Amiga 1200, x2 (CF readers instead of HDs) - for retro-gaming/music, but I have no 15KHz monitor and can't justify buying one on eBay
Apple II Plus - Rescued from a sidewalk many years ago; it works, but I have no idea what to do with it
Apple IIgs, x3 (using a ROM3 unit with a ReActiveMicro Drive/Turbo) - for retro-gaming/music
Apple PowerMac G4 Quicksilver - dead PSU, which I cannot afford to replace; hand-me-down from an ex, which I used to use to serve alternate iTunes libraries on my network
Apple iMac 12,2 - obsolete to Apple, but works fine; main computer, and have been waiting for Apple to market a proper desktop machine for ages to replace it... still waiting...
Apple MacBook Pro 5,5 - obsolete to Apple, but works fine; mostly a secondary/backup machine
Atari MEGA ST4 (with an UltraSatan to replace the SCSI SupraDrive) - for retro-gaming/music
Commodore 64, x11(?) - bought one boxed unit for retro-gaming/music (but it wont work with any known good SID chip in it), and also bought a batch of questionable units & parts (some work fine; needs mass storage)
Generic white metal-cased Pentium PC, upgraded with SCSI, from an old workplace; it's a heavy junker with WinXP, BeOS R5, & Haiku beta on it
Tandy 1000 TL/2 - for retro-gaming/music; failing to get an XT-IDE card booting to CF
Tandy 2500 XL/2 - for retro-gaming/music; spent lots time/money on it (3.5" drive, new ROM for Music Quest PC MIDI card, Monotech XT-IDE ROM card, & CF-to-IDE reader to replace dying HD)
Tandy 2500 RSX - for retro-gaming/music(?); has Windows 3.11 on it, but I don't use it for anything right now (should replace hard drive with CF)
Self-Built Lian Li black-cased Asus/Pentium 4 with various I/O - mostly for Amiga Forever/Explorer, as it was replaced by:
Self-Built Antec black full-sized tower EVGA/Intel Core 2 Duo - former main PC, now just for games from 2008 or earlier (this machine's various incarnations has taught me I never EVER want to build a PC again!)
UMAX SuperMac e500 - used to serve diskette-creation needs for the Apple IIgs, also has BeOS R4 on it

28? I used to have several other DOS/Windows computers (and HUGE PILES of parts of PCs), but finally got rid of the least interesting/useful ones, and one Dell PSU died (though I should've kept more parts from everything).

I have too much stuff and no real use for any of it, honestly. The classic stuff was originally bought off eBay when I was made impulsive by an SSRI drug. I told myself it was for the purpose of making a retro music studio setup. I put that on hold almost immediately when I realized not having modern mass storage sucked. A decade later, I spent hundreds of dollars in the last year to rectify the mass storage issue, mostly to "shit or get off the pot" on this stupid project. Most of the software is unpleasant to use. UI design/usability changed for the better over the decades since.

I can play most DOS games on my iMac with DOSBox. I'm not sure I will ever have a decent display (or desk space) for the Amiga(s), so it's not enjoyable to use for music apps or games, though it's been an interesting learning process. Apple IIgs music software is poor (though better than the Tandy software). IIgs versions of Sierra AGI games have better music & sound than the DOS versions, so that's cute... for the ones I can get to actually run from CF without runtime errors. The Atari seems to be working fully now, and I haven't really tried to play many games, yet. Could be used to edit my MT-32, but I don't know why I would bother.

This is a stupid hobby, but the nostalgia of reliving my childhood ... and the semi-nostalgia of trying to relive parts of my childhood that weren't actually IN my OWN childhood (Amiga, Apple IIgs, Atari ST)... has been... interesting. That's all I have to show for the money and time spent? Sigh.

kixs wrote on 2017-08-23, 20:22:

In process of moving... I think I moved around 60% of my stash and I counted 29 complete computers from 386 to Athlon64. Also around 40 boxes of bare cards/motherboards - some taking only 1 or 2 motherboards and some taking 30+ cards. It will be fun making inventory this fall 😁

Reading my comments from 2017... it's been almost 4 years and still no inventory done 🤣

I think I've tried to do the inventory a few times and my head almost exploded when I started... so I had to stop... Too much stuff and no storage space to properly sort everything...

This past winter I've done some renovation in the attic and now have some custom home made shelves to put extra boxes away. The other half of this half of the attic is still waiting for me to do the same... insulation, flooring, some extra shelves and then... the inventory 😁 Depends on free time, but it could all be done by this summer...

My collection is small and mostly focused on testing mid 90's to mid 2000s software, and I'm looking for better storage management techniques before I fill even more into the small room most of them are in.

Dell Dimension 4100 With Windows 98 (Got off of Ebay)
Custom Build with Tyan Trinity 400 board and Pentium III (currently out of commission)
Gateway E-4000 With Windows XP (Got it from a Retro Store in Eldon, Missouri USA)
Emac With OSX 10.4 (Found on Craigslist)
Imac DV With OSX 10.2 (A friend had it in his closet and didn't want it anymore) (currently out of commission until I get an OS 9 install disk)
Lenovo Thinkpad T430 With Lubuntu (originally my daily driver, now just my work machine)
Custom build with Ryzen 2600 and Radeon RX580 and WIndows 10 (My Daily Driver)

It's really a farcry from all the PC's I collected in the 2000s. Gone are the days you could get an old PC at thrift store or a yard sale for $20. Now they fucking auction off anything that looks remotely valuable.

Counting only desktop and laptop motherboards as "computers;" excluding smartphones or tablets:

Bought new:

1. 1984; Taiwanese Apple ][ clone (probably made by Datatech / DTK) with a very PC-styled look and Model F lookalike 83-key keyboard; recycled circa 1996.
2. 1990; DTK PEM-2035 (?) with 80386DX-20; recycled circa 2000.
3. 1995; Dell Dimension XPS with Pentium 120; active as a late DOS gaming build.
4. 1997; custom Pentium-MMX 166 for my parents; recycled circa 2004.
5. 1999; Quantex with Biostar M6TBA (?) + P2-400; recycled circa 2007.
6. 2003; Alienware with Asus A7B8X Deluxe + Athlon XP 2200+; recycled circa 2012.
7. 2003; HP Pavilion ZE4000 series (Athlon XP-M 1800+); recycled circa 2012.
8. 2004; Asus Terminator 2 (P4P8T + Celeron 2.4 GHz) for my parents (mostly Mom) replacing Pentium-MMX 166; recycled circa 2012.
9. 2009; MSI U100 (Aton N270); active as WinXP spare testing build.
10. 2010; MSI CX500 (Pentium T4500) for Dad; shelved.
11. 2010; MSI Wind Box DE200 (Atom 330) for Mom replacing Asus Terminator 2; active as unattended Win7 remote file server.
12. 2013; Gigabyte T1132 (i5-2467M) replacing MSI U100; recycled 2019 due to power problems (probably bad MOS and/or capacitors) and Gigabyte claimed no spare parts to fix. Should have send it to an independent repair service (sigh).
13. 2016; Asus VivoPC K31CD (i5-6400) for Mom replacing MSI Wind Box DE200; active.
14. 2018; Gigabyte H370 HD3 + i7-8700; active as the modern gaming and photo-editing build.

Bought used, either auctioned, picked up at thrift store / e-waste, hand-me-down for a low price or free, or picked up at dumpster / roadside:

1. 2007; auctioned; Acer Veriton 5100 with P3-800EB (MB only, probably S58M) replacing dead Quantex P2-400; recycled circa 2012 but kept the CPU.
2. Circa 2011; hand-me-down; MiTAC PWA-IH4077C (?) with Am486DX2-50; recycled MB, PSU, and case in 2019 due to PSU problems but kept everything else.
3. 2018; thrift; Asus P5G41T-M LX + C2Q Q8300 for Dad replacing MSI CX500; active .
4. 2019; auctioned; Gigabyte GA-K8VM800M + Sempron 2800+; recycled 2020 due to corrupted BIOS.
5. 2020; e-waste; Asus TXP4 + Pentium-MMX 233; active as early (with cache disabled) to late DOS and earliest Win98SE gaming build.
6. 2020; e-waste; Gigabyte GA-6VXC7-4X-P + P3-600EB; active but replaced the CPU with P3-800EB from that Acer Veriton 5100 above as early- to mid-Win98SE gaming build.
7. 2020; e-waste; Gigabyte GA-K8VM800M + Sempron 3000+; recycled 2020 due to corrupted BIOS. Was glad finding the exact same model so I didn't have to reinstall drivers, only to suffer the exact same fate.
8. 2021; dumpster; MSI K9A2 Platinum + Athlon 64 X2 5000+; shelved.
9. 2021; hand-me-down; Gigabyte GA-P31-ES3G + C2D E7400; active as WinXP gaming build.
10. 2021; auctioned; Asus K8V-MX + Sempron 3000+; active as late Win98SE gaming build.
11. 2021; hand-me-down; Asus P5GDC-V Deluxe + P4-520 2.8 GHz; shelved.
12. 2021; e-waste; Asus A7V133-C + Athlon 1200C; shelved.
13. 2022; dumpster; Compaq Contura Aero 4/33C; recycled as the damage was too severe.
14. 2022; dumpster; Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 + Core 2 Duo E6300 + Gigabyte GV-R455HM-512I + 2GB DDR2; shelved.
15. 2022; dumpster; eMachines ET1830 (ECS MCP73VT-PM) + Pentium Duo Core E5700 + 2GB DDR2; shelved.
16. 2022; auctioned; Asus VivoPC K31DA (i5-4460) + GTX 650 Ti + 16GB DDR3 for Dad replacing C2Q Q8300 (which became the "living room computer" connected to the LCD TV); active.
17. 2022; e-waste; Lenovo ThinkPad X200; inactive for the moment.
18. 2023; hand-me-down; IBM ThinkPad X31 and X60; shelved at this moment.
19. 2023; e-waste; Asus H61M-K + Celeron G1620 (later replaced with an auctioned i7-3770); inactive for the moment.
20. 2023; hand-me-down; Asus P5B Deluxe + Core 2 Duo E6300 + 4GB DDR2; to be tested.
21. 2024; thrift; MSI H110M PRO-VH + Core i3-7100 + 8GB DDR4 in case if Mom's i5-6400 died completely; turned out the original DDR4 was the only culprit. Still wondering if I should buy a pair of DDR4 for this MB (I don't have any DDR4 spare at this moment).

Out of 35 computers acquired in four decades, 11 are still active (OS installed, PSU connected) while 10 are inactive (can be activated at moment's notice) or shelved.

Updated in August 2024.

dormcat wrote on 2021-10-08, 05:05:

Counting only desktop and laptop motherboards as "computers;" excluding smartphones or tablets:

Out of 26 computers acquired in over three decades, 11 are still active (OS installed and PSU connected) while 3 are inactive (reserved as spares).

do you regret parting with any of those?

I have 'too many' and yet still sometimes regret parting with some of them when clearing out!

Currently, four retro rigs (specs in signature), one laptop (leftover from my last place of work) and one not so modern desktop PC.

Nowadays, I do most of my gaming on retro rigs and consoles so I don't really need a powerful main PC.

This thread should probably be merged: How many working computers do you have right now?

gerry wrote on 2021-10-08, 09:47:

do you regret parting with any of those?

Ideally I'd like to keep them all. 😆 That wouldn't be practical, of course.

The Apple ][ clone had its 5.25" floppy dead, so in its last couple of years I could only practice BASIC with its ROM. Fixing or replacing its floppy drive might be well over the value of remaining parts.

The 80386DX-20 had a very rare feature: SIPP memory modules, making it difficult to upgrade with standard SIMM (might need adapters). Back in the early days of Internet, online resources of knowledge, opinions, and transaction platforms for retro computing were scarce, and everyone were pursuing newer computer models and standards. Just compare the two decades of computing: 1991-2001 and 2011-2021; the former was revolutionary every 3 months, while the latter have little difference even three years apart. They have little practical value today and can only be kept as collector's items.

OTOH the two systems that were functioning and could be used today were the Alienware Athlone XP 2200+ (on Asus A7N8X Deluxe) and Asus Terminator T2-P (with Celeron 2.4 GHz; I didn't and wouldn't choose it but I was away in US so my Mom asked a friend of mine to get that one for her). They were struggling under WinXP using mechanical PATA HDD, and that T2 had an awful case + noisy fan + weak PSU combination. Replacing it with a standard m-ATX case and PSU, add an AGP graphics card, a SATA HDD or even SSD, would make it a nice Win98SE retro platform.

dormcat wrote on 2021-10-09, 02:05:

The Apple ][ clone had its 5.25" floppy dead, so in its last couple of years I could only practice BASIC with its ROM. Fixing or replacing its floppy drive might be well over the value of remaining parts.

that's the thing - there is a point where something breaks and where it just becomes unrealistic to try and fix it, and then whether we want to or not, it's gone

Just compare the two decades of computing: 1991-2001 and 2011-2021; the former was revolutionary every 3 months, while the latter have little difference even three years apart. They have little practical value today and can only be kept as collector's items.

very true, pace of change has ironically slowed down in the world of PCs (not at all in computing generally, but for PCs, yes)

1984 IBM 5150
1987 Macintosh SE
1989 Mac IIcx
1991 Mac Quadra 700
1991 Weston 1000 486 laptop
1992 Custom 486DX desktop
1992 Amiga 1200
1992 Sun SparcStation 10
1994 Acer AcerNote 730
1994 Compaq Contura 430CX
1994 Compaq LTE Elite 4/50CX
1994 Compaq LTE 5000
1995 PowerMac 7500/100
~1995 Toshiba Libretto 50CT
2x 1996 Compaq LTE 5300
3x 1996 Toshiba Libretto 100CT
3x 1996 Fujitsu-ICL ErgoPro e661
1996 Dell Dimension XPS P166s
1997 Compaq LTE 5400
1997 Compaq Armada 7730MT
1997 Compaq Armada 1590DT
1997 PowerMac 8600/200
~1998 Lap Power MP-995
1998 Compaq Armada 1700
1998 Pentium II custom miditower
1998 IBM PC300PL
1998 Custom Aladdin V K6-II/400
1998 Custom MVP3 K6-II/450
1998 HP Jornada 820 (if it counts, it's kind of a laptopized PDA)
1999 IBM Aptiva 2158
1999 Compaq Presario 5722
~1999 Dell Optiplex GX115
~2000 Fujitsu-Siemens Xpert (T-bird 1GHz)
2000 Compaq Armada E500
2000 Compaq Armada 100S
2000 Custom PIII/1000
2001 Compaq Armada E700
2001 Compaq Presario 700
2001 Dell Inspiron 8100
2002 Compaq Evo N610c
~2002 Unknown, untested Asus mini Athlon tower
2003 Dell Latitude D400
2003 Custom Athlon XP rig
2003 Intel D865PERL custom P4
~2004 Custom Celeron build
2004 Custom Sempron build
2005 Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo V1300
2006 Dell Inspiron 6400
~2007 HP Pavilion a6026.sc
2007 Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pro V3515
2007 Toshiba Satellite L40
2009 Macbook
2009 Asus K70AB
2010 Compaq Presario CQ61
2010 i7-930 custom build
2011 HP Elitebook 8460p
2012 i7-3930K custom rig
2012 Dell PowerEdge R520
2013 Lenovo Thinkpad X230i
2x 2013 Dell PowerEdge T320

I would thereby count it as 63 computers and 3 servers.
Questionable however if the Windows CE powered Jornada 820 is an actual computer, and if the SparcStation counts as a computer rather than workstation.
I would assume at least 15-20 of the machines have never been started in my ownership - up to 6 years now.
All of them aren't complete anymore, either - they're constantly being messed with and probably a dozen previously OK won't be plug and play as of this writing.