Opry99er Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 Stumbled on a few 'nice' items at thrift today. The Dell is complete with branded keyboard and matching monitor. It is the one with the 256MB of RAM. The other computer here is sort of a mystery to me. It is obviously older and the case is built like a German tank... Metal throughout. 64MB of RAM on this one. The Dell, being complete, is the most tempting at $25. The other one is also $25, but only comes with an aftermarket keyboard and mouse... No monitor. Thing is, I don't know what the hell I want to do with this rig. I have been wanting a DOS machine, one that could be set up to run from floppy or HD. I thought about potentially just upgrading the RAM and giving it to my son for Christmas as a word processor... Get him a printer and maybe a few games. I do not know. I feel like there is value here... But I don't really know what is possible do with either of these. 64MB of RAM should run most DOS games. 256MB of RAM should be able to run most games from the 90s from CD. What should I buy and why? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIO2 Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 Buy the Texas Instruments. But if you insist on a PC, go with the Dell. Faster and more RAM. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 (edited) Second one looks like a home-built machine to me. It's very similar to one I built in around 2001-2002. It's probably going to be more standardized than the Dell, which would mean you could more easily add on to it and expand it if you desired. That said, it is quite a bit less powerful than the Dell to begin with. $25 is ok, but I feel like the only real use for a machine like this these days would be running old 3D games that require a 32 bit OS and specific 3D hardware. In that case, the Dell has better specs but I'd make sure it has a free VESA or PCI slot to add a 3D card (I assume it doesn't have one). Short of that, I'd give the same advice I did to someone else here a week or so ago - go on Ebay and buy an old ThinkPad instead. They cost about the same, take up a lot less space, they're tanks and basically never break down (except maybe the hard drives, but I replaced mine for eight bucks), and they will do anything a desktop like this would do at this point *except* play those 3D games. That's why I say early 32 bit 3D games are about all an old desktop is useful for. All that said, I'd buy the TI 99/4A instead too Edited August 20, 2016 by spacecadet 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 All that said, I'd buy the TI 99/4A instead too I'll third that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 I'll third that! Pretty sure he has one, though, I didn't bother to look at who the thread started was initially Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted August 20, 2016 Author Share Posted August 20, 2016 Yea, all my TIs are out of commission right now. Black screamer at power-up. The dude wants $40 for the TI, but it has no cables, software, or manuals with it. Just a bare box and lonely console. Not really worth it... Except then I would have one that works without worrying about shipping. Anyway, I do want a PC for my son's room... If only just to give him something to type on and save his work... Even print documents, that kind of thing. I looked for a Thinkpad the other day on your suggestion... Didnt see anything that was functional at anywhere near $20 on eBay. Not saying theyre not there now or don't come up often, but when I looked, they were missing hard drives or cracked screen or broken parts... Even still they were $30-$40 plus shipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 Dos machine doesn't equal 2.4ghz celerons dos was well and dead at that point These are boat anchors unless you want to play 2006 era flash games Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asaki Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 You can use them for DOS, but you'll be hard pressed to find a way to get audio working. I have a similar Dell, and it makes a pretty decent Win98 box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 I looked for a Thinkpad the other day on your suggestion... Didnt see anything that was functional at anywhere near $20 on eBay. Not saying theyre not there now or don't come up often, but when I looked, they were missing hard drives or cracked screen or broken parts... Even still they were $30-$40 plus shipping. I checked again and there are fewer than there were (you can see quite a few if you check the sold listings - they seem to go up in batches, probably from the same sellers). Some don't come with chargers, but then you just order a charger at the same time. It's the same as buying any other old computer. The Dell's a good deal if it's really complete and you'd rather have a desktop, if you can find something you want to do with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted August 20, 2016 Author Share Posted August 20, 2016 Cool, thanks for the info. I was really hoping to find a 386 or 486... Something I could run DOS 6.xx and Win3.1 on... Maybe I am just trying to force myself to settle... I will keep my eyes open for a good deal on that Thinkpad. It looks very promising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted August 20, 2016 Author Share Posted August 20, 2016 This is beautiful... http://www.ebay.com/itm/152210396494 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 (edited) I have a 486 DX2 66 future project box, I say that cause its got nothing but the motherboard (+ cpu and ram) and ISA riser in it, waiting on a ATX to AT power supply adapter to test it before I spend money on a at power supply anyway the entire point of the thing is to put it together and sell it, but if your willing to wait for that adapter to snail mail in so I can at least make sure it powers on ill let it go for cheeaaappp + shipping, or you can come pick it up since your only a couple hours away (tested or not if your willing to drive) also have a couple pentium laptops im putting up for sale, one is a 90mhz 8 meg beater the other is a 150MMx with cards and stuff if interested Edited August 20, 2016 by Osgeld Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted August 20, 2016 Author Share Posted August 20, 2016 Sounds awesome! I cannot see your location, for some reason... You live a couple hours away, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 outside Nashville closer to the Lebanon side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 Old PCs are everywhere and you can pick them up at garage sales if you really want one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 (edited) Old PCs are everywhere and you can pick them up at garage sales if you really want one. well no duh, but are they going to have dos compatible sound cards, ide controllers etc, yea you can maybe pick one up if you hunt garage sales and know what to look for, but when you start looking for certian things like dos compatibility not just any old pc will do. like the op's celeron or amd in the first post, yep thems old computers, and if that's what you want, im sure xp will run dosbox and many emulators fine, and you can run dos 6.22 on a i7 (well dunno about new efi board you can on a bios board) but your not going to have sound for just starters Edited August 20, 2016 by Osgeld Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted August 20, 2016 Author Share Posted August 20, 2016 Osgeld, I did not know I had a compadre so close by!!! Perhaps I could come by next month while I am on vacation. We could do some bidness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asaki Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 This is beautiful... http://www.ebay.com/itm/152210396494 Not a bad deal, but you'll probably want to throw some more RAM in there =) ...if that's what you want, im sure xp will run dosbox and many emulators fine... VDMSound is great, too, although obviously it can only go so far. Also, IIRC, it doesn't run in Win98. Also, WinThrottle can slow things down quite a bit. But yeah, a lot of older games are just trouble. I'm beginning to think that a Tandy 1000 would be a great idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIO2 Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 (edited) Tandys 1000 are nice but not exactly a standard PC. I have a 1000 TX I am looking for a low price printer cable for its edge connector (no parallel port). If you find a 1000 for $25 or less though it would be a bargain. Edited August 21, 2016 by SIO2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 What are some of the differences between a tandy and regular pc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 Tandy 1000 in a nutshell is a pc jr with better more compatible bios, and without that dumb sidecar and ir keyboard shit 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 I know some of the earlier models had some compatibility issues. Not sure what the cutoff point for that is though.The all in one models have a non-standard expansion connector. I can buy RAM or CF hard drive expansions for standard slots, but not for those.The biggest advantage of the Tandy is the added sound chip and graphics modes. There were quite a few programs written to take advantage of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 (edited) Which is the same chips as the jr but I don't think they are in the same address locations So the PC jr added the enhanced graphics (cga with 16 color bitmap screens) and the ay chips but Tandy actually had a market to make use of them Edited August 21, 2016 by Osgeld Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 Actually, they use the SN 76496, not the General Instruments AY chip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 yea your right they both used the SN 76496, very similar chips though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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