"Mark Metzler wrote:
I was in WalMart last night, and I swung by the Electronics area. I was curious as to how much a replacement drive would cost me for my PC at home, which has a 17gb drive in it. They had a 80gig drive sitting on the shelf next to the surge suppressors for $70. Never mind that it comes with the software to copy everything to the new drive. So I stood there trying to do the math on what it would cost to equate that volume of storage with ST506 drives at $1995.00 a pop. My head started hurting, so I rounded the ST506 to $2000.
It would take 16,000 ST506’s to reach the memory of the drive in WalMart (again sitting on the shelf, not behind a locked cabinet).
At $2000.00 a pop, it would cost me $32,000,000.00.
Now that would have been a nice sale, but would have been stolen by Jim Scharffe or Mike Daniel.
Here is another perspective. If stacked on top of one another, they would be as tall as a 667 story building.
If from sea level, they would stack high enough to top the tallest building in Downtown Denver.
If sold with a cabinet and power supply, Josef Rabinowitz would be retired. "
"Ohmigod! I'm reminded of when I worked for Heath Kline at Priority One Electronics in Chatsworth...and before that for Galaxy Computers in Woodland Hills when the Commodore 64 was introduced! We thought it huge compared to the Timex Sinclair...."
"We both have been into computers since 1970's & currently own 6 OSBORNE's in working condition. Although we use DOS now, we miss cpm & how actually FAST it was compared to Windows. We miss dBase. Append as well instead of Access now. We still have data on 5 1/4" discs we need to put into the dos machines we use now.
Sorry to hear you are leaving the business - we certainly hope you find a buyer who will keep the collection intact!
Best to you & your wonderful efforts!"
DONATE YOUR OLD
SYSTEM WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR VINTAGE COMPUTER SYSTEMS
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE TO
THE FREEMAN PC MUSEUM
Welcome to The Freeman PC Museum collection. The following is a complete list of vintage computer systems in the museum. Feel free to scroll through the list, view details of the system, see related links and advertisements, and join in on the mini forums for each of the systems.
The following list is complete. If you are searching for a particular model, manufacturer, or a list of computers from a particular year, use the "Search" form on the left. Thank you again for visiting The Freeman PC Museum, and enjoy.
Tandy 1400 FD notebook with AC power adapter. Also included is a Commodore external 101 key keyboard, a Weltec Digital, Inc. 5.25" external floppy drive.with power cord and cable, MS-DOS 3.3 operating system/GW-BASIC. A Practical Guide to the Tandy 1400 FD/1400 HD, Tandy 1400 FD/HD MS-DOS/GW-BASIC Quick Reference Guide, Tandy 1400 FD Sharp Organizer Link II Data Disk, Laplink LL3 disk, Flexform Form Letters disk, Checkers disk, and BM-First America. The computer has 768Kb of RAM (640K base + 128K expanded), two built-in 3 1/2-inch 720KB floppy disk drives, dual-speed 4.77/8.0 MHz, 16-bit V-20 cpu. It has built-in support for a printer, a color graphics monitor, RS-232C adapter, built-in speaker, 76 key IBM XT-compatible keyboard, and a 9" x 4" LCD that displays 25 lines and 80 columns with brightness adjustment. It comes in a gray cloth carrying case, and weighs in at approximately 18lbs. pounds.
1983: Texas Instruments, formerly the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, announces the CC-40 (Compact Computer 40). The CC-40 was TI's first entry into the portable computer market. Sales were slow, primarily due to lack of a mass storage device. Also the Wafertape Digital Tape Drive turned out to be far too unreliable.
The Hex-Bus interface allows expansion to printers, modems and an expansion interface. The data stored in RAM remains when you turn off the computer.
Apple Newton 130 with docking station, leather case, power supply, fax modem and
fold up stylus. The Apple Newton MessagePad 130, codenamed Dante, with 20MHz ARM 610 cpu, 8Mb of ROM, 2.5Mb of RAM,1,361Kb of Flash RAM, infrared, 320x240 pressure-sensitive backlit monochrome display. The Newton MessagePad 130 is similar to the MessagePad 120, but adds a backlit screen and more RAM, plus new version of the NewtonOS v2.0.
IMSAI 8048 Control Computer released in 1977. Works fine, requires a 5 volt power supply, which is not included. The 8048 was one of the first microcontrollers that included I/O, RAM, ROM, and a timer on chip. The 8048 was manufactured by Intel in 1977 and was used in many controller applications and computers including the original IBM PC keyboard and the Magnavox Odyssey 2 video game.
The complete single-board control computer sits on a 8.5"x10" PCB. Touted by IMS as the "World's First Single Chip Control Computer". Complete with manual in excellent condition.
Includes original schematics, operations manual, assembly language listing of the monitor program and a IMSAI short form catalog for Fall of 1977.
Only about 350 units were shipped.
Coleco Gemini Video Game System with 30 game cartridges including PacMan, Berzerk, Journey, Star Raiders, Centipede and the video touch pad for Star Raiders. The Gemini was a clone of the Atari 2600 VCS. Atari filed action against Coleco for this computer.
Vectrex Arcade console was released by Milton Bradley from 1982 to 1984. Named Vectrex because of the use of vector graphics. The system is a completely self contained video games console similar to a black & white 9"x11" TV. Around 30 game cartridges were available including Minestorm (a superb Asteroids type game), Clean Sweep, Berzerk, Scramble, Star Trek, HyperChase, Armor..Attack, Blitz! (a football game), Cosmic Chasm and from Cinematronics license Space Wars, Star Hawk, Rip-Off, and Solar Quest. All retail priced at $30.
