Ah the joy of restoring old computers

Ah the joy of restoring old computers.

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vcfed.org/forum/entry.php?424-The-AppleFile
ps-2.kev009.com/
hpmuseum.net/exhibit.php?swc=5
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

toy? no.

Retr0bright? Enjoy your weakened plastics that'll be yellow again in six months.

is that your hobby m8? or those have some monetary value?

Negative. I utilize other methods that don't compromise the plastic. Of course there are similarities.

Just a simple hobby...and of course a prank.

That's really nice.

I wish the IIc had hard disk support.

>other methods
like what

If you cum on the computer and wrap it in plastic then let it sit in the sun it restores the color without damaging it.

Seriously just like retrobrite if you use a good hydrogen peroxide compound you are good. I used Clarisol Soy4plex crème 40. The plastic isn't impacted aside from the removal of decades of yellowing. It would take a similar period to reyellow though obviously direct UV exposure would speed things up.

Congrats restoring a giant calculator.

Kill ALL the buffalo!

Why would you think the plastic isn't impacted? Are you stupid? It even says the plastic is structurally weakened after use on the bottle. The plastic has gone through a chemical change by yellowing. Retrobrite is a reaction that reverses that temporarily by breaking those bonds and thereby weakening the structural integrity of the plastic. Nothing is without consequence user

I know this feeling...

What's the story with the black keyboard?
Every //c I've seen has the platinum.

You are correct mostly. That said, the bulk of the plastic is still chemically intact. The yellowing is from surface reactions. I have yet to see the surface plastic harmed structurally and internally it is just as strong as it was before. Remember that the bulk of the yellowing is simply from the fire retardant chemicals that had nothing to do with the integrity of the plastic. Over time though I am sure this kind of work would result in brittle plastic...but not now.

They keys just aren't installed yet. I was deyellowing them too at the time.

This is pretty neat OP. How did you get into this? What's your prized possession?

Not trying to be a jerk, but what's the point in restoring something super old and outdated? Isn't it super slow?

Still interesting though. Would love to check out the old computers.

Couldn't afford the 640, pleb?

Its just fun because I used to use these old PCs as a kid (aka 1986ish)...and I am super nostalgic. I work with folks that have no knowledge of this old stuff so I enjoy educating the,. Of course I also enjoy pranking folks who have full knowledge and experience with the tech as in the case here.

I don't need the modem. It will get some WiFi with FlashAir.

Actual project besides ppc512.

is their anyway to restore these computers up to modern standards?

I wanna try my hand at it.

I'm just fucking with you, man. It's rare to even see these guys online. Yours looks pretty good!

Modern standards? eh...I'm sure you could retrofit something like a micro-atx board or a mac mini into one...but that's just stupid.

You...
What? That would basically be throwing a modern generic mainboard inside old plastic. Completely useless.

that depends on what you mean

clean it up so it's "as-new"?
modify it to make it easier to interface with a modern computer? (ethernet adapter, floppy emulator, CF card instead of a hdd, etc)
replace the internals completely with a modern computer?

>replace the internals completely with a modern computer
This

I just wan't to know if i could use it as a case.

But why would you want to ruin an old computer with shit?

in the same way you can use anything that's big enough as a case

no, a modern motherboard won't fit into anything not designed for atx/matx/itx directly (any non-pc, and any pc before the mid-90's) directly, some effort to mount things will be required

With a dremel you can nearly use everything as a case. But if you destroy a classic Computer, just to have a hipster case for a generic gaming PC, i need to kill you.

Sure you can. It would take a bit of work and interfaces would be weird if trying to use existing openings...but it can be done. Micro-atx boards easily could fit. The biggest issue would be the power supply. You'd need some kind of external option.

and this

you'll be removing the interesting part and replacing it will common shit

sleeper in a 90's PC case? sure, ok
modern hardware in an apple IIc case? just a waste, anyone who recognizes it will look down on you doing this

>I wish the IIc had hard disk support.
The //c had an external floppy port and there was a Mac HD by Apple that plugged into the floppy port on the original Fat Mac (no SCSI).
No idea how it would work but you'd probably have to boot from a floppy and deal with a 20Meg HD partitioned into 400K lumps. Maybe bigger partitions under ProDOS?
Damn! Now I've got to try it!

I use a NeXt case for every build. I've had to drill riser holes but otherwise it's Held up really well. I only buy new cases to put my builds in to sell.

If you had a dead machine or just an empty case, why not. In thinking about to get pic related.

Thanks user. Maybe I should brighten the keycaps a little bit...

There was a cool IIe project a while back where someone took a DuoDisk and modded it into an OEM-quality disk drive, guy did such a good job of it that it looks almost indistinguishable from a real Apple peripheral.

Is lo-tech's site down for everyone? I want to get one of their CF adapters for my 5150.

found it vcfed.org/forum/entry.php?424-The-AppleFile

Really want to do a similar thing for my Commodore 128D but I lack the skillset and dedication, was never super into 8-bits.

What frozen wasteland do you hail from?

>what's the point in restoring something super old and outdated?
It's practical history. There's tons of interesting stories and innovations behind every piece of hardware, the market was incredibly diverse and it's exciting exploring new technologies and putting them to real use. On top of that, it's dirt cheap if you have a good source.

Aside from the history part of it, messing with old shit taught me a ton about google-fu, networking, programming and pretty much everything else, the stuff we use today isn't really all that new, just re-implementations of the same fundamental ideas and concepts that have been around for decades. Plus, learning the history and arguments for everything really beats the fanboyism out of you, makes it nice and easy to see the perspective of the "other side" and have a nice discussion about technology rather than a festival meme-spouting and butthurt.

>Isn't it super slow?
If that was the case, nobody would have bought it. Old stuff still does the exact same shit it did when it was fresh off the assembly line, just don't expect it to do stuff it was never made to do.

It's also pretty dependent on what you use, 8-bits like OP's IIc were crusty, ancient shit under the hood that were nowhere near as responsive, but they were good enough for basic word processing, spreadsheeting, games and whatever else they were made to do. I'm mostly into flagship consumer/high-end enterprise shit that feels no different from using new gear except for some delays when opening applications, which really isn't that big a deal, I'm a hobbyist, not a business.

Anybody find a working PDP assembly or a IBM system/370? That'll be fun to play with. Also, it'll be a good thing to use to mock the fanboys who think something two years old is a "dinosaur".

And congratulations on using a slightly larger calculator to mock a historically significant calculator

>PDP assembly or a IBM system/370
?????
wouldn't call the IIc really historically significant
still a cool ass piece of tech though

I actually just saved some old tech today. I don't have a single boot disk though.

I could have sworn I've seen that shot before, but if it's for real you're the fucking shit my man.

ps-2.kev009.com/ should have archived refdisks for those microchannel boxes, winworld might have setup disks for the 5150s/60s/70s and the 5155.

Anything good in the stack out of sight?

>saved an IBM

Throw it away, it was trash from the beginning.

PS/2s are the shit
eat a dick senpai

>it's a packrat thread

Look up the PDP-11 or PDP-8. They were the first of what were called minicomputers. At the time, a "minicomputer" was essentially a computer that didn't fill up an entire room/floor/building/complex, and the PDP-8 was actually what UNIX started out on!

On the other hand, the IBM system/370 was a big ass mainframe that replaced the thing that NASA was using sometime around the Apollo missions

>it's a minimal hipster getting buttblasted when people aren't paying attention to his blog about his empty, boring life

I know what those are desu, I thought you said "PDP assembly for an IBM System/370", like some kind of cross-compiler

either way I don't think anyone here has either of those, PDPs and IBM iron are a little beyond the scope of the average Sup Forums half-ass, myself included

though I did see a microPDP-11 for free on Craigslist once, it was an 8 hour drive away and I couldn't convince anyone in the area to pick it up for me

The entire stack behind the XTs and portable pc is 386 computers made by prospec. Havent gotten a good look at them, but some have been upgraded. Ontop of that stack is a mystery keyboard and a Hyperion with a cute keyboard storage and nice orange display. The other stack has a couple NEC PowerMate SX Plus, a compaq and an epson.

If the thread is still around tomorrow I will be bringing in a bunch of apple II e and c stuff, and whatever else this guy is letting me take home. This is an entire pile of assorted monitors and apple computers.

Did you get a good look at that blue box hanging against the post? The fuck is that thing?

Looks like either a mainframe/minicomputer hard disk or a real old multiuser box, might be worth snagging for sure.

Are those screens 515x or displaywriter models? I've been looking for a Displaywriter screen for a while but only find the others

judging by the other shit in his haul they're more than likely regular PC displays

don't think displaywriters were as common a site in education

Yeah I wouldn't be surprised, but figured I'd ask anyway.

Looks like there might be some in the upper right of the giant pile, too. I definitely see 6-7 IBM XT keyboards in there.

Gotta love cleaning out a buggy Mac Plus.

I have no idea I only glanced in there since the majority of the computers were in a shed. They all were generic displays at first glance. I will keep an eye out for that stuff for you guys.

When I first got here the shed was so packed i was walking ontop of monitors, I could not see the floor. The shed is an old trailer.

Really appreciate that, I have all the parts but the screen at this point. Any other terminal IBM stuff would be right up my alley too.

there's some really intriguing shit in the back, don't have half a clue what the big black thing is, the other circled thing kind of looks like an HP 150 touch system with accompanying drives, that would definitely be worth picking up

also, don't hesitate to check out printers either, they're pretty important if you ever want to put that shit to work

that's pretty fuckin dank

have always kind of liked the idea of getting a displaywriter but I never really knew what the fuck I would actually do with it, I've tried using my XT for word processing work before and honestly it's not really the greatest

It may take me a week or more to empty out that place, renting a U Haul is to expensive. Once I gather up everything that isnt shit there I will make another thread, and if I have duplicates/stuff I don't want I dont mind selling some of this to you guys for very cheap.

The one is a little HP terminal or some sort, didnt get a good look at it, I picked it up off the floor and put it there since I didnt want to worry about breaking it. Havent gotten that far in the back, the floor is still monitors there.

now that I look at it again I think the black thing is just a clone box at an angle
still, that entire building is full of pretty good shit, you should post about it on a vintage computer community if you can't find someone here to take whatever leftovers there might be

I'll excuse a damaged case with no internals being modified.

>The one is a little HP terminal or some sort
95% sure it's a 150 then, definitely try to grab it if at all possible

they're x86 DOS boxes built into a touch screen CRT, really neat boxes and HP's very first x86 systems, I think the auslard HP museum has a bunch of shit archived for them

did you get a close look at the thing it was on top of? it looks like a matching drive box, but it's a little taller

I just like having old systems from different decades to type stuff on, helps break up the monotony of word processing. Plus they're just too damn fun to learn and mess around with.

Sounds like you already got them warmed up to clearing it out, so no rush. If you don't mind, send me a message at [email protected] when you get it all tackled. I can help ID odd keyboard switches and all that.

Slow compared to what?
For what it does in its era, it works very well.

...just don't try to run Apple's Instant Pascal, that was an overly ambitious product.

hpmuseum.net/exhibit.php?swc=5
holy shit, I didn't think they would have that much for them, they've got compilers and damn near everything

yeah I feel you
I just got my hands on another XT with a dual-10MB 5161 expansion unit, thinking of setting it up again for that purpose, if only to run procomm on it and do university classwork on a sun box

How is your Lynx case not discolored?
All of mine are faded or brownish or some weird color. And it's not like I kept them in the sunlight.

The little drive bot underneath looked like it went along with the monitor. Not sure if it was what you picture is but it was a small HP, I dont recal the monitor being that rounded.
I am grabbing anything there thats not completely destroyed, a generic monitor or printer.
Sounds good. A lot of this stuff is new to me since before I only played a little with commodores and TRS 80s. I will be sure to email you if I find something I am unsure of.

it kind of looks like a 9153, but it's bigger and the drive is on the other side, either way it looks like it's probably a combination 3.5''/hard disc storage system which would make that pretty damn bitchin' if it matches that system

>I dont recal the monitor being that rounded.
now that I've looked it over 3 more times and gone through the HP museum pages, it's definitely a 150, that raised pedestal design and grey bezel are dead giveaways, and HP hardware wasn't popular enough to be cloned like that

you should make some blog threads about this down the road when you get it all settled, I would give you an email address too but I never check it so it would be kind of an exercise in futility

nevermind, it's a 9133

depending on the model it could have anything from a 5MB disk to a 40MB disk and all kinds of different floppy drive options

either way, cool shit

If this thread doesnt stick around for tomorrow I will make one if there is interest in having vintage computing threads. I really appreciate the help with this stuff, I own everything in the shed and the collapsed barn with the monitors, so I will be grabbing most of whats there.

Yeah that looks a bit familiar. We will see tomorrow. Most of the contents of the buildings were from government auctions, some stuff is from schools, government offices and some stuff from a university.

damn, nice
I had the fortune of getting to peruse through a similar lot of government auction stuff stuffed into an old pawn shop, but by the time I managed to get inside, all the computer systems had been hauled to the dump, and it was all fucking good shit too, IBM mainframes (my only consolation prize was the back plastics of an S/36 PC), DEC minis, HP minis and workstations, all that was left was a bunch of dead terminals and monitors in the basement, and I wish I had taken more of that too

I didn't realize the barn was collapsed, did rain get on the monitors? I did notice a whole bunch of Apple M0110+Extended Keyboards out there.

There's a Monterey K1xx keyboard in the trailer too (with the comb looking grill on the floor). Likely has white or blue ALPS switches.

I have no idea how long thats been like that, good chance it has been snowed many times. The majority of that pile was still covered by what was left of the roof. To the left of that image is even more monitors. I was thinking of making a wall with them if I really wanted to haul them all home. Its a 3 hour drive to get there, way out on a farm.

honestly if OP checks it over, cleans it and gives it time to dry he should be alright at least as far as water damage goes

most of the shit in that pile definitely looks like it would need work before it got running again though, luckily old hardware is reasonably resilient

>OP
or not, whatever

Wow, will be a true test to see what held up after that. I've found IBM boards that survived 10+ years being in an open dump, but never monitors like that.

How the heck did you come across all this, a foreclosure/estate auction? I can't seem to find anything like that in FL.

real talk, that design was probably the most aesthetic apple's ever made...

-

Can anyone design using that design language without getting BTFO by apple?

If its not a complete pain in the ass to open the computers I will, dust them out, and since they have been frozen I check all caps to make sure they haven't burst. For cleaning liquids I use mostly 99% isopropyl alcohol if its really bad some MG Chemicals brand Safty Wash that is plastic safe.

The Hyperion computer and portable Tandy word processor both run fine, just need a boot disk for the Hyperion.
I checked kijiji and there was an ad that said shed full of vintage computers, make me an offer and take it all home. I have never seen this much stuff in one place. I doubted the person when they said that there was ~200 computers. I wont have room for all of the monitors, but I will take as many as I can after I get the computers.

the apple IIs will be easy as fuck, the early models are totally screwless

IBM shit needs space to pull the shell off but after that you're pretty much set

old HP stuff is generally annoying as shit because they have layer after layer of protective metal casing, but at least they're bulletproof (probably literally) as a result

dunno about the rest of the stuff, monitors in general will be annoying but doable

Is it difficult to talk with a mouthful of Jewish cock or did you get used to it yet?

Pleb points awarded for having more than one generation of apple faggotry.

I can do board level repair on this stuff provided I can still get some of the parts. If these boards are mutil layer then I will need to get a schematic for some of this stuff. Never worked on CRTs before so that will be fun.

Picking up tomorrow

its a Philips P3105 / NSM 9100 , which is identical to the 8088

It has the original keyboard(switches ?) and monitor with it,hope the monitor is amber, and that it has a hard drive inside

CRT are dangerous you can get killed, watch out for the big red wire going into the bulb

i like how some eurotard wrote the Y/Z keys differently with pencil to compensate

gtfo you fat american

quick mcdonald closes in 5

macdonald never closes in first world countries you dumb europoor

it should and you know why

Thule station

Sup Forums needs threads like this one more often.

>some monetary value?
Nostalgia is huge. The Elite:Dangerous kickstarter campaign shamelessly tapped into this generation and set a new and massive record for funding.

>Isn't it super slow?
Not really. This was from a different time, an age where programming was something of a science, art and black magic, where people worked hard to make software work well on a 1 MHz 8 bit CPU.

Remember the "killer application" on Apple II was Visicalc, a fully working spreadsheet software that worked on 48 K. The original Elite ran in 32 K RAM.

>tfw will never be able to rescue old tech from a companies dumping room.

Oh yes, that sunlight.
I've seen so many platinum Apples darken.

Wonder if I can still get comp.sys.apple2?

what operating sistem should I use for 386 processor with a 387 FPU on its side

it has a 250mb hard drive

maybe DOS ??