Vintage Computing in 2020 - Overview

During the past year and a half as we've settled into our new home in Suburban St. Paul, MN, I've continued to enjoy Retro Computing, AKA Vintage Computing.  I enjoy the process of fixing old computers more than using them, although I have spent quite a few hours playing some of the old games. I used to think that I had a unique interest in installing and configuring old versions of Windows and Mac OS.  I now realize that there are quite a large group of retro computing enthusiasts with a wide variety of interests, even within the Twin Cities.  We have Free Geek MN, and we even have our own YouTuber, Collin of This Does Not Compute.

My interest in Retro Computing started with a desire to relive some of my own experiences from around the time I first became interested in computing, but I’m also interested in the history in general and the history of technology, so I soon became interested in the computers that came before my time, for example the 1983 Compaq Portable and 1986 Apple Macintosh Plus shown at the top left and top center of this image...

Three of the computers have mismatching faceplates, these are my “Bridge” computers that have various flash based boot drives or a mismatch of modern and older drives.  Since I’m more interested in the functionality, this doesn’t bother me, just another opportunity to keep an eye out for some low-cost upgrades should they become available.

I’m equally interested in Apple and IBM PC Compatible products, having used both as a young person.  My first computer was a Commodore Vic-20 that was a hand me down from my Uncle, but that computer was quite out of date, and although I read the manual and did some simple BASIC programming, I didn’t really stick with it long enough to become comfortable with that platform.

I have “only” one rack full of computers and as with most collectors storage space is at a premium.  I have some computers in storage that are less interesting too me that I’m ready to sell, and I have my project computers that are not yet working stored out in the garage.

If you are interested in specifics, I have detailed articles about each computer on this blog.  Thanks for your interest, and please leave a comment if you have questions!

Original Compaq Portable

It has been one of my goals in vintage computing to move “back in time” to the early days of the personal computer, I’ve been intrigued by the story behind the original IBM PC, the 5150, a fascinating story of the tension between one of the classic engineering trade offs (make vs buy), and the unforeseen consequences this can have in a product development, but I’m no longer interested in collecting IBM in particular after reading this book “IBM and the Holocaust”.  So, I’ve been on the lookout for another brand XT class machine, and I was very intrigued when a damaged Compaq Portable I popped up at my local Free Geek store.  This was one of the first IBM PC clones, but they did something really different by creating a “Portable”.  I won’t rehearse the development of the machine here as it’s been covered well elsewhere.

My Compaq is an early unit, with the plastic parts stamped 1983, and a Rev. B BIOS.  When I purchased it, there was an error code at boot, so I knew that the processor and RAM were working.  The case was in rough shape, cracked and dirty, but a carrying case was included.

Once again, the Vintage Computer Forum was one of the best sources for information.  Also, the 8-bit guy did a restoration video series  on this machine, having seen these resources gave me the confidence to give this repair a shot.  There was a long list of issues with the machine, but with knowledge of how to take the machine apart, clean and lubricate floppy drives, replace the defective foam and foil pads in the keyboard, upgrade the BIOS, install an XT-CF adapter so I could boot from Flash, and upgrade the RAM to the maximum 640K, I now have a fully functional first generation PC running at 4.7Mhz.

Not shown in the picture, I moved the CF slot up to the front of the machine in the middle of the unused floppy drive bay that was opened up by removing the non-functional drive.

Update:  March 2021

I found a Tecmar Captain card and installed that in this PC, so it has a functional Real Time Clock, a working Microsoft Serial mouse.  I've installed Windows 2.0 on this machine, and that's been alot of fun to poke around with, since that version predates my first PC ownership.

Let me know if you have any questions for me about the Compaq, or other Vintage Computing topics in the comments below.

Vintage Computing - Pentium 75

In mid 2019, I became interested in vintage PCs again, or perhaps still.  I was feeling nostalgic about the era around 1993 when I got my first PC, a Gateway 2000 486DX 25.  If memory serves, that PC came with 4 MB of RAM, a 170 MB hard drive, and an. upgrade to the 15” CrystalScan monitor.

I started to look around a bit on Craigslist, but I didn’t know yet that because of the popularity of YouTubers like the 8-Bit Guy and LGR, I’m not the only one feeling nostalgic.  The cost of retro computers has started to go up significantly in the last few years.  The fact that most of these computers have already been recycled by now makes even systems that used to be very common more rare.

So, after finding only computers that were too new, I reached out to a Craigslist seller who mentioned that they had other computers for sale that were not yet listed.  This seller did not have a 486 on offer at the time, but recommended a Pentium 75 system that was nicely equipped.  I remember being amazed by the Pentium systems when they were new, and for me one of the most enjoyable aspects of retro computing is being able to purchase systems that I could not afford back in the day.  The computer had been carefully gone over by the seller and parts had been changed out to get it in good working order.  I was immediately able to use and enjoy the machine for retro gaming.

One of my longtime interests has been alternate operating systems, so one of the first upgrades I performed on this machine was to get it booting from a compact flash card slot on the back of the machine.  This allows me to load multiple operating systems on different CF cards.  The included hard drive still works, and it’s in the case if I ever want to go back to it, but the compact flash cards have so many benefits.  They provide an easy way to move files onto the retro computer, make backups easy, and run faster.  The compact flash card upgrade is kind of a no brainer, especially for DOS retro PCs where the costs are only $10-15 dollars for the circuit board that adapts the IDE cable to a CF card, and the OS doesn’t use the drive for virtual memory.

Shortly after purchasing the machine, I bought and installed Planet X3, the excellent top down strategy game by David Murray, the 8-bit guy.  I realized that I was interested in the idea of traveling further back in time to before I was interested in computing, before I even owned a computer, but the Pentium 75 really started me back on the path for retro computing in the PC world.

As I started getting interested in XT class machines, this computer has morphed into a bridge computer through adding a 360K floppy disk drive, which I was able to find at the local Free Geek here.  I took the drive apart enough to clean the heads, tested, and install it in this PC, which now serves as a disk imaging workstation with Dave Dunfeild’s IMD program.

So, the mid 90s being pretty well represented by this hardware, I have moved onto other projects, but this system still remains setup and will retain pride of place in my collection, receiving new software, making new 360K floppy disks, and perhaps even the occasional hardware upgrade.

My current wish list for this computer includes:
Epson branded VGA Monitor from the period
Epson PS/2 Keyboard from the period (or an older, clicky beige AT keyboard)
Adaptec PCI SCSI card
360K Floppy Drive w/ Beige Faceplate