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First post, by Zup

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I've been disposing of some stuff lately, and I've found a T with two terminators still attached. So I was wondering if someone still collects/uses retro stuff not directly related to gaming like...

- Retro networking: using stuff like 10base2 instead of RJ45, or token ring networks (BTW, the terminators were for a Realtek 8029AS PCI network card).
- Retro printing: like using daisy wheel printers or dot matrix printers (instead of inkjet or laser printers, and excluding those who use them actively in business). A good question would be if someone still uses a colour dot matrix printer.
- Retro UI devices: like those old graphic tablets used with AutoCAD in 386 systems, braille terminals and the like.

I have traveled across the universe and through the years to find Her.
Sometimes going all the way is just a start...

I'm selling some stuff!

Reply 3 of 16, by SpectriaForce

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I would actually like to set up a 90's pc with a CRT monitor, NEC Pinwriter dot matrix printer, a big ass laserprinter and an oldskool scanner just for fun / decoration / nostalgia, but I don't have the room for it 😐

Reply 4 of 16, by Zup

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Seriously, I'd like to see a old-school party (i.e.: Doom) playing with 486 with CRT and 10base2 networking 😉

I know that somebody set up two computers liked via RS232 to play head-to-head F29, but I guess that's not the same.

I have traveled across the universe and through the years to find Her.
Sometimes going all the way is just a start...

I'm selling some stuff!

Reply 5 of 16, by tayyare

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Zup wrote:
I've been disposing of some stuff lately, and I've found a T with two terminators still attached. So I was wondering if someone […]
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I've been disposing of some stuff lately, and I've found a T with two terminators still attached. So I was wondering if someone still collects/uses retro stuff not directly related to gaming like...

- Retro networking: using stuff like 10base2 instead of RJ45, or token ring networks (BTW, the terminators were for a Realtek 8029AS PCI network card).
- Retro printing: like using daisy wheel printers or dot matrix printers (instead of inkjet or laser printers, and excluding those who use them actively in business). A good question would be if someone still uses a colour dot matrix printer.
- Retro UI devices: like those old graphic tablets used with AutoCAD in 386 systems, braille terminals and the like.

- I still have a long enough coax cable with BNC ends, T's, and terminators, a small pack of all kinds of BNC connectors , and a couple of ISA 10Base2 NICs, just in case, but I really have no idea which will be the "case" anymore 😊 In addition, my PCI NICs are almost always COMBO models, which are BNC ready. They look "cool" that way... 🤣

- I sold my Citizen 24pin dot matrix printer (was in very very good condition) with color option for next to nothing like 3-4 years ago, just beacuse I don't wanted to throw it away for recycling. I was literally out of space to preserve it anymore.

- I don't have and never had tablets or the other devices you mentioned, but I have a couple of tape backup units, a few external and PCI modems, and some external SCSI stuff.

GA-6VTXE PIII 1.4+512MB
Geforce4 Ti 4200 64MB
Diamond Monster 3D 12MB SLI
SB AWE64 PNP+32MB
120GB IDE Samsung/80GB IDE Seagate/146GB SCSI Compaq/73GB SCSI IBM
Adaptec AHA29160
3com 3C905B-TX
Gotek+CF Reader
MSDOS 6.22+Win 3.11/95 OSR2.1/98SE/ME/2000

Reply 6 of 16, by wiretap

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I still use and maintain old stuff on a daily basis, but at work. (nuclear plant) I maintain around 20 Compaq Alpha DS10's and DS20E's. They're used for our plant process computer, visual annunciator system, 3DMonicore for reactor core neutron flux monitoring, and control room simulator. I also use an Intel 8086 based system from Meggitt Safety Systems that does primary containment H2/O2 monitoring. All the Eberline SPING effluent radiation monitors use Intel 8085 processors. The Eberline SS1 control computer runs DOS with a dot matrix printer attached. We have a GE NUMAC computer that programs the neutron monitoring equipment - it is an IBM PC/AT. I'm unsure of the NUMAC units themselves, but they use GE's NM386 operating system. Our seismic monitoring computer from Terrascience (now Wier-Jones) runs in DOS on a 486. Control room data recorders all run Windows CE on MIPS processors. Just last year we finally got rid of a MODCOMP Classic running a Computrol loop -- I believe we were the last ones besides NASA to still use one in a production environment. And that just touches the surface to what I'm working with daily.

If you like retro stuff, work at a nuclear plant. (although we're continually upgrading, there's just so much legacy stuff still in operation because it works so well -- and upgrading is easily millions of dollars per system) I even still maintain/troubleshoot tons of analog relay logic and analog PCBs in control systems (ex: English Electric turbine control system).

My Github
Circuit Board Repair Manuals

Reply 7 of 16, by GigAHerZ

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wiretap, looks like a perfect place to throw a retro lan party! When can we come?

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." - And i intend to get every last bit out of it even after loading every damn driver!

Reply 8 of 16, by wiretap

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GigAHerZ wrote:

wiretap, looks like a perfect place to throw a retro lan party! When can we come?

edited

Last edited by wiretap on 2019-04-22, 09:40. Edited 2 times in total.

My Github
Circuit Board Repair Manuals

Reply 9 of 16, by chinny22

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I like my servers 😀 Want at least NT3, NT4, 2K, 03, represented by physical SMP systems Netware and OS2 I'm still deciding if virtual is acceptable.

I'd like things like a dot matrix and one of the true built proof HP Laser jets, something Like HP Lasterjet 4, maybe some old enterprise level network equipment but that takes up too much space "just to have" so have settled on things like external storage drives.

@wiretap, goes without saying that room looks amazing

Reply 10 of 16, by ultimate386

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chinny22 wrote:

I'd like things like a dot matrix and one of the true built proof HP Laser jets, something Like HP Lasterjet 4, maybe some old enterprise level network equipment but that takes up too much space "just to have" so have settled on things like external storage drives.

I still use a LaserJet 4L as my main printer on my i7 rig. My wife's computer has a LaserJet 4P. Granted, we also have some newer wireless HP laser printer if we need a little better print quality.
The Pentium 3 system in my sig runs seti@home when I'm not playing on it 😀 .

AMD386/IIT387DX40, 32MB, ATi Mach64, AWE64
Compaq Prolinea 4/33, 32MB, Tseng ET4000, SB16
AMD X5, 64MB, S3 Virge/Voodoo1, AWE64
AMD K62+550, 256MB, Voodoo3, AWE64 Gold
P3 1.2Ghz, 512MB, Radeon 7500/Voodoo2 SLI, SB Live!

Reply 11 of 16, by SirNickity

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wiretap wrote:
GigAHerZ wrote:

wiretap, looks like a perfect place to throw a retro lan party! When can we come?

I vote Duke Nukem.

wiretap wrote:
Here's a pic I took when John McCain visited during his presidential run. […]
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Here's a pic I took when John McCain visited during his presidential run.

l9i3y9Mh.jpg

I think this photo needs a caption contest thread. I'll start.

"Wow, this place is so futuristic!" -McCain (you know, because he's so old, he had to pre-order the Bible.)

Oh, I've got another one:

"... and this panel is where we plan our outfits. Tomorrow is beige khaki and pink shirt day."

Reply 12 of 16, by wiretap

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SirNickity wrote:

I vote Duke Nukem.

Jurassic Park is a better fit. We are surrounded by fences, barriers (including a gate we call the t-rex gate), guns, shitty storms all the time -- and every day feels like Jurassic Park when the fence gets turned off because there's always a shitty/intense problem to solve that is time sensitive.

My Github
Circuit Board Repair Manuals

Reply 13 of 16, by gdjacobs

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Do you have a pen filled with mutant animals? Don't worry, these are routine questions.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 14 of 16, by detritus olentus

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ultimate386 wrote:
chinny22 wrote:

I'd like things like a dot matrix and one of the true built proof HP Laser jets, something Like HP Lasterjet 4, maybe some old enterprise level network equipment but that takes up too much space "just to have" so have settled on things like external storage drives.

I still use a LaserJet 4L as my main printer on my i7 rig. My wife's computer has a LaserJet 4P. Granted, we also have some newer wireless HP laser printer if we need a little better print quality.
The Pentium 3 system in my sig runs seti@home when I'm not playing on it 😀 .

The old LaserJets are tanks. My main printer is a 4 Plus I rescued from municipal recycle (got yelled at for it too). It had been left in the rain and when I cleaned out the inside there were germinated seeds so who knows how long it was out in the elements. Only needed a few rollers replaced and runs perfectly fine!

gWSJi23.png
https://archive.org/details/@detritus_olentus
Philly Burbs.

Reply 15 of 16, by SirNickity

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Are you sure that wasn't an Epson EcoTank? 😁 Seriously though, the LJ 4 really IS a beast.

I would actually like to have another Okidata OL-400. My family had one as a kid, and the thing just sat there and delivered every day with nary a complaint.

Reply 16 of 16, by wiretap

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The 4 Plus is a freaking beast. We have one at work that just got retired (no, it didn't break -- we changed over to Ricoh company-wide); it must have had several million page prints on it. But it was well maintained when we had a HP service contract. It was used for around 22 years in our office which usually prints through 2 reams of paper a week.

My Github
Circuit Board Repair Manuals