Introduction
My first contact with computers was in early 80's when my father bought a Sinclair ZX-81 and my first basic programs were written for the ZX-81. Then in 1986 we bought a Commodore 64. First it was used mainly for gaming, but later I also learned some 6502 assembler with it. I also wrote some basic programs with the C64.
Later in school's computer club (which was run by my father) I learned to code in Pascal. Pascal was used also in upper secondary school CS classes. I have later learned C, Perl and Python, although I don't consider myself being a real coder by any means. I will hack together a script or two when needed, but I couldn't imagine myself writing code all day for living..
I am also interested in the old days of computing, so I have collected a small collection of pieces from the (home) computing and video gaming history.
As you can see, this page layout and colour theme was inspired by the trusty old Commodore 64 boot screen and colour palette.
My collection
Personal computers, workstations and servers
Working condition of items marked with * is unknown, others have at least been tested working in the past or are known to be broken.
- Amstrad PPC640
- Apple Macintosh Classic
- Apple Macintosh Classic II
- External DD floppy drive
- Apple Power Macintosh 7100 *
- Atari 520STFM
- Commodore 64
- 1541 disk drive
- 1570 disk drive
- 1520 plotter
- Action Replay VI cartridge
- Tape drive
- Handic modem
- Userport RS-232 serial port adapter by REX Datentechnik
- SD2IEC V4 by The Future was 8bit (broken)
- Epyx Fastload Reloaded cartridge by The Future was 8bit
- Music Maker keyboard
- Cheetah Defender 64 light gun
- Pi1541 disk drive emulator with self built interface
- Commodore 64C
- VIC-II chip from a broken breadbin C64
- Commodore Amiga 500
- ACA500plus expansion by Individual Computers
- 512 kB trapdoor RAM expansion
- Commodore Amiga 2000
- 3.5" floppy drive
- 1MB RAM Expansion card (512 kB RAM fitted)
- A2088 Bridgeboard + 5.25" floppy drive
- Ace-Card ISA HDD hardcard
- Buddha IDE 20-year anniversary edition by Individual Computers
- Gotek USB floppy emulator with FlashFloppy firmware
- Compaq Portable 486c/66
- ISA SoundBlaster 16 soundcard with DreamBlaster S2 general MIDI daughterboard
- Internal LCD display broken
- Compaq ProLinea 4/50
- Intel i486DX2-66
- 3Com 3c509B-C ISA ethernet card with XTIDE Universal BIOS on EPROM
- Dell OptiPlex GX1
- Digital HiNote VP TS31D
- Digital AlphaStation 200 4/233 *
- Digital VAXstation 3100 *
- Digital VAXstation 4000 90A *
- Digital VAXstation 4000 VLC *
- Dolch PAC 65
- Goldstar GS210
- AMD N80L286-12/S 12 MHz
- Gotek USB floppy emulator with FlashFloppy firmware, OLED and rotary encoder
- Logitech Soundman Games ISA soundcard
- 3Com 3c509B-C ISA ethernet card with XTIDE Universal BIOS on EPROM
- 1 GB CompactFlash card with IDE adapter
- Missing original PSU
- Hewlett-Packard 150
- Hewlett-Packard 735 *
- Hewlett-Packard C3750
- Hewlett-Packard J5600
- Hewlett-Packard OmniBook 600C
- Hewlett-Packard OmniBook 900B
- IBM PS/1 Type 2121
- Intel 80386SX 16 MHz
- CompactFlash card with IDE adapter
- Nokia MikroMikko 3TT
- Olivetti M211
- SGI Octane 2
- Sharp MZ-700 *
- Sharp MZ-800 *
- External 2.8" floppy drive
- Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k
- Cheetah 32k rampack (not usable with this 48k model)
- DivMMC Future SD flash card reader by The Future was 8bit
- Sony Hit Bit HB-75P
- BS-key not working
- 6 MSX game cartridges
- Carnivore2 cartridge by 8bits4ever
- Spectravideo SVI-728 x 2
- One working, other broken
- Mascot Type 682 PSU
- SVI-767 Data Cassette *
- Spectravideo SVI-738 X'Press
- Missing original PSU
- Sun SPARCstation IPC
- Sun SPARCstation IPX
- Sun SparcStation 10 *
- Sun Ultra 2 *
- Sun Ultra 5 *
- Sun Ultra Enterprise 450
- Toshiba T3100e
Handheld computers and early smartphones
- Casio Cassiopeia E-115 *
- Compaq 2000c
- Compaq iPAQ 3630 x N *
- Compaq iPAQ 3660 *
- Compaq iPAQ 3850 *
- Dell Axim X51v
- Hewlett-Packard 200LX
- Hewlett-Packard Jornada 547
- Hewlett-Packard OmniGo 700LX
- Hewlett-Packard iPAQ h5550 x 3 *
- Hewlett-Packard iPAQ hx4700
- Nokia 9000 Communicator x 2
- Nokia 9110 Communicator
- Nokia 9210 Communicator
- Nokia 9210i Communicator
- Nokia 9300 Communicator
- Nokia 9500 Communicator
- Nokia E90 Communicator
- Palm m505
- Palm m515
- Palm V
- Palm Vx x 2
- Psion Series 3a
- Psion Series 5
- Psion Series 5mx
- Psion Revo
- Psion Revo Plus
- Psion netBook
- Sharp Zaurus SL-C700
- Symbol PPT 2700
Game consoles
- Atari Lynx II
- ElCheapoSD Lynx flash cart by BennVenn
- ColecoVision *
- GamePark Holdings GP2X
- Docking station
- AV cable
- Inteltron 7000 (famiclone)
- Controllers in poor state
- Microsoft Xbox x 3
- Microsoft Xbox 360 x 2
- Nintendo 64
- Original controller
- retro-bit Tribute64 controller x 3
- Doom game cartridge
- Super 64 SD card cartridge
- Nintendo Game Boy (yellow case)
- ElCheapoSD v2.2 flash cart by BennVenn
- Nintendo Wii
- Wii Balance Board
- uDraw GameTablet
- No-name famiclone x 2
- Philips Videopac G7000
- Video output not stable
- Sony PlayStation
- Does not work with games, plays only audio CDs
- Sony PlayStation 2
- Sony PlayStation 3
- Sony PlayStation 3 Slim
- uDraw GameTablet
- Sony PSone
Calculators
- Hewlett-Packard HP-28C
- Hewlett-Packard HP-41CX
- Hewlett-Packard HP-48GX
- Texas Instruments SR-50A x 2
- Texas Instruments TI-85
Terminals
- Compaq T30 thin client
- Digital VT320
- Digital DECWriter IV
- Goldstar GDT-6225
- Hewlett-Packard Envizex X terminal
- NCD HMX X terminal
- Nokia VT-220A
- TeleVideo Model 910+
Other devices
- Intel SDK-86
Peripherals
- Apple Personal LaserWriter NT
- Commodore 1084-P monitor
- Hewlett-Packard LaserJet III
- PostScript cartridge
- JetDirect card
- Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4
- JetDirect card
- Hewlett-Packard ScanJet 3p
- Philips CM8833-II monitor
- Sony Glasstron PLM-S700E head-mounted display
CPU architectures
Most major microprocessor architectures are present in my collection of old (and new) computers and embedded devices. Here's a list of them with examples of devices utilizing them.
- AMD Am29000
- RAID controllers
- ARM
- Psion handhelds
- and many, many, many more
- Atmel AVR
- Arduinos
- DEC Alpha
- Digital AlphaStation 200 4/233: 21064A
- Hitachi SuperH
- Hewlett-Packard Jornada 547: SH-3
- HP Saturn
- Hewlett-Packard HP-48GX
- Hewlett-Packard HP-28C
- Intel i960
- Hewlett-Packard Envizex X terminal
- RAID controllers
- Intel MCS-48
- Philips Videopac G7000
- MIPS
- Nintendo 64: R4300i
- SGI Octane 2
- Sony PlayStation, PS one: R3000
- MOS Technology 6502
- Atari Lynx II: WDC 65SC02
- Commodore 64: 6510
- TeleVideo Model 910+
- Motorola 68000
- Apple Macintosh Classic, Classic II
- Atari 520STFM
- Commodore Amiga 500, 2000
- PA-RISC
- HP C3750, J5600
- PowerPC
- Apple Power Macintosh 7100
- Nintendo Wii
- RCA 1802
- SPARC
- Sun SPARCstation IPC, IPX, 10, Ultra 2, Ultra 5, Ultra Enterprise 450
- Texas Instruments MSP430
- eZ430-Chronos Development Tool
- VAX
-
- Digital VAXstation 3100, 4000 90A, 4000 VLC
- x86
- Intel SDK-86: Intel 8086
- HP 150: Intel 8088
- HP 200LX, OmniGo 700LX: Intel 80186 compatible
- Goldstar GS210: AMD N80L286-12/S
- Toshiba T3100e: Intel 80286
- IBM PS/1: 80386SX
- and many, many, many more..
- Zilog Z80
- ColecoVision
- Sharp MZ-700, MZ-800
- Sinclair ZX Spectrum
- Texas Instruments TI-85
Links
Computer History Museum - I have visited The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, and highly recommend it to everyone :)Tynemouth Software blog
Old Vintage Computing Research
Ken Shirriff's blog
DOS Days
C64hq
Zimmers.net Commodore page
www.commodore.ca
The Museum of HP Calculators
HP Computer Museum
Spectrum Computing
Planet Sinclair
old-computers.com
CPU-World
The CPU Shack