That manky IBM 5162 wasn't bad at all inside. No signs of water intrusion and the motherboard looks clean except for these tiny spots of corrosion. I've cleaned them up but the board still appears dead.
I don't remember what is in this package. It arrived many months ago and I'm finally opening it today. I'm 99% certain it's something #VintageComputing related.
Sometimes my ND brain needs a particular kind of background stimulation in order to relax. I forgot how perfectly this fit the purpose back in the day.
This isn't exactly a powerful computer but it does have a real BASIC interpreter. I bought it for $5 with some non-working keys and a dodgy LCD but some Deoxit and a couple of bodge wires fixed it right up.
Here's an uncommon device. The EXELTEL II terminal. Equipped with a built in 1200 baud modem, it had a very limited test run in Minneapolis and Omaha around 1990 before US West canceled the project. This one is filthy, having spent over 30 years in a basement. But it works and should clean up nicely.
I suppose I should post something introductory now that I'm on my own instance.
I'm a Linux lady who used to work in COBOL development and assorted legacy systems management gigs.
Nowadays I make videos and occasional blog posts about Linux and vintage/retro tech. Entirely supported by viewers like you (no sponsors as of writing). Links in bio.
So unfortunately, the mastodon server instance I was using for Vintage Apparatus has just vanished without warning. So I'm looking for a new home for all the retrocomputing / vintage computing stuff i do on https://vintageapparatus.com/ - Any suggestions for an instance? I know of oldbytes.space - that has 370 users on it, which isn't a ton. Any others?
(I'll also be setting up something on Bluesky, but not as my primary)
I want a proper ANSI color terminal for NeXT computers. The only apps from back in the day are lost to the sands of time. I contacted the author of one and he is no longer able to generate license codes, rendering it useless.
I think the best option would be to backport the Terminal app from GNUstep but my rudimentary programming skills wouldn't even get me started. I know there are others who would like such a thing. Maybe we could pitch in and pay a professional to do it. But how would we find such a person?
Something "new" to explore on the workbench today: a 1995 #Apple#Macintosh#Performa 630 in the "DOS Compatible" variant. It’s a bit of an oddball machine from Apple‘s otherwise quite bland (in my opinion) beige era. It has both a regular 68040 Mac and a full 486/DX2-66 PC inside. Should even be capable of running Windows 95 alongside MacOS 8! Thanks to a very generous donation from @markuspooch I’m going to get to play with it. Thank you! #InTheLabDoingStuff#RetroComputing#VintageComputing
Watching #LGR's bubblejet video makes me sad I can't get cartridges for my DesignJet 488CA anymore. Oh the fun I had unclogging cartridges with my vacuum cleaner and the simple adapter I made!
Just a block of wood with a hole the size of the vacuum hose and a piece of foam with a slot for the inkjet cartridge. Worked amazingly well to unclog a cartridge.
I learnt assembly on a TRS-80 model 100 back in the day, so I started collecting slabtops. One thing lead to another, and I may have gone a bit overboard…
Anyway, I finally got a Kyotronic 85 (the one that the model 100, the m10 and the pc-8201 were derived from) today, so I pulled them out of a family picture!
So, what is your favorite? Bonus: can you spot the intruder?