The Retro PC Thread

[Ziggy]

My elementary school had a computer lab, which was all IBM computers. I guess they all had MS-DOS. I remember needing a disk loaded and having to type in a command to load a word processor, which is the only thing we ever did in the computer lab.

I had to go to the library to play The Oregon Trail and other PC games.

[emwearz]

My elementary school had a computer lab, which was all IBM computers. I guess they all had MS-DOS. I remember needing a disk loaded and having to type in a command to load a word processor, which is the only thing we ever did in the computer lab.

I had to go to the library to play The Oregon Trail and other PC games.

Far more likely to be PC-DOS on an earlier IBM machines (XT, etc).

My primary(elementary) school was the same, they had Apple IIe in the computer labs and newer PC's and Mac's in the schools library.

[samsonlonghair]

Picked up this little guy today for $25. Works perfectly just isn't powerful enough to really run anything as far as I know. Thought it would be cool to have a functioning computer from my birth year though.

Neat Mac Classic, Fragems.

[Fragems]

About the only thing that sucks is they must have busted the plastic that holds the roller ball on the mouse and decided to hot glue the retainer to the bottom. Mouse works but it's a little unresponsive so I'll have to chip the glue away and clean it. It's probably going to go into storage for a while though so I might just wait.

Can't wait till I find a house it's essentially just going to be one giant room of games/retro tech .

Really I was kind of surprised at how fast the computer boots and loads. It probably is running next to nothing after startup so the load on the memory/CPU is nonexistent but I really wasn't expecting a sub 1 minute boot time and being able to use it immediately once I got to the home screen.

[isiolia]

A friend of mine bought me an SE/30 from the thrift store, but it's got the "simasi mac" zebra stripe issue. I think I tried the basic steps, leaving it most likely needing capacitor replacement.

I have a near-maxed out Quicksilver G4 for Classic OS stuff though, if I need it. One of the last machines that can boot OS9 natively (the early MDD G4s can too, and are better hardware, but sooo ugly). I think I also reverted my old Powerbook G4/400 to OS 9.

I actually had a few 030/040 Macs I acquired in college, but I dumped them when I had to move. Never really used them for much.

[samsonlonghair]

A friend of mine bought me an SE/30 from the thrift store, but it's got the "simasi mac" zebra stripe issue. I think I tried the basic steps, leaving it most likely needing capacitor replacement.

I have a near-maxed out Quicksilver G4 for Classic OS stuff though, if I need it. One of the last machines that can boot OS9 natively (the early MDD G4s can too, and are better hardware, but sooo ugly). I think I also reverted my old Powerbook G4/400 to OS 9.

I actually had a few 030/040 Macs I acquired in college, but I dumped them when I had to move. Never really used them for much.

I had a MDD G4, and I loved it. I think it looked nicer than the Quicksilver models. I'm a sucker for mirrored surfaces on technology. It makes me think of chrome.

The darn thing started overheating though. I had to ditch it last fall after several failled attempts at repair.

[isiolia]

I do remember some of them we had where I worked as a student running hot. I liked the clean look of the Quicksilvers the best though, which is why I bought one of those. The odd porthole vents and all just didn't look good to me on the MDDs (not a big fan of chrome either). The pinstriping on the earlier ones wasn't that appealing either.

[samsonlonghair]

I do remember some of them we had where I worked as a student running hot. I liked the clean look of the Quicksilvers the best though, which is why I bought one of those. The odd porthole vents and all just didn't look good to me on the MDDs (not a big fan of chrome either). The pinstriping on the earlier ones wasn't that appealing either.

Yeah, the sawtooth models are the least attractive G4 powermacs.

[isiolia]

Yeah, the sawtooth models are the least attractive G4 powermacs.

Still a lot better than B&W G3s (and without the IDE controller issues those can have).

Whatever the appearance, I think G4s are close to ideal for basic retro Mac stuff, except for the FW800 MDDs (as they can't boot OS9). The older ones have aesthetic appeal to me, but parts n' such are a lot more annoying.

[samsonlonghair]

Agreed. If you need to boot OS9, a G4 is the way to go.