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Where to buy vintage computers

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 28, 2017February 13, 20221541, 1980s, commodore, dell, electric trains, estate sales, garage sale, garage sales, IBM, ibm pcjr, intel, Kansas City, Missouri, recycling, survivors, Tandy, Texas Instruments, TI, Value Village, vintage computer, vintage trains

Collecting vintage computers can be fun. I also personally think it’s great that people are interested in preserving that history. Where to buy vintage computers hasn’t changed much over the years. It just may take a bit more work than it used to.

Some people think old computers are priceless. Others think they’re worthless. I don’t recommend wasting your time with people who think a Dell Pentium III laptop is worth $300. Think of the times you found a jewel for five bucks and keep moving.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.

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Radio Shack computers

Dave Farquhar Retail, Retro Computing May 25, 2017August 16, 20181980s, 1990s, 6502, apple, apple ii, atari, Bill Gates, commodore, commodore 64, compaq, IBM, ibm pcjr, intel, Japan, Missouri, motorola, radio shack, Tandy, tandy 1000

Radio Shack released one of the first home computers, the TRS-80 Model I, in 1977. Between 1977 and 1979, it sold 100,000 units. Radio Shack sold them just as quickly as Tandy could make them. You can count Radio Shack and its parent company Tandy among computer companies that failed, but they enjoyed a good run. For a time, Radio Shack computers, later marketed as Tandy computers, were very popular.

Radio Shack and Tandy computers included the TRS-80 Model I from the inaugural class of 1977, the pioneering Model 100 portable, and the Tandy 1000 series, which helped bring PC clones into homes.

There were several reasons why Radio Shack computers were hard to compete with in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.

Dave Farquhar

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IBM PCjr and Tandy 1000

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 29, 2014September 26, 20221980s, apple, apple ii, christmas, commodore, commodore 64, IBM, ibm pcjr, lenovo, macintosh, mainframe, Personal Computer, radio shack, Tandy, tandy 1000, XT

On January 29, 1984, two computers hit the market. One was Apple’s Macintosh. It needs no introduction. The other was the IBM PCjr. It was a little less successful. We’ll talk about what this has to do with the Tandy 1000 in a minute.

The PCjr is one of the biggest flops in computing history. Few people know much more about it than that. It ended up being an important computer, but it certainly didn’t meet IBM’s expectations. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Commodore 128, top-12 dud? By what measure?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 17, 2011September 3, 20181980s, amiga, apple, apple ii, Apple Macintosh, atari, atari 2600, atari st, commodore, commodore 128, commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, IBM, ibm pcjr, macintosh, motorola, NES, nintendo, nintendo nes, pc magazine, video game

PC Magazine presented a list of 12 computer duds, and while I agree with most of them, my old friend the Commodore 128 makes an appearance. Commodore released several duds over the years, but calling the 128 one of them doesn’t seem fair.
Read more

Dave Farquhar

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So why didn’t Commodore make the Commodore 128 differently?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing March 27, 2011December 6, 20201980s, 6502, amiga, Andy Grove, apple, atari, Bil Herd, christmas, commodore, commodore 128, commodore 64, Dave Haynie, IBM, ibm pcjr, intel, irving gould, MOS, motorola, Steve Jobs, stock scam

I grew up on the Commodore 128. We got one for Christmas 1985 (an upgrade from a Commodore 64). It was a bit of a quirky machine, but I liked it.

On the retro computing forums, it might be the most controversial thing Commodore ever did. Which says something, seeing as some computer historians have summed up Commodore’s history in four words: Irving Gould‘s stock scam. But that’s another story.

The cool thing about Commodore was that its engineers weren’t shy about talking about their projects. Bil Herd, Fred Bowen, and Dave Haynie have all weighed in over the years, talking about what they did and why and what they would have done differently.

Dave Farquhar

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Dinosaur hunting

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing May 22, 2010November 15, 20181980s, 1990s, apple, colecovision, commodore, commodore 64, extra money, IBM, ibm pcjr, Packard Bell, Personal Computer, proprietary unix, radio shack, sgi, Tandy, tandy 1000, Texas Instruments, TI, unix, XT

Today I slipped over to Laclede Computer Trading Company for the first time in many years. I was in search of an ISA parallel card. They’re not easy to find these days, mostly because they aren’t particularly useful to most people these days, but I figured if anyone would have one, it would be them.

No dice. But man, what memories.

Dave Farquhar

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The rise and fall of Shack, and how to fix it

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing May 11, 2010January 31, 20221980s, 1990s, acer, amd, amiga, apple, apple ii, atx power supply, commodore, commodore 64, compaq, computer cases, dell, DIY, IBM, ibm pcjr, intel, kmart, knockoffs, Micro Center, Missouri, Packard Bell, radio shack, resistors, Tandy, tandy 1000, XT

Wired has a nostalgic piece on the not-quite-late, not-quite-great Radio Shack. I think it’s a good article, but it glosses over part of the reason for the store’s decline.

It blames computers.But blaming computers ignores Tandy’s long and successful run in that industry. Most Apple fanatics and other revisionist historians conveniently overlook this, but when Apple launched the Apple II in 1977, Tandy and Commodore were right there with competing offerings. I don’t know about Apple, but Tandy and Commodore were selling their machines faster than they could make them.

Dave Farquhar

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IBM dumping its PC business?

Dave Farquhar Hardware December 6, 2004August 16, 20181990s, Ad Lib, amd, commodore, compaq, dell, hp, IBM, ibm pcjr, intel, kmart, Packard Bell, pepsi, thinkpad, VGA

John C. Dvorak comes full circle in his column about IBM possibly dumping its PC business. He starts off saying it makes little sense, but by the end of the editorial, he has his mind made up that IBM should have done it years ago.

Of course, this was probably written before word got out that its talks are more of a joint venture or spinoff than a complete sellout.

Dave Farquhar

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How IBM and DOS came to dominate the industry

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing February 19, 2003November 28, 20181980s, 1990s, amiga, apple, Apple Computer, apple ii, atari, atari st, commodore, commodore 128, commodore 64, Consumer Reports, Crestwood Plaza, IBM, ibm pcjr, intel, macintosh, Personal Computer, radio shack, Tandy, tandy 1000, vector, XT

Revisionist historians talk about how MS-DOS standardized computer operating systems and changed the industry. That’s very true. But what they’re ignoring is that there were standards before 1981, and the standards established in 1981 took a number of years to take hold.

Dave Farquhar

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Old computer magazines

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing November 12, 2002October 26, 2022amiga, apple, Apple Lisa, atari, atari st, IBM, ibm pcjr

I guess I need a “retro” category here. Anyway, I found this on Slashdot this morning: The Computer Magazine Archive. Don’t let the URL fool you–it’s not just Atari stuff.

Dave Farquhar

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