Mike’s Vintage Computer Collection
(Last update 1/6/26)
The systems are listed in order of age (based upon date made, not when I acquired them).
Unlike the 'Current' and 'Obsolete' computer pages, the machines on this page are sorted from the oldest to the newest.
The specifications for each system are specific to the units I own and are not meant to be a
list of all of the available configurations offered by the manufacturer.
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Two (2) Altos MP/M (multi-user CP/M) systems.
CPU: Zilog Z80A 4 MHz
Storage: Two 8" 1 MB floppy drives
Networking: Four RS232 serial ports for
ASCII terminals
O/S: Digital Research CP/M or MP/M
Up to four users could be accommodated on these machines, using terminals; each user got something like a 48K memory space. It has been difficult to pin-point the exact age of these machines; Altos Computer Systems was founded in 1976, and these appear to be one of their early models since it uses 8” floppy disks, a format that by 1980 was considered to be obsolete. In the machines I have, Altos mounted the floppy drives upside down, apparently by accident. The previous owner of these machines learned to always insert their floppies upside down to match! I have a small supply of 8” floppies that came with these machines. A typical CP/M screen shot is at
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Atari 800 System.
CPU:
MOS Technology 6502 1.79 MHz
Storage: Two internal cartridge slots. Atari 810 external 5.25" floppy drive 180 KB per disk
(90 KB per
side).
per 60-minute tape.
Graphics: 320 x 192 mono or 160 x 192 x 4 colors
Audio: Mono, up to 16-bit
Connectivity: RGB and TV-RF
output, bus
expansion slots, four joystick ports.
O/S: Atari DOS (proprietary)
One
of the big motivations for building this collection of antique computers is to able to finally play with
the many cool machines I couldn't afford back in the day; these first Atari computers were high on my list of
"wish I could have" machines.
Additional Links: |
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Two (2) Atari 400s. CPU:
MOS Technology 6502 1.79 MHz
RAM:
16 KB (max capacity)
Storage: One ROM cartridge slot (probable max 64 KB of memory
per cartridge).
Audio: Mono, up to 16-bit
Connectivity: RGB and TV-RF output, four joystick ports,
came with one Atari
joystick.
O/S: Atari proprietary
Additional Links:
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Timex Sinclair ZX81.
Storage:
Cassette port
Graphics: 24 lines x 32 characters text or monochrome 64 x 48 pixel graphics.
Audio: None
Misc
O/S: Sinclair ROM BASIC
A very popular home computer due to it’s low price of only $100. Over one million were sold before it was replaced by a model capable of color output. Expansion modules for this computer could be daisy-chained together from the side expansion slot. |
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Commodore VIC-20. Built circa 1981, purchased used in 2002. CPU: MOS Technology 6502 1.0 MHz
Storage:
One ROM cartridge slot,
Graphics: 22 lines x 23 characters text or 176 x 184
Audio: Mono
Connectivity: Expansion
port, serial port, joystick port
O/S: Commodore proprietary ROM BASIC
Another popular home computer due to it’s low
price ($299), in fact at
the time it was probably the least expensive machine that had a full-size keyboard and color graphics and sound. More than a million units were sold
during the couple of years that
this model was available.
In 1984 I was finally able to afford to buy my first computer, which was an IBM PCjr. The system cost around $1,200. For an extra $500 the IBM floppy drive could be added but I couldn't afford it, so I continued to use tape cassettes for storage. Both the original IBM PC and the PCjr were made with tape cassette interfaces.
Additional Links: |
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Two Commodore 64 machines.
Storage: Commodore
1541 5¼” 170K external
floppy drive.
Graphics: 24 lines x 40 characters text or 320 x 200 pixel graphics
with 16 colors.
Audio: Mono
Misc
O/S: Commodore proprietary ROM BASIC 2.0 Ken Polsson has created a
detailed
chronology of the
Commodore 64. Additional Links: |
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6. Commodore SX-64 Executive Portable. Built
circa 1984; purchased used in 2002.
RAM: 64 KB
Storage:
Internal 5¼”
170K floppy drive Commodore
1541 5¼” 170K external
floppy drive.
Graphics: Built-in 5" Color CRT, 24 lines x 40 characters text
or 320 x 200
pixel graphics with 16 colors.
Audio: Mono
Connectivity: Expansion
port, serial and parallel ports,
2 joystick ports.
O/S: Commodore proprietary ROM BASIC 2.0
Notable as the world’s first portable computer with a color screen. Due to it's high price (over $1,000 in 1984 dollars) only a small number were sold; this model today is sort-after by collectors. Like the later Commodore 128 (see below), the SX-64 had two CPUs; the 6510 to
run C64 software and the Z80 to run
CP/M applications. |
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Quasar HK-2600TE Hand Held Computer.
Storage: Three sockets for ROM expansion, ROMS can be up to
16 KB each.
Display: Built-in LCD, 1
lines x 26 characters text
Audio: None
Networking: Optional
modem
Misc
O/S: SNAP / ROM BASIC
This computer was also sold under the Panasonic brand name. You could make custom ROMs for it; insurance companies and others burned their own special programs on to the ROM chips for their representatives to use in the field.
This system and my Epson Geneva (see below) are the earliest systems in my collection with Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs).
Additional Links:
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Epson Geneva PX-8.
Storage: Interchangeable internal ROM application chips
(I have chips for WordStar
and Calc).
Display: Built-in LCD, 8
lines x 80 characters text,
graphics 480 x 64
pixels.
Audio: Built-in speaker, can play audio recorded on microcassette tape.
Networking: 300 baud
modem expansion base
Connectivity: Serial port, audio
in/out.
O/S: CP/M 2.2
This was a cool machine for it's time, with a multi-line flip-up screen, built-in micro-cassette drive
that could be used to record both data and audio, and
advanced peripherals like the battery-powered floppy
drive. There's a small community of folks that still use this system; one of them, Fred Jan Fraan, maintains an excellent web-site devoted to the PX-8.
The ROM application
WordStar included with this machine was at the time the dominant word processor
program. The publisher was
MicroPro; I visited their headquarters in
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Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
Storage:
Cartridge slot
Graphics: 24 lines x 32 characters text or 192 x 256 pixel graphics with 16 colors.
Audio: Mono
Connectivity: Cartridge port, cassette port, joystick port and bus
expansion slot.
O/S: Proprietary ROM BASIC This
was the second home computer that Texas Instruments made. It was
popular with over two million sold during it's lifetime.
Originally introduced in 1981 with a black and silver case, I have the
cheaper beige version that came out in 1983 and was priced at $99.
At one time Texas Instruments was selling
TI-99 computers at the rate of 150,000 per month; but after a
money-losing price war with Commodore and other competitors, TI left
the home computer market in 1984 and never returned.
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Apple IIc.
Storage:
Internal 5.25"
140 KB floppy drive
Graphics: 80 x 24 text, graphics 560 x 192 15 colors
Display: Apple 9" monochrome CRT monitor
Audio: Built-in speaker
Networking: 300 baud
modem expansion base
Connectivity: Serial ports, mouse/joystick port, floppy port,
video expansion port, audio out.
O/S: Apple ProDOS
Note:
While technically a portable, this machine, like most “portable” computers of
the day, needed to be plugged-in to an external power
source to run.
Additional Links:
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IBM PCjr. CPU: Intel 8088 4.3 MHz
RAM: 640 KB (max capacity)
Storage:
Two 5.25" 360 KB
floppy drives
Graphics: 80 x 25 line text, graphics 320 x 240 x 16 colors
or 640 x 200 x 4 colors
Display: IBM PCjr 13" RGB Color CRT monitor
Audio: Music and system sounds
Networking: Internal
300 baud modem card
Misc modules (I have three sidecars, the 512 KB memory
expansion, parallel port and the Speech Attachment).
O/S: IBM PC-DOS 2.1
I purchased
my first IBM PCjr brand new in March 1984 when it was first released; it
was in fact the first computer I actually owned (I had borrowed and
leased machines earlier). I had high hopes
that I would be able to make money by writing software for what
everyone thought would be a very successful system. I spent months
working on creating a Mac Paint clone for the system, but stopped the
project after it became clear that the Jr. was going to be a failure
and also because IBM itself published their own paint program for the
Jr. My machine was unfortunately eventually lost in the
1989 San
Francisco
earthquake, a fitting end to my disastrous PC Jr project.
I picked-up this particular Jr in 2002. It was
greatly customized by the previous owner to get around the original limitations. This version has a second floppy drive mounted in
it’s own chassis, with special ‘extension’ power and
signal cables running to it from the main case. An extra 512K of RAM was added using a memory
sidecar. Custom system drivers were added to the boot
floppy to allow DOS to see the second drive and the full
640K of RAM. This system is therefore probably
one of the most expanded Jr.s in existence;
the modifications do sound a little
funky, but I tested them and they actually work.
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Two (2) Commodore 128s. Built circa 1985,
purchased used in 2002.
RAM: 128 KB (not expandable)
Storage: Commodore
1541 5¼” 170K external floppy drive.
or 320 x 200 pixel graphics with 16 colors.
Audio: Mono
Connectivity: Expansion
port, serial and parallel ports,
2 joystick ports.
O/S: Commodore proprietary ROM BASIC 7.0,
An
upgrade from the C64 with multiple personalities. This system could be
run in Commodore 64 mode, 128 mode ("native") or in CP/M using the
built-in second CPU, a CP/M-compatible Z80A. René van Belzen has a good C128 info
page
here.
In
1986 GEOS was released, a graphical operating system which was
Commodore's response to the Apple Macintosh. I picked up a copy
of GEOS
but haven't had time yet to try it out. The
screen shot at right shows a typical GEOS desktop view.
Additional Links: |
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Commodore Amiga 1000
RAM: 512 KB (expandable to 8 MB)
Storage: Internal
3.5" 880 KB
floppy drive
Graphics: 320 x 200 with 4,096 color
palette or 640 x 400 x 16 colors.
Display: Amiga Color CRT 13"
Audio: Stereo 8 bit 28 KHz sampling rate
Misc
O/S:
Amiga OS 1.x Historical Notes: This was the first Amiga model, introduced in 1985. It was
considered a revolutionary machine due to it’s advanced
color graphics (see screen shot at right). It had a 4,096 color
palette at a time
when the IBM PC was limited to 16 colors and the Mac was monochrome only.
As a result, the Amiga developed a
large and almost fanatical following in it’s
time. Commodore went bust in 1994, but
fans
of this machine and it’s operating system continue to try to get the
platform
resurrected in some form.
Additional Links:
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Nintendo Entertainment System Game
Console. CPU: Ricoh 2A03 8-bit 1.79 MHz, based upon a MOS Technology 6502 core.
RAM:
2 KB
Storage:
Proprietary
game cartridges,
usually up to 64 KB
capacity.
O/S: Proprietary
Misc plus also the
NES Zapper
light gun (see photo).
The game cartridges are huge, each one is close to the size and weight of a modern-day Sony Playstation Portable. A NES cartridge usually contains two ROM chips - one for the game program itself and the second for the game's graphics. For the more elaborate games, bank-switching could be used to get around the 48 KB memory limit. Further info on the cartridges and instructions on how to hack one can be found here. |
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Purchased new in 1986.
CPU: Intel 8086 7.0 MHz
RAM: 640 KB (max capacity)
Storage: Internal
5.25" 320 KB
floppy drive,
Graphics: 640 x 200 monochrome
Display: Built-in 11"
gas plasma screen
Audio: Speaker for beeps
Misc
Hardware: Built-in
thermal printer, serial and parallel
ports.
O/S:
MS-DOS 2.0 This was the
second computer I ever owned.
With the gas plasma screen and built-in thermal printer, the Executive Partner was an
exotic & expensive machine for it’s time. It originally cost $5,000, but due to a trade dispute this model in 1986 could no longer be imported into
the United States. I therefore picked this unit
up for a considerable discount and I paid the dealer to replace one of
the two floppy drives this system originally had with
an 20 MB hard drive. This is the oldest system
in my collection with a hard drive.
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Apple IIe Platinum Built circa 1987, purchased used in 2001.
RAM: 128 KB (max capacity)
Storage: Two
external 5.25" 140 KB
floppy drives
Graphics: 560x192 monochrome,
140x192 16-color.
Display: Apple Color CRT
Audio: Speaker for beeps
Misc
O/S: Apple DOS and ProDOS My first paying programming job was writing an educational game for
the Apple II, in 1983. The Apple II probably had the longest manufacturing life of
any microcomputer design; stretching from 1977
through 1993 (seventeen years!). A detailed history of the entire Apple II
line can be found
here.
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Apple Macintosh SE
RAM: 1 MB expandable to 4 MB
Storage: 80 MB SCSI internal hard drive, One 800 KB 3.5" floppy drive,
SCSI port (5 Kbps) for external devices.
Graphics: 512 x 342 monochrome
Display:
Built-in 9" CRT monochrome
Audio: Mono 8-bit, minijack out, also built-in speaker.
Connectivity: 1 SE PDS internal slot, 2 external
ADB
O/S:
Apple System 6.0.3 My first original form-factor Mac; been wanting to get one of these ever since 1984. :)
The original Mac introduced in 1984 set the computer world on fire with it's graphical interface and 'appliance' orientation. The SE and the Mac II were both released in 1987, and were the first really expandable Macs which marked a move away from the original 'computer appliance' concept. The SE's expansion slot was labeled 'PDS', short for Processor Direct Slot; it can take accelerator cards up to 50 MHz in speed. This was also the first Mac with a cooling fan, a feature that Steve Jobs had forbidden in previous models (by 1987 Jobs was no longer at Apple).
I actually picked-up two Mac SEs from the seller; they both power-up but only one of them is able to boot from the internal hard drive.
The working machine currently has Apple System 6.0.3 installed (see screenshot at right). It also has Microsoft Word 3.0. The most recent O.S. that an SE can run is System 7.5.5.
The list price of this
system in 1987 with the original 20 MB hard drive was $3,700; the equivalent of $10,784 in late 2025. |
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CPU: Motorola 68000 8.0 MHz
RAM: 4 MB (max capacity)
Storage: Internal
3.5" 720 KB
floppy drive. with 20 MB drives. 32KB x 6 ROMs for the BIOS.
Displays: One Atari Color CRT monitor
and
one Atari Monochrome monitor.
Audio: Yamaha stereo chip
Connectivity:
MIDI in-out,
serial, parallel, joystick, mouse, RGB ports.
O/S: TOS / GEM (Graphical Environment Manager) 2.x
This
was the computer for folks in the Eighties who wanted an Apple
Macintosh but couldn't afford one. It used the same CPU as the
Macintosh and a graphical operating system but was priced thousands
less than a similarly-configured Mac. Comparing the systems, the
Atari STs had more memory, color and expandability, but the Mac had an
edge when it came to industrial design and presentation. For
example, the graphical design of the Mac operating system was superior
to Atari's. Apple did introduce a color-capable Macintosh a year after
the first Atari ST, but it cost over $5,000 (around $9,300 in 2009 and
$14,574 in late 2025 dollars). In comparison, a
similarly-equipped color Mega 4 sold for only $2,600 ($4,800 in 2009,
$7,578 in late 2025 dollars).
The GEM operating system was developed by
Digital
Research,
a company that in the early days was a leader in the field of
microcomputer operating systems but eventually lost the market to
Microsoft.
Additional Links:
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19.
Atari Portfolio palmtop computer.
RAM: 128 KB (not expandable)
Storage: 128 KB ROM, Atari memory storage cards (128 KB to
640 KB each).
Display: 240
x 64 monochrome LCD
Audio: Speaker for beeps
Misc
application cards, also hardware modules such as modems,
an Atari PowerBasic application card.
O/S:
DIP DOS 2.11 (MS-DOS clone) The Intel 80C88 CPU is
a low-power CMOS version of the venerable 8088, the
brain of the original IBM PC. Thanks to this chip and the absence of any disk drives this computer runs on ordinary 'AA' batteries. I purchased several of the Atari accessories for this system (shown in photo at right): The Atari Parallel Printer Interface module, the Atari PowerBasic card and the PC Card Drive which allows a regular PC to read and write Atari memory cards.
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Sega Genesis / Mega Drive Game
Console.
CPU:
Motorola 68000 16-bit 7.67 MHz
plus
RAM: 64
KB
Storage:
Proprietary
game cartridges, up to 5 MB capacity.
Connectivity: Two game controller ports,
"EXT" serial port.
O/S: Proprietary
One of the first 16-bit game consoles, this was Sega's most successful system with 29 million sold. In Japan it was called the "Mega Drive", in the rest of the world the "Genesis".
The unit I acquired
was the first and most elaborate version of the Genesis, equipped with a volume control, stereo headphone jack and
RF out port. These features were eliminated from later versions to save cost.
With the console I acquired eight game cartridges and one controller, as shown in the photo.
I listed the cartridge capacity at 5 MB since reportedly that was the largest ever made for the Genesis, but technical info I have found on game cartridge design indicates that the actual limit was the size of the CPU's address space. In the case of the Genesis that was 16 MB. Some game consoles supported memory bank switching which allowed even the CPU address space limit to be exceeded. The real constraint on cartridge capacity was the cost of the ROM chips, which for obvious reasons could not exceed the game's selling price. In the end this is what eventually killed the cartridge format; optical discs ended-up being able to hold far more information at a much lower cost.
The
progression in console game size has been remarkable; in 1985 the typical size was 48 KiloBytes
or less; in 2008, a Playstation 3 game can be
up to 50 GigaBytes (the maximum capacity of a
Blu-Ray disc) -
a staggering one million times the average size of a 1985 cartridge. |
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Custom Intel 80386
tower system.
RAM: 4 MB (max capacity of motherboard)
Storage:
Internal 5.25" 1.2 MB
floppy drive
CD-ROM 2x drive
Graphics:
VGA 640 x 480 color
Display: Generic VGA Color CRT
Audio: Sound Blaster stereo card
Connectivity: Parallel printer port card,
serial port card.
O/S:
MS-DOS, Windows 3.11 Originally had a Control Data 330 MB
ESDI
hard drive, with
SCO Xenix installed (I was an authorized SCO dealer
and major Xenix/Unix fan back in the day). Circa 1993 I upgraded the system with a CD-ROM drive, VGA card (to replace the original mono graphics adapter), and a Sound Blaster to make the system ‘game ready’. Around this time I also converted the machine over to Windows 3.11 (see screen shot at right), as more of my paying work was on this platform and the Xenix work was drying up.
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IBM PS/2 Model P70-386 Portable
RAM: 16 MB (official max for this model)
Storage:
Internal 3.5" 1.44 MB
floppy drive
Graphics: VGA 640 x 480, grayscale on internal screen,
16 colors on external monitor.
Display: Built-in 'pop-up'
gas plasma
Audio: PC speaker for beeps - for proper audio, a sound card
needs to be installed in one of the MC expansion slots.
Connectivity: One 16-bit and one 32-bit Micro Channel expansion slots, parallel and serial ports, VGA port, PS/2 mouse,
external drive port.
O/S: PC-DOS, OS/2 and Windows capable.
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Commodore Amiga 3000
RAM: 2 MB (expandable to 16 MB)
Storage: Internal
3.5" 880 KB
floppy drive
Graphics: 320 x 240 and up, 4096 colors
Display: Amiga Color CRT 13"
Audio: Stereo 8 bit 28 KHz sampling rate
Connectivity: 'Zorro3' expansion
slots, serial and parallel
O/S:
Amiga OS
2.0 Considered a high-powered graphics workstation in
it’s time, this computer was featured on the
cover of Byte magazine when it was introduced
back in 1990. The Amiga 2000, 3000 and 4000 series were often used for video production work; well-known video tools such as Newtek’s Video Toaster card and the Lightwave 3D program were originally developed for the Amiga platform. Extensive technical information on the 3000 is available here and here.
2025 Update:
I found that the built-in battery had spilled acid on the motherboard,
damaging some of the traces. The board will need to be repaired to make
this computer work again.
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NeXT Computer NeXTstation Color Turbo
CPU: Motorola 68040 33 MHz
RAM: 32 MB (expandable to 128 MB)
Storage: Internal
3.5" 2.88 MB
floppy drive
External Plextor SCSI
CD-ROM drive
Graphics: 1120 x 832 16-bit color
Display: Next Megapixel 21" Color CRT
Audio: Stereo 16 bit 44 KHz sampling rate
Networking: 10Base-T Ethernet
O/S:
NextStep 3.3 An exotic, high-end Unix-based workstation. This model was the most advanced one built by NeXT Computer before the company exited the hardware business in 1993. This system with the NeXT color monitor cost around $10,000 new in 1992 ($23,000 in 2025 dollars).
History: NeXT Computer was founded by
Steve Jobs in 1986 after he was forced out
of Apple Computer. In 1988 they shipped their first
system, a cube-shaped computer in fact known simply as
“the Cube”. At the time, I worked for the company
that made the first circuit boards for the Cube,
Norcal Tech Incorporated of
Additional Info: |
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Apple Macintosh Performa 466 / LC III+ CPU: Motorola 68030 33 MHz
RAM: 20 MB (expandable to 36 MB)
Storage:
Quantum
CTS160S 160 MB
SCSI hard drive
Graphics: 640 x 480 x 256 colors with standard 512K of VRAM; with optional 256K VRAM expansion up to 832 x 624 x 65,000 colors.
Monitor:
Apple
Color Plus 14" Trinitron CRT, 640 x 480
fixed resolution.
Audio: Mono 8-bit 22 KHz with built-in speaker, also external speaker
and microphone jacks.
Connectivity: One internal LC III Processor Direct expansion Slot,
one external SCSI port and
O/S:
Mac
System
7.1P6
This system was sold under the "Performa" mass market label, but under the skin is a Macintosh LC III+ with a larger hard drive. The "LC" line inaugurated a low-profile "pizza box" style case which was used for several Mac generations. This "III" version fixed most of the issues of the original LC line - it has a true 32-bit bus, expandable video memory and a decent-sized hard drive.
System 7, the operating system version supplied with this machine, was a major step up from previous editions. It featured full-time co-operative multitasking, TrueType fonts, a full-color interface and a built-in scripting language among many other improvements.
The system I acquired has the well-known "After Dark" screen saver installed. This was a very popular program back in the early Nineties, with its flying toasters imagery becoming something of a computer cultural icon of the time (see screen shot at right).
With
this machine, I now have eight systems with CPUs from the Motorola
68xxx line. This is exceeded only by the nine different computers
I have that all use a variant of the MOS Technology 6502 CPU. The LC III+ was one of the last
Apple computers to use a 68xxx chip; two years
later Apple switched to the PowerPC platform (see the
entry for my PowerMac 9500, below). In 2006 Apple
switched platforms again, this time to Intel x86
processors. In 2020 Apple changed to their own ARM-based CPUs, designated the "M" series.
Additional
Links:
Apple History - LC III+/Performa 466 page
Apple - Macintosh Performa 466
Specifications |
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Apple Newton MessagePad 110
CPU: ARM 610 20 MHz
RAM: 1 MB
Storage: 4 MB ROM
Display:
320 x 240 monochrome touch-screen
LCD
Connectivity: PCMCIA Type II expansion slot, infrared sensor,
Appletalk / Serial port.
OS: Newton OS
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Apple PowerMac 9500
CPU: PowerPC 604 132 MHz
RAM:
330 MB (12 DIMM
slots, officially expandable
Storage: Quantum Atlas 4.5 GB SCSI hard drive (originally came with a 2 GB drive). Apple CD-ROM 4x drive. Apple 1.4 MB floppy Superdrive.
Graphics: ATI Rage 128 Xclaim VR All-In-Wonder combination 3D graphics, TV out and
video
capture card with 16 MB VRAM, capable of upon resolution).
Networking: 10 MBps Ethernet with both standard 10BASE-T and Apple proprietary AAUI connectors.
Connectivity: 6 PCI slots (one used by the video card), 2 serial ports,
Special
O/S:
Mac OS 8.6
Along with the follow-on model 9600, this was the last of the
super-expandable
PowerMacs, with no less than 6
PCI
card slots and
12 (!) memory slots.
It was the first Mac to use industry-standard PCI bus (all previous
models had used proprietary expansion card slots or had no slots). In 1995 this was
Apple's
top-of-the-line system with a retail price of $5,000 plus ($10,000 in 2025 dollars). In 2000 when I purchased this machine, the 9500/9600 series was still popular with Mac
enthusiasts who needed the expandability these systems had for specialized tasks such
as high-end audio & video post-production.
The Miro DC30 video capture card was originally in my Dell XPS Dimension Pentium PC; when I gave away the Dell to a cousin who needed a computer I moved the card to my Mac. The DC30 was one of the first video capture cards that could both capture &output high-quality analog video. This was the first Macintosh I ever owned; in five years of use I had to replace the power supply, video card and hard drive which all suffered fatal breakdowns; part of the perils of keeping an old computer running! In 2006 I acquired a used G4 PowerMac and so this machine has been retired to my ‘antique’ collection.
Additional info:
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(From Wikipedia) Larger version
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Sega Saturn Game
Console CPU: Dual CPUs - Hitachi SuperH2 28.6 MHz 32-bit RISC with 4K cache
RAM: 2
MB
Storage:
CD-ROM
2X drive, also
slot for optional 512K
memory cartridge
O/S: Proprietary
Connectivity: Two game controller ports, serial port.
One game controller.
Unfortunately
the programming tools at the time did not do a good job of supporting
this type of architecture and so the capabilities of the hardware were
often not fully utilized by games. However multiple processors was the
way of the future; a decade later both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3
consoles were multi-processor
systems. |
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Toshiba Satellite
110CT, 11.3” LCD screen
CPU: Pentium 100 MHz
RAM:
40 MB (max capacity)
Storage:
Internal 800 MB HD. stereo speakers and can also function as a standalone battery- powered CD music player).
Display: 11.3 " Active Matrix TFT-LCD 800 x 600 16-bit color
Graphics: C&T CT65548 1 MB VRAM up to 1024 x 768 x 256 colors
when connected to external display.
Connectivity: PC-Card slot, serial and parallel ports.
O/S: Windows 95 This was my first laptop
computer. At $2,400 ($4,800 in 2025 dollars) it was one of the first "affordable" machines to have an active-matrix (instead of
passive) LCD screen; previously such a feature was confined to
portables costing far more. It was also one of the first
laptops capable
of displaying thousands of colors.
As computers with optical drives and good audio became more
wide-spread, the lack these capabilities
in this machine
started to be a problem; around 1999 I
purchased the IBM external CD drive, which
also added audio functionality. |
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Nintendo 64 Game
Console CPU: MIPS R4300i 64-bit RISC 93.75 MHz,
Silicon Graphics Reality Co-Processor,
RAM:
4 MB
Storage: Plug-in ROM game cartridges (maximum capacity 64 MB);
some cartridges also contained writable memory for game saves.
for saving game data.
O/S: Proprietary
Accessories: |
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Apple iMac DV SE (Digital Video
Special Edition). Manufactured circa 1999, purchased
used in 2008. CPU: PowerPC G3 400 MHz 512K L2 cache
RAM:
256
MB
Storage:
Internal 13 GB Ultra-ATA Hard Drive
Display: Built-in 15" CRT (13.8" viewable)
Networking: 10/100
Ethernet, 56K Modem, available slot for Airport card (WiFi).
O/S: Apple OS 9.2, supports up to OS X 10.4.
Additional Info:
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Three Sega Dreamcasts
Memory: 16 MB main memory, plus 8 MB video RAM, 2 MB for sound
(not expandable).
Storage: Yamaha GD-ROM drive, 1.2 GB capacity.
Sega Visual Memory Units ("VMU"s)
with
Networking: Integrated 56K analog modem
O/S: Custom version of Microsoft Windows CE
4 Sega game controllers white opaque 1 Sega game controller blue translucent
1 Sega "Millennium 2000" game
controller, 1 Nyco game controller purple translucent 1 Intec game controller white opaque 1 Performance game controller blue opaque
1 Interact game controller white opaque 6 Performance Tremor Paks 1 Microphone
1 Gameshark CDX "Game Enhancer" A very advanced game system for its time; some of the hardware, like the Visual Memory Units ("VMU"s), were more sophisticated than what is available for today's game consoles.
The VMUs are fascinating little gadgets (see close-up photo at right); they plug into the game controllers and feature a small LCD screen and built-in memory for game saves. The LCD screen is used to display images downloaded from the current game being played on the console. The VMUs can also be unplugged from the controllers and used standalone to run mini games; besides the LCD screen, each VMU has a tiny 4-axis controller and game control buttons ("A", "B" plus Mode).
I acquired 16 games for this system, including "Crazy Taxi" (see screenshot at right), "Shenmue", "Resident Evil Code Veronica", and "Seaman".
Home-brew folks have figured out how to run Linux and the Windows CE Toolkit on the Dreamcast.
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Palm Vx PDA
Memory /
Display: 3.2 " 160 x 160 4-bit (16 shades) grayscale touch-screen
Special
Connectivity: RS232 serial port |
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Handspring Visor Deluxe PDA
Memory /
Display: 3.2 " 160 x 160 4-bit grayscale touch-screen
Special
Infrared sensor
OS: Palm 3.1
This Palm-compatible PDA has a special slot for add-on modules. I have one of these ‘Springboard’ modules,
the
Magellan GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver purchased in 2002. |
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Jakks "Plug-and-Play" TV Game Machines. These devices
resemble joysticks but in fact are complete game machines, with a CPU, memory and a number of classic games built-in. There is little technical info available on these devices, but since they reportedly emulate an old Atari 2600 game console, below are the minimum specifications based upon the 2600 architecture:
Memory / per game.
Graphics: 160 x 192 x 128 colors, analog NTSC Color output.
Audio: Mono analog
Special supported). Joystick controller built-in.
OS: Proprietary
Games:
Ms Pac-Man TV
Game Machine:
Mappy
Xevious Atari
Classics 10 in 1 TV Game:
Missile Command
Pong Links: Wikipedia TV Game Page
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Motorola T730 Cell Phone CPU: Qualcomm MSM5100 System-On-Chip 32-bit based upon ARMv4 architecture. RAM: 400 KB
Storage: 1.5 MB flash memory
plus 96 x 32 pixel front screen, monochrome.
OS: BREW 1.1 NOTE: Photo is of a T720, I could not find a high-res image of the T730. Cosmetically these two models are almost identical.
Some trivia - I have owned twelve cell phones since 1989: 2010 - Samsung Galaxy S 2012 - Samsung Galaxy SIII
2016 - Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (recalled) 2016 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus 2024 - Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
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