Author Topic: Vintage Computers... (Read 4419 times)

whizzard · « **on:** Fri, 27 February 2015, 20:08:05 »

So I was thinking about how cool it would be to hook up an old 486 DOS/Win 95 computer just for a stroll down memory lane, maybe throw wolfenstien and old lucasfilm games on it... How much do you think a computer like that would be worth? I was suprised that I must not be the only person to look this up... they are anywhere between 200 and 500 dollars on eBay! I remember giving my first computer to a family member when I got a new one, who knew that it would go from being worth 20 bucks to 400? Sometimes I wish I was a hoarder. Ah yes... I had a Matrox Millenium (I think) badass 4mb graphics card in that beast. Just thought it was funny, does anyone here have a vintage computer?

The Mad Professor · « **Reply #1 on:** Fri, 27 February 2015, 20:17:00 »

Most people wanting to do that will just install VMware and run a virtual machine to play the game.

brimborion · « **Reply #2 on:** Fri, 27 February 2015, 20:20:16 »

How depressing, a computer from the middle of the PC era is now vintage?

whizzard · « **Reply #3 on:** Fri, 27 February 2015, 20:24:56 »

Quote from: The Mad Professor on Fri, 27 February 2015, 20:17:00

Most people wanting to do that will just install VMware and run a virtual machine to play the game.

It's not really about playing a game... we all know how to do that... its about booting it up, its sounds, seeing how it runs with fresh eyes, screwing around with it and stuff. It would be fun for about 10 mins anyhow hehe. Its one of those purchases that you regret after 15 minutes probably

I found it interesting that they actually are "vintage" and have value nowadays.

Korth · « **Reply #4 on:** Fri, 27 February 2015, 20:41:05 »

I've heard of original Apple I computers (sometimes no longer functional) auctioning off for $50,000 or more. Even clones are worth surprising big bucks, provided they're old and popular enough. Even more ancient machines (so primitive and gutless that only nerds would even call them computers) often auction off for even greater sums. There's a fair number of museums (both physical and electronic) dedicated to preserving and displaying such stuff.

I abandoned my last 486DX2-66 platform almost two decades ago, after deciding that it was just not worth keeping around for legacy gaming. Followed just a few years later by my last Pentium-MMX/233, then a few more years before saying goodbye to my last P4. Emulation through DOSBox or some VMware (in Windows or linux) is helluva lot easier and better than keeping obsolete platforms (and their obsolete MS-DOS or Win9x/XP configs) up and running. No more messing with finicky SoundBlaster/Ultrasound cards, mouse issues, IRQ nightmares, DOS memory management, MSDOS vs Win9x/XP multiboots, CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT and .INI files and all the rest of that crap. Just set up the emulator with whatever legacy hardware you want to pretend you have, how fast (or how slow) you want it to run, and click your game's new launch icon, can't get much easier.

I do, however, sorely miss my old-style RS232 ports. New RS232 solutions just don't push out enough signal voltage to work directly with older (but not too old!) tech gear.

whizzard · « **Reply #5 on:** Fri, 27 February 2015, 21:08:14 »

Wow Korth, you brought back some old nightmares by mentioning IRQ troubles. Sometimes old tech is nicer to reminisce about than actually use.

jdcarpe · « **Reply #6 on:** Fri, 27 February 2015, 21:08:41 »

I just want an Altair 8800 with a speech synthesizer and 300 baud modem with acoustic coupler.

brimborion · « **Reply #7 on:** Fri, 27 February 2015, 21:14:49 »

I want an IMSAI 8080 and Ally Sheedy.

jdcarpe · « **Reply #8 on:** Fri, 27 February 2015, 22:08:46 »

Quote from: brimborion on Fri, 27 February 2015, 21:14:49

I want an IMSAI 8080 and Ally Sheedy.

^ This guy gets it.

I like the IMSAI, but I was always enthralled by the toggle switches and lamps on the front panel of the Altair.

pr0ximity · « **Reply #9 on:** Sat, 28 February 2015, 00:43:10 »

I've been looking to get an older machine to play with as well. Probably not a while, but it's been on my mind.

You'd probably be interested in this article:

http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/mac-plus-introduce-modern-web/

IvanIvanovich · « **Reply #10 on:** Sat, 28 February 2015, 10:26:42 »

I have a couple proper vintage computers an 8086 and a 286, though I rarely use them. I recommend doing what I did for my retro gaming PC and repurpose a thin client. I got one of these HP t5720 and upgraded the SSD dom to a 16GB one and added a nvidia 6200. Nice little itx thing that is fully passive and sips power but has more than enough muscle for old dos and Windows 98 stuff. Much cheaper and all around a lot more pleasant to use than most 'true retro' machines. Though I was seriously tempted to buy an HP Kayak XU800 I came across not too long ago for pretty cheap with dual P3 and that zany rambus memory.
It's true using dosbox or some other vm is fine most of the time. But I had a lot of old titles that have big problems or just wasn't able to get running at all that way so you need a real machine with older 'low spec' hardware it won't freak out on in those cases.

Findecanor · « **Reply #11 on:** Sat, 28 February 2015, 10:59:11 »

Quote from: brimborion on Fri, 27 February 2015, 20:20:16

How depressing, a computer from the middle of the PC era is now vintage?

I would consider a PC before '95 to be vintage. Before Windows 95. Keyboards without windows keys.

The Commodore and Atari computers stopped being produced at about the same time, as were Apple Macs with mechanical keyboards and Motorola CPU:s.

The Matrox Millenium was introduced in the mid '90s also. PCI only, I think. Sort of in between vintage and just "old".

TacticalCoder · « **Reply #12 on:** Sat, 28 February 2015, 15:19:05 »

Quote from: whizzard on Fri, 27 February 2015, 20:08:05

So I was thinking about how cool it would be to hook up an old 486 DOS/Win 95 computer just for a stroll down memory lane, maybe throw wolfenstien and old lucasfilm games on it... How much do you think a computer like that would be worth? I was suprised that I must not be the only person to look this up... they are anywhere between 200 and 500 dollars on eBay! I remember giving my first computer to a family member when I got a new one, who knew that it would go from being worth 20 bucks to 400? Sometimes I wish I was a hoarder. Ah yes... I had a Matrox Millenium (I think) badass 4mb graphics card in that beast. Just thought it was funny, does anyone here have a vintage computer?

Wait what!? I was in my garage today, making room for my new (old) car... The place is a mess of old Mac Classic, beige Mac G3, 286, 386, 486, gfx cards, memory modules, hard disks, etc. Most of these computers are probably still working. I was going to simply throw the PCs away (not the Mac Classic, I keep that one). Heck, there's even an old Alcatel "Terminatel 258", probably still working too, looking like this:

But old working 486s are still worth something? That is crazy...Especially now that you can buy, say, a Raspberry Pi 2 probably way way way more powerful than a 486, for less than $40.

IvanIvanovich · « **Reply #13 on:** Sat, 28 February 2015, 15:55:44 »

You might be surprised what some old PC parts and completes go for. Always check ebay sold history before putting those sort of things in the trash. As some stuff ages it becomes harder to find some things in working order, thus it becomes rare and valuable. Even still, for stuff that isn't worth much I would still not want to put it in the trash if it's still in working order. Better to put it up as donation item or something. Someone can find a use for almost anything.

whizzard · « **Reply #14 on:** Sat, 28 February 2015, 19:10:48 »

Absolutely right... I was surprised at the value too! Seems the older and more complete / good condition / working the more they are worth... don't trash that stuff especially if it's still working and no animals have made it their home

sirisaac1982 · « **Reply #15 on:** Sat, 07 March 2015, 21:08:29 »

I had an old Apple II Plus I was given by a retired school IT tech.
When I moved I didn't have the room for it so, I put it up on kijiji. Though I might get $50 or something for it. I had over 200 emails in just a couple of days and sold it to the highest offer. $500!!!! I was floored.

I still have a few other gems in my collection, but the II plus sale will be hard to beat.

Vintage video games can be valuable too. Sold my NES collection for 10x over what I ever put into it.

And now I'm investing my money in keyboards and key caps...

LOL!!!

Lanx · « **Reply #16 on:** Sun, 08 March 2015, 00:03:31 »

oh yea, i just loved to putz around with the autoexec and load all the crudy cdrom drivers into emm memory.

dear lord, remember QEMM, QEMM was the difference between 50k sometimes to get DOOM loaded.

Korth · « **Reply #17 on:** Sun, 08 March 2015, 12:56:37 »

DOS4GW was where it was at, lol. Microsoft's memory management software has always been substandard and leaky.

jdcarpe · « **Reply #18 on:** Sun, 08 March 2015, 13:41:26 »

That's why we used DR DOS.

rowdy · « **Reply #19 on:** Sun, 08 March 2015, 19:33:27 »

There was that multi-user multi-tasking DOS as well - you could connect several dumb terminals to a PC running that particular DOS and everyone could share and enjoy the 4MHz or whatever speed the computer was.

That was kinda fun - seeing PC stuff appearing on an old HP terminal.

ctm · « **Reply #20 on:** Wed, 25 March 2015, 21:01:49 »

I am thinking about getting something like a IBM 5140 and then put a Raspberry Pi in it. But I am not sure if there is a way to make Raspberry Pi make output to the ultra-low resolution screen.

Korth · « **Reply #21 on:** Fri, 27 March 2015, 04:35:16 »

Quote from: ctm on Wed, 25 March 2015, 21:01:49

I am thinking about getting something like a IBM 5140 and then put a Raspberry Pi in it. But I am not sure if there is a way to make Raspberry Pi make output to the ultra-low resolution screen.

lol, you're not far off. The most challenging part of an FPGA-based Apple II+ emulator board I built, long ago, was the PS/2 keyboard interface.

slip84 · « **Reply #22 on:** Sat, 28 March 2015, 20:20:23 »

By my estimation, my old high school probably has $6 million of old computers in storage.

I should go raid it.

Hak Foo · « **Reply #23 on:** Sat, 28 March 2015, 22:14:55 »

I've noticed some aspects of the vintage experience can't be emulated.

For example, anything that depends on the bizarre keyboard layouts Commodore and Atari favoured

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Author Topic: Vintage Computers... (Read 4419 times)