Steve's Retro Year in Review for 2025

With 2025 coming to a close it's time to reflect back on another year in Retro Computing.  Alot of great things happened in 2025, some planned and some unexpected.  This is my seventh year being involved in Retro Computing and my interest continues, there seems to always be something new to learn and the forum members of the Vintage Computer Federation and Tinker Different continue to be a source of help and inspiration for new projects.  Also this year I authored my 100th bLog aticle here on Steve's Retro Computer bLog.

In my retrospective article from last year I mentioned that I wanted to downsize the collection.  I added fewer new computers to my collection this year and I said no to quite a few eBay and local listings that were interesting.  I added about 15 machines this year instead of the 20+ machines I'd been adding over the last couple of years and more importantly I sold quite a few of those 20+ machines from previous years as well.  Half of the computers I sold this year are ones I bought to fix up and resell since I really do enjoy the repair process.  It also helps to know ahead of time that I won't be keeping the machines, it makes it easier to sell them when the time comes.

I sell complete systems whenever possible on both Craigslist and FaceBook Market Place (FBMP).  This year I sold about two computers on FBMP for every one on Craigslist, but I will still continue to use both platforms.  I think I get alot more spam from FBMP, but I know I'm getting alot of views on that platform since they show you those statistics now.  I'm still pricing below eBay prices, and I'm seeing machines sell on average after about a 2-3 week wait.

I bought three lots of computers this year, one with seven machines (mostly compact Macs), one with three Macs, and the final lot with eight machines (mostly Apple IIs).  In each of these lots I knew there were only 1 or 2 computers I'd want to keep but having these computers on hand made it easy for me to find an interesting repair project any time.  I plan to keep doing this (assuming that I can continue to find small and medium sized lots of computers in "as is" condition).  If you know anyone that is downsizing or needs help disposing of an old computer collection, please let me know, I'd be glad to buy machines in as-is condition or just even just offer advice about selling.

As I look back at acquisitions this year I made good progress on getting early Apple II hardware.  I got an early Apple II Plus machine and then an original Apple II machine.  I also got to extend my collection of Next computers, adding another NextStation Mono Slab and and an HP PA RISC machine that runs NextStep really well.  I got a new CP/M Machine that I haven't completed repairs on yet and another early MS-DOS compatible Wang PC, so I'm continuing to learn about both of these types of machines.  I added a couple of calculators to the collection, although I do not intend to become a calculator collector, since I'm trying to stay focused in my area of interest for collecting.

I also completed a couple of Unix workstation projects that were a long time coming, first getting a Y2K Era Compaq Alpha Personal Workstation up and running after a long time waiting for parts and then getting a Sun Ultra 10 machine up and running.  The Sun project was a machine I got at VCF Midwest 2024 so that one took a while.  The Apple III Computer parts that I got in the fall of the year were totally unexpected, but alot of fun to repair and learn about.

I don't have much room to display retro computers, so none of the machines I've acquired this year are on display in my office, instead I have an Original IBM PC, a Compaq Portable I, a Macintosh Portable, an Apple Macintosh Perform 550, a Gateway 2000 Slimline 486, a PDP-11 with VT-220 Terminal, and an Apple IIe as shown here...

During 2026 I need to think about focusing my interests even more and continuing to downsize the collection.  I still have more beige box PCs that I don't want in the collection and I will also consider downsizing other categories of machines.

During 2026 I should spend more time with software setup on the machines I already have.  Alternative Operating Systems has long been an interest of mine, and many of these machines support multiple OSes.  Networking is also one of my interests so I'd also like to spend time connecting more of the machines together.

What about you?  Do you have any highlights to share about fixing or using old computers in 2025 or plans for next year that you'd like to share?  Feel free to leave a comment below, or reach out to me via email at the address shown in my Blogger Profile.

Another member of the 1977 Trinity Joins the Collection - Apple II

One of my long term goals for collecting Retro Computers is to get the original Trinity of Home Computers from 1977, the TRS-80 Model 1, an original Apple II and a original Commodore PET.  In 2023 I got a really dirty TRS-80 Model 1 and cleaned it up.  I have a Commodore PET 4016 from 1980, but it's not the original machine.  I've also got an early Apple II Plus machine from 1979 which I've setup with the original ROMs so it would behave like an Apple II.

Earlier this year I found out about a large lot for sale locally and I jumped at the chance to buy the entire lot.  I've blogged about starting in on that lot of repairs here already.  I mentioned that I would set the Apple II aside for repairs.  It didn't sit for to many weeks before I came back too it.  Ironically, this machine was built in 1980, one year after my Apple II Plus but they have the same Revision 4 motherboards inside.  If you look on the timeline on Wikipedia it does not show any overlap between Apple II and II+ production but I think that is incorrect, Apple continued to make Apple II and II Plus at the same time and that may have continued right up till they switched to making the Apple IIe in 1983.

When I got the computer on the workbench I found that the video signal was stable but I was getting garbage characters.  Also, not all the keys on the keyboard were working.  I started by taking the entire machine apart and cleaning it throughly, it wasn't too dirty, but the seller had told me these were stored in a basement for years so the machine was just dusty.  This machine will never be a museum piece.  It came from the University of Minnesota so I've left those asset tags on the machine.  It has quite a few scratches and bumps on it but I don't mind since I intend to actually use this machine.

The Keyboard is a Datanetics type.  I sprayed Deoxit on the keys that were not working and most of them came back to function just by cycling them a few dozen times, but the S key was persistently broken.  I was able to find a couple of Datanetics key switches on eBay so I ordered a couple.  After replacing the S key the keyboard was fully functional, except that the power light was out.  I removed the bulb and tested it, it was working, so it just needed to be reseated into the keyboard and it has been working fine since.

The garbage characters on the screen were a harder fix.  I removed every single socketed IC off the motherboard and sprayed the DIP sockets with Deoxit and replaced them but the problem persisted.  I should have tested all the RAM chips but at the time I didn't have a tester for the 4116 RAM chips used on this machine (I have since got a working tester for these).  Eventually I was able to identify bad 4116 RAM chips by trial and error and swap them out.  Since this is an original Apple II I have configured this with 48K RAM.   I will be leaving the 64K RAM card out, and I will not be adding an Autostart ROM, which makes this more authentic to the original experience.  Since the machine starts up in the ROM Monitor you have to learn at least one ROM Monitor command (Control-B) to get BASIC started every time you boot the machine.  I enjoyed learning about all the different early ROM versions of the Apple II and II+ and this is much more interesting now that I have access to the hardware.  Incidentally, the Apple I also started up in the ROM Monitor, and this was all code written by Steve Wozniak himself.

During the repairs the original power supply failed.  This was not the most common failure of RIFA filter capacitors which can be easily replaced, so I removed the circuit board and replaced it with the Reactive Micro Apple II Power Supply kit.  It still looks original because that fits in the original case, but I enjoy having the peace of mind that comes with a modern power supply.

Although I am interested in experimenting with the original hardware configuration, I'm not thrilled with the idea of loading programs from tape, so I may go ahead and leave the Disk II controller attached even though I know it wasn't an option in 1977.  The Disk II system was and is an amazing "quality of life" upgrade for this machine.

I'm quite happy with how this machine turned out...

Do you have memories of the original Apple II?  If you have stories or thoughts please leave a comment here, or reach out via my email shown in my profile.