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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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Computers in 1985: It was a very good year

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 22, 2017May 19, 20201980s, 6502, amiga, AOL, apple, apple ii, atari, atari st, Bill Gates, commodore, commodore 128, commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, compaq, Digital Research, IBM, intel, jack tramiel, macintosh, New Wave, nintendo, quantumlink, radio shack, Steve Jobs, Tandy, tandy 1000, unix, video game

In some ways, 1985 was a really pivotal year for computing. The industry was changing fast, but in 1985, many relics from the past were still present even as we had an eye for the future. Here’s a look back at computers in 1985 and what made that year so interesting.

I think 1985 was interesting in and of itself, but it also made the succeeding years a lot more interesting. A surprising amount of the technology that first appeared in 1985 still has an impact today.

Dave Farquhar

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What happened to Digital Equipment Corporation?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 20, 2017October 3, 20181980s, 1990s, altavista, amiga, apple, commodore, compaq, computer security, d-link, DEC, Digital Equipment Corporation, Digital Research, firewall, hp, IBM, intel, lexmark, linksys, macintosh, netgear, PIP, spam, syntax, unix, windows nt, x86

Digital Equipment Corporation was perhaps the second most important computer company in history, behind IBM. Its minicomputers challenged IBM, and, indeed, Unix first ran on a DEC PDP-7. DEC’s Alpha CPU was one of the few chips to make Intel nervous for its x86 line. It created the first really good Internet search engine. In a just and perfect world, DEC would still be dominating. Instead, it faded away in the 1990s. What happened to Digital Equipment Corporation, or DEC?

There’s a short answer and a long answer.

Dave Farquhar

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What is a game cartridge?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 13, 2017April 8, 20241980s, 1990s, atari, atari 2600, cloak and dagger, colecovision, NES, nintendo, pennies on the dollar, radio shack, Top Secret, VCR, video game

What is a game cartridge? If you’re asking, you must not have grown up in the 1980s. But that’s OK. We’re happy to share our generation’s fun with you.

A game cartridge is a plastic case containing a circuit board, a connector, and a ROM chip. CDs and DVDs ultimately displaced them because they offered higher capacity at a lower cost. But in the 1970s and 1980s, the only lasers our game consoles had were the ones they drew on the screens in games about aliens. We liked our cartridges, even if we called them tapes sometimes.

Dave Farquhar

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Commodore 64 models

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 12, 2017October 19, 20181541, 1980s, Aldi, amiga, apple, apple ii, atari, Australia, CES, commodore, commodore 64, compaq, IBM, infoworld, intel, Japan, MOS, nintendo, Personal Computer, public domain

Over the course of its 12 years on the market, Commodore released a number of Commodore 64 models. The computer’s capability changed very little over time, but the technology did. The world changed a lot between 1982 and 1994, and that gave Commodore some opportunities to lower costs, chase other market segments, or both.

Here’s an overview of the various Commodore 64 models that hit the market over the machine’s long life.

Dave Farquhar

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IBM PS/2 vs PC

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 9, 2017July 26, 20221980s, 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

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The Atari 2600 CPU: The MOS 6507

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing May 29, 2017October 1, 20181980s, 6502, amiga, apple, apple ii, atari, atari 2600, Chuck Peddle, commodore, commodore 64, intel, jack tramiel, macintosh, MOS, motorola, NES, nintendo, nintendo nes, radio shack

The Atari 2600 CPU was a nondescript MOS 6507 chip. Neither Intel nor Motorola had a CPU chip in the early 1970s that could meet Atari’s price point. MOS Technology didn’t have one either, but they asked Atari what they could afford. Then they made one.

The 6507 is so nondescript, some of them don’t even have the number “6507” anywhere on them.

Dave Farquhar

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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 PS/2 series

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing May 17, 2017September 30, 20231980s, 1990s, amiga, atari, atari st, compaq, dell, hp, IBM, infoworld, intel, macintosh, Personal Computer, Tandy, VGA, XT

The IBM PS/2 line, released April 2, 1987, was IBM’s attempt to reinvigorate its aging personal computer line and fight off cloning. Although the line sold fairly well, it failed to hold off cloning and IBM never regained the market dominance it enjoyed in the first half of the decade.

The IBM PS/2 did offer numerous enhancements over the PC line it replaced, but IBM’s customers came to resent the high price and the perception that IBM was trying to lock out third party peripherals. IBM’s decline was slow, but the PS/2 was the beginning of the end for IBM’s personal computer business.

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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