What is your retro computing most "irrational want?"

[rpiguy9907]

I have always wanted an early Commodore 1802 or CM-141 monitor with the big, round, sexy DIALS on the front. So awesome looking. I check Craigslist and eBay regularly but they are always a fortune. The later 1802s without the dials are boring...

 

I already have a 1084S-P, but in my opinion it just isn't sexy, despite being a better monitor!

[Tempest]

For me it was an Exidy Sorcerer, but I finally got one this year. So now it's an Intellivision Keyboard unit. There are no real games for it (crosswords is the closest) and they're ungodly rare, but I've always wanted one.

[jhd]

When they were new, I really wanted a ColecoVision. I got one a few years ago (as a gift), but it was massive and it did not work, so I passed it along. (Between emulation and the Flashback, I have no further need of one.)

 

I cannot say that here is anything I badly want at present, perhaps an original Xbox with Fable and Knights of the Old Republic (and any other system-exclusive RPGs). The hardware I see fairly frequently; those games, never.

[BassGuitari]

I've got a few:

-Amber monitor for Atari/Commodore/Apple (Amdek something or other, I forget the model), and one for PC/IBM.
-Replica I
-Superboard III

-Commodore PET 2001

At least mine are obtainable, just expensive.

[rpiguy9907]

For me it was an Exidy Sorcerer, but I finally got one this year. So now it's an Intellivision Keyboard unit. There are no real games for it (crosswords is the closest) and they're ungodly rare, but I've always wanted one.

I would play the heck out of an updated Treasures of Tarmin with a story and keyboard support!

 

I have say, I admire your ambition.

[JamesD]

I always wanted an Ohio Scientific C4P MF but those have been expensive for a long time.
It would also be nice to have a Microdigital TK95, or Prologica CP-300.

[Keatah]

Does it have to be real-life or plausible?

[rpiguy9907]

Does it have to be real-life or plausible?

It has to exist. What we wished was built is a whole nother thread altogether!

[Keatah]

It would have been the Ultravision, it may have existed in lab prototypes. But all I've seen of it is a couple of magazine ads. It'd be some 10 years later till I started building my own. And another 20 years till it became polished.

 

My real-life version of the Ultravision, today, is a box full of emulators on a multi-monitor rig. And sporting iTunes, Winamp, VLC, a web browser, and easy-to-use point'n'click, drag'n'drop file system.

 

A more real (technically doable) irrational want was a room full of TRS-80 Model II's set up like Mission Control. All networked into an Apple II to oversee it all. With a Space Patrol RadioShack walkie-talkie radio link to guys in space playing Star Raiders or Lunar Lander.

 

ADDED: Essentially a miniature mission control room, full of classic computers and having the atmosphere of "The Electric Company" or Sesame Street" In the best way a kid could envision it.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Keatah

[rpiguy9907]

Cool I had never heard of the Ultravision before!

[ToddUGA]

An Amiga 4000. Had a 500 then a 1200 back in the day but always dreamed of owning a 4000.

[SSG]

I want an Altair Kit.

[Osgeld]

A nice fat Amiga for nearly free and a Altair kit

[tep392]

I want an Altair Kit.

Same here. I want an un-built kit so I can put it together. And I don't want an OS in ROM. I want to bootstrap it old school.

[Turbo-Torch]

A few peripherals for my Model III such as an acoustic modem (must be battleship gray) and the huge 5mb hard disk system complete with keys...because you know things just got serious when you need a key to fire up your hard drive!

[rpiguy9907]

A few peripherals for my Model III such as an acoustic modem (must be battleship gray) and the huge 5mb hard disk system complete with keys...because you know things just got serious when you need a key to fire up your hard drive!

Yes! Mechanical keys are a recipe for instant want.

[Tempest]

An Amiga 4000. Had a 500 then a 1200 back in the day but always dreamed of owning a 4000.

 

Yeah I still want one even though I have a 2000. The allure of AGA games is too great!

[TPA5]

I also want an Altair 8800. Don't know what the heck I'd do with one... but I want it.

[The Usotsuki]

An Apple IIgs.

[carlsson]

A friend of mine snatched a partly mis-listed floppy drive controller for the COMX-35 a few years ago. I'm still a bit annoyed for that, although I would probably have as little use of it as he does. I think that counts for irrational want.

[HardZero]

I really want a nice 80 column PET like the 8032. I know I'd have little use for it but damn that thing is super pretty.

[Omega-TI]

There is a piece of "Vaporware" I'd like to get my hands on...

[Tonyvdb]

I already have the two machines that Ive dreamed about owning, one is the Amiga 4000 and the other I just got, an Apple IIGS but my want would be to get an accelerator 68060 50mHz for the A4000. I had one back in the 90s but sold it due to a cash crunch I was in and regret it to this day The problem is when they do show up they cost as much as a 4000T and Im not willing to shell out that kind of cash.

[rpiguy9907]

Come to think of it, I've also always wanted a Canon Cat. The purity of its function is really appealing.

[SiLic0ne t0aD]

NIB Coleco ADAM would be awesome.

 

Wouldn't mind having another C64 and an Apple IIe either