keenmaster486 wrote on 2025-02-28, 23:57:

Some of you have a legitimate problem. We could start and fund a museum with 20% of the stuff you have.

I am willing to cooperate,if some other persons would like to do so,for example to co-buy an old industrial building(in some countries it can fit into a brownfield revitalization program & get some state's support) or an abandoned railroad building or so & put together an IT Museum.
I will probably try & fail to do so for myself till my death,because I lack sufficient resources,but if several of us would cooperate,the project like this could be feasible.
Thus I dare all of U to really think about this,as it is very useful & will serve the best for maintaining the Legacy IT values(not just PC,for example I can also add some TVs,radios,cellphones with the oldest being Motorola d160...fixed-line phones...etc...etc...) .

Oooh! Check in my old junk time...
486 VLB (Varta neutralized, looks ok, got to sort an alternative)
P133 in smaller case - maybe a little weak for Win98 but I like the size
P233MMX
Athlon 1000B on 7iXE4
Athlon XP on 7ZXE - Could end up as a high end 98 if I need more
Dell Dimension 8200 upgraded to 2.8GHz
In progress ECS P4M800Pro-M 1.0A recap to host my best AGP card - this will be XP
Athlon A64 (skip rescue) - loaded XP on it, but a MEH GPU in it at the moment
Plus a few others in various states

OVERK|LL wrote on 2025-03-01, 16:38:

The PS/1 definitely has some history with me. I bought it from my now brother-in-law when we were in high school, I can't rememb […]
Show full quote

Sabina_16bit. wrote on 2025-03-01, 16:16:

"4. IBM PS/1 (current 486 gaming rig) 5. Pentium 75": I dream obout these & I still miss them... My friend in Bratislava found […]
Show full quote

"4. IBM PS/1 (current 486 gaming rig)
5. Pentium 75":
I dream obout these & I still miss them...
My friend in Bratislava found a PS/1,but with missing PSU & he was still unable to replace it,I have reserved it,but I do not know,will it be possible to restore it,as it has some atypical PSU...

The PS/1 definitely has some history with me. I bought it from my now brother-in-law when we were in high school, I can't remember what they had upgraded to, think it was a Pentium 150 or something, so I bought the PS/1 as a complete system, think I had to make payments to him, 🤣. Unfortunately, I have no idea what happened to the original monitor, keyboard or mouse. I left the system at my parent's place after uni, and I guess it made some passes through the family before it ended up back to me and those components didn't make the trip.

Of course being a teen in high school, I had limited funds, but that computer was used for EVERYTHING. It would run Rise of the Triad and Wolfenstein no problem, so I would game on it. It was my introduction to Ontrack, because he had fitted a 1.6GB hard drive to it. I installed every OS I could get my hands on on it at some point: FreeBSD, NetBSD, BeOS, Windows 3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98 (I was on the beta team), Slackware Linux, Redhat Linux, Gentoo Linux, Windows NT4, Windows NT5 when 2K was in alpha still, hahahah.

It had a Reveal 28.8kbps modem in it, which was pretty good for rural dial-up. Installing FreeBSD from a boot floppy over dial-up took days, so I was always tying up the home phone line 😁

So now I've maxed out the video RAM, upgraded it to a DX4-100 with an ODP and am swapping over to using CF cards so I can shuffle OS's on it. Still waiting on a DIP28 to show up so I can ditch Ontrack and go with XT-IDE. It's so much fun to mess around with it again because now I can do all the stuff I would have loved to have done to it back in the mid to late 90's.

So U also collect OSs like me...Nice.
Windows 98: well done!I have several installs & it will sure go to other comps too & I want @ least 1 install of 98FE.
Do U have install of non-final Windows NT 5.0 still showing NT 5.0 @ startup?
& the most relevant question:
My friend wrote me,that he cannot figure out,how to power up the PS/1,he found & reserved for me,because the PSU was in the monitor,which is missing & that it involved non-standard voltages,that he cannot get from a standard AT/ATX PSU.
How Uget it powered then?
Do U have schematics?
Please,write me an email or PM,if U can provide guidance for fixing another PS/1.
& I also do a kind of fulfilling my 90's dreams about super-PC not affordable that time...& I also have a 486DX4 @ 100MHz machine under construction,but a big tower.

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-03-01, 16:52:

I got 30+ complete, bootable PCs from 486-P4, 10-12 from 775-i7 era (incl. current), and 10+ laptops from pentium to P3. I don't see the kinds of computers I've hoarded anymore, so I hang onto everything.

As soon as you "get rid" of something, you'll find out it suddenly became "rare" and "sought after" and you will wince at the prices being asked to buy another... especially sad if your old unit was mint'n while the "overpriced" one is a sh%*box.

I've heard the best thing to do if you think you have too much, is to just stop buying more. This has not worked for me, but maybe someone? 🤣 🤣

U r absolutely right!!!
That is I only think of exchanging what I have too much of the same kind for something else,I very miss & want,& also I am only willing to give up newest HW for exchange for older & for whole PCs even in this new P4+ category I offer for exchange only those,I have more pcs of the same model...
For the P3 nor older I will not give up nothing.& sure I will never get rid of anything non-RoHS,because the pre-RoHS comps r immortal...

Sabina_16bit. wrote on 2025-03-01, 18:17:

So U also collect OSs like me...Nice. Windows 98: well done!I have several installs & it will sure go to other comps too & I wan […]
Show full quote

OVERK|LL wrote on 2025-03-01, 16:38:

The PS/1 definitely has some history with me. I bought it from my now brother-in-law when we were in high school, I can't rememb […]
Show full quote

Sabina_16bit. wrote on 2025-03-01, 16:16:

"4. IBM PS/1 (current 486 gaming rig) 5. Pentium 75": I dream obout these & I still miss them... My friend in Bratislava found […]
Show full quote

"4. IBM PS/1 (current 486 gaming rig)
5. Pentium 75":
I dream obout these & I still miss them...
My friend in Bratislava found a PS/1,but with missing PSU & he was still unable to replace it,I have reserved it,but I do not know,will it be possible to restore it,as it has some atypical PSU...

The PS/1 definitely has some history with me. I bought it from my now brother-in-law when we were in high school, I can't remember what they had upgraded to, think it was a Pentium 150 or something, so I bought the PS/1 as a complete system, think I had to make payments to him, 🤣. Unfortunately, I have no idea what happened to the original monitor, keyboard or mouse. I left the system at my parent's place after uni, and I guess it made some passes through the family before it ended up back to me and those components didn't make the trip.

Of course being a teen in high school, I had limited funds, but that computer was used for EVERYTHING. It would run Rise of the Triad and Wolfenstein no problem, so I would game on it. It was my introduction to Ontrack, because he had fitted a 1.6GB hard drive to it. I installed every OS I could get my hands on on it at some point: FreeBSD, NetBSD, BeOS, Windows 3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98 (I was on the beta team), Slackware Linux, Redhat Linux, Gentoo Linux, Windows NT4, Windows NT5 when 2K was in alpha still, hahahah.

It had a Reveal 28.8kbps modem in it, which was pretty good for rural dial-up. Installing FreeBSD from a boot floppy over dial-up took days, so I was always tying up the home phone line 😁

So now I've maxed out the video RAM, upgraded it to a DX4-100 with an ODP and am swapping over to using CF cards so I can shuffle OS's on it. Still waiting on a DIP28 to show up so I can ditch Ontrack and go with XT-IDE. It's so much fun to mess around with it again because now I can do all the stuff I would have loved to have done to it back in the mid to late 90's.

So U also collect OSs like me...Nice.
Windows 98: well done!I have several installs & it will sure go to other comps too & I want @ least 1 install of 98FE.
Do U have install of non-final Windows NT 5.0 still showing NT 5.0 @ startup?
& the most relevant question:
My friend wrote me,that he cannot figure out,how to power up the PS/1,he found & reserved for me,because the PSU was in the monitor,which is missing & that it involved non-standard voltages,that he cannot get from a standard AT/ATX PSU.
How Uget it powered then?
Do U have schematics?
Please,write me an email or PM,if U can provide guidance for fixing another PS/1.
& I also do a kind of fulfilling my 90's dreams about super-PC not affordable that time...& I also have a 486DX4 @ 100MHz machine under construction,but a big tower.

My PS/1 is the standard desktop form factor 2133, so it has a conventional AT (or AT-style, haven't really checked the pin-out) power supply:

And I do believe I have an old build of NT5 kicking around here somewhere, whether the media it is on is any good or not? Well, that's the question. But I did think about trying to get that loaded on something, if I could find it and the disk was still usable recently 😁

The thing. I have over 40 486 to Pentium 3 ISA bssed computerd.
I started collecting/hoarding XP and 7 because they will became retro soon. And that they could do everything.

OVERK|LL wrote on 2025-03-01, 19:42:

My PS/1 is the standard desktop form factor 2133, so it has a conventional AT (or AT-style, haven't really checked the pin-out) […]
Show full quote

Sabina_16bit. wrote on 2025-03-01, 18:17:

So U also collect OSs like me...Nice. Windows 98: well done!I have several installs & it will sure go to other comps too & I wan […]
Show full quote

OVERK|LL wrote on 2025-03-01, 16:38:

The PS/1 definitely has some history with me. I bought it from my now brother-in-law when we were in high school, I can't rememb […]
Show full quote

The PS/1 definitely has some history with me. I bought it from my now brother-in-law when we were in high school, I can't remember what they had upgraded to, think it was a Pentium 150 or something, so I bought the PS/1 as a complete system, think I had to make payments to him, 🤣. Unfortunately, I have no idea what happened to the original monitor, keyboard or mouse. I left the system at my parent's place after uni, and I guess it made some passes through the family before it ended up back to me and those components didn't make the trip.

Of course being a teen in high school, I had limited funds, but that computer was used for EVERYTHING. It would run Rise of the Triad and Wolfenstein no problem, so I would game on it. It was my introduction to Ontrack, because he had fitted a 1.6GB hard drive to it. I installed every OS I could get my hands on on it at some point: FreeBSD, NetBSD, BeOS, Windows 3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98 (I was on the beta team), Slackware Linux, Redhat Linux, Gentoo Linux, Windows NT4, Windows NT5 when 2K was in alpha still, hahahah.

It had a Reveal 28.8kbps modem in it, which was pretty good for rural dial-up. Installing FreeBSD from a boot floppy over dial-up took days, so I was always tying up the home phone line 😁

So now I've maxed out the video RAM, upgraded it to a DX4-100 with an ODP and am swapping over to using CF cards so I can shuffle OS's on it. Still waiting on a DIP28 to show up so I can ditch Ontrack and go with XT-IDE. It's so much fun to mess around with it again because now I can do all the stuff I would have loved to have done to it back in the mid to late 90's.

So U also collect OSs like me...Nice.
Windows 98: well done!I have several installs & it will sure go to other comps too & I want @ least 1 install of 98FE.
Do U have install of non-final Windows NT 5.0 still showing NT 5.0 @ startup?
& the most relevant question:
My friend wrote me,that he cannot figure out,how to power up the PS/1,he found & reserved for me,because the PSU was in the monitor,which is missing & that it involved non-standard voltages,that he cannot get from a standard AT/ATX PSU.
How Uget it powered then?
Do U have schematics?
Please,write me an email or PM,if U can provide guidance for fixing another PS/1.
& I also do a kind of fulfilling my 90's dreams about super-PC not affordable that time...& I also have a 486DX4 @ 100MHz machine under construction,but a big tower.

My PS/1 is the standard desktop form factor 2133, so it has a conventional AT (or AT-style, haven't really checked the pin-out) power supply:

The attachment D99E899A-104B-4FAB-AED4-C84FEEA584D7_1_105_c.jpeg is no longer available

And I do believe I have an old build of NT5 kicking around here somewhere, whether the media it is on is any good or not? Well, that's the question. But I did think about trying to get that loaded on something, if I could find it and the disk was still usable recently 😁

Very interesting, both,the PS/1 & NT 5.0...When U will find it,notify me please(via e-mail,because my profile is in the death-cell here).

Cyberdyne wrote on 2025-03-01, 19:59:

The thing. I have over 40 486 to Pentium 3 ISA bssed computerd.
I started collecting/hoarding XP and 7 because they will became retro soon. And that they could do everything.

Precisely.

Sabina_16bit. wrote on 2025-03-02, 01:34:

Cyberdyne wrote on 2025-03-01, 19:59:

The thing. I have over 40 486 to Pentium 3 ISA bssed computerd.
I started collecting/hoarding XP and 7 because they will became retro soon. And that they could do everything.

Precisely.

40 ? That is hoarding 🤣 and XP is retro being a 20 year old OS. Win 7 soon will be IMHO, only a few more years, though it is still an excellent OS even today, maybe the best MS ever created....or a tie with XP

Hmmm... I think we need to define the word "hobby" here more precisely. 😀
A good deal of my "retro"/ hobby PCs are actually desktops I still use for non-hobby work... thus, more so hot spares than anything else.
With that said, if I count only stuff that can't be used for anything practical online or that I do as non-hobby, then that will reduce the count to about half... maybe??

IME, anything that doesn't have at least Windows XP *and* at least 1 GB of RAM can be considered in that "hobby" category. Above that, it's a maybe, depending on the system.... though most newer ones (like the one I am typing this post from right now - Athlon 64 x2 6000+, 3GB RAM, Win7) is equally hobby and a "n-th" order main PC.

kixs wrote on 2025-02-28, 05:54:

Since I'm a hoarder I don't know the exact number...

That situation sounds very familiar on my side here.

Then again, I have so many, because my drive usually comes from trying to save old computers from going to the scrapper - at least the ones that might be valuable or interesting to me in some way... and if they are an affordable price. I don't go out of my way to buy rare parts online that other people might need. Instead, I actually prefer to get the stuff that's broken and no one is likely to buy... and that's really the main fun for me in this hobby - getting old broken computers and fixing them up again.

keenmaster486 wrote on 2025-02-28, 23:57:

Some of you have a legitimate problem.

It's not a problem, DAMMIT! I just have "a few" systems in the closet, tha's all. 🤣 🤣

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-03-01, 16:52:

I've heard the best thing to do if you think you have too much, is to just stop buying more. This has not worked for me, but maybe someone? 🤣 🤣

No, it's more like:
- If you think you have too much... you just need to re-organize your place/home to make space for more. 🤣 🤣

Oh, and also every hoarder: I think I have space for juuust one more.
HAHA

creepingnet wrote on 2025-02-28, 23:19:

These days I have things so well dialed in I hardly have anything to write about anymore, 🤣. I've spent more time using my vintage pcs than tweaking on them for the past year or two.

That's the dream we all hope to accomplish with our projects someday.
For some, though (I'm just going to shift my eyes and refrain from saying "me"), that day may never come. 🤣

Besides my main rig, servers and a couple laptops, I'm only at 3. Quality over quantity.

For my DOS/Win98/XP box it's an ASUS P2B-B with Celeron Tualatin 1.4Ghz on a Slotket. I have two other P2B-B motherboards, fully replaced caps, waiting in the wings should it ever die. I have various weird thin clients that I like tinkering on because I love repurposing something that wasn't supposed to run DOS or Win9x, to run those things.

My most accounts, my sole DOS gaming machine will end up being the ITX-LLAMA whenever I get it. It sounds...perfect. Truly old 386/486 computers are big and loud. I spent a couple decades enjoying them but I've lost interest in keeping them alive.

Thanx so much to everyone, whos main priority is saving Legacy PCs from scrapping, as I have it the same as a primary motivation & all,who has same priority,is a most noble collector,who is helpful to preserve historical values.
The side effect of this priority is,that our collections does not exactly matches our dreams,but that may be compensated by some exchanges with other collectors.
& also love fixing decommissioned machine remains & get them back to life.
Every1,who does the same,does the most honorable thing...just after saving Animals from slaughtering...
Also using a ThinClient assimilated to DOS in the living room for my visitors to play games on TV...a DOS gaming console...

I've got 12 PC's in my "retro rack" hooked up and ready to go at any time.
Then I have a few more future project PC's or PC's I get out for special purposes.
This is all S478 and below.
I've another 10? more modern PC's waiting to part out or sell on, when I get around to it.
And another 10? laptops ranging from P3 and up.

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-03-01, 16:52:

I've heard the best thing to do if you think you have too much, is to just stop buying more. This has not worked for me, but maybe someone? 🤣 🤣

Worked form me!
But I've just found 6 P3's as well as a few old screens including CRT's, dot matrix printer in an abandoned warehouse, (more details to come)
what am I going to do just leave them to rust away

Sabina_16bit. wrote on 2025-03-02, 19:05:

Thanx so much to everyone, whos main priority is saving Legacy PCs from scrapping, as I have it the same as a primary motivation […]
Show full quote

Thanx so much to everyone, whos main priority is saving Legacy PCs from scrapping, as I have it the same as a primary motivation & all,who has same priority,is a most noble collector,who is helpful to preserve historical values.
The side effect of this priority is,that our collections does not exactly matches our dreams,but that may be compensated by some exchanges with other collectors.
& also love fixing decommissioned machine remains & get them back to life.
Every1,who does the same,does the most honorable thing...just after saving Animals from slaughtering...
Also using a ThinClient assimilated to DOS in the living room for my visitors to play games on TV...a DOS gaming console...

Photos of this would be nice ...

chinny22 wrote on 2025-03-03, 02:04:

But I've just found 6 P3's as well as a few old screens including CRT's, dot matrix printer in an abandoned warehouse, (more details to come)
what am I going to do just leave them to rust away

intriguing! P3's too, sounds like this could be a great find

Sabina_16bit. wrote on 2025-03-01, 17:45:

I am willing to cooperate,if some other persons would like to do so,for example to co-buy an old industrial building(in some cou […]
Show full quote

keenmaster486 wrote on 2025-02-28, 23:57:

Some of you have a legitimate problem. We could start and fund a museum with 20% of the stuff you have.

I am willing to cooperate,if some other persons would like to do so,for example to co-buy an old industrial building(in some countries it can fit into a brownfield revitalization program & get some state's support) or an abandoned railroad building or so & put together an IT Museum.
I will probably try & fail to do so for myself till my death,because I lack sufficient resources,but if several of us would cooperate,the project like this could be feasible.
Thus I dare all of U to really think about this,as it is very useful & will serve the best for maintaining the Legacy IT values(not just PC,for example I can also add some TVs,radios,cellphones with the oldest being Motorola d160...fixed-line phones...etc...etc...) .

I think the problem there isn't finding cool stuff to put in such a museum or fund raising enough to set it up initially, but finding a way to pay the ongoing costs and fees with renting or owning a building and overhead for things like an employee to be there regularly to let people in, insurance, utilities, etc. over 12+ months (or much more) it would be quite an expense.

I have 5 desktop PC's ready to be used
386 33Mhz dos, 486 33Mhz dos, K6-III+ 450Mhz W98, P3 1000Mhz W98 and Athlon64 FX-60 2.6Ghz Winxp/w98 dual boot.
I have also 3 laptops from P3 period but I dont use them much.

3 currently working, 2 in progress, and a bunch of parts for XP era machines but I'm having a hard time finding computer cases for cheap to get them into.

As far as working/nearly working goes:

HP Vectra VE 5/133 Series 3 upgraded with a Diamond Stealth 3d 2000 Pro, 200mhz non mmx cpu, and a 512kb pipeline burst module. Ram soon as well.
Some Gateway windows 98 era business machine I can't remember the model of, has a 600mhz or 800mhz slot 1 CPU and a Rage 128 Pro.
Emerson 286 with matching monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Upgraded to 4MB of ram, 512kb of video memory, and an external Zip 100 drive.

Current projects are a "mega 4000" IBM clone with a Nec V20 in it, currently trying to afford an 8 bit compatible VGA card since the monitor it came with is currently caput. Also have a Kaypro 10 that is failing to post.

Alesia wrote on 2025-03-10, 21:23:

...but I'm having a hard time finding computer cases for cheap to get them into.

Yes that's a real issue now. I have managed to get some new ATX beige cases but they are not period correct in aesthetics. They have colourful, metallic, or acrylc accents on. But I quite like them anyhow.

For more period accurate cases (often in poor condition) I have bought machines that have working PCs in. Can always swap the parts if you don't want what's in it.

On my setup :

1. Pentium 133
2. 486DX2 66
3. 386SX 33
4. Amiga 1200
5. MSX2+

On Workbench
1. XT

Upcoming/Planned
1. iMac G3
2. X68000