IEEE-488 and Commodore

IEEE-488 and Commodore

When Commodore introduced its PET line of personal computers in 1977, they needed a bus to connect peripherals. Rather than do something proprietary, they chose an industry standard, the IEEE-488 bus originally designed by HP. It suited Commodore’s needs at the time, even though it’s pretty obscure today.

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Commodore 8-inch floppy disk drives

Commodore 8-inch floppy disk drives

We don’t typically associate the ginormous 8-inch floppy disks with Commodore. But Commodore produced no fewer than four different models of 8-inch floppy drive for its PET/CBM line of computers.

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What does Unisys do?

What does Unisys do?

Unisys was once the second largest computer company in the world, and the name of one of its products, Univac, was briefly synonymous with the word “computer.” It’s no longer the force it once was, but Unisys survives today, in a slimmed-down form.

Unisys still produces computer hardware, including mainframes. But like its rival IBM, it makes most of its money in software, service, and integration.

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Is Windows Unix based?

At least two of the most popular operating systems of today are based on Unix. But what about Windows? Is Windows Unix based?

While Windows has some Unix influences, it is not derived or based on Unix. At some points is has contained a small amount of BSD code but the majority of its design came from other operating systems.

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Atari 800 vs 800XL

Atari 800 vs 800XL

The Atari 800/XL//XE series may be the most underrated 8-bit computer line of the 1970s and 1980s. Yes, I said 1970s, as it debuted in 1979. But while the Atari 800XL is perhaps the most popular machine from that family, and it’s better in most ways than the Atari 800, the 800 has its own advantage too. Let’s look at the Atari 800 vs 800XL.

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Why does reseating RAM work?

Why does reseating RAM work?

When troubleshooting machines, I was trained to routinely reseat every board and every chip in the case. Especially if there was nothing visibly wrong with the machine, it was amazing how often that worked. So why does reseating RAM work? Why does reseating anything else work?

Reseating works because it improves conductivity. Connectors can get dirty or oxidized, and if that interferes with conductivity, it causes malfunctions.

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Is Aliexpress safe?

Is Aliexpress safe?

Aliexpress offers deals on hard-to-find items at unbeatable prices. It also offers deals on ordinary items at lower prices than usual, because it’s coming straight from China, with fewer middlemen. But is Aliexpress safe?

Aliexpress does offer buyer protections. But being overseas and dealing with overseas shipping times does mean Aliexpress is inherently riskier from buying from online sources that are closer to you.

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Laser 128 computer

Laser 128 computer

The Laser 128 computer was an Apple II-compatible home computer manufactured by Video Technologies Ltd in Hong Kong and sold in the 1980s. It was available via mail order and in some retail stores like Sears. In spite of the name, there wasn’t anything optical about it. The name “laser” just sounded like high technology in the 1980s.

The Laser 128 was an Apple II clone most noteworthy for not violating any of Apple’s copyrights. It blended some of the features of both the Apple IIe and IIc computers, improving significantly on the IIc in the process.

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RAM Doubler remembered

RAM Doubler remembered

RAM Doubler was a fairly popular product for Macintosh computers in the 1990s. But you can’t buy it today, and if it seems like it’s been a while since you’ve seen or heard of it, there’s a reason for it. Ironically, it was a competing product that didn’t work that brought it down. Here’s what happened to RAM Doubler.

RAM Doubling products worked by setting aside an area of memory and compressing it, then decompressing it when you needed it. It was a form of virtual memory, theoretically faster than traditional virtual memory that used disk space, but less stable.

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Tales of computer retail past

Tales of computer retail past

Somehow I escaped doing helpdesk or phone support early in my career. But I didn’t escape selling computers at retail at Best Buy. And since this was the 90s, I have some good stories. Some of them happened to me. Some happened to coworkers. None of them should be true.

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