16 Nov
1997
16 Nov
'97
4:42 a.m.
Hi Zane and everyone! :)
I've got to agree with the comments about the
multitude of IBM PC clones,
not much in the way of classics there. One day I'll probably add a IBM PC
to my collection when I find one in good shape, but that would be about the
only PC clone I'm interested in adding to my collection. PC's are just to
common, and they don't really have anything that sets them apart.
Uh
huh...There are interesting features and quirky features.
Zeniths used diagnostic ROM and telltale LED's plus each LED for
voltages. During the bootup that goes out for each test. Neat
feature and should be included in lots of clones as well.
And interesting feature that I have not seen much in other PC's is
Philips series, this ROM has a GOOD feature where you can boot off
different drives sizes in either physical 0 and 1 drive. Tandy
slimline series like 486 but I have dunno about 386 series, had a
bios when selected can autosense the IDE hd's specs on the go at
startup and also it has user defineable specs. That is real early
than lot of pcs until very recently. Yes, all of these are now 10
years old machines now. Rainbow machine is very quirky demanding
weird hardware and quirky disks in both format and hardsectored. :(
Very little known motherboards that has POST code display on
motherboard is Cateeth (read up for about 7 years back in Byte's
starts with Portelle, I'm poor with names usually or similar) and old
Dell's, another weird feature on Wyse 286 that can show time and
date, mhz display like 8mhz, 12mhz and backlighted! :) IBM produced
excellent PS/2 '87 era series that can be ripped apart with bare
hands except for motherboard and PSU screws.
Your comments about intersting OSes in roms and such dual CPUs
snipped.
Yup, that is real interesting.
The other reason I collect classic computers is to
play with their OS's.
Well, it wasn't till about '91 with OS/2 1.3 that the PC even had an
acceptable OS. Although CP/M running native on a Pentium 133 is pretty
cool, and fast! By collecting Non-PC's there a tons of OS's to play with.
So while there are a tiny handfull of computers less than 10 years old that
I might term classic, I totally agree with the more than 10 years old
definition. As for historical significance, bah, what a crock. I don't
consider historical significance a requirement or of importance when it
comes to collecting classic computers. I collect them because I enjoy
working with them, and find them interesting.
To each collector have different
favors. :)
486 is now nearing 10year mark FWIW and 386 is long past that mark
as I specilize in DOS machines and keeping a lookout for older one
very close to my area around here. Any good place to try? Flea
Market seems to turn up nothing, have not tried those Goodwill and
that red Army symbol. What else?
On a simular note, has anyone noticed how much MS
Windoz machines are
becoming like the Apple Lisa? It's fast reaching the point where you by a
PC and run proprietary MS software on it. Kind of reminds me of how
basically the only software for the Lisa was to Office Suite.
Zane
Not really, Can use it for linux, BSD, DOS (oldie), SunOS and
Netware.
Troll