Compumater

February 13, 2017

I guess that is a much better way of defining "vintage" If it can no longer do the things modern computers do, it is vintage. Therefore the ThinkPad is just old..

As for WWIV, hell yes! still in development, still supported, and WWIV-Net has been resurrected and now has some 10+ boards sharing messages.

My setup will still be good old 4.24, and will have my message base from 1996/97 still on it as well as everything else as it was. I made a clone of the old 450meg hard drive and imaged it over to the laptop. Its slow going to get it all up and running, but when its done I'll post the link here.

I've also decided since this old laptop will be running 24/7 that I will also use it as a radio streaming unit. I run a small part 15 AM radio station (about 1 mile range) and I am going to transfer all my music over to the laptop to run both the radio playlist, and to now simulcast a stream of it over the net.

I thought it was a good use for the old bird as if I'm going to pay to run it, I might as well get double duty out of it.

Any more useful ideas for a computer of that era to do when its stilling idle? Email server Seems like a waste of time now, but anything else I could do with it??

February 12, 2017

After years of think about it, I've decided to restart my old WWIV 4.24 BBS that I took down back in 1997.

There are certainly lots of ways to go about doing this, one was to upgrade to 5.X and use modern equipment, another was to switch to another software all together to use modern software, but In the end, I decided to run legacy equipment to get the job done.

I bought a IBM ThinkPad A31 as It still has a legacy serial port and runs on a 1.6gig Pentium 4. I then bought a Lantronix serial to Ethernet converter, and finally a Ethernet to wireless adaptor so the WWIV software thinks its just a serial modem, but everyone will be able to telnet in.

So I'm tinkering with this 2001 tech, and got to thinking that this fairly usable laptop is 16 years old! Crazy to think that 16 year old tech can still load a web page, and surf the net. A little slower then a win 10 setup, but it's XP operating system, and 256 ram does the job.

Go back 16 years before it and we are looking at what? The IBM PC XT or maybe a 286? compare that to a 1.6 P4 and the change is night and day. I guess maybe time isn't racing by as quick as when the computer era began....

So in one way a 2001 laptop should be vintage, but then again it still does 90% of what a 2017 computer can do, just slower, so is it vintage??

Thoughts?

January 12, 2017

God, this brings back some old memories from the hey days of the BBS era. War dialers were illegal and yet widely used to hunt down those "secret" systems that seemed to be everywhere.

I remember finding at least 5 or 6 business bbs's that were not really open for outside use, but one in particular was freaking great. GEM computers. They has a wildcat BBS that listed every used and new computer system they had for sale at their store with specs, and prices. It was for employee use only, but the password was password, and the user name was username. I visited it a lot late at night to lust after the high end 486 systems they had in stock!

Most of what I found were bank systems and real estate offices, and one private Amiga based system I was never able to get into.

January 10, 2017

Are you hooked up to a older crt tv? The newer flat panel TV's don't have as sensitive a receive as the older crt tube type TV's, and as a result they rarely pickup on the very weak Timex Sinclair signal.

October 6, 2016

Here is an update. I still want my money back, and I'm still being ignored by Curt. 6 years coming up soon!

August 11, 2016

Pimp Wars was one of my favorites. Always taking the opportunity to fire bomb my opponents whore houses and peeling off their "hoes" with offers to come and work on my street. before signing off for the night. I managed to tick off quite a few other "Pimps" out there with my constant theft of their hoes!

July 11, 2016

I gave up on this last year, but would be happy to sell my pre-order with all the confirmation E-mails. I can fax a copy of the e-mail, or whatever proof you need. Make me an offer. I QUIT.

July 4, 2016

I'm shocked it hasn't been mentioned, but my all time favorite Star Trek game is the IBM PC DOS 4.77mhz compatible game called:

BEGIN, A Tactical Starship Simulation. Very good game, tough, and shockingly still being updated.

I played it on my original PC so much that I invested in a Co-processor to speed up the calculations. If you had more then 8 ships or so the original PC would take a minute or longer to think out its move. Once I got the co-processor, I could have 18 ships out their and still play with only a little wait between turns.

My favorite version was 1.65 but I think the new versions are good too. You pick your side, ship, and the quantity or good vs. bad guys and then begin. It all about strategy as I have beat 19 war birds with one dreadnought, and have also seen 6 dreadnoughts get blown up by 2 Klingon battle ships. You even get rated as a starship commander when the game ends (and winning is not the only way to get a good score).

Break out dos and find a copy of Begin 1.65 You'll love it!

BEGIN165.zip

July 4, 2016

I'm shocked it hasn't been mentioned, but my all time favorite Star Trek game is the IBM PC DOS 4.77mhz compatible game called:

BEGIN, A Tactical Starship Simulation. Very good game, tough, and shockingly still being updated.

I played it on my original PC so much that I invested in a Co-processor to speed up the calculations. If you had more then 8 ships or so the original PC would take a minute or longer to think out its move. Once I got the co-processor, I could have 18 ships out their and still play with only a little wait between turns.

My favorite version was 1.65 but I think the new versions are good too. You pick your side, ship, and the quantity or good vs. bad guys and then begin. It all about strategy as I have beat 19 war birds with one dreadnought, and have also seen 6 dreadnoughts get blown up by 2 Klingon battle ships. You even get rated as a starship commander when the game ends (and winning is not the only way to get a good score).

Break out dos and find a copy of Begin 1.65 You'll love it!

December 13, 2015

Well, Round two of my sell off is only a few hours from closing. It looks like many of the remaining items will sell this go around, its been kinda sad to see them go off to various parts of the world, but it was time to let go.

Thanks to those bidding and to the previous winners!

December 7, 2015

Yup, I have a lot of old Halloween style spooky records that I collected in my youth. I used to love to turn off the lights and listen to them in the dark. Last Halloween I took them out and did it one last time, but like the Atari stuff, it was time to part ways with them. My record player took a dump about halfway through the Halloween season and I decided not to replace it.

December 7, 2015

Thanks to all of you who bought, or tired to buy some of my games! I have relisted those that didn't sell at reduced prices, and I will be giving everyone that one more then one updated totals tomorrow as the day progresses. ( It takes a while to pack them up, weigh them, and give updated totals to the many folks that won)

I hope you all get the same amount of fun from these games as I have!

December 6, 2015

Well its a bitter sweet day. Today My entire collection of Atari 7800 Carts that took me close to 20 years to gather will be sold off.

I still love my 7800, but more and more its sat unused, so it was time to part ways with it. Many of the rare carts have bids, but a few still look to be unsold. I'm surprised to see The Traveller cart is still unsold, but I guess its pretty unknown to those who didn't host it. Also the Halloween cart that I got back in 2007 is still up for grabs. I thought it would also be gone.

Anything that doesn't sell this time will get one more go around, and then its off to goodwill. Thanks to those who have bid, and thanks to all those who have made Atari's fun to play with WELL past the late 80's.

December 1, 2015

Woops! Sorry about that. I fixed it. I had it set to priority overnight shipping. Try taking photos, and listing 107 things on E-bay in a day. It was insane! If you catch anymore errors let me know.

November 30, 2015

Also, If anyone is interested in buying my pre-order of Curt Vendell's never to be released XM unit, let me know. I paid $150 for it. It was going to be released in 2010, but has had some "delays" (the dudes a scam artist, so buyer beware) Make me an offer if you think its still coming out.

November 30, 2015

So I've given up on my Atari 7800. Its been a good run having bought it in 1987, but its time to part ways. I just finished listing every game ever made for the Atari 7800 including almost every homebrew and every demo that I could get my hands on.

It took 20 years to assemble and it will take 1 week to destroy. Please if you need any rare 7800 stuff my user name on ebay is topay, go check it out!

Try this link: http://www.ebay.com/sch/topay/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

let me know if it works.

October 31, 2015

Most defiantly home built and made, likely for a custom application. The first one is not a multiplexor, its most likely a input output I/O board using bnc connections as its terminals. I built a few over the years for various projects. One for a kick ass train setup I had with multi track action. I used the Timex to control all the start stop functions of the train as well as the open and close of road gates and the lighting of several of the houses. Granted this was YEARS ago, but it was state of the art in 1987.

I built another one for a Christmas light setup, but lost interest in it after the first two years and never finished the programming I was working on to make it sinc up to the music. Had I finished it, it would have been as cool as the more modern displays seen on youtube.

I'm not sure what the other one is, but if you open them up and snap some photos I may be able to tell you. I was/am a HUGE Timex/Sinclair 1000 fan and user. Heck if you want to sell them, I may even be interested in them.

October 23, 2015

I was never a fan of windows 2.x or 3.x. I always wound up back in Dos, or later on mostly in DosShell. Windows 3.11 (the last of that series) Ran slow on era hardware and ate up Lower ram making it hard to run many of the legacy Dos games or programs of the time. Now windows 95 was VASTLY improved and its where I finally left the command prompt behind.

Over the years I've tinkered with windows 3.11 on more modern equipment to see if the greater ram and cpu power would help it move along, but found it is still a awkward and bloated piece of M$ software. I still find the simple (mouse driven) DosShell that shipped with DOS 5.0 to 6.22 to be superior in almost everyway.

/s

September 11, 2015

I think for me The best 3 keyboards from "back in the day" had to be

1. The Coleco ADAM keyboard. I know, I know... But it really was a nice setup with great response.

2. The Trs-80 Model 3/4 Great firm keys, good key locations and a nice "click" when a key is pressed.

3. IBM PC/ PC XT keyboards. Who can deny that that old keyboard wasn't one of the best.

Now, on the bad side.

1. ZX81/TS-1000. Worst of the worst, but I still used them extensively for ages. The computer was really crippled by this keyboard, and I can't help but imagine that the zx81 would have been a much more useful and used computer if it had come with a decent ti994a type keyboard.

2. C64 "breadbin" Terrible keyboard angle made this computer painful for long typing sessions.

September 3, 2015

Do you have any Web Sites for Mods like the Reverse Video?? I have a collection of ZX81/TS1000s, the ZX81 being the first computer I owned, I would like to modyfy some of them..

MarkO

Yes Check out RWAP on google. It will lead you to the site that sells keyboard replacements and the ZXPand. from there the guy runs a E-bay type site called Sell my retro. On that site, I found a guy that makes a small board that replaces the old RF modulator with a nice clean Video out circuit. it has a jumper on it to reverse the video.

I cannot understate how nice and "Professional" looking the ZX looks on a black screen with white letters, or even better a black screen with green letters.

I don't think I paid more then $10 for it plus shipping. I bought a few of them so I could modify several of the units that I have. Its like 3 wires you solder on and your done.

I would post a direct link, but the site seems to be down at the moment.

September 1, 2015

If you want your Timex 1000 to be truly useful and down right fun to play with, skip trying to use 30+ year old tapes and spend the $$ on the incredible ZXPAND.

I've always been a fan of the ZX-81 /TS-1000 computers, but when I spent the money on a ZXPANDER It was like I new system. Its basicly a 32K ram pack, and a SD card reader that allows you to hold every program ever made for them on one small chip. (Think hard drive) its also menu driven! Then it goes a step farther and with another add on It adds a joystick/mouse plug and sound! I love mine, and have used my TS 1000 more since I got it then in the 20 years before it.

I'm a Zx freak, I've modded mine to have reverse video and have it hooked to the little 9 inch apple 2C monitor. I also hand built a nice full keyboard. Its increadable to be able to swap in game after game with out having to try and load them over and over from my tape deck, or trying to convert them to .wavs to pipe them in from my IBM.

Search for ZXpand and check it out.

August 25, 2015

Kind of sucks getting old doesn't it? I always pictured my adult basement as a NORAD looking command center with at least a dozen vintage computer up and running on a wrap around 30 or 40 foot desk with a big screen at the end for vintage gaming.

As it turns out my bachelor days were the closest I'd ever get. I had an office with 5 systems set up. My at the time current tech 5X86 VIP main system, A 5 inch B&W TV hooked to my timex 1000, the 128 setup, TRS-80, and a pretty rare Kaypro 10 (the one with the hard drive). In my family room I had two recliners and cords everywhere that hooked from my 36 inch TV to my Atari 7800, Super Pong, and Colecovision. It was pretty cool, and I had always planned to out do myself, but the reality of getting further into my 40's and the changes in my tastes mean those days will probably not come.

I went through the same phase with cars a while back, selling my "toys" one by one until I realized they were more of a burden then they were fun. Now I drive a station wagon!

Now I dream of a day when what I have is all paid for. I guess our tastes get a little simpler as we age eh?

I do still dream of a nice original Pong arcade unit in the corner of the family room, but I don't think it will ever happen.

August 25, 2015

I've been at a bit of a cross roads over the last year or so.

Little by little I've been letting go of my vintage computer and video game collection.

I started off with the things I rarely used or didn't enjoy much. I sold my HP 200LX hand held Dos machine (sounds great, but the screen is a VERY limiting factor)

And my Coleco Adam. (a great computer, but virtually unsupported)

Then I cut deeper. Last fall I sold My beloved TRS-80 Model 4, and computer I had "maxed out" to 128K, 2 DSDD drives and 2 720K 3.5 drives. I used to use it all the time, and still did from time to time to telnet in glorious Mono-chrome, But its a beast and it takes up a lot of room. So I sold it.

Next it was time to part ways with my Atari 2600 Collection. I had been collecting since 1985 when I got my first Atari and started heading to all the yard sales to find new carts. I sold it all 300+ carts 2 units, and a ton of joysticks. ( I did keep my complete 7800 collection, and have the 2600 harmony cart so I can still get my fix)

That was a tough one, but last month I let go of my crown jewel. A C128 upgraded to 64K video ram, a 521K REU, A swiftlink rs-232 cart for telnetting, A 1531 mouse for Geos, and a perfect 1084 monitor with 2 1581 drives and 2 1571 drives. A great system with over 500 disks and a LOT of useage. The problem is it took up half a room with all the disks. And I have moved to a house with limited room.

There were others along the way, two pong systems, a oddesy 2, an Atari XL, and 3 IBM models, the XT, a 5X86 133mhz, and a K6-3 433.

Of all of them I know I'll miss the 4D and the 128 the most, but I'm learning to use the Emulators for my fix. Still its sad to have to move on. These computers were the ones I lusted after when I was younger and couldn't afford them. As time passed they became cheap, and I picked them up. Playing with them and finding out what made them tick. Now I've passed them on, but I don't see myself lusting after anything that has been made in the last 10 years or so. Its all variations of the same thing. Modern gaming doesn't interest me, and other then My Timex/Sinclair 1000 collection that's massive, and yet so small it fits in a small tote, I don't see myself with any new vintage computing or gaming purchases any time in the future.

So how many of you have had to "let go" of part , most or all of your collection?

August 24, 2015

If you do a search on here, somewhere their is a write up I did back in 08 or so about using my old Model 4 for Internet work. I was able to connect to various BBS systems, and also to send and receive E-mails. I played with that model 4 for almost a year pushing It to the limits.

Tandy made some great computers, and I can't help but wonder what the trs-80 model 40 would have been like.

July 4, 2015

Great times back in the BBS days. I wish the author would do a second set of episodes to this series. There is so much more to cover in the land of BBS's I'd love to have had an episode on all the main BBS software packages during the 1988-1995 time frame, IE: WWIV Renegage, VBBS, Telegard, WILDCAT, and so on. Also taking the time to show off how a single SYSOP could turn a stock BBS into a pretty freaking cool looking system. I remember many WWIV sites that were so custom I had no idea what they were running.

I'd also would have loved episodes on Local area BBS wars, (like we had in the 203-454-XXXX area) where SYSOPS were always bashing each other in an attempt to poach users or whatever. It was a great time in history, and I feel the bond but competition that a local bbs scene always seemed to have will never be recreated on the net. An episode just filled with log on screens from the era would be kick ass too. Don't get me wrong, the ANSI episode was great, but for every "artist" there were a ton of regular guys and gals that turned out some pretty cool screens too. Most are lost to history.

Man, BBS's were the best. I miss them every day. I ran my own "The Midnight Cafe" from 1991-1993 in CT. I never felt a closer bond to the users and the system as back then chugging away on a IBM XT-286 8mhz computer with a 40 meg IDE for the WWIV files to live.

I visit Telnet, but the moment it dead. There maybe 100 boards, but all are run by the 100 total users interested in BBS's at the point, and for whatever reason. Most never venture out to the other BBS's to post.

I try to visit the Weather Station, and The Cave BBS, at least once a week, and post as often as I see some activity, but it dies right back down.

A Sad end to the era.