Jake Featherston
12-10-2007, 01:13 AM
Visit this LINK (http://oldcomputers.net/) to get info on obsolete computers you knew and loved.
The first computer I ever owned was the Timex Sinclair 1000; I got it for Christmas in 1982.
http://oldcomputers.net/pics/ts1000.JPG
Introduced: July 1982
Price: US $99.95
How many? 500,000 in first 6 months
Weight: 12 ounces
CPU: Zilog Z80A, 3.25MHz
RAM: 2K, 64K max
Display: 22 X 32 text
hooks to TV
Ports: memory, cassette
Peripherals: Cassette recorder
T/S printer
OS: ROM BASIC
It had a keypad, rather than a keyboard, and it only came with 2K RAM, but we had the 16K expansion kit (which is that little black box thing at the back of the system, shown in the picture). If you wiggled the system at all, the connection between the main computer and the RAM expansion would cause it to crash (and it wiggled all the time, because the keypad was built-in, not detatchable like all keyboards are today). My dad glued some velcro strips to it in order to greatly minimize the problem, however (but you still had to be cautious whenever you used it). You could (Hell, had to) operate this thing using a tv as its monitor, but it had no color capability (thus providing a very practical use for my parents' old black-and-white tv; if you hooked it up to a color tv, you were still only going to get black-and-white screen output). To say that this thing sucked, audio cassette tape drive storage (only!) and all, would be a bit of an understatement.
Two years later, I got a Franklin Ace 1000 (later upgraded to an 1100 with a second 5.25" floppy drive and a letter-quality (daisy wheel, no less), as opposed to dot matrix, printer. It came with a green monochrome monitor.
http://oldcomputers.net/pics/ace1200-right.jpg
The above pic is actually of a Franklin Ace 1200, but with my 1100 expansion kit any my second floppy drive, that's exactly what it looked like (other than for the fact the Franklin Ace 1200 had 80 columns of text, rather than 40, but that's a minor quibble; just imagine the monitor is turned off).
http://oldcomputers.net/pics/ace1000.jpg
Above is what it looked like when we got it (though we'd stack the monitor on top of it, the floppy drive was off to the side).
Released: 1982
Price: $1349
CPU: MOS 6502, 1.0 MHz
RAM: 64K
Display: monochrome; color is optional
280 X 192, 40 X 24 text
Ports: composite video output
8 internal expansion slots
Storage external 143K floppy ($479)
with interface card
OS: Apple DOS
You'll notice it says it has a screen resolution of 280 X 192, but at the time, I used to design graphics programs in BASIC that were widely regarded by friends & family as "truly amazing," and so you can't tell me that thing had a 280 X 192 screen resolution. I remember damn well that it was 240 X 191. Where they came up with 191 (you'd think they'd go with an even number, at least), I'll never know.
I fucking LOVED my Franklin almost as much as life itself. I became extremely well-versed in nearly all aspects of its use, and even became something of a hacker (for example, I cracked into the machine language code of the game "Tapper," later to be known as "Rootbeer Tapper" - due to Nancy Reaganesque concerns about marketing a game to kids that involved the serving of alcoholic beverages - and inserted my name and various obscene messages).
I subsequenly owned an Apple IIc, an IBM PC XT, and an IBM PS/1 (the IIc and PC XT were both stolen from a government office, by the way), and while those are pretty archaic, they were mainstream enough that I'm not sure they deserve write-ups of their own. If you're interested, there's plenty of data on them at the link I posted at the top of this page (except for the PS/1, which apparently isn't ancient enough yet). I actually got the PS/1 for Christmas of 1990, and it had a 30MB hard-drive, the first HD I'd ever owned. I thought 30MBs was a lot back then. It was a 286 with 640K RAM and 10 Mghz. I later bought (the first computer I actually paid for with my own money) some sort of IBM clone with 4MBs of RAM back around '95, and used it mainly to log onto BBSs and talk about what a Commie femme Clinton was. In 1996, I finally bought a computer with Windows 95, a 56K baud modem (as opposed to a 2.4K baud modem), and started accessing the World Wide Web via AOL. Too bad I made the mistake of purchasing a Packard Bell (or "Packard Hell"), but that's another story.
Like most people from my era, I used various other computers owned by friends and the like, such as the Commodore Vic-20, the Commodore 64, the Atari 400/800 (I've never even seen an Amiga, however). But the computer I want to show you now is one I only got to play with, briefly, one time, during the early part of the 5th grade ie., 1980 (it was owned by the older brother of a friend of mine). It was called the Heathkit H89.
Available: 1979
Price: US$1595.00 (kit form)
CPU: Zilog Z80, @ 2.0 MHz
RAM: 16K, 48K max.
Display: 12-inch monochrome CRT
80 X 24 text, no graphics
Storage: 102K hard-sectored floppy drive
built-in cassette interface
OS: 'monitor', HDOS (Heath DOS)
http://oldcomputers.net/pics/h89-right.jpg
You just gotta love that vertical 5.25" floppy drive, as well as the fact you had to manually open a little hinged door in order to access the drive. Has anyone here ever used a more obscure computer than that?
Please share your experiences in archaic computing.
The first computer I ever owned was the Timex Sinclair 1000; I got it for Christmas in 1982.
http://oldcomputers.net/pics/ts1000.JPG
Introduced: July 1982
Price: US $99.95
How many? 500,000 in first 6 months
Weight: 12 ounces
CPU: Zilog Z80A, 3.25MHz
RAM: 2K, 64K max
Display: 22 X 32 text
hooks to TV
Ports: memory, cassette
Peripherals: Cassette recorder
T/S printer
OS: ROM BASIC
It had a keypad, rather than a keyboard, and it only came with 2K RAM, but we had the 16K expansion kit (which is that little black box thing at the back of the system, shown in the picture). If you wiggled the system at all, the connection between the main computer and the RAM expansion would cause it to crash (and it wiggled all the time, because the keypad was built-in, not detatchable like all keyboards are today). My dad glued some velcro strips to it in order to greatly minimize the problem, however (but you still had to be cautious whenever you used it). You could (Hell, had to) operate this thing using a tv as its monitor, but it had no color capability (thus providing a very practical use for my parents' old black-and-white tv; if you hooked it up to a color tv, you were still only going to get black-and-white screen output). To say that this thing sucked, audio cassette tape drive storage (only!) and all, would be a bit of an understatement.
Two years later, I got a Franklin Ace 1000 (later upgraded to an 1100 with a second 5.25" floppy drive and a letter-quality (daisy wheel, no less), as opposed to dot matrix, printer. It came with a green monochrome monitor.
http://oldcomputers.net/pics/ace1200-right.jpg
The above pic is actually of a Franklin Ace 1200, but with my 1100 expansion kit any my second floppy drive, that's exactly what it looked like (other than for the fact the Franklin Ace 1200 had 80 columns of text, rather than 40, but that's a minor quibble; just imagine the monitor is turned off).
http://oldcomputers.net/pics/ace1000.jpg
Above is what it looked like when we got it (though we'd stack the monitor on top of it, the floppy drive was off to the side).
Released: 1982
Price: $1349
CPU: MOS 6502, 1.0 MHz
RAM: 64K
Display: monochrome; color is optional
280 X 192, 40 X 24 text
Ports: composite video output
8 internal expansion slots
Storage external 143K floppy ($479)
with interface card
OS: Apple DOS
You'll notice it says it has a screen resolution of 280 X 192, but at the time, I used to design graphics programs in BASIC that were widely regarded by friends & family as "truly amazing," and so you can't tell me that thing had a 280 X 192 screen resolution. I remember damn well that it was 240 X 191. Where they came up with 191 (you'd think they'd go with an even number, at least), I'll never know.
I fucking LOVED my Franklin almost as much as life itself. I became extremely well-versed in nearly all aspects of its use, and even became something of a hacker (for example, I cracked into the machine language code of the game "Tapper," later to be known as "Rootbeer Tapper" - due to Nancy Reaganesque concerns about marketing a game to kids that involved the serving of alcoholic beverages - and inserted my name and various obscene messages).
I subsequenly owned an Apple IIc, an IBM PC XT, and an IBM PS/1 (the IIc and PC XT were both stolen from a government office, by the way), and while those are pretty archaic, they were mainstream enough that I'm not sure they deserve write-ups of their own. If you're interested, there's plenty of data on them at the link I posted at the top of this page (except for the PS/1, which apparently isn't ancient enough yet). I actually got the PS/1 for Christmas of 1990, and it had a 30MB hard-drive, the first HD I'd ever owned. I thought 30MBs was a lot back then. It was a 286 with 640K RAM and 10 Mghz. I later bought (the first computer I actually paid for with my own money) some sort of IBM clone with 4MBs of RAM back around '95, and used it mainly to log onto BBSs and talk about what a Commie femme Clinton was. In 1996, I finally bought a computer with Windows 95, a 56K baud modem (as opposed to a 2.4K baud modem), and started accessing the World Wide Web via AOL. Too bad I made the mistake of purchasing a Packard Bell (or "Packard Hell"), but that's another story.
Like most people from my era, I used various other computers owned by friends and the like, such as the Commodore Vic-20, the Commodore 64, the Atari 400/800 (I've never even seen an Amiga, however). But the computer I want to show you now is one I only got to play with, briefly, one time, during the early part of the 5th grade ie., 1980 (it was owned by the older brother of a friend of mine). It was called the Heathkit H89.
Available: 1979
Price: US$1595.00 (kit form)
CPU: Zilog Z80, @ 2.0 MHz
RAM: 16K, 48K max.
Display: 12-inch monochrome CRT
80 X 24 text, no graphics
Storage: 102K hard-sectored floppy drive
built-in cassette interface
OS: 'monitor', HDOS (Heath DOS)
http://oldcomputers.net/pics/h89-right.jpg
You just gotta love that vertical 5.25" floppy drive, as well as the fact you had to manually open a little hinged door in order to access the drive. Has anyone here ever used a more obscure computer than that?
Please share your experiences in archaic computing.