Introduce yourself thread

Discussions
178

Wow…where to start, what to say?
My name is Bryan Smith.
I have always been a PC collector from the very early days of personal computers.
My first exposure to computers was in High School with a Healthkit H8/H9.
My brother had a Commodore 64 about the same time.
My collection began with a $1800 purchase of one of the first Commodore Amiga 1000 sold in West Virginia.
In college I used Apple IIe for some course work.
It was in college I saw my first CAD system and was hooked!
I began collecting IBM compatable PC parts (some that did not understand would say I was a hoarder)
I quickly grew in knowledge and experience with PCs.
In 1995, I worked for a short time at a End User Training Facility.
During that time, I passed my Certification exams for Windows NT 3.51 Workstation and Server.
I became a CompTIA A+ certificated trainer.
Later that same year, I was invited to take the NT 4.0 beta exam.
In 1999, I passed enough exams to earn my Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer for NT 4.0
Back in those days, certifications carried some weight.
While I do not think certs are that important today, am studing for my Cisco Certified Network Professional exam. (one of two exams to earn the coveted CCNP)

I was able to work with some nice hardware, that now I wish I owned.
I am now a Senior Cisco Network Engineer and only mess with PCs in my spare time as a hobby.
In my collection, I have:
Commodore 64 with its 1541 disk drive
Commodore Amiga 1000
2 and 1/2 Commodore Amiga 2000
Atari 520ST
Tandy 1000TL/3
HP Kayak XM600 Workstation (dual Pentium III with RAMBUS memory)
HP Vectra VL800 (first gen 486, socket 423 with RAMBUS memory)
Miscellaneous other Pentium CORE 2 DUO and early Core i5 machines.
My current daily PC is a HP Z400 workstation (32 gigs of RAM, 6 core Xeon)
…various rack mount servers. of which one is a NAS and aother is running the free version of VMWare ESXi.
I collect an embrassing number of moderately elderly machines and parts.
I am often presented with the opportunity to build a basic machine and give to someone in need.
Core2Duo and early iCore based machines witha few upgraded (Ram and SSD) runs Windows 10 just fine for browsing and light Office work.

Bryan Smith
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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179

Hello everyone!

I was very glad to learn that there is quite a community of people interested in retrocomputing. I think I first became interested in the hobby after watching an episode of Computerphile. I downloaded a could of Commodore 64 manuals and started playing around.

Unfortunately I have so many other hobbies that I haven’t gotten very far in my exploration of retro computing, but I am also working through a book called The Elements of Computing Systems, in which you implement an 8-bit computer from the ground up using a hardware simulator and later, a virtual machine, and this has the same retro computing vibe I got from working with the Commodore 64.

I’m currently working on writing an assembler implementation for the simple assembly language in that book, and decided that I wanted to write it in C. So then I got another taste of “retro” computing by taking a deep dive into C. Windows isn’t the most friendly platform for C development, so I just installed WSL and I’m going to give it another go using the GNU tool chain.

I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone else is working on!

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180

I also remember the same book and same circuit. :slight_smile:

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181

How cool ! Amazing stuff :slight_smile:

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Hi all,

after a years of silently lurking around the forum I decided to create an account. From what I have read here, I am quite late in the computers, but that at least make me feel younger then I am! :slight_smile:

I am originally from (Czecho) Slovakia and my first contact with a computer was in the middle of the 80’s. I was attending a basic school and my neighbour had problems with mathematics, so I was around few days a week after school to help him. He had an Atari 130XE and we played games on it. Later there was a paper computer in a magazine so I was able to learn some BASIC and land on the Moon (I don’t think I’ve ever managed to do that) and play some other games on it. At the end of the 80’s I was attending a local computer club to play some games but also to learn BASIC on the PMD85. We’ve got a computer for the X-mass '92. It was Didaktik Gama, a slovak clone of ZX Spectrum with 80kB of RAM and a parallel port. It came with a disk drive, so I never really get used to the tapes. Besides the games there was suddenly also a world of the demoscene and I’ve got hooked. It is since then I am actively using the Spectrum without a break till today.

My first own PC came in about 2005, it was refurbished secondhand Compaq laptop (some PIII, 12" screen) which I used also at my work. I was already familiar with Linux and was slowly heading that direction. At the end of 2009 I replaced the laptop with a Dell Vostro 1320 which I still own and use today. My last Windows experience ended in March 2010 and since then I am the usual Linux syadmin/sre/devops/how ever it is called today.

Because the ZX Spectrum, I am focusing on the Z80 CPU. I do some assembly programming, so although I do own a working Atari 130XE, that one is for games and demos only. Other computers in my possession are MGT Sam Coupé, Grundy NewBrain, Cambridge Z88 and V6Z80P. NewBrain is probably my most favourite one. I am not a collector and all computers are working. I am not really looking for any more platforms (well, maybe Amstrad CPC 664, but as I do have access to the 6128, I am no way in hurry to buy one).

I am learning a C nearly whole my computer life. I do some LUA programming, I can do Python, but I don’t like that one much. An Emacs manual is on my way now (but I am actually a VIM user) and I hope to take a look on the Lisp. But I have to admit that I am a crap programmer.

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2 posts were split to a new topic: Make a Lisp (github)

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Welcome, Augusto, Dennis, Martin, Giovanni, d4s, Bob, Bryan, Daniel, ellvis, and thanks for your introductions! Do feel free to start a new thread if you want to expand on any of your projects, or interests, or histories.

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186

Hi

A VCFED member and vintage computer collector from Lancaster UK

Also a director of the Northwest computer museum in Leigh Spinners Mill, Leigh, Manchester

My personal collection goes from a ZX81 to a VAX 3300 :slight_smile: with an Apple 1 build in the middle.

BTW, NWCM Grand opening is on 3rd of June 23. Come on over.

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187

Welcome to the forum @Gary_C !
I’d call this quite a background! Don’t hesitate to spread your knowledge, where required… :slight_smile: Also, any media on the NWCM is welcome!

I see, there is a website, already (and quite a fancy one): https://www.nwcomputermuseum.org.uk/
And a FB page: https://www.facebook.com/northwestcomputermuseum

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188

Hey guys!

Have no clue how I didn’t know about this forum before, but certainly glad to have found you guys now. Took a long look at the introductions here and I definitely resonate with a lot of you folks.

I’m over 40, and my adventure started in the 90’s when I got a locally produced clone of a ZX Spectrum. Got me from playing to reverse engineering and eventually programming in assembly. Didn’t do anything epic with that, I think the best program I did was a 2k relocable assembly program that was able to be loaded at any address, ran there and would allow you to browse the graphics memory of certain games, provided a mouse and a grid that would also allow you to change those graphics. You could then start the game with the graphics changed. Lost the program long ago. Had it on a floppy and written on a notepad that I lost both, but I am satisfied I just revived it by writing about it here.

Then, graduated to the x86 PC, toyed with several other languages and ended up with my experience today, mostly in C# (with MonoGame) and Java. Offcourse, my work requires me other programming languages.

I’ve always been an enthusiast gamer and game developer but have not published a single game yet, though I am constantly getting better and better at it. I started projects that were too large to handle and gradually, I learned from each failure that it’s best to reduce scope until you obtain control. So, I’m not there yet, but I’ll get there.

I totally love pixel art and my games are pretty much revolving around that beautiful art that sadly I am not very good at, though I am decent at modifying and creating variations of a given set. But I don’t care, I buy pixel art and use it in my projects. My most dear games of the past era are the Dizzy games (and variations of), turn based strategies such as Hero Quest, Defender of the Crown, also Prince of Persia (though I like the SNES version the most) and a whole bunch others.

However, in between this and that game, I did manage to create a cute project that I like very much. It’s an emulator for a retro computer that never existed. It’s made up along with its assembly instruction set (inspired by the Z80 but also extended upon), interrupts, video architecture and it’s aimed to be released for PC, Mac but most important, quite a few SBC’s, such as Pi’s and other supporting hardware. And, offcourse, software can be written for it. I’ll make a separate topic on that later. Right now a hearthy hello from an enthusiast guy and I’m looking forward to start reading topics around here. :slight_smile:

Cheers!

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189

Welcome @EnthusiastGuy !

We’re working on it, not to the least by you guys joining… :slight_smile:

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190

Hi Folks, Jay Vaughan here - I am a Curator at the Retro Gaming Museum here in Vienna:

https://gamingmusem.at/

We recently opened up an 8-bit retro-computing section in the museum, and have Oric Atmos, Amstrad CPC6128, ZX Spectrum 128+, Amiga 500, Atari 1040ST, Commodore C64 and VIC20 machines set up and ready for you to play with.

We are particularly keen on the 10-line BASIC Coding Competition, as my favorite machine (The Oric Atmos) has been winning this competition for the last few years very solidly with little real competition from the other contenders - as an exotic and underlooked machine, this is a real treat! For this reason, we are presenting the Oric Atmos with the winning entries for the last few years, with the purpose of exposing visitors to the joys of computing, as it was! You can’t write software like this any more - full implementations of Lunar Lander, a Pacman clone, a multiple-room dungeon crawler … in 10 lines of BASIC, wtf?

Anyway, nice to join you all and see what you’ve been up to - hope I can contribute more as the months go by, and if you’re in Vienna - come and check out our museum! Its a lot of fun!

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Hi and welcome!

I guess, the link to the Retro Gaming Museum / Vienna should be www.gamingmuseum.at:

I seriously have to drop in for a visit…

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Hi all, my name is Warren Toomey. I’ve just found this forum, joined up so I can ask questions about a 6809-based SBC that I’m designing and building. But I thought I’d introduce myself along the way :grinning:

I started with Apple ][s in the '80s, learning how to write BASIC, Pascal and assembly. At one point I ported the Xinu operating system to the Apple ][: https://minnie.tuhs.org/ftp/pub/apple2/apple2xinu.tar.gz

I went to uni and fell in love with C and Unix, so in 1995 I started up the Unix Heritage Society: https://www.tuhs.org/

I’d never done much hardware work but, after reading Patterson & Hennesy’s “Computer Organisation & Design”, and “The Elements of Computing Systems” (https://www.nand2tetris.org/), I decided to try and teach myself.

The result are a bunch of projects:

  • CSCv2, a 4-bit CPU built with TTL components

  • CSCvon8, an 8-bit CPU built with TTL components, plus an assembler and a compiler for a high-level language

  • An implementation of tic tac toe with no CPU, just TTL components

  • A 6809 SBC with a Unix-like environment (no multitasking, just one program at a time)

On the software side:

Right now I’m working on MMU09. It’s going to be a 6809 SBC with an MMU (implemented with a CPLD). The aim is to get a Unix-like multitasking operating system to run on it. I think it’s going to be an interesting retro-project. The PCB is built as a “hat” to sit on top of an Arduino so I can monitor/set all the address/data/control lines, which will help greatly with the debugging. However, I’ve never used a CPLD before, so I’ll have questions down the track :rofl:

Anyway, I’ve just spent an hour or so reading through the topics on the forum, lots of good stuff here. Hope to chat with some of you soon!

Cheers, Warren

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193

A great intro, Warren, welcome! I hope you found the topic Adventures with the 6809 (and 6309) - perhaps that project and your MMU09 project can pick up some ideas from each other.

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Hello people! :wave:

After lurking here for a while, I’ve finally decided to create an account. Doing the ‘say hi’ thing as requested.

I’m active in other related communities under the same name and icon - so if you see both, you’ll know it’s the same ‘me’ there also.

I’m into retro/vintage computers, and the odd old console as well - although I’m not much a retro-gamer.

My current collection consists of:

Amiga

  • 3 Amiga 500s
  • An Amiga 1000 (EU model)
  • An Amiga 3000 (25Mhz, one day it will be an Amiga 3000UX running Amix)
  • two Amiga 1200s
  • Boxes and boxes of Amiga related accessories and storage mediums
  • About 1,000 (probably more) Amiga floppy disks. (I’ve been working through old obscure PD/Shareware releases hunting for stuff that never made it to Aminet, or archive.org).

Commodore

  • Commodore 128 (RAM problem - need to spend time fixing it)

Sinclair

  • ZX81 in bits (It works, but I have plans to build a proper keyboard for it one day)

PC

  • Amstrad PPC512 (plus have an ISA expansion card waiting to be built for it)
  • Olivetti PC1 (dual floppy)
  • Generic 286 (currently being built)
  • Many, many mini ITX boxes with old VIA chipsets (good for DOS actually)
  • Bunch of thin clients. (No idea why I have them - they are soo odd).

Consoles

  • PlayStation 1 (modded, but on the lookout for a PSIO board though)
  • Sony PSP (not really vintage/retro but good for 8 bit emulation)

And my absolute favouritist machine in my collection:

  • A DEC AlphaStation with an Alpha 21264 CPU @ 600Mhz, 16MB RAM, SCSI HDD/CD, plus working Audio!. It’s running Windows NT 4.0 (I plan to write new applications for this platform, mainly because no-one else is).

As for me, I’m handy with a soldering iron, down to SMD sizes. I can do 3D design for 3D models/printing. I can code in various languages, and I’m a 25 years+ veteran of the IT industry in various roles. I cut my computing teeth on a very large VAX/VMS cluster in my early 20s, and then onto PC support, engineering and then architecture, until I finally realised that the industry wasn’t for me anymore, so now I do something completely different.

I can also be opinionated, but then, I do know lots, so it’s rarely just bluster. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Welcome, Matt! That AlphaStation sounds quite marvellous - feel free to start a thread and post some photos.

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196

Hi there, my name is Juan Vidal, and im in my mid 20s. I am from Spain and I like to research the Spanish Computing History (Forgotten companies like Telesincro, Secoinsa, Comelta, etc…). My first computer was a Siemens Laptop from 1992 or 1993 that i got from my father in the 2000s. I have a small computer and videogame collection. Right now i have the following Computers:

Apple:

  • Macintosh Plus
  • Macitosh IISI
  • Macintosh Color Classic
  • iMac G4
  • PowerMac G4
  • PowerMac G5

MicroComputers:

  • Spectrum 128 +2
  • Oric Atmos

Pocket Computers:

  • Sharp PC1500
  • Casio PB-100
  • Casio PB-700
  • Casio FX-880P

HandHeld Computers:

  • Canon X-07
  • Atari Portfolio
  • Casio Cassiopeia

Worksation/Server:

  • Silicon Graphics O2
  • AlphaStation XP900
  • AlphaServer DS10
  • IBM 306m
  • SunFire X2100

And some other devices from the 90s and 2000s like some PDAs with Windows Mobile or a extrange Clevo laptop With a Desktop P4…

It is nice to be here :stuck_out_tongue:

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Welcome! That’s a very fine collection - if you’d like to post some photos or stories, feel free to start a thread.

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Hey guys,
Im rehan, i have a massive pile of Vintage / Retro computers, just wanted to know if we’re allowed to sell them on here?

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