I bought a new computer! ..... Relatively speaking.

[Trekker4747]

For some reason I got the "itch" to buy a computer that, well, I've wanted for a long time and I finally tracked one down and bought it.

It's a Tandy 1000 EX, the first computer I ever used (circa 1986 or so.)

A whopping 7 mhz processor, 256K RAM, no hard drive, no on board-sound beyond the single internal speaker, 16-color display, 5.25" floppy drive.

I've yet to find a contemporary monitor to use with it but it does have a Composite out on it so I'm able to hook it up to a modern-day TV and get.... "okay" video. (Though I am on the hunt for a contemporary monitor.)

I've got a joystick bought and coming within the next week and I've even bought some software that, amazingly, still works! (Seriously we're talking 30-year-old 5.25" floppies here not exactly made of sturdy stuff.)

It fun to just turn the machine on, here the loud beep from it than the buzzing/grind of the floppy drive testing. You see some BIOS info appear on the screen and then.... "Insert diskette and press any key."

Yep. That's it. Doesn't do a damn thing else. LOL

I'm not likely to do anything with this thing once the novelty wears off, some of the games I bought that will run on it I've either got versions of that run on DOS Box or, well, they're 30-year-old games.

Still. a nice little machine and I'm impressed with how neat and clean it looks. It really looks like it just came new out of the box! The one I have is only missing the volume knob on the underside of it. The volume is still good on it and needn't be adjusted and the adjust could still, theoretically, be accessed by sticking something in the hole where the knob would be. But I think I'll leave it be.

So, fun to have. Now to find a Tandy CM-11 monitor. (Which the ones I've found look to be more expensive than this computer cost. I paid $50 for the computer plus $30 shipping, the monitors I'm finding are running north of $100 before shipping.)

 

[Miss Chicken]

The first computer I owned was a second hand 386. It had a 40mb hard drive and a speed 25 MHz. In ran Windows 3.1. We had a great deal of fun on it playing the first two Monkey Islands, Loom, Wolfenstein, Indiana Jones adventures etc. I was fond of the old girl but I don't think I would want to buy a similar computer now.

 

[StarCruiser]

I had one of those way back in ancient times! Tandy's were actually quite solid systems for their time (if a bit over-priced).

Price is a bit steep but, there is a CM-5 listed on evil-bay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TANDY-RGB-C...25-1043A-MFG-June-1988-in-Korea-/332281503657

 

[scotthm]

It's a Tandy 1000 EX, the first computer I ever used (circa 1986 or so.)

This was my first computer as well. I think I ended up buying an external 20MB hard drive for mine. I miss those days.
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[MacLeod]

The first computer I owned was a second hand 386. It had a 40mb hard drive and a speed 25 MHz. In ran Windows 3.1. We had a great deal of fun on it playing the first two Monkey Islands, Loom, Wolfenstein, Indiana Jones adventures etc. I was fond of the old girl but I don't think I would want to buy a similar computer now.

My first computer had a whopping 128K of RAM and ran a DOS/Basic operating system. It wasn't tuntil my second computer that I got Windows 3.1

 

[Trekker4747]

I had one of those way back in ancient times! Tandy's were actually quite solid systems for their time (if a bit over-priced).

Price is a bit steep but, there is a CM-5 listed on evil-bay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TANDY-RGB-C...25-1043A-MFG-June-1988-in-Korea-/332281503657

Yeah, I saw this. Can't justify to myself spending over $100 plus another almost $50 for shipping for a 30-year-old monitor when I only paid a combined $80 for the machine itself. I did buy some more software and a contemporary joystick. (A piece of software I bought requires it.)

I just hope this software works on this machine, nailing down and being sure of the specs/requirements is difficult for a machine this old. Not so much on meeting hardware requirements but more that the software can boot itself from the disk rather than having to input a "run" command at a command prompt. (Since the machine boots up to not a command prompt but simply a "Insert disk and press any key,"

Some of the games to play them (like the old Sierra Adventure Games) sort of call for a save-game disk.... Which means finding some blank 5.25" floppies to use as save-game disks. (Yeah, I have those games on emulators on my present-day machine, but I hope to play them on a contemporary machine and to do that I need to be able to a)run them b)be able to save my game progress.)

 

[StarCruiser]

It's going to be...interesting...finding 5.25" floppies that are still usable...

 

[Santaman]

Retro computing is hard work.. you need to check the powersuply and all circuit boards for faulty capacitors, make sure no batteries are leaking/have leaked.
Especially the capacitors need checking, anything older than a Pentium II would probably be in need of having them checked out, if faulty then replace them with good quality ones.
Diskdrives need to be cleaned very carefully, some parts like the rails where the head assembly moves on need a little layer of grease.

5.25" disks will still work, however the information on them might have faded, if you find an old floppy that still works then copy its content to elsewhere, format the disk, check the disk for errors, if it checks out fine then copy back its original content, of course keep the backup also, later era 5.25" disks are of lesser quality.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I have some games I bought several years ago in the hope of getting a machine to play them on.

Starflight (1986), Star Command (1987), Earl Weaver Baseball (1987), Sid Meier's Pirates (1988). They're all games I played when they were new and prefer them to a lot of newer ones. I think they're all 5.25" floppys. They're put away somewhere.

 

[Trekker4747]

Well, I hope, I found a copy of MS-DOS that should allow the games to be playable, I.e. act asboot disk and get me a command prompt.

 

[StarCruiser]

Surprisingly, there are NEW CGA monitors still being made. They're flat screens meant to replace old CRTs in industrial applications (including industrial kitchens).

I have no idea how much they are but, I'll bet that their not cheap...

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Surprisingly, there are NEW CGA monitors still being made. They're flat screens meant to replace old CRTs in industrial applications (including industrial kitchens).

I have no idea how much they are but, I'll bet that their not cheap...

It looks like they're several hundred dollars on eBay.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-9Pin-Col...6402?hash=item2ea4e43b32&pt=Computer_Monitors
A CGA/EGA scan convertor would seem to be a lot cheaper alternative.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Arcade-Game-...hash=item25c4c92380:m:mszTVMEHjmnZoebaMOzUmXA

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthre...ts-for-CGA&s=18f55c027de6adfd740b831f7807bc37

 

[Timewalker]

I still have part of my old Amiga 500 computer (for some reason, the people "helping" me move from my house to my first apartment stole the monitor).

I really miss the games and music program. Zany Golf, Ishido, Ports of Call, the Infocom games (I never did make it off Earth in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy before the Vogons came)... and being able to compose music.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I still have part of my old Amiga 500 computer (for some reason, the people "helping" me move from my house to my first apartment stole the monitor).

I really miss the games and music program. Zany Golf, Ishido, Ports of Call, the Infocom games (I never did make it off Earth in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy before the Vogons came)... and being able to compose music.

The text based HHGTTG game?

 

[Timewalker]

The text based HHGTTG game?

Yep. I got as far as the pub once. Then I did something wrong - in the wrong order, or failed to do something, and BOOM! the Vogons destroyed Earth.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Yep. I got as far as the pub once. Then I did something wrong - in the wrong order, or failed to do something, and BOOM! the Vogons destroyed Earth.

I had that for the PC as well as Zork I and Zork II. Hard to remember how far I got. Maybe the Vogon ship once or twice. I remember doing something with my towel.
I'm pretty sure I had a copy of a copy of a copy and don't know if the original came with any instructions.

 

[Timewalker]

I had no idea it was ever available for the PC. There were other games I tried, such as Infidel (you are an archaeologist exploring a pyramid), Planetfall (I never survived that one, either), Deadline (a reporter investigating a murder mystery; I did finally get through that one), and of course I tried the Zork ones.

 

[StarCruiser]

You must have forgotten to take your towel with you to the pub... That's definitely a mistake, and the last one you'll ever make in HHGTTG!

 

[Timewalker]

You must have forgotten to take your towel with you to the pub... That's definitely a mistake, and the last one you'll ever make in HHGTTG!

No, I did take my towel. What happened is that I didn't drink enough beer or order enough nuts. They have to be done individually and in the right order, as I recall, and I didn't do it correctly.

Next thing, I knew, I was dead. Along with Earth.

 

[Push The Button]

I still have my first computer, a Commodore VIC-20. I later moved up to its successor, the Commodore 64. So much fun and so many memories, playing games, writing BASIC programs, calling dialup BBSs.

Recently, I've made a small hobby out of restoring Apple II machines. I was never able to own any Apple products when I was younger (early 1980s) because everything was too expensive.

Generally speaking, I hate computers now. Growing up and having to use them for work has sucked all the fun out of then.