Retro Computing Archives

Plantronics Colorplus: Forgotten PC graphics

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 19, 2022July 11, 2022

Plantronics color was a superset of CGA, introduced in 1982, similar to but not compatible with the extended color modes in the IBM PCjr and Tandy 1000.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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Atari 2600 emulator for the VIC-20

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 12, 2022March 5, 2024

Rumored to exist! I first heard the rumor in 1996, and more than a quarter century later, it’s never turned up. But let’s talk about the Cardapter 1 and the Game Loader, a pair of vaporware Atari 2600 emulators for the VIC-20. The Cardapter 1 was demonstrated in January 1983 under much secrecy, advertised a bit over the spring of 1983, but never appeared. The Game Loader is a bit more mysterious.

Dave Farquhar

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Protecto Enterprizes: What is was and wasn’t

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 11, 2022November 15, 2024

Protecto Enterprizes (not Protecto Enterprises), and Computer Direct, one of its divisions, are names that come up occasionally in retro circles. They were a company that advertised heavily in computer magazines in the mid-1980s, and their inventory is frequently interesting to retro computer collectors. But sometimes it’s a little unclear what this company was, and I think that was by design.

Protecto Enterprizes/Computer Direct was a computer mail order discounter based out of the Chicago area from 1979 to about 1995. They were not a manufacturer nor were they strictly a liquidator, though they did sell a lot of closeout inventory and private label products that made them look like they may have been more than just a distributor.

Dave Farquhar

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VCR won’t accept date? Here’s the fix

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 6, 2022May 15, 2022

Some VCRs won’t accept dates after the year 2000. Some old computers won’t either. But there is a creative solution so your old device knows what day of the week it is on a given date, even if it can’t handle a year after 2000.

Dave Farquhar

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DOS memory management on a 286

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 29, 2022April 18, 2023

This month, YouTuber Casual Retro Gamer rebuilt a 286 clone from the late 1980s. After his restoration work was done, he did what any of us would have done. He started upgrading it, because a handsomely restored retro PC is less fun than a souped up handsomely restored retro PC. And that’s where he ran into the oddities of 286 memory optimization. When he was done, he had 585 kilobytes of conventional memory available, and he speculated that might not be quite enough. Here’s how to get more.

Dave Farquhar

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Can you use Windows 95 in 2022?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 22, 2022April 16, 2022

When troubleshooting a Windows 95 build, I came across an interesting question: can you use Windows 95 in 2022? And a related question: is Windows 95 safe to use? As a retro computer enthusiast and a computer security professional, and one who specializes in software life cycle management at that, I take a special interest in questions like this.

Dave Farquhar

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Dell E1912HF and the Amiga

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 15, 2022March 5, 2023

Amiga monitors have never been especially easy to find, but as time moves on, they get even harder. In a pinch you can use a television, but that has some drawbacks. Fortunately there are some other modern alternatives. The Dell E1912HF is a good example, though not the only one.

Dave Farquhar

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3Com 3c509 in an 8088-based PC/XT

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 8, 2022October 22, 2022

Officially, the old reliable–and super common–3Com 3c509 Ethernet card requires a 286 or better processor. Unofficially, you can get one to work in an 8088-or 8086-based based XT-class system. Here’s the trick to using a 3com 3c509 in an 8088 PC/XT.

Dave Farquhar

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MCGA vs VGA

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing May 31, 2022July 26, 2022

VGA and MCGA were two new video standards introduced in April 1987 with the IBM PS/2 line. They were meant to make the new IBM computers more competitive with Amiga, Atari ST, and color Macintosh computers, all of which had ability to create high resolution graphics with more colors then IBM’s first generation of PCs. MCGA vs VGA confused people in 1987, and it can confuse people today.

Of the two standards, VGA proved the most enduring. The GPU in your desktop or laptop PC is fully backward compatible with VGA, and whatever graphics mode you’re using right now is an extension of VGA. The 15-pin VGA plug is still very common 35 years after the PS/2’s introduction. VGA approved to be the most enduring element of the PS/2 line.

Dave Farquhar

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Why did the Atari ST fail?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing May 24, 2022July 3, 2025

Why did the Atari ST fail? It is hard for me to be objective about the Atari ST, because I was a dyed in the wool Amiga fanboy in the early ’90s. I am not supposed to like the Atari ST. And I’m not sure if that makes it easier or harder for me to see it as a failure, but I don’t see the Atari ST as a failure.

Then again, since you probably are not reading this on an Atari ST, there is an argument that it did fail. So it could be that I am grading on a curve. I expected the machine to be a nothing burger, and it ended up selling 2.1 million units at a time when 2.1 million units shipped still was a pretty impressive number.

Dave Farquhar

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