Retro Computing Archives

Commodore 1570 disk drive

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing September 9, 2020January 6, 2026

The Commodore 1570 disk drive was an odd, short-lived product from Commodore in 1985. Like many things Commodore did that year, it solved an inventory problem for them, but can leave people scratching their heads today.

The Commodore 1570 looks like a mashup between the 1541 and 1571 drives, and that’s exactly what it is. It’s a fast 1541 designed for the Commodore 128.

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 SDrive Max

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing September 7, 2020January 19, 2025

I got an SDrive Max for my Atari 800 and I really like it. It took a little doing to get it working for me. Hopefully you won’t have the same troubles I did. If you are, hopefully what helped me will help you. Let’s take a look at the Atari SDrive Max and what it does for you.

SDrive Max is a modern storage solution for vintage Atari 8-bit computers that uses SD cards. By storing images on the card, the Atari can boot off the image as if it were a floppy drive.

Dave Farquhar

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Amiga 1080 monitor

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing September 1, 2020September 15, 2025

The Amiga 1080 monitor was the original monitor Commodore supplied with the Amiga 1000 in 1985. It’s one of only two monitors that featured the Amiga branding with the Amiga checkmark logo. Its picture quality is very good, but the monitor sometimes behaves oddly. You can fix the odd behavior. I’ll tell you how, and I also tracked down the elusive pinout for this monitor.

Dave Farquhar

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Atarisoft: If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 27, 2020August 23, 2024

Atarisoft was a short-lived publishing venture from Atari, makers of the iconic 2600 game console and 800/XE/XL line of 8-bit computers. As consumer interest shifted from game consoles to computers, Atari sought to bolster its fortunes by publishing software for those computers. The results were mixed.

Atarisoft allowed Atari to make some short-term profits, but in the long run it may have hurt sales of their own computers. The titles Atarisoft published had been exclusive to Atari systems, so publishing them for other systems robbed Atari of system exclusives.

Dave Farquhar

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Are old Tandy computers worth anything?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 26, 2020September 1, 2023

These kinds of blog posts have a way of coming back and biting me, but I’ll write it anyway. Are old Tandy computers worth anything? The answer, of course, is they are. But how much they are worth depends on what the computer is, whether it works, and how complete it is.

Dave Farquhar

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Timex Sinclair 1500: The ZX81 in Spectrum clothing

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 24, 2020July 30, 2024

The Timex Sinclair 1500 was Timex’s ill-fated attempt to fix what went wrong with the Timex Sinclair 1000. It was completely compatible with the 1000 and the Sinclair ZX81, but sported 16K of RAM and a better keyboard. These were welcome improvements, but they weren’t enough in the hyper competitive 1983 U.S. computer market.

The Timex Sinclair 1500 was essentially a Sinclair ZX81 with more memory in a Sinclair Spectrum case. Released in July 1983 at a price of $80, it wasn’t successful and Timex withdrew from the market in February 1984.

Dave Farquhar

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Trash-80: What it meant and why it stuck

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 21, 2020September 20, 2023

One of the first computers I ever used was a Radio Shack Color Computer. Or should we say, a TRS-80 Color Computer. But everyone I knew called them Trash-80s. Why?

Trash-80 was a pejorative for Radio Shack’s TRS-80 line of computers. Tandy executives didn’t like the nickname, but most of its competitors had one too.

Dave Farquhar

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Buying computer gear in the 80s and 90s

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 18, 2020November 30, 2024

Today we take buying online for granted. You pull up a web site, find what you want, and in a couple of clicks, you put it in your virtual cart and pay for it. It’s fast and convenient. It was very different in the 80s and 90s. Better? Maybe. Maybe not. But definitely different.

Dave Farquhar

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TRS-80 MC-10: Radio Shack’s cheapest computer

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 13, 2020September 27, 2024

The TRS-80 MC-10 Micro Color Computer was a really cheap beginner’s home computer from 1983, designed to compete with cheap computers from Timex. It was a little bit too limited and perhaps not quite cheap enough, so it only lasted a year on the market. But it has a devoted following today.

Initially priced at $119 and eventually discounted to as little as $49.95, the TRS-80 MC-10 Micro Color Computer was Radio Shack’s entry-level computer in 1983 and 1984. Like much of the computer industry, Tandy overestimated the demand for cheap, limited computers and the MC-10 flopped.

Dave Farquhar

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Make a picture ledge for your vintage computer

Dave Farquhar DIY, Retro Computing August 5, 2020January 20, 2024

Some Youtubers, including Casual Retro Gamer, use picture ledges to keep their vintage computer systems on the wall when they’re not using them. You can buy a picture ledge, but they’re easy to make, too. And if you make them, you can make them whatever length you want.

A picture ledge is a small, J-shaped shelf that mounts on the wall, normally used for displaying art without having to use a bunch of hangers. But their size works well for vintage home computers and game consoles too, allowing you to store and display them.

Dave Farquhar

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