurposed to other uses-including one of the "imc boxer"fans i got from it,almost noiseless low speed type.If i was to get this computer today,i would surely keep it intact!amazing that it was in service at the driver's license center for 20 yrs!!

 

[cfz2882]

'70s computers

thinking back to the burroughs reminded me of another '70s computer "dumb terminal"i had for a while:1977 aspen systems; was a monochrome green screen of about 13" with door beside the screen to access 4-5 big slide-in circuit cards and multi-colored keyboard.this was stripped for parts after i had it a few years-still have the light blue steel housing and i figured out the power supply wiring and used it.

 

[whirlcool]

Speaking of dumb terminals, here is an early Incoterm airline reservations terminal.
These were very widely used in the 70's & early 80's. This one was used by United Airlines Apollo reservations system.