The Vintage Computer Appreciation Thread

[protege]

They just assume that MS did indeed create IBM PC-DOS

What's truly sad...is that I knew someone (a CS major, no less!) who still insists that Bill Gates *wrote* MS-DOS Gates didn't write a damn thing. All he and his buddies did, was to con another firm out of it. And that folks, is the beginnings of the Empire

[Nunavut Pants]

No, they wrote a BASIC interpreter for CP/M. That was really the beginning, I think. For a while, they were viewed as "doing languages" and whats-their-names were viewed as "doing OSes".

And when they told IBM that they toooooootally had an OS that they could supply for IBMs new "personal computer", they were toooooootally lying. After they had the contract, then they looked around to find QDOS.

[AdamAnt316]

No, they wrote a BASIC interpreter for CP/M. That was really the beginning, I think. For a while, they were viewed as "doing languages" and whats-their-names were viewed as "doing OSes".

And when they told IBM that they toooooootally had an OS that they could supply for IBMs new "personal computer", they were toooooootally lying. After they had the contract, then they looked around to find QDOS.

The very first product from "Micro-Soft" (then "Traf-O-Data") was a version of BASIC for the then-new Altair 8800, considered the very first successful microcomputer (there were a few others before that, but most were little more than construction projects in magazines). Their Altair BASIC proved highly popular among early computer hobbyists, who copied the paper tape amongst themselves, prompting Micro-Soft to issue an open letter decrying the practice (more irony!).

They later created versions of BASIC for other companies, including (ironically enough, again!) Apple. It's claimed that the very last programming personally done by Bill Gates himself was for the TRS-80 Model 100. It wasn't too much longer after that that they switched from BASIC interpreters to MS-DOS, and the age of innovation was over.
-Adam
Did I leave the irony on?

[Racket_Man]

What's truly sad...is that I knew someone (a CS major, no less!) who still insists that Bill Gates *wrote* MS-DOS Gates didn't write a damn thing. All he and his buddies did, was to con another firm out of it. And that folks, is the beginnings of the Empire

A couple of years ago a driver at my store was taking some intro computer classes at the local Tech college (he did have experience in programming and hardware but the college would not let him test out of the low level intro classes).

one of the classes was a history of computing. The INSTRUCTOR kept insisting that MS did indeed author MS-DOS (and a bunch of other "programs" and packages maybe like Apple][ DOS.)

This myth is STILL being perpetuated.

[Shangri-laschild]

I'm still trying to decide what to do with my SGI Indy and somehow I got stuck with the monitor for an SGI Crimson. Those were not small computers and the monitor is huge as well. Pretty sure the monitor is fairly useless to me at this point.

[RichS]

Wow, this takes me back!

At my high school, we had a mix of Commodore 64 / PET computers. During Summer break, there was a lottery every year where students were allowed to take a computer home with them. My senior year, the got their first Apple IIe. I had one as my first home computer a year before that, with the DuoDisk drive, monochrome monitor, and OkiData dot-matrix printer. A few years after I had it, the DuoDisk failed, and I don't know what happened to it after

Personally, I have a lot of what's been already mentioned - A Commodore VIC-20 and 64, Amiga 1000 and 500 with an OkiData 20 color printer, Apple IIc with monitor, stand, and Apple ImageWriter printer, and a beige case TI 99/4A.

I don't think this one's been mentioned - I do have a Timex Sinclair that I need to check if it works or not. I'm also on the lookout for another floppy disk drive for the C64, working copies of KickStart/WorkBench for the Amigas, and a black/silver case TI 99/4A that doesn't have the software lockout chip.

[Nunavut Pants]

I'm still trying to decide what to do with my SGI Indy and somehow I got stuck with the monitor for an SGI Crimson.

Heh, we used those for the flight simulators where I used to work. Helped that we were literally one exit down the road from SGI.

(Did you know they are still around? They're now a Big Data company, but much smaller than back in the day.)

[Shangri-laschild]

Heh, we used those for the flight simulators where I used to work. Helped that we were literally one exit down the road from SGI.

(Did you know they are still around? They're now a Big Data company, but much smaller than back in the day.)

One of these days I need to power it up and see if it actually works because it just might.

I've seen some pictures of their servers I believe, they always manage to make such pretty cases for things.

[AdamAnt316]

I'm still trying to decide what to do with my SGI Indy and somehow I got stuck with the monitor for an SGI Crimson. Those were not small computers and the monitor is huge as well. Pretty sure the monitor is fairly useless to me at this point.

SGI stuff is cool! Have yet to pick any of it up, mainly since I don't know enough about it to determine that be able to choose something decent, or exactly what I'd be able to do with it. As for SGI themselves, according to Wikipedia, the original company went bankrupt in 2009, and their assets were bought by Rackable Systems, which now calls itself Silicon Graphics International.

I don't think this one's been mentioned - I do have a Timex Sinclair that I need to check if it works or not. I'm also on the lookout for another floppy disk drive for the C64, working copies of KickStart/WorkBench for the Amigas, and a black/silver case TI 99/4A that doesn't have the software lockout chip.

I have several (Timex-)Sinclair computers, including a ZX-80 and a few ZX-81s, along with at least one TS-1000. I'd like to find a Sinclair Spectrum someday, mainly because I've heard so much about them (it was the main competitor to the C=64 in the UK). IWhat I'd really like to find someday is a Sinclair ZX-81 which is still in kit form, so I'd have the opportunity to build one from scratch (I think there's a website selling them, but they want absurd amounts of money for them, IIRC).

As for the stuff you're looking for, I might be able to help you out with at least some of it...
-Adam

[RichS]

I don't know what version of the Sinclair I have - it was bought some time ago, and I packed it away. Now I have an excuse to go through my old computers!

As for the stuff I need - I have 3 C64 floppy drives that work, just alignment is off due to the software copy protection. I want to look up and see if there's a way to get those working again. The TI 99/4A I can wait on to see if I run into one - I have a couple of 3rd party carts that TI cut off working with the newer models, but one comes with a reset switch. You put the cart in, power on where it'll do nothing, the press the switch - then the cart will work.

Most important is finding some KickStart/WorkBench disks. The ones I have don't work due to the floppies being so old. Can't find them anywhere, it seems.

[AdamAnt316]

I don't know what version of the Sinclair I have - it was bought some time ago, and I packed it away. Now I have an excuse to go through my old computers!

As for the stuff I need - I have 3 C64 floppy drives that work, just alignment is off due to the software copy protection. I want to look up and see if there's a way to get those working again. The TI 99/4A I can wait on to see if I run into one - I have a couple of 3rd party carts that TI cut off working with the newer models, but one comes with a reset switch. You put the cart in, power on where it'll do nothing, the press the switch - then the cart will work.

Most important is finding some KickStart/WorkBench disks. The ones I have don't work due to the floppies being so old. Can't find them anywhere, it seems.

The most common of the Sinclair models was the ZX-81, aka the Timex-Sinclair 1000. Was the first computer to sell for under $100, and was offered in kit form. It used a membrane keyboard, and was purely black-and-white in the "graphics" department (and no sound). It sported 1KB of RAM (2KB in the TS-1000), with an optional 16KB expansion unit. Even so, it proved to be rather popular, with various accessories like real keyboards offered, along with a fair amount of software (all on good ol' cassette tapes), including games. It was followed by the Sinclair ZX Spectrum (otherwise known as the Timex-Sinclair 2068), which had a better (relatively speaking) keyboard, color graphics, and sound capabilities. It did far better in the UK than the US.

As far as Commodore disk drives go, I managed to find this article. Not sure how relevant it is given than the drives are 30+ years older than when it was written, but may indeed prove helpful. In addition, there's software out there from Free Spirit which you might be able to find a copy of on eBay or somesuch.

As for the Amiga Workbench/Kickstart disks, yeah that tends to be an issue for sure. Doubly so for me, since my Amiga 1000 is equipped with a "Tiny Tiger" hard drive which requires a modified version of the Workbench disk in order to boot from it. I'll have to look around at some point, and see what I can find around here.
-Adam

[wolfie]

and a black/silver case TI 99/4A that doesn't have the software lockout chip.

Just curious, but what is the software lockout chip on the TI?

[AdamAnt316]

Just curious, but what is the software lockout chip on the TI?

A lockout chip is a method of disallowing unauthorized software from working on a computer or video game system. The most 'famous' one is the "10NES" used in the Nintendo Entertainment System, aka the source of the ever-so-often-seen blinking screen when a cartridge fails to work correctly. Apparently, the later versions of the TI-99/4A also use one, though I have yet to run afoul of it on mine.
-Adam

[Shangri-laschild]

SGI stuff is cool! Have yet to pick any of it up, mainly since I don't know enough about it to determine that be able to choose something decent, or exactly what I'd be able to do with it. As for SGI themselves, according to Wikipedia, the original company went bankrupt in 2009, and their assets were bought by Rackable Systems, which now calls itself Silicon Graphics International.

I may just end up pulling everything in the case and putting something different inside. I'd feel bad about that if it were a more rare one but I'm pretty sure the one I have isn't all that rare and right now I'm doing what most online seem to be doing with it which is putting my monitor from another computer on it.

[Nunavut Pants]

As for SGI themselves, according to Wikipedia, the original company went bankrupt in 2009, and their assets were bought by Rackable Systems, which now calls itself Silicon Graphics International.

I have a friend who worked for them at the point where they were bought. He had just recently moved from less-expensive City A to more-expensive City B to be closer to work. Then Rackable bought SGI, and they moved to City A.... D'OH! He did stay with them for a few years more, but he's now on to his Next Thing.

At the simulator, we started with what I think were Iris 2400Turbo models. Wound up going to VGX and VGXT workstations, then onto Octanes and one or another of the "Pizza Box" stations. One other group had Personal Irises and Indys, as well as the Octanes and Pizza Boxes. Eventually, our group transitioned to the SGI-branded Linux PCs (basically, overpriced PCs with SGI-supported Red Hat and high-spec Nvidia graphics cards), and when SGI imploded we just moved straight to off-the-shelf PCs with Linux.

When the N64 came out, I heard from some insiders that it had just about the same graphics hardware in it (or was it just the same graphics processing power?) as the VGXT that we used to run...