Retro Computing Archives

IBM PS/2 vs PC

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 9, 2017May 7, 20241980s, 1990s, apple, apple ii, asus, compaq, IBM, intel, VGA, x86, XT

The IBM PS/2 line was a fairly radical departure from the older IBM PC line. This was deliberate, as IBM wanted to disrupt the clone industry, which it saw as a threat to its business. Here’s a look back at the IBM PS/2 vs PC, the line it replaced.

IBM succeeded with the PC because it created an ecosystem, not just a PC. IBM’s misstep was creating an open architecture and then trying to close it back up after the fact with the PS/2. In IBM’s defense, it’s not clear whether they knew this at the time. If nothing else, in the case of the IBM PS/2 vs PC, IBM created a classic case study of open architecture vs closed.

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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Compaq Deskpro 386

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 7, 2017January 28, 2025

The Compaq Deskpro 386, announced in September 1986, was a landmark IBM PC compatible computer. The first fully 32-bit PC based on the Intel 386, its release took the leadership of the PC ecosystem away from IBM, and Compaq became the leader.

Compaq was no upstart by 1986. Its Compaq Portable was a runaway success earlier in the decade, and Compaq was a darling of the industry. The Deskpro 386 solidified Compaq’s position as an industry innovator.

Dave Farquhar

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Radio Shack computers

Dave Farquhar Retail, Retro Computing May 25, 2017June 5, 20261980s, 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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Advantages and disadvantages of Windows NT 3.1

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing May 18, 2017April 7, 20251990s, AIX, amiga, apple, best buy, DEC, hp, IBM, intel, linksys, motorola, Orange Book, proprietary unix, unix, windows nt, Windows XP, wrt54g, x86

I’ve talked a lot about the advantages and disadvantages of old milestone operating systems. But what were the advantages and disadvantages of Windows NT 3.1? That’s a fair question.

Dave Farquhar

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Epyx Fast Load cartridge

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing May 12, 2017September 15, 20221541, commodore, commodore 64, tape drive

The Epyx Fast Load cartridge, released in 1984, was the first commercially successful Commodore 64 fast load product. Commodore’s 1541 disk drive was much slower than competing disk drives, so fast load cartridges became popular. While the Epyx product was first, and sold very well, it didn’t have the market to itself for long. Its developer, Scott Nelson, went on to produce other fast loader products as well.

Epyx Fast Load was a plug-in cartridge that replaced the Commodore 64’s stock ROM disk loading routine with a more efficient routine that was about five times as fast. The result was that software that normally took three minutes to load often took closer to 30 seconds with the cartridge.

Dave Farquhar

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Commodore 64 common questions and answers

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 14, 2017August 5, 20171541, 1980s, 1990s, Baby Boomers, commodore, commodore 128, commodore 64, estate sales, garage sales, irving gould, Japan, Korea

I hear a lot of questions about the Commodore 64 over and over again. Many of them don’t warrant a single blog post. So here’s a list of Commodore 64 common questions and their answers.

If you want to know when the Commodore 64 came out, how many Commodore 64s sold, who made the Commodore 64, where the Commodore 64 was made, is the Commodore 64 worth anything, are Commodore 64 games worth anything, or if you can still buy a Commodore 64, read on.

Dave Farquhar

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Taming Windows 95/98/98SE/ME Out of Memory Errors

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing, Windows April 6, 2017June 19, 2025disk cache, optimizing windows, win9x, windows 2000, windows 7, windows 9x

The symptom: If you install more than 512 MB of RAM in a system running Windows 9x (that’s any version of Windows 95, 98, 98SE, or ME), you get weird out of memory errors. Here’s how to get around those memory limitations to make Windows 95 and Windows 98 work with 2 GB of RAM.

The culprit is a bug in Windows 9x’s disk cache. The solution is to limit the cache to use 512MB of memory, or less, which is a good thing to do anyway.

Dave Farquhar

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1541 vs 1541C

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing March 30, 2017October 22, 20221541, 1571, amiga, commodore, IBM

The dark beige/tan Commodore 1541 disk drive is rather well known. The lighter beige, almost white 1541c is more of a curiosity. The drives are closely related, but the difference is more than just the color. Let’s take a look at the 1541 vs 1541c.

Dave Farquhar

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Why Jack Tramiel left Commodore

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing March 17, 2017April 4, 2026

Retro computing fans, especially Commodore and Atari enthusiasts, all know the story. Jack Tramiel left Commodore, the company he founded, in early 1984 at the height of its success. Then, within a few months, he gained control of Commodore rival Atari.

But why?

Dave Farquhar

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Commodore 64 vs Amiga

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing March 3, 2017September 6, 20181980s, 1990s, 6502, amiga, amiga os, atari, atari st, commodore, commodore 64, compaq, hp, intel, kmart, motorola, Packard Bell, Personal Computer, unix, XT

Looking at the Commodore 64 vs Amiga seems a little odd, at least to me. After all, the machines were never intended to be rivals. The Amiga was supposed to succeed the 64. Commodore bought Amiga because they couldn’t make a 64 successor on their own, so they intended for the Amiga to replace it. It didn’t fully succeed, and maybe that’s why the comparison is still interesting.

Looking back, the machines may seem similar today. But in 1985 they sure didn’t.

Dave Farquhar

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