Show us your old computer gear

Lounge
21

Yep :grinning:
Remember the crimping tool when you’d had to trim the leader, and the replacement BOT markers for when you had to remove a lot of leader?

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22

Vaguely, the BOT marker i recall, was along time ago :joy:, my datacenter was transitioning to 3480 cartridges when i started so there was only a bank of 4 open real drives left… we used to play the scarecrow game of loading the tapes on our arms held out to the sides, to see who could hold the most. That changed to who could carry the tallest stack of carts.

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I vividly remember evaluating the original Sinclair vs the Texas Instruments TI-99 4A. Being in 6th grade the $100 difference was substantial. Luckily TI lowered the price and offered a $50 mail in rebate. The TI was a vastly superior platform. That summer I designed and wrote my first video game. In the 7th grade I ditched my paper route and became a professional programmer.

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24

There is a museum of old IBM kit and other items at Hursley in Hampshire. It is in the basement of the Hursley House.
For more info see
https://slx-online.biz/hursley/index.asp
at the moment the museum is closed due to Covid

Somewhere in the collection is my old PC from 1974 as well as a collection of manuals.
My collection of IBM souvenirs will go there when I have demised.
It is well worth a trip - allow several hours to visit the place (When it is opened up again)

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25

I remember the Mini VAX computers, we had them to run the computer based user interfaces and high level data collation functions alongside PLCs to run the factory process side.

Microprocessors were appearing everywhere in the early 80’s with controllers made from Intel 8085, Motorola and texas instruments computer boards. We even made our own 8085 based machines.

I recall, we learnt hard lessons about software development times and debugging, the hardware bods, me included, wondered why we couldn’t seem to get it right the first time, Ok, nearly first time, just like the hardware! :0)

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You might recognise the edge of the label on that disk in the first post :slight_smile: (it was on loan from Hursley)

27

Spooky - I worked as a Contractor at British Gas High Holborn mid 90’s

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The late 80s was a fascinating time with computers - as there a lovely fusion of the new and old in computer engineering and design. I showed a PDP 1-11 above - however part of one of my designs was to design a card that plugged into that mini’s bus controlled by a Z80 micro processor doing assembler DSP and discrete high speed hardware difference engines. It was all wire wrapped, and it did all work - though I had challenges with RFI - and that is where my interest in RFI in many of its guises started … :slight_smile:

29

Clever system is it still available?

30

I believe it is, obviously ideal for prototyping if not necessarily for EM coupling issues.

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31

Yes I recall the socket pins being improbably long with sharp edges, I also remember some poor soul taking bits apart, it looked quite hard work!

32

image
:grinning:

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image
image1920×1440 221 KB

The ultimate in portability…that one was really cool at the time!:sunglasses:
Check the specs: Ericsson MC218 circa 2000

Width Width is horizontally measured between the left and right edges of device according to the default display orientation 170 mm
Height Height is vertically measured between the bottom and top edges of device according to the default display orientation 90 mm
Depth Depth refers to the thickness of the device. Depth is usually the smallest dimension of the device 23 mm
DimensionsAll dimensions are maximal values (measured between the furthest points of the device) in closed state 6.69x3.54x0.91 inches
Mass The mass of the device including standard battery and stylus (if any and it can be inserted into the device) measured in grams 354 g
12.49 ouncesThe mass of the device including standard battery and stylus (if any and it can be inserted into the device) measured in ounces
#### Software EnvironmentSoftware Environment:
Platform The family of the operating system like Android, iOS, Windows Phone/Mobile, Palm OS, etc. SymbianSymbian OS / EPOC (EPOC, S60, S80, S90, UIQ, MOAP)
Operating System Pre-installed (usually embedded) operating system which the device was released with. Symbian EPOC Release 5Symbian EPOC Release 5
#### Application processor, ChipsetApplication processor, Chipset:
CPU Clock Frequency of the square signal which schedules the internal operation of microprocessor (synchronous sequential logic). The current consumed by the processor is approximately proportional to clock rate. 36.864 MHz
CPU Manufacturer part number and most important characteristics of the IC which includes the main application processor or processors ARM 710T, 1997, 32 bit, single-core, 8 Kbyte I-CacheARM 710T, 1997, 32 bit, single-core, 8 Kbyte I-Cache
##### Operative MemoryOperative Memory:
RAM Type Type of volatile memory IC which specifies RAM architecture, timing characteristics, refresh mode, voltage levels and physical design of the IC. Two major types of random-access memory is static RAM (SRAM) periodically refreshed dynamic RAM (DRAM). EDO DRAM
RAM Capacity (converted) RAM capacity in binary bytes (KiB: 1024 bytes, MiB: 1024 KiB, GiB: 1024 MiB) 16 MiB RAM
##### Non-volatile MemoryNon-volatile Memory:
Non-volatile Memory Interface Interface (e.g. UFS 2.0, eMMC 5.1, moviNAND) which determines physical layer (width, clock rate, lanes, protocol) of data transfer between the application processor and the NV memory Yes
Non-volatile Memory Capacity (converted) The value of ROM capacity converted to the most appropriate units (KiB: 1024 bytes, KB: 1000 bytes, MiB: 1024 KiB, MB: 1000 KB, GiB: 1024 MiB, GB: 1000 MB) 12 MiB ROM
#### DisplayDisplayAll parameters that related to display
Display Diagonal The distance measured between the furthest corners of the display. In case of display with rounded edges this refers to the diagonal of the smallest bounding rectangle. 142 mm
5.6 inchDisplay Diagonal in inches
Resolution Horizontal and vertical resolution of the primary display. In case of display with rounded edges this refers to the smallest bounding rectangle. 640x240
Horizontal Full Bezel Width Defined as the sum of width of left and right vertical display bezels. If the display panel is located in the middle width of left and right bezels are the same and their width is the half of the full bezel width. 37.04 mm
Display Area Utilization Regular display area per regular front panel area ratio. This approximated indicator does not count with possible rounded corners (neither on front panel nor on display) or display notches, holes. 43.3%
Pixel Density Indicates the number of pixels per inch 122 PPI
Display Type Display technology, e.g. Color/ monochrome e-ink, STN, PM-OLED, AM-OLED, TN-TFT, IPS TFT, ASV TFT, MVA TFT, PVA TFT, PLS TFT MSTN LCDGrey/monochrome STN (super-twisted nematic). This is a passive matrix LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) technology. display
Number of Display Scales Maximal number of displayable colors or scales 16
Scratch Resistant Screen Usual types: Gorilla Glass generations, DragonTrail/X, Sapphire Glass No
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35

I’d rather something like that than a modern format smart phone! Hate touchscreens, hate autocorrect even more! How’s it to type on? Please tell me you’re using it to browse the forum :slight_smile:

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36

This is an 8Mb platter (4Mb each side) on display at the excellent ‘National Museum of Computing’ exhibition at Bletchley Park. Well worth a visit if you’re in the area. The platter’s a bit before my time though. I started in the mid 80’s on CPM & MPM devices, networked via ARCNET before moving on to Cisco & Bay Networks equipment. It’s amazing when I think back to the technologies and the company’s that have come and gone. I just wish that I had taken more photographs back then.

disc
disc1920×1440 241 KB

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37

Photos cost about $2 each back then. I took 30k pictures during my daughter’s first two years. I have about 10 pictures of myself at that age.

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38

This thread reminds me that at school in the States we used DEC computers and also Apple IIs. Apple were the new kids on the block at the time. We all know what happened to Apple, but I was curious about what happened to Digital/DEC. Then I read this;

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39

Interesting article that misses one key point. Microsoft and its operating systems. Microsoft struggled at the start with small business systems. MS’s tie up with DEC then enabled MS to develop and roll out first NT 4.0 and then crucially the mail system to replace DEC’s world leading all in one system. The collaboration promoted MS in to small businesses and wiped out DEC’s operating systems in that market. After that DEC became just another box supplier. Hence Compaq’s interest and finally HP’s just buying up market share.

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40

School and DEC computers…
When I was about 13 in 1978 I learnt programming (Basic) at school (albeit I had already taught myself with an early home micro) using punch cards with weekly batch execution turn around… always extremely frustrating when a syntax error popped up early in the batch. … and then big progress, we were upgraded to I think a Teletype 42 with an acoustic coupler

image

To connect to the DEC PDP-11 mini at the then Hatfield Polytechnic… and if the line was good we could get a blistering 300 baud out of it… (approx 0.0003 Mbps in modern money)

And this was a huge step forward… even though there were a few of us having to share and book out the one and only Teletype

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41

We seem to be of a certain age😁

I got into computers by taking a government tops course in cobal programming. Each day the punch card was inputted ready for the next day. Dec vax was the big thing of the day and can’t remember but I think it was called All-in-1. I was very good at it and made a pretty good living out of it. Then Microsoft came along and blew it all away!