I've been into computers since my dad got an original IBM PC in 1984. That should say a lot, as I'm only 21 now! Anyway, this page details the majority of the machines I've collected over the years. At first, I'm only providing information on machines that are reasonably complete. I have plenty of 486s and 386s that don't have much more than a motherboard in a case. They will be excluded for now, although I may make a separate page for the various bits and pieces lurking about in the dark corners of my computer room. Enjoy!
This computer was my main machine for a long time. I acquired it in 1996 on sale at Radio Shack. IBM had recently discontinued the series, and it came stock with 8MB RAM, a 1GB hard drive, and 0K CPU cache. Also a 133MHz Pentium processor. I had been u sing a 90MHz homebuilt Pentium machine with 256K cache. I learned very quickly that cache RAM can make all the difference in performance, and the P90 was faster. Unfortunately, I never got around to upgrading the cache RAM in this box, and I seriously dou bt the memory is available anymore. At some point, for some long-since forgotten reason, the original CPU was replaced with a Pentium 233, which the BIOS recognizes as a Pentium 166.
IBM Aptiva 2144-A12
Intel Pentium 233MHz (running at 166MHz due to system BIOS limitations)
48MB EDO DRAM
121MB IDE disk drive
4X Mitsumi CD-ROM drive
Trident TGUI-9680 video chipset w/1MB VRAM
Adaptec AHA-1542 SCSI host adapter
Iomega ZIP-100 external SCSI drive
Archive 11250-NP external parallel QIC80 tape backup (DC2120)
IBM mWave DSP sound card/28.8kbps modem
IBM OS/2 Warp Connect V3
Intel EtherExpress 16 Ethernet Adapter
Hewlett-Packard ScanJet 4c flatbed scanner
This computer has been named odin, dionysus, and chloris at various times since I've owned it. It was purchased for my mother way back in 1994, and has switched owners several times since. The motherboard has been swapped out so many times that I've lo st track. It was originally a 66MHz 486DX2 with 4MB RAM running MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11. At some point, it was vested with a Creative multimedia upgrade kit which included a 4X CD-ROM, a 16-bit SoundBlaster, and some cheap un-powered s peakers. My mother finally got tired of the dismal performance of this machine and gutted it for most of its peripherals. I ended up with the case, motherboard, etc. Its motherboard is not currently the original one, but rather one from an old DFI system which I no longer own. It was running SCO OpenServer 5.0.5 most recently, but has developed strange problems that make me think the motherboard and/or multi-I/O card are dying. It crashes randomly, and the BIOS always comes up with a FDC failure error. It beeps a lot too. I eventually plan on building a rackmount Pentium III server to funcionally replace this machine, although I doubt I'll end up using many (if any) of the current components.
Advanced Microdevices 4DX4 100MHz (Intel 486 DX4 clone)
20MB RAM
420MB Conner IDE hard drive
Intel EtherExpress 16 ethernet adapter
SCO OpenServer 5.0.5 (basically XENIX)
This laptop replaced an ancient Toshiba 486. I bought it direct from Dell in 2000 or 2001. It has run Windows 98, Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Red Hat Linux, and most recently netBSD. Not a horribly good machine-the keyboard ba rely works. It makes a good portable UNIX box with netBSD, provided you don't need "i", the down arrow, or "delete." Oh well, theres always telnet...
Dell Inspiron 3800 C450
Intel Celeron 450MHz
320MB RAM
4.5GB IDE hard drive
24X CD-ROM
ATI Rage P/M Mobility 8MB video chipset
Linksys 10bt ethernet adapter (PCMCIA)
NetBSD/i386 1.5
I'll post more on this machine once I get it hooked up to a monitor. All I know is that it's running an ancient version of the Slackware Linux distribution, that it's some flavor of 486, and that it dislikes booting into multiuser mode.
This machine is enormous. Not currently functional, as it is missing a hard drive, floppy drive, CD-ROM and memory. This is one of those massive full-tower monstrosities with 6 external 5.25" drive bays that only supports AT/Baby AT motherboards. It or iginally ran Solaris 7 for Intel. I plan to rebuild it as a Windows domain controller once I get the needed components
Intel Pentium 233 MMX
5.25" 1.2MB floppy drive
Internal QIC-80 tape backup unit
This is by far the most powerful of all my x86 machines. It is used for multitrack recording, and was acquired quite recently (2002). It is roughly descended from hesperos, from which it received most of its components. It does an admirable job of running Cakewalk Sonar 2.0, and gives me the capacity to do real-time DSP effects and lots of seperate tracks.
Advanced Microdevices Duron 1GHz (Intel Celeron clone)
128MB SDRAM
45GB IBM Deskstar ATA-100 hard disk
50X Acer CD-ROM
Hewlett-Packard 9100+ 8/4/2 CD-RW
ATI Rage IIc 8MB video (2X AGP)
Yamaha XG sound card
Windows XP Professional
This is the granddaddy of the x86 architecture: an original IBM PC. The real thing. Purchased in 1984 as my family's first home computer, it was passed to me in 1991 when my father upgraded to a shiny new NEC 386. I remember this machine having two ful l-bay 5.25" DS/DD floppy drives and a green-on-black CGA monitor. It was upgraded in approximately 1986 with a 30MB Fuji (not Fujitsu) MFM hard drive. It still works like a charm, albeit very slowly. The hard drive is loud, the power supply squeaky, and t he processor, plodding along at a dismal 4.77MHz, is slow. But, this computer is a joy to play with and write BASIC programs on, and reminds us of a time when multitasking and graphical user interfaces were unheard of. This computer is running IBM PC-DOS 3.21, and has WordStar 3.3, WordStar 6.0, Norton Utilities 1.2, IBM BASIC compiler, and a games pak. At some point the motherboard was replaced because the processor is not an Intel. I think the original IBM PC motherboard could only accommodate 64KB RAM on the system board, and this one has support for (and is loaded with) 256K
IBM Personal Computer (5150)
Advanced Microdevices D8088 processor (not sure why or when this was put in)
512K RAM (256KB on the system board, 256KB on a memory expansion card)
30MB Fuji MFM hard drive
ATI Graphics Solution video card (basically enhanced CGA)
IBM PC-DOS 3.21
This is my most recent Mac-related acquisition. A Mac Classic, this is the closest thing I have to an original Mac. All-in-one case, 512x384 9-inch monochrome monitor, no hard drive. Need to get an external hard drive and a copy of some really old syst em software on 880K disks to get this working. Very cool.
Two nearly-identical machines! One of them does not boot and is missing a floppy drive. These are LC 475s pulled from my old high school. I'll note configuration differences as appropriate.
Apple Macintosh LC 475
Motorola MC68LC040 25MHz
4MB RAM (LC 1--LC 2 does not have any RAM)
80MB SCSI hard drives
This was my first Mac. A Performa 475, this machine is identical to the LC 475 in form factor and system board, although it has a clock-doubled version of the MC68LC040 running at 50MHz internally and 25MHz externally. Fun to play games on and simply t o enjoy legacy system software (7.5.5)
Apple Macintosh Performa 475
Motrola MC68LC040 50MHz/25MHz
Needs RAM :(
160MB SCSI hard drive
System 7.5.5 (labeled as MacOS 7.5.5, although technically the MacOS name only refers to versions of the operating system 8 and higher, which is when Apple began selling the OS as a retail product rather than a free product for all Mac users.)
I bought this piece of garbage from a friend of mine for $40. It is slower than every 68k Mac I own, has a flaky PSU, and freezes when you put a disk into the floppy drive. However, it has built-in ethernet, and a CD-ROM drive.
Apple Power Macintosh 6100/60
IBM PowerPC 603e 60MHz
16MB EDO DRAM
500MB SCSI hard drive
2X CD-ROM
System 7.5.5
This is my main computer. I bought this PowerMac G4 new in 2000, and it is still a burner. At the time I bought it, it contained the biggest hard drive, fastest processor, most RAM, and biggest monitor I had ever owned. Although music has a high er clock rate, the G4 seems to be equally as fast, if not faster. It is still the only computer I own to contain a DVD-ROM drive. I use this for all of my day-to-day work. Excellent machine.
Apple Power Macintosh G4
IBM PowerPC G4 with AltiVec (Velocity engine) vector coprocessor, 400MHz
128MB PC-100 SDRAM
10GB ATA-66 hard drive
8X DVD-ROM
ATI Rage-128 16MB video
Apple 17" Studio Display (vertically flat)
Mac OS X 10.1
MacOS 9.1
The first Amiga I ever owned. My first experience with this amazingly well-designed architecture was in 1992 when I worked on a DOE-funded animation project at New Mexico State University. Despite a low (by today's standards) clock rate, these machines boot up in under 20 seconds. They have really good video support, and were some of the first machines to bring multimedia to the masses. I bought this fine specimen in 1999 from my C++ teacher.
Commodore Amiga 2000HD
Motorola 68000 6MHz
1MB fast RAM, 1MB chip RAM
Amiga ECS (enhanced chipset) architecture
100MB SCSI hard drive-on-a-card
Zorro-II bus
2.04 Kickstart ROMs
AmigaDOS 2.04
This Amiga is really really really nice. In fact, with the exception of the $800-plus PPC accelerators available, this Amiga has the fastest processor available on the platform. I bought this new in 2000, from Software Hut. It's a Gateway-era Amiga 400 0T with IDE support and AGA. Very nice machine. One of the gems of my collection.
Amiga 4000T
Motorola MC68060 50MHz with MMU/FPU (this is on a phase5 Cyberstorm 68K accelerator card with onboard SCSI)
2MB chip RAM, 20MB fast RAM
Amiga AGA/AA chipset architecture
4.5GB IDE hard disk
Zorro-III bus
X-Surf Zorro-II Ethernet card (10bt)
3.1 Kickstart ROMs
40X CD-ROM
AmigaOS 3.5
The first VAX I ever owned. It doesn't work at all, being plagued with a dead RD54 hard drive and a dead ethernet board. If I get it working, it will most likely be with a replacement hard drive and a TK50Z expansion. Not a terribly high priority right now
This box is a MicroVAX 3100. It is currently running NetBSD/vax 1.3, netbooted over my MOP server (dimetrius). It has a 2.1GB hard drive and a Plextor 1x CD-ROM. It awaits an RRD40 for loading VMS with. I'll keep the MOP server set up in case I ever get the urge to run NetBSD again.
Update! A Philips CM-215 CD-ROM drive has arrived. The hard drive would not accept a VMS install, so I pulled the hard drive out of lachesis, and VMS 7.2 installed without a hitch
This beautiful machine is in the process of being restored. It's a basic system, with 8MB RAM, no FPA, its PCS is not the writable variety, and the only disk expansion capability is Massbus.
I've devoted an entire page to this system, and the restoration thereof: VAX 11/750 Restoration Project
This mammoth box is eventually going to be my web server and music server. When fully loaded with disks, it will sport 320GB of fixed storage. It's PA-RISC architecture, but being a "Nova" class machine, it won't run any of the free OS solutions that will run on other PA-RISC machines, i.e. PA-RISC Linux. So, the next step is to get a copy of HP-UX. It has 320MB RAM.
History of the HP
The HP was pulled out of a defense contracting office as a trade-in, along with 2 Clary UPS units, a Dataproducts wide-format dot matrix printer, and a 700/96 terminal. It sat in the office at my workplace for months, until I convinced them it would be wise to let me take it and store it at my house. Technically, the machine is on loan to me indefinitely, until further notice. I don't imagine they'll be wanting it back, though. At some small expense, I bought a 1.2GB HP SCSI drive for it, but am still awaiting an OS.