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Hello, everyone. After some of the responses in this thread, I figured I'd create another thread for discussion of 'vintage' computers. As you may have seen on my website, I've amassed a collection of several dozen, stretching from ~1976 to 1994 or so (not sure what the cutoff would be; most of them are pre-'90s, at the least). Anyway, I'll get the thread started off with a couple of pics of some of the rarer machines I own:
Apple Lisa 2
As some may know, the Apple Lisa was Apple's very first computer to be equipped with a graphical user interface. Released in 1983, it retailed for around $10,000, and that combined with a lack of third-party support lead to low sales. When the Macintosh was released a year later, the death knell was sounded for the Lisa, and after attempts to improve sales, several of them ended up being buried in a Utah landfill.
The story of how I found my Lisa (actually a Lisa 2, modified to act like a Macintosh Plus) is rather unbelievable. I was hanging around in a local computer surplus store looking for memory for an old iMac, when a couple of guys showed up looking to sell some computers to the store. When asked what they had, the guys started rattling off the names of various vintage computers, including Apple IIe, IBM PCjr, and Apple Lisa.
After being told by store employees that they couldn't buy the computers due to being too old to support, the guys asked if they could just leave them in the parking lot. When informed that at least some of these computers had value to them, the guys replied that they didn't care, they just wanted it all gone.
I waited several minutes, then poked my head out of the store. Sure enough, the parking lot was filled with all sorts of computer stuff, including an Apple Lisa 2! I immediately loaded it in my car, along with a few other computers, and got the heck outta Dodge. 
I went back some time later to get something I'd left behind, I saw some scrappers loading a truck with stuff from the pile. I figure that if I hadn't been there, the Lisa probably would've ended up in a scrapyard........ 
Commodore SX-64
The SX-64 was intended as a 'trans-portable' version of the popular Commodore 64. Released in early 1984 for $995, the SX-64 is considered the first portable computer to be equipped with a color monitor. Of course, "portable" is relative in this case, since the SX-64 weighs around 22lbs (10kg), and needs to be plugged into a wall outlet. The SX-64 was intended for business users who needed to be able to take the computer home with them in order to be able to continue their work. Of course, it wasn't too long before the price of the regular C=64 dropped to the point that a full setup was cheaper than buying a SX-64, and you got a larger monitor to boot (the SX-64's CRT measures a measly 5" diagonal, though it's fairly easy to read for its size). Consequently, not many were sold, and it was discontinued a couple of years later.
My story about the SX-64 isn't as awesome as with the Lisa, but still kinda neat. I was looking around at my favorite outdoor flea market, when I spotted the SX-64 sitting under a seller's table. Expecting it to be priced in the stratosphere, I was stunned to see that the guy only wanted $20 for it! I quickly forked over the cash, and began the long journey back to my car (made worse by the weight of the SX-64). Other than a few quirks with the floppy disk drive, it works fairly well.
-Adam
Apple Lisa 2
As some may know, the Apple Lisa was Apple's very first computer to be equipped with a graphical user interface. Released in 1983, it retailed for around $10,000, and that combined with a lack of third-party support lead to low sales. When the Macintosh was released a year later, the death knell was sounded for the Lisa, and after attempts to improve sales, several of them ended up being buried in a Utah landfill.
The story of how I found my Lisa (actually a Lisa 2, modified to act like a Macintosh Plus) is rather unbelievable. I was hanging around in a local computer surplus store looking for memory for an old iMac, when a couple of guys showed up looking to sell some computers to the store. When asked what they had, the guys started rattling off the names of various vintage computers, including Apple IIe, IBM PCjr, and Apple Lisa.
After being told by store employees that they couldn't buy the computers due to being too old to support, the guys asked if they could just leave them in the parking lot. When informed that at least some of these computers had value to them, the guys replied that they didn't care, they just wanted it all gone.
I waited several minutes, then poked my head out of the store. Sure enough, the parking lot was filled with all sorts of computer stuff, including an Apple Lisa 2! I immediately loaded it in my car, along with a few other computers, and got the heck outta Dodge. I went back some time later to get something I'd left behind, I saw some scrappers loading a truck with stuff from the pile. I figure that if I hadn't been there, the Lisa probably would've ended up in a scrapyard........ Commodore SX-64
The SX-64 was intended as a 'trans-portable' version of the popular Commodore 64. Released in early 1984 for $995, the SX-64 is considered the first portable computer to be equipped with a color monitor. Of course, "portable" is relative in this case, since the SX-64 weighs around 22lbs (10kg), and needs to be plugged into a wall outlet. The SX-64 was intended for business users who needed to be able to take the computer home with them in order to be able to continue their work. Of course, it wasn't too long before the price of the regular C=64 dropped to the point that a full setup was cheaper than buying a SX-64, and you got a larger monitor to boot (the SX-64's CRT measures a measly 5" diagonal, though it's fairly easy to read for its size). Consequently, not many were sold, and it was discontinued a couple of years later.
My story about the SX-64 isn't as awesome as with the Lisa, but still kinda neat. I was looking around at my favorite outdoor flea market, when I spotted the SX-64 sitting under a seller's table. Expecting it to be priced in the stratosphere, I was stunned to see that the guy only wanted $20 for it! I quickly forked over the cash, and began the long journey back to my car (made worse by the weight of the SX-64). Other than a few quirks with the floppy disk drive, it works fairly well.
-Adam
Some people, of course, just use theirs to display the binary one, in a rather rude format.......
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