your latest purchase

[robespierre]

Is the Scotch Videodisc a blank recordable? That's very cool.

[pentium]

It has all the marks of yes, but it's not like the other small run discs I've seen which have a ruby colored substrate and use glass discs.

[escimo]

I just received a Sun Ultra2 workstation. I think it's got a Creator3D (as opposed to the regular, non-3D Creator) card in there.

I don't remember non-creator Ultra 2 systems.

(...)
I'm pretty sure I have Creator3D, and certain it's Series 1. I've spent far, far too much time reading the Sun Frame Buffer FAQ lately trying to figure all this out!

Then you spent to much time because there're other ways. Look for the Part# 501-xxxx of your C3D board and compare it.

My last purchase: Siemens Nixdorf PCD-3Msx with with SBC containing NG80386SX-20 CPU, 4 MiB RAM, piggyback VGA board 512k RAM, all conected with 16-Bit ISA backplane. Rock-solid metal case, with excuse of the plastic front and back covers.

PCD3Msx_01.jpg (6.66 KiB) Viewed 540 times

Only need some upgrades, like FPU, 4MiB RAM more, NIC.

[Raion-Fox]

Almost made me think it was some MSX PC hybrid.

[itsvince725]

That reminds me a lot of the NCR 386s, but...more boring.

[Irinikus]

This doesn't really count as a purchase, as I was given this Olivetti M280 by a friend. It was a DOD machine, so unfortunately the hard drive was removed, so I will have to source another one for the machine. It did however come with it's, proper keyboard. I will also need to source an EGA monitor for the machine. (So this might take some time to get up and running)

This is probably one of the most solidly built computers that I've ever come across.

The motherboard isn't visible, as it's mounted in a compartment at the bottom of the machine.

[pauliedweasel]

I got mine at a bargain price. $1100 USD being the going rate for a good spec Tezro puts it out of the reach of most hobbyists.

Some of us can't even afford a Fuel, and that's basically 1/4 of a Tezro!

The thing that beats me is that Fuel's often tend to go for more than Tezro's do on the bay! (For some reason, they just seem to be more popular, maybe it's got something to do with their colour! )

The other day, I saw a fuel sell on the bay for $1800! (Granted that it was a 800MHz R16K, but that's still crazy!)

Sounds like I need to dig out all the Fuels in my storage shed. I even managed to find a couple of the audio dongles when I was buy Fuels.

[itsvince725]

I got mine at a bargain price. $1100 USD being the going rate for a good spec Tezro puts it out of the reach of most hobbyists.

Some of us can't even afford a Fuel, and that's basically 1/4 of a Tezro!

The thing that beats me is that Fuel's often tend to go for more than Tezro's do on the bay! (For some reason, they just seem to be more popular, maybe it's got something to do with their colour! )

The other day, I saw a fuel sell on the bay for $1800! (Granted that it was a 800MHz R16K, but that's still crazy!)

Sounds like I need to dig out all the Fuels in my storage shed. I even managed to find a couple of the audio dongles when I was buy Fuels.

Who knows, it might be worth your while to do so.

[jan-jaap]

I got several SGI related gizmos including an Indycase and this Infinite Reality decoration:

It's a 6" wafer, but I couldn't tell you if we're looking at GE chips here or something else.

Happy 2018 to you all!

[ClassicHasClass]

Ricoh Theta V for our upcoming vacation.

[thunderbird32]

Just got this nice thing in the mail (excuse the reflections, this thing is real shiny):


This is an "Altairduino". It's an MITS Altair 8800 simulator that runs on an Arduino Due. Certainly the closest I'll get to owning an Altair any time soon, and easier to keep maintained. It's slightly smaller than a real Altair front panel, and has both USB and Serial ports. My only complaint is that the cord on the DC adapter that came with it is only 3' long, but as it can be powered by USB as well, that's not that big of a deal.

I did kind of have my heart set on the PiDP-8 (similar idea but simulating a PDP-8 on a Raspberry Pi), but they have a waiting list. This one was almost immediately sent out. Some day I'll get the other as well (and maybe the PiDP-11, if he ever mass produces it).

[ScutBoy]

This is an "Altairduino". It's an MITS Altair 8800 simulator that runs on an Arduino Due. Certainly the closest I'll get to owning an Altair any time soon, and easier to keep maintained. It's slightly smaller than a real Altair front panel, and has both USB and Serial ports. My only complaint is that the cord on the DC adapter that came with it is only 3' long, but as it can be powered by USB as well, that's not that big of a deal.

I did kind of have my heart set on the PiDP-8 (similar idea but simulating a PDP-8 on a Raspberry Pi), but they have a waiting list. This one was almost immediately sent out. Some day I'll get the other as well (and maybe the PiDP-11, if he ever mass produces it).

Did you build it yourself, or have it built for you? I built this and two PiDP-8s (one for me, one for a friend) and found both to be fun to assemble, not to mention run and play with. I need to do some beauty shots of either/both of them hooked up to my ADM-3A.

Now I'm waiting for Oscar to release the PiDP-11. That will be fun!

[SiliconClassics]

Picked this up from Craigslist last weekend - it's an HP xw8400 workstation from 2007. Came with 16GB ECC memory (32GB max) and I've upgraded the processors to dual 3GHz Xeon x5365 for a total of 8 cores. It has onboard SATA, SAS, FireWire, IDE, and even has 9-pin serial, parallel, and floppy drive connectors on the motherboard, which makes it a nice system for interfacing with retro kit. I've installed a U320 SCSI card and my old Quadro FX 5500.

I've put Linux on it and will try to make the switch from Windows using this system. Still on XP and can't imagine upgrading to one of the newer spyware versions. Lots of work to do on this thing, it will be a winter project.

[thunderbird32]

This is an "Altairduino". It's an MITS Altair 8800 simulator that runs on an Arduino Due. Certainly the closest I'll get to owning an Altair any time soon, and easier to keep maintained. It's slightly smaller than a real Altair front panel, and has both USB and Serial ports. My only complaint is that the cord on the DC adapter that came with it is only 3' long, but as it can be powered by USB as well, that's not that big of a deal.

I did kind of have my heart set on the PiDP-8 (similar idea but simulating a PDP-8 on a Raspberry Pi), but they have a waiting list. This one was almost immediately sent out. Some day I'll get the other as well (and maybe the PiDP-11, if he ever mass produces it).

Did you build it yourself, or have it built for you? I built this and two PiDP-8s (one for me, one for a friend) and found both to be fun to assemble, not to mention run and play with. I need to do some beauty shots of either/both of them hooked up to my ADM-3A.

Now I'm waiting for Oscar to release the PiDP-11. That will be fun!

No, I didn't build it myself. Besides having a lack of faith in my out-of-practice soldering skills, I don't really have a great place in my apartment to do it. Cost a little more money, but worth it.

On the topic of the PiDP-8: I've emailed him my interest in reserving a one but never heard back. Do you know if this is typical? Do you think it is because there are none currently available?

[ScutBoy]

No, I didn't build it myself. Besides having a lack of faith in my out-of-practice soldering skills, I don't really have a great place in my apartment to do it. Cost a little more money, but worth it.

On the topic of the PiDP-8: I've emailed him my interest in reserving a one but never heard back. Do you know if this is typical? Do you think it is because there are none currently available?

I wouldn't say that's normal; Oscar usually has been good about responding the couple of times I've mailed him.