Vintage Apparatus
@vintageapparatus
We are all about old technology, gadgets, toys, systems, mainframes, and fun. Check out our youtube! Other exciting destinations
Noice! Recent donation to the makerspace. Complete with 16k RAM pack!
I'm all for keeping things up to date, but Discords release cadence is pretty nutty, particularly since you're given no choice to NOT upgrade. "FINE, I'll download, dpkg install, and try again..."
Some cool stuff from this weekend's VCF East. The Retro Tech Foundation (h😞t tps://www.retrotechfoundation.org/ ) had a booth recreating a picture of Steve Jobs at one of the assembly spaces for the Apple 1. Everything was reproduced down to the finest details. You could sit for a picture!
First full day at VCF East 2026 went great. Met tons of awesome people and got to have good conversations about my UnixPC, Pro 380, and Kaypros. We had a really rough start to the show with several machines going offline, but that's the fun of old computers.
Well this is dispappointing. This is a DECmate III. I was hoping to bring it to VCF East this weekend, but the cover / handle failed miserably, and the whole casing shattered. I have other machines, but I had hoped to display this guy. Sigh.
It's going to be one of those weeks. Do I open 'er up or no. (update: after a half hour of warming up, it's now just jittery. I have 3 of these monitors, 2 have serious cataracts and need cleaning. I may bring the others so I can have SOME image running)
Woohoo. All back together and booting cleanly! This machine will be ready to go to VCF East 2026. I have one more to set up and test, but this guy is back to healthy. Hurrah!
ITS ALLIIIVVVE! So turns out the internal powersupply on the 3b1 has a Problem [tm] and can't power the MFM emulator properly. I can debug this further later, but I piggybacked a PC power supply to power the MFM board, and was able to bring the whole machine up. ONWARD!
Tonight's project. Dusting off the UnixPC aka 3b1 aka 7300 to hopefully bring it to VCF. Unfortunately, it's not booting. Looks like hte image on the MFM emulator board (which is driven by a Beaglebone black) may be horked. I've pulled it all out and I'm going to try and debug it.
“Computing in the year 2029” as depicted in Unix World Magazine, in 1985. I too wish to shoot rainbows out of my... honestly don't know how to complete that sentence here.
If this screen looks familiar, I bet I know where a chunk of your GPA in college went.
People wonder why things like Craigslist are dying and Facebook Marketplace is taking over the world. This motorcycle spammer has been active on CL for literally decades, and CL does nothing to stop it. The site is ancient. This is what happens when indifference sets in.
Checking in on my next video. Ya'll loved the War Games vid, right? Well, next one just hit the first big milestone as all audio and video is loaded into the timeline and synced. It's 2hrs 45 minutes long in raw form, I expect it'll be half that when done. Stay tuned!!!
Saw this on /r/trs80 - what a perfect beautiful TRS80 Model 1 setup. Kinda the dream configuration from 1979... www.reddit.com/r/trs80/comm...
In one of my recent videos, I noted I had a Visual Commuter 'laptop' (really a portable) computer that I'd never seen before. I just found an ad for one on FBMP, nearby - I'm half tempted to get it just so I have one machine and one for spare parts. Seeing two of these rare birds is fascinating!
So, not so vintage, but fun anyway. I have a linux laptop many folks have seen in my videos - a 6th gen X1 Carbon I really like - but it has a bad CMOS battery in it. Finally sitting down to replace it tonight.
Just picked up this fully functional Data General / One via a Facebook Marketplace. It's in amazing condition for 41 years old, with OEM case, printer, powersupplies, and cables. The DG/One was the first battery powered fully PC compatible computer on the market.
Man I am not looking forward to this project. Gives me the heebie jeebies. This are referred to as 'crt cataracts'. When the glue on the face of the CRT breaks down and gets gooey. It's fixable, but involves a heat gun, a wire, and a lot of patience. All on a 50 year old CRT. Aieeee.
Retrocomputing merry christmas! Happy holidays to all you vintage computing nerds.
Very important to keep your reference documentation on hand and up to date. As relevant today as it was when it was printed.
After a long hard day at work it’s always good to go out and spend some time at the local bar with your close friends, the Williamses. Joust. Robotron. Sinistar… all the greats. Chillin at Freeplay, Worcester, MA.
Someone on Reddit was asking about AT&T computers, and I mentioned I have my lovely 3b1 right next to me. So here's a picture of it! At some point I'll do a full video on it - it's been modded to use a solid state drive, but other than that, runs just like it did in 1985. Just faster.
This is cool! The USMint will be releasing a dollar coin in 2026 that has the Cray-1 Supercomputer on it! The Cray-1! "Wisconsin’s coin honors the Cray-1 Supercomputer, one of the world’s fastest and most successful computers of the late 1970s and early '80s." www.yahoo.com/news/article...
Oh yeah. If you're going to work with old home computers, ya gotta have a nice old tv to work with. Thanks to a friend up at the makerspace, this is now mine. Now I just need an RF modulator ("A what?") #tv #vintagecomputing #videogames #crt
Can someone explain to me why the Bluesky app on iPad looks like this when in landscape mode? I feel like I’m running an iPhone emulator. Nothing like using up literally 1/3 of the screen. Can’t even be bothered with multiple columns?
Hey ya'll! Just stopped by ComputerLand and picked up this SWEET new game, gonna definitely pick up a 2liter of Jolt Cola and a big bag of Doritos and just go ALL IN on this... seeya'll on Monday!
Did you ever use one of these in real life? I never was cool enough to have these when they were first out, but I did have a permanently installed car phone in my Bronco. These portable ones were hella expensive. #cellphone #retro #80s