VOGONS


Retro Rig Photo Thread

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Reply 80 of 2685, by Amigaz

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Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

WOW! That's amazing. So many cute PCs, I really like that Commodore 386-33. Very, very nice...

hehe, took me for ages to create my post 😀 so I'm glad it's appreciated

I really like that C= 386 too, I wish I had one of those 486 pc's they made which almost had a chassi very similar to what the Amiga 4000 had.
Commodore also made a 486 full tower "beast" which looked alot like the very rare Amiga 3000T.

Will do a part 2 later, have 10-15 more machines to cover 😜

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 82 of 2685, by Amigaz

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Markk wrote:

That's a great collection Amigaz. Judging by the number of the pcs you you have, I really can't imagine how many Amigas you may have... 😀

Thanks 😀 I use to have over 20 Amiga computers....now I'm down to only 9 😉

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 83 of 2685, by luckybob

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I just LOVE that full-tower 486 case you have!!! I'm looking for something like that for my 486/p-pro system that I want to finish!

Also, the first system you had, the ast, has a dual joystick card, where can I get one of those? I have a copy of Mortal Combat II on my shelf and with games like that, playing against a human is 1000X more fun than the cpu. unless my google-fu is slipping, searching for the obvious never got me any results. 🙁

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

Reply 84 of 2685, by retro games 100

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Congratulations Amigaz, you must be the #1 retro hardware champion here. It's almost mind boggling. If I win a lottery, I would PM you immediately and make an offer on the whole lot! 😀

Reply 85 of 2685, by rfnagel

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(re: big ol' towers)

Hehe, this pic -> http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/weeds_computer_room_2_3.jpg .

Top-right pic (as well as the bottom-left pic) in the collage: that's actually two of the exact same case, one on top of the other). Old Pionex DX2-50 cases; at the time of the pic, both housing AMD500s (overclocked to a blazing 550mhz 🤣!).

Bottom-right pic in the collage: kinda hard to see, but that "helicopter landing pad" sitting over in the left-rear corner of the room, IIRC a 486-33... hehe, close to 4-feet tall <grin> 😀

(re: old stuff) More here -> http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/weeds_computer_room_1.jpg . Of notable interest, the keyboard and mouse in the lower-right pic of the collage... STILL using those two even TODAY. Currently typing on that exact keyboard, and using the exact same mouse... Logitech MouseMan serial/PS2, circa 1996; best damned mouse EVER sold 😀

Not shown/pictured... my old Duke Nukem 3D mouse pad that I got with the Atomic Edition CD, and am still using right now 😀 - (Handy tip: dishwashing liquid 🤣!)

Rich ¥Weeds¥ Nagel
http://www.richnagel.net

Reply 86 of 2685, by Amigaz

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luckybob wrote:

I just LOVE that full-tower 486 case you have!!! I'm looking for something like that for my 486/p-pro system that I want to finish!

Also, the first system you had, the ast, has a dual joystick card, where can I get one of those? I have a copy of Mortal Combat II on my shelf and with games like that, playing against a human is 1000X more fun than the cpu. unless my google-fu is slipping, searching for the obvious never got me any results. 🙁

Had to "import" that case from Germany thru Ebay some time ago since Highscreen gear was never sold in Sweden, most of Highscreen's stuff is top notch imho.

The joystick card in the AST box is made by Quickjoy if I'm not mistaken, you can still find dual port ISA joystick cards in Ebay..that's where I got mine some years ago.

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 87 of 2685, by Amigaz

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retro games 100 wrote:

Congratulations Amigaz, you must be the #1 retro hardware champion here. It's almost mind boggling. If I win a lottery, I would PM you immediately and make an offer on the whole lot! 😀

hehe, I accept payments by Paypal or bank transfer 🤑

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 89 of 2685, by Amigaz

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Had to edit my post, "forgot" I had a Lapc-I in the Compaq Deskpro 386 😜

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 90 of 2685, by rfnagel

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Amigaz wrote:

Gotta love these old, full tower cases 😎

...with a PASSION! 😀 Man, I sure wish they still made 'em like that!!! Not to mention, they were built like tanks. Those Pionex cases, you could almost drive a truck over and not damage a thing 😀

These new fangled things they have now are about as sturdy as a soda/beer can / tinfoil.

I forget about the "helicopter landing pad" <grin>, but the Pionex cases had 7 5-14" external bays, and 8 5-14" internal bays... plenty of room for all of yer stuff 😀

Rich ¥Weeds¥ Nagel
http://www.richnagel.net

Reply 91 of 2685, by luckybob

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rfnagel wrote:
...with a PASSION! :) Man, I sure wish they still made 'em like that!!! Not to mention, they were built like tanks. Those Pionex […]
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Amigaz wrote:

Gotta love these old, full tower cases 😎

...with a PASSION! 😀 Man, I sure wish they still made 'em like that!!! Not to mention, they were built like tanks. Those Pionex cases, you could almost drive a truck over and not damage a thing 😀

These new fangled things they have now are about as sturdy as a soda/beer can / tinfoil.

I forget about the "helicopter landing pad" <grin>, but the Pionex cases had 7 5-14" external bays, and 8 5-14" internal bays... plenty of room for all of yer stuff 😀

they still do make the big, tower cases. I will ONLY buy cases from a company named Lian-Li. Their cases are expensive as hell, but sweet jesus are they built to last. I paid $400 for their top of th eline case, almost 6 years ago. I still use it, its still perfect in every way to this day. It has seen the first generation pentium 4 all the way to today where I have a dual opteron setup inside it. If you want quality, buy lian-li.

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

Reply 92 of 2685, by Paddan1000

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Amigaz: Ok here's part 1 of my collection...mostly desktops […]
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Amigaz: Ok here's part 1 of my collection...mostly desktops

Ast Bravo MS P/100:

Upgraded the Pentium 1 CPU from 100mhz --> 166mhz
RAM = 128mb FPM
Onboard Ati Mach64 gfx
Voodoo 1 gfx
Onboard CL Sb Pro compatible sound
Gus Max rev 2.1
Intel 100mbit NIC
Windows 98SE, boots into pure DOS

I have a case just like that one, except that it says "Ast Bravo MS P/75" on it instead. The motherboard inside looks completely different though.
Very nice and space saving case to keep on the desk with a CRT monitor standing on top of it, but it's a huge project getting it open every time I want to change the hardware inside.

Last edited by Paddan1000 on 2011-04-10, 22:34. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 93 of 2685, by Amigaz

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Paddan1000 wrote:
Amigaz: Ok here's part 1 of my collection...mostly desktops […]
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Amigaz: Ok here's part 1 of my collection...mostly desktops

Ast Bravo MS P/100:

Upgraded the Pentium 1 CPU from 100mhz --> 166mhz
RAM = 128mb FPM
Onboard Ati Mach64 gfx
Voodoo 1 gfx
Onboard CL Sb Pro compatible sound
Gus Max rev 2.1
Intel 100mbit NIC
Windows 98SE, boots into pure DOS

I have a case just like that one, except that it says "Ast Bravo MS P/75" on it instead. The motherboard inside looks completely different though.
Very nice and space saving case to keep on the desk with a CRT monitor standing on top of it, but getting it's a huge project getting it open every time I want to change the hardware inside.

Cool, seems like AST managed to shell out some AST computer back in the 90's in our country 😀
The case is a real pain in the butt to work with as you menton 🙁
imho it's an ideal machine for those mid 90's SVGA games but a bit slow for 3dfx games...my Pentium Pro machines are way faster even though they are only "33mhz faster" 😉

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 94 of 2685, by Mau1wurf1977

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Highscreen / Vobis were huge in Germany and Austria. They kinda made computers accessible to everyday people. Back in those days, there were a lot of "hardcore" computer shops run by "hardcore" shop owners, which confused a lot of everyday people.

Vobis understood that and "unconfused" the masses by using simple language, appealing marketing and advertising and having clean / accessible stores in shopping malls.

They also serviced their own machines, so it was a one-stop-shop for people, and back in those days this was really important, because the industry had a lot of shady shops that took your money and sold you something overclocked, something fake, or something not compatible with each other.

With Vobis you got this OEM sense of "it just works", without having to pay as much.

That tower Amigaz has is a full size Colani tower. Luigi Colani is a designer, who likes things to be roundish and thus, ergonomic. Vobis teamed up with him and they launched a Colani themed desktop and full tower case. They were quite popular, although some people can't stand the look of them.

There are also other Colani accessories, such as joysticks and mice. It all looks very 60s/70s.

My first 386 was a Vobis. It had the design before Colani and a friend of mine bought the tower version.

The parts inside were a "surprise package". Vobis sourced components from Asia and placed massive orders. Despite this, it's possible that a similar configured machine has a different mainboard and video card.

They often didn't mention the brand of HDD or video card, and back in those days that wasn't important. They also didn't mention the brand of the processor, at least during the 386 days, because my 386DX-33 had a AMD DX-40 CPU clocked at 33.

You also got a CRT Monitor (Highscreen branded) and a very generous software compilation. In my case you got Windows 3.1 and Dos 5.0. All with very good, printed, documentation. There was usually something like PC tools or some other software bundled.

Vobis did try new things. For example the did bundle machines with OS/2 for a while and they also had some machines with RISC processors. I think something with "Alpha" in the name, can't remember.

They also had Highscreen branded accessories, such as scanners and Sound Blaster clones. All these items were simply rebranded, but to the customer this didn't matter. They knew it would work well and Vobis did offer support as well.

EDIT:

I finally got around to scanning in some pages from the "Highscreen Highlights" magazine, which I recently purchased from eBay Germany. Nobody else was bidding!

This magazine is pretty much from around the time I got my 386DX-33. So I was hoping there was an ad in this magazine, and I was lucky. It has the EXACT machine which I had as a kid. Same CRT, same yellow font on the front sticker, same software bundle.

Here are the pages:

PS: W7 paint sucks at scaling an image down and saving it as JPEG. The file ends up quite large, but looks worse. I then tried GIMP and got much better results...

coverpageh.jpg

386dx33.jpg

486dx33tower.jpg

Last edited by Mau1wurf1977 on 2011-04-11, 00:22. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 95 of 2685, by sprcorreia

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Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Highscreen / Vobis were huge in Germany and Austria...

I worked for Vobis in Portugal.

I've put together countless Highscreen systems, and at the time we used very nice system parts. Asus, Gigabyte, Creative, Seagate, those ugly cases with the green button (it's my opinion), but everything worked quite well.

We also had Jetway and Shuttle for cheaper machines, but even those were quite nice. I remember spending almost all my time putting them together with just a few returning with some kind of malfunction after a while.

Reply 97 of 2685, by Amigaz

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@Mau1wurf1977

Nice info you got there! 😀
I also own the 486 DX33 tower on one of the pics on your scans...built like a tank!

Maybe you should grab these? http://cgi.ebay.de/Etwa-95-alte-Prospekte-Vob … =item3cb6e99856

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 98 of 2685, by Mau1wurf1977

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Oh thanks!

I will ask him if he posts to Vienna (my brother)...

My website with reviews, demos, drivers, tutorials and more...
My YouTube channel

Reply 99 of 2685, by Tetrium

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rfnagel wrote:

...with a PASSION! 😀 Man, I sure wish they still made 'em like that!!! Not to mention, they were built like tanks. Those Pionex cases, you could almost drive a truck over and not damage a thing 😀

Just don't use my truck 😜

Amigaz, GREAT post with some GREAT rigs!!

I can't even pick a place to begin 🤣!
I LOVE the very big AT case, and man, your rigs are really cramped!
Love the way to took care of your rigs Amigaz ;D

Could you perhaps write a little history about them?
How did you get them?
Whats their history?
Do or did they have any problems or strange quirks?
What was your purpose/goal when you build every rig you have?
Do you still use them? Or do you just want them in working condition?

Man, I like the rarer stuff you use like the GUS's 😉
I don't think I own a GUS, only the SOundblasters and a couple other (much) more common sound cards.

From what I've seen here is, people here seem to keep their computers clean and dust-free. I know I always clean up my hardware before I build a system with it, but almost everyone else I know IRL doesn't seem to care much for dust and other alien artifacts inside their computers. But over here, people look to keep their rigs pretty much in clean condition! 😁
Of course things like rust and other marks like scratches can't always be avoided, but that's of lesser importance to me then having the stuff put together without those filthy nests of dust/hair and other icky...uhm, unidentifyable toxic wastes 😜

Keep up the good work! 😁

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
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