This is my catch-all category for hardware that is OLD :)

Model: PCjr

Manufacture: IBM

OS: IBM PC-DOS 2.10

CPU: 4.7 MHZ Intel 8088

RAM: 128 KiB

Hard Drive: None – Cartridge and 5.25″ Floppy Disk

Modem: 300 Bps

Nick’s Take: Infrared keyboard, cartridges like a Nintendo, non-standard column video size…engineering  by committee right here everyone :) IBM really missed the mark and left us with a quirky piece of hardware. I’d love to have been a fly on the wall to hear this presentation to management.

Model: 64C

Manufacture: Commodore

CPU: MOS Technology 6510 @ 1.02 MHz

RAM: 64 KiB

Hard Drive: No HD – 1541 Floppy Drive 5.25″

OS: Commodore BASIC 2.0

Nick’s Take: My Father reenlisted while we were stationed in Sicily and bought me my first computer. For months we rode our bikes to the BX and I ran to play frogger on the floor model. 500 dollars to a poor enlisted family was a lot of money, but Dad came through and started my life of tech passion. This machine served as the workhorse in our family for many many years. It was the place I first coded, the machine I wrote my first newspaper articles on, my first foray into BBS. So many firsts were on a C64. My parents sold that machine to friends and for years I tearfully remembered the machine wishing they hadn’t. A few years ago they found a neighbor who had a new one in the box with all the periphals in the attic. It was the greatest christmas ever :)

Funny Story: I had my mother convinced that typing my spelling words was as good as writing them. I abhorred writing my spelling words and as I learned programming figured out a few short-cuts. After mom was okay with the thought of me “typing” the spelling words and printing the results for her review I moved to programming the process. My first useful program was printing each word 10 times in blocks and printing. I’d go to my room to study and play games for 45 minutes before running my little program, printing the results, and then showing mom. It was my little secret to why I all of a sudden enjoyed spelling words.

Model: SuperSport 286

Manufacturer: Zenith

CPU: Intel 80286 6MHz

RAM: 1 MiB

Hard Drive: None – 3.5″ and 5.25″ Floppy Drive

Modem: 300 BPs

OS: MS-DOS 3.3

Model: PS/2 Model 50

Manufacturer: IBM

CPU: Intel 80286 10MHz

RAM: 2 MiB

Hard Drive: None – 3.5″ x2

Modem: 300 Hayes BPs

OS: MS-DOS 3.3