The Retrocomputing Thread

[Bella]

Luck and Craigslist Boston lurking. I figure there have to be SOME old gems in the city and its outlying areas, considering its very technological past. (To wit: also found a NeXTCUBE selling in Manchester for $150, but it doesn't run, so, yeah). >>

Romona works fine (and seems to be running System 2, heh), but when I try to boot Tchotchske with the CPM disk I get a boot error. It worked fine yesterday -- well, when it was at the last owner's house -- I hope riding in the backseat over the so-so roads of Boston, or being left out in the car for a few hours in the cold didn't wreck its floppy drives. ><

[Aurora Borealis]

Even better, your 128K runs one of the most obscure, most forgotten Mac OS versions!

Still envious!

[stewartsage]

I have 8in floppy drives, one of which might be up for disposal.

[Bella]

Good news ya'll, Tchotchske is fine! Turns out, in an act of infinite derp'itude, I forgot to...um... put the little latch down on the drive, thus not, you know, engaging the drive. I relised my mistake at about 2am last night and got up to try it out and it worked fine. >O<V

So, I didn't ruin it by letting it bounce around the backseat as we drove through the questionable roads of the North Shore/Boston/Cambridge... this makes me feel a lot better about the whole trip. Plus, how totally meta is it to take some vintage computers on a tour through Cambridge, their ancestral homeland? XD

[Red-Machine]

Bells, if I was there I'd bonk you on the head for that.

ELEMENTARY MISTAKE, MY DEAR WATSON!

[Bella]

And I'd deserve it. ><;;;



Here's Romona in action. Amazing how Apple computers have come full circle from the original Macintosh to the iMac; being all-in-one units where you only have to attach the keyboard and mouse... </introspective>

Also, according to the built in system profile program, she's running System 4.2, and Finder version 6.



The software kit that came with her, note the original floppies, audio tour cassette and stickers.



Tchotchske (powered down) and accessories. That white template on the keyboard is a listing of different WordStar tips/shortcuts; CPM and various program floppies; a book on using the Osborne 1, some manuals, and several issues of Portable Companion magazine from 1982-84.

[Red-Machine]

Bella, can I just move over there and marry you now?  Your collection is becoming progressively more awesome.

[Aurora Borealis]

That's strange. Are you sure that's a 128K? It looks like it, with no name silkscreened on the front (It was either the Mac Plus or the 512Ke that was the first to do so), but the 128K can't run System 4.2 unless it was upgraded. But either way, awesome pics!

[Red-Machine]

Maybe it has a different mobo in it or a 3rd party upgrade to the RAM.

[Bella]

It's an original 128k model but it does have an aftermarket 512k RAM upgrade.

[Aurora Borealis]

That's what I had thought. There's no way the Mac could multitask with just 128k of RAM!

[Bella]

Yesterday at the dump I found an IBM PC/AT computer, two 1980-vintage IBM printers and a Model M keyboard (with a protective cover over top no less); they ended up in the trunk in a New York Second, even though the dumpmeister was looking at me all funny-like, as if to say, "weirdo, where are you going with this piece of trash?"

They currently reside in cold storage in a basement halfway across town. Haven't tested them out yet, but I'm not optimistic, given my penchant for ridiculously bad luck. >>

[Red-Machine]

Bella, can I just move over there and marry you now?

[Bella]

How about we see if I can get it running first? :V

[Krizonar]

It's an original 128k model but it does have an aftermarket 512k RAM upgrade.

I see that happen often on ebay, so that is entirely plausible

also, would anyone happen to know where a good System 6 Emulator would be? (bet Bella knows)