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Historic Microcomputer Restoration?
Pojodojo asks: "I am doing an independent study next semester with my computer science professor which we decided to call Historic Microcomputer Repair and Restoration. I will be working with such classics as the Altair 8080 and the Apple II. After I have repaired and or restored these machines, I will put them in a display for others to see. I have the opportunity for a modest budget to get equipment to put in the display, and would like to know is, what sort of things would you as fellow comp sci geeks like to see in a Historic Computer exhibit?"
this thing is mroe important seeing as it was used for years for video editing.
But who am I to judge.....
perpetually dwelling in the -1 pits
There was an amazing variety of 8-bit platforms manufactured between 1976-1985, the more you have the better. But take my advice, having refurbished a number of these machines: Plan on buying 3 for every one you get working, Ebay is your friend, no single machine is worth more than $5. You should be able to pick up core cpu/keyboards for $15 following these rules. Use a modern audio cable switch box and a single composite monitor to switch between them- Composite monitors are hard to find and expensive, but many modern cheap 15" TV sets have the correct RCA inputs.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
is to stick with well documented hardware. The two you've picked so far ought to more than fit the bill, but considering you've added "repair" to the title of the class, I assume you'll be doing pcb level hardware repair. This is a LOT of fun and frustration at the same time, but if you start digging into machines that nobody's thought of, cared about, or kept track of over the past 30+ years you probably will start getting into headaches of trying to diagnose some seriously weird bugs. Not to discourage you from this course of action, in fact far from it, it sounds like something I would have enjoyed in my public schooling days (or at least getting credit for it). Find clubs that support the machines and can give you advice, don't try to go it alone, after all, the machines were built by teams, teams should help you rebuild them. Most of all remember to have fun!
Next week's big festivities involve a restored PDP-1.
Their collection of hardware is pretty much unmatched, and is open to the public. What's on display is the tip of their collection's iceberg. Who knows what might be kicking around in the background, just waiting for a small team of geeks to restore?
And conversely, who knows what might be kicking around in your classmates' basements that's on CHM's wish list?
Here's some computers I'd recommend you try to get. Each represents one or more milestones to what we now consider commonplace. (I've left out some of the more obvious ones; please forgive me if I've named some you consider obvious.)
Desktops:
Commodore PET 2001 (color chicklet keyboard).
Sinclair ZX-80/81.
Coleco Adam.
DEC Rainbow 100.
Amiga 2000.
Portables:
TRS-80 Model 100/102.
Osborne 1.
Compaq suitcase PC.
HP 200LX.
Apple Newton.
Toshiba T1000.
"you could get a version of MS-DOS that would run on these beasts."
No you couldn't.
Not unless there was an 8088 or 8086 card you could put in them. I guess it is possible such a beast was sold but they would have been rare.
You could get CP/M for them and maybe ZPCR. I also remember a OS called LDOS I think was available as well.
Now the Model 16 could run Xenix which was very cool.
The first computer that Tandy made that ran MS-DOS I think was the Model 2000. It was better than the IBM CP but it wasn't PC compatible and failed in the marketplace.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
You might want to contact MARCH, The Mid-Atlantic Retro Computer Hobbyist group. They've only been around for a very short time, but they're gathering a lot of informative members. They are running an exhibit this weekend (May 13) in Wall, NJ. Their website is still just basic info, but they have a discussion forum on Yahoo as linked on their main page.