This is a little off topic but just started watching Armageddon from 1998 and about 3 minutes in they are working on a "satellite" and it shows a PCB with socket 3 PGA and pulls what appears to be a Kingston turbochip or similar out of it 🤣, no joke

gerwin wrote:

To keep old PC's in operation you don't need much, sometimes nothing at all. - Remove dust. Or just hardly use them. - Replace […]
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To keep old PC's in operation you don't need much, sometimes nothing at all.
- Remove dust. Or just hardly use them.
- Replace bad capacitors and leaking batteries. Or trow out and replace the entire thing.
- Don't go on the internet and don't install additional software.

To upgrade them or try all kinds of software, that is another thing. There are mostly laptops on that renting site, so not much upgrading in that case.

But they have had to find these old systems first and you can't really do that without having (extensive) knowledge about these systems. The systems they use for props are very diverse (though mostly non-pc stuff, unless it's a laptop) and I can't imagine them having had all that old stuff in their attic in which they had put them away in running condition.
So I'd guess they got those machines when those were already (getting) old and one can't have done that without having any knowledge about these systems and without knowing what would be interested.

One of the best sources of knowledge about retro computers would be forums like this one, though I reckon they didn't frequent Vogons a lot, judging by their computer inventory 😜

Halt and Catch Fire was absolutely packed with vintage PC's, they really nailed it. Everything from C64s to XTs and DEC PDPs.
Apparently it's been renewed for a third season, but I won't believe it until I see it later this year.

Mad Men also had some pretty cool mainframes in the final season.

Tetrium wrote:

But they have had to find these old systems first and you can't really do that without having (extensive) knowledge about these […]
Show full quote

gerwin wrote:

To keep old PC's in operation you don't need much, sometimes nothing at all. - Remove dust. Or just hardly use them. - Replace […]
Show full quote

To keep old PC's in operation you don't need much, sometimes nothing at all.
- Remove dust. Or just hardly use them.
- Replace bad capacitors and leaking batteries. Or trow out and replace the entire thing.
- Don't go on the internet and don't install additional software.

To upgrade them or try all kinds of software, that is another thing. There are mostly laptops on that renting site, so not much upgrading in that case.

But they have had to find these old systems first and you can't really do that without having (extensive) knowledge about these systems. The systems they use for props are very diverse (though mostly non-pc stuff, unless it's a laptop) and I can't imagine them having had all that old stuff in their attic in which they had put them away in running condition.
So I'd guess they got those machines when those were already (getting) old and one can't have done that without having any knowledge about these systems and without knowing what would be interested.

One of the best sources of knowledge about retro computers would be forums like this one, though I reckon they didn't frequent Vogons a lot, judging by their computer inventory 😜

I agree. The problems start when parts go bad. For example if the CMOS battery dies, which on IBM machines give error codes which may or may not allow boot. If a harddrive dies and needs replacing you really need to go online. Even if you can find an old drive, it most likely will require full restore of the software, and the hardware configuration will most likely change. If they are going for a more future proof solution, like installing a CF-card then that also requires going online for info and/or parts.

The KGB, the Computer and Me

You'll spend the next 5 years identifying computer stuff.

bjt wrote:

Halt and Catch Fire was absolutely packed with vintage PC's, they really nailed it. Everything from C64s to XTs and DEC PDPs.
Apparently it's been renewed for a third season, but I won't believe it until I see it later this year.

I really enjoyed that show. 😀

I watched "The Sopranos" recently and in the first series you can clearly see in one of the bedrooms a state of the art Pentium 2 machine with a 19" CRT. It looked so strange, but I remember carrying my PC to my friends house a few streets away to LAN Total Annihilation and Quake while that very episode was playing on his TV in the background...

It's kind of funny that everyone credits Apple so much, I never even used one or saw one in person until last year and frankly I think they are pretty shit compared to PC. 🤣

Well....
If you keep mention something a couple of times too many.
It will be accepted as the default truth among the broad audience.

Like 60% had Amiga in my town, and 39,5% had IBM clones.
Only the priest had an Apple back then from the mid 80's to 1990.
And the town was like 15000 people strong.

I suppose it depends on the country etc.
I have never seen an Apple II in real life. I suppose they were more common in the US, especially in schools?
Apple Macs also were quite uncommon here, but they did exist. They have become more common since, later PowerMacs (especially notebooks) and more so the newer Intel-base notebooks.
In the 80's I've mainly seen Commodore 64/128 (even used for business), Amstrad CPC (my school had some of those, less common in private households than Commodore), Atari ST, Amiga, IBM clones.
No Sinclair Spectrum here, but I think they quite common in the UK.

I can also say that I've never seen an Apple II in person. However I do have a CBM-64 and a Tandy 1000EX. But the movie "Hackers" was a somewhat interesting (albeit cheesy and mostly BS hacking) film and it had some aspects of the Hacking/phreaking scene back in 1995.

PROPER PERIOD CORRECT (1995) GATEWAY 2000 P5-75/100?* desktop spotted in tonight's Fresh Off The Boat!!!! and is central to the plotline!!!!

* except for an obvious 1999 Microsoft Intellimouse wheel mouse

King_Corduroy wrote:

It's kind of funny that everyone credits Apple so much

It's part of general situation with cores, not only with Apple II. Apple computers are relatively popular in USA, but not outside of them. As many well-known movies are done in USA, you may see more than a few of Apples in movies. The other thing is Apple's advertising policy - they gave (maybe give still) their computers for free for using them in movies. More to say, as Apple's marketing is aggressive, they may pay to cinema dudes to place their overpriced stuff on the screen.

Apple was only becomming more widely spread around 2004/05 here in Denmark.
It is closely linked to the popularity of the iPod and the invention of the iPhone.
If there was no "Apple ecosystem" as we know it today, no one would buy Mac's in DK.

Apple computers are hardly present in Russia... There are lots of iPhones, some iPods, hardly any iPads, but when it comes to Macs, I've only seen them on display at Apple Store. I've heard designers use them here a lot, don't know any though 😀

Tertz wrote:

The other thing is Apple's advertising policy - they gave (maybe give still) their computers for free for using them in movies.

As long as it's the good guys using them. No Apples for the dark side.

It's more of the fact Apples were stable and great for professional production work, much less some apple buy-in conspiracy and more of going with what they know. You're not going to see a DOS machine in the batcave nor will you see one upload a virus to a mothership 😀 if you're going to pick on blatant Apple product placement in a movie, try Blank Check 😁

leileilol wrote:

going with what they know

http://arstechnica.com/features/2005/12/total-share/5/

gerwin wrote:

idspispopd wrote:

Since it hasn't been mentioned in this thread: http://www.starringthecomputer.com

Was looking for an entry of 'The big bang theory': I once noticed Howard was doing soldering work at his university and the subject seemed to be an IBM XT motherboard from 1983.

They aired this particular episode past week. Though now that I can look at it better, it does not match the IBM XT.

The Dutch subtitles are about: "We can make everything we need (with a 3D printer)"