You will find a link on the main page for Bytebrothers. This started in the BBS Echonet days as a support conference for software written by the late great Jimmy Pearson, author of, among other things, Lucifer's Realm (eventually banned in the U.S. because of satanic overtones; Jimmy was very proud), and evolved into a place where anybody could say anything to anybody, and became an online home to some of the finest, but also some of the most twisted and depraved people you can imagine. These days, the whole thing has invaded the internet via a maillist. If you venture into this world, don't take your ego with you; this bunch will use it for perverse sexual purposes, stomp it into a bloody mass, and throw it back at you. Take a look at the link to see some of the whacked-out people that make up this group...
The entries on this page are certainly not the entire pile, but give a good representation of the junk I have hanging around here. All of these things actually work; a computer is never obsolete if it will do what you want it to do. The VIC-20 shown here still labors away in the ham shack translating RTTY and AMTOR, the NEC Ultralite goes on camping trips to do Packet radio and games, etc, etc. Don't throw these old things out - fix 'em up and give them to poor kids to learn with, to grandma so she can swap email with the grandkids, or just play with 'em. It's great fun...
(soapbox mode) Both Apple and Micro$oft seem intent on endlessly developing more and more bloated OSs, often with no other apparent reason than to render the present computer generation obsolete. It's a damned shame. Remember that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates both saw the point-and-click interface at the same time - at Xerox PARC, in 1979. Xerox was developing it as a system to allow children and handicapped people to use computers, and judging from the state of personal computing today, it succeeded. If you have an old 80x86 anything, and think you must use a GUI, use something like NewDeal (formerly GEM). It will run on anything from a 286 up, with 1 Meg of RAM, looks much like Win '95, and includes a WYSIWYG word processor, a graphical web browser, a spreadsheet, accessories, and will run any DOS app. When run with DR-DOS 7.x, it will multitask. And if you throw in more RAM, most DOS apps will run like crazy from a 1Meg RAMDisk. If you like the efficiency and flexibility of the command-line world, use a good DOS like M$-DOS 6.22 or DR-DOS 7.x. Check the archives at Simtel and you will be astonished at the low-cost or free apps available, from simple text editors to graphical web browsers, and you may not know that a surprising array of well-known apps are still sold in DOS versions. (Corel, for example, will sell you WordPerfect Office Suite 8 for DOS) You may have already noticed at the bottom of the main page on this site that all this is done with DOS WordStar. It's not fancy, and there are no frames or entertaining Java applets, but it's fast to load, efficient, and straightforward, which is what a webpage should be. And I proof it on a 286, with the Arachne DOS browser... Come join us old command-line farts. We have a blast. (/soapbox mode)
Here's a goody. The TRS-80 Model 1 is what started it all for Tandy (Radio Shack). A Z-80 box with a standard 4K of ram, it came with a cassette interface, a mono monitor, and little else. It's add-ons were horribly expensive, not very good, and seldom available, but it introduced tens of thousands of people to microcomputing, and was a classic. It was eventually forced off the market by the FCC, who were less than amused by it's non-layered system board and plastic case, which allowed all kinds of horrible RF interference to escape. These things could render radios, telephones, and garage door openers useless at 250 feet...
The last 8-bit box marketed by Tandy was the TRS-80 Model 4, IMHO one of the greatest computers ever. It was a well-built, fairly sophisticated Z-80 machine, included a ROM to allow it to operate in Model 3 mode (it's predecessor), and would run several DOSs, including CP/M. This one has 128K of RAM and runs CP/M. These things were solid machines, networkable, and with hard drives were quite capable of small business use. They were sold until 1987, after being slowly but surely abandoned by Tandy. Thousands are still alive today in the hands of hobbyists, and they have amazing support on the web from long-time fans.
The Radio Shack Color Computer - This was an amazing box for it's time. Beautiful graphics, good keyboard, and a relatively fast processor. In it's later evolution, it could run MicroSystem's OS9 and the business programs marketed for it, had a great expansion port, could be expanded to 512K of RAM, easily fitted for point-of-sale use, and could have been a world-beater small-business box, but Tandy dropped the ball by marketing it as a home game machine, and it never found it's potential. This machine has stunning support today with it's fans, who are still developing peripherals and software for it, and at least two wildly popular conventions ("CocoFest"s) are still held annually for fans of the little machines. Today, COCOs surf the web, have 1.2G hard drives, and run wild games. Wow...
The TRS-80 Model 4P is the portable version of the Model 4. A nice Z80 box; 64K, lighter than the early PC clone portables, probably the best keyboard in that era, and all the functionality of the Model 4, except it doesn't include the Model 3 ROM. This one runs CP/M, Wordstar, and P/Term to run it's built-in 300 baud modem. I also have LDOS 6.3.1 for it, and several apps that run under that system.
This is a typical copycat mid-80s "luggable", this one by Panasonic. This one is unusual for having both a 5.25" drive and a 3.5". Both DD of course; 360K and 720K. This one was late to market; it has no provision at all for a hard drive, and by the time it hit the market, most of the other luggables did. A shame; it's reliable and rugged. A bit cumbersome, but not a bad box.
The Kaypro II. A fine 8-bit box; can be fitted with hard drives, upgraded ROM, and this one still runs great. In it's time, a good 'un. These also still have huge support among fans.
When Xerox dropped out of the PC business, they had a large number of Model 820 system boards left, and closed them out for a few bucks. Thousands of geeks bought the boards, and spent far too much time and money building up 820s from those boards, only to have the IBM PC hit, and turn them into doorstops. This one still works, running CP/M 2.2 from 8" floppies.
The Timex 1000. 4K, RF output for a TV set, aggravating membrane keyboard. This one has the 16K RAM pack and the thermal printer. I still can't remember why I bought this thing.
The Commodore VIC-20. When this thing came out, it's graphics abilities were the envy of everyone. This one is still doing yeoman duty in the ham shack as a RTTY decoder, using an aftermarket plug-in cart. Nice little box.
The Commodore 64, successor to the VIC20. Much more versatile than the VIC, and one of the most popular 8-bit computers for several years; still the largest-selling single model in computer history, these were still sold at retail until 1992.(!) A real classic. There are still piles of these in ham shacks doing station control, and some game developers are *still* writing for these things...
The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A. A fine graphics machine for it's day, and one of the original gamer's boxes. Still supported today by several user groups, and still thriving among the 8-bit geeks.
This is the Yamaha MX-5 music computer. This one is very interesting. It was released in 1984, ran Micro$oft's MS-X operating system, and was a fantastic box. Unfortunately, Micro$oft never promoted MS-X in this country, and it simply faded away. A disaster for Yamaha, but a nice toy for those who got 'em before they disappeared. Still in use.
This is the IBM Personal Portable Computer. An 8086 box, it used the the regular PC-XT motherboard, and originally came with 128K of RAM. It never sold very well, and disappeared after a very few years. This one has been upgraded with a third-party Turbo XT 640K motherboard, a 20M hard drive, and an internal 2400 baud modem. It is loaded with PFS Professional Write, Procomm Plus, and SLMR. It was, for a while, the ultimate away-from-home BBS machine.
This the Compaq Portable Computer. This one started the PC clone movement when Compaq brazenly copied the IBM PC and marketed this thing. This one is an 8086, and it was later made in a 286. This one has a 20M hard card, and still works well.
You have to wonder why some of them bothered. Case in point, the Data General ONE. It runs a notepad, dialing directory, and comm program for it's internal 300 baud modem from ROM, or it will boot M$-DOS from a floppy. Unfortunately, if you run from ROM, you can't save to disk, and you only have 208K of RAM, so you'd better print as you go...
Speaking of Why Did They Bother- The IBM PC-Jr. Slow, proprietary hardware, horribly expensive to upgrade, it lasted only a couple of years. Good riddance...
Here's the Laptop computer. This is an NEC ProSpeed, and it is a lap full. This is a 286 with a 20M hard drive, little LCD display, built-in 1200 baud modem, and a large battery which doesn't last long.
Weirdness; The NEC Ultralite. It is light, and very compact. Thing is, it has no built-in floppy drive. Intended, I think,
as a note-taking machine, it's hard drive is actually 2M of RAM, which you format just
like a real hard drive; it shows heads and tracks as it formats, and everything. On the D: drive (ROM) is a kinda stripped
version of M$-DOS 3.3, including an early version of LapLink, and a crude comm program, apparently for file-transfer
use with it's internal 300 baud modem.
Unfortunately, it doesn't include an editor, so you have to supply that, sucking up precious "hard drive" space.
Another "why did they bother?" candidate: The Tandy 1000HX; 256K RAM, bare-minimum M$-DOS 2.11 in ROM, no hard drive (not even simulated), even slower than the PC, if that is possible.
This is the serious stuff - the original IBM PC. This one came with 64K, a cassette port, and a text-only video card, at $2750. Over the years, it was upgraded with a graphics card, an AST SuperCard (memory up to 640K, serial and parallel ports, clock/calendar), a double-side floppy drive, a 20M hard drive, and an internal 2400 baud modem. About a $6000 box. Still runs fine; even with the the original hard drive. I'm amortizing the hell outta this one...
This was once
a fine home network. The XTs were workstations, with the 286s on bottom acting
as file and modem/print servers. The whole thing was tied together with
thin coax ethernet. These were the days (circa 1989-93) when dial-up BBSs
were king, and the internet was all text, and mostly moved at 9600 baud.
(remember FINGER? GOPHER?) This setup allowed any workstation in the house
to run WordPerfect (DOS of course), Lotus 1-2-3, Menu Master, a bunch of
games, and comm stuff for BBS and Internet work. It all printed to a networked
Qume Sprint 40 daisywheel printer with sheet feeder. Of course, when the
Web took over the internet, it all became a collection of doorstops...