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Getting a Classic PC Working After 25 Years?

Posted by kdawson on from the lotus-123-baby dept.

tunersedge writes "Yesterday I dug out of my parents' basement a PC they had bought brand new in 1984: Epson Equity I personal computer; 512K RAM; 82-key keyboard; 2 (count 'em!, 2) 5.25" floppy disk drives; 13' RGB monitor (with contrast/brightness knobs); handy on/off switch; healthy 25-year-old yellowed plastic; absolutely no software. (My mom ran a pre-school, and they used it to keep records and payroll. I cut my programming teeth on this thing. GW-Basic was my friend. Kings Quest screens took 2 minutes to load when you walked into a new one.) When I resurrected this machine I pulled the case off, dusted out a little, and plugged it in. It actually fired up! I'm stoked, except the disks we had are missing. What I'm looking to do is either buy some old working disks with whatever I can find (MS-DOS 3.22, GW-Basic, whatever), or try and recreate some using a USB-based floppy drive and some modern software. Has anyone tried to resurrect a PC this old before?"

7 of 533 comments (clear)

  1. 512k! by webax · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well it's not *that* old, it's not like anyone has or ever will need more than 512K of ram...

  2. Just admit it... by ak3ldama · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yesterday I dug out of my parents' basement a PC they had bought brand new in 1984: Epson Equity I personal computer

    Just admit it, it was under your bed wasn't it? At least now it's on that thing you call a table.

    --
    "but money is the God of Algiers & Mahomet their prophet." - Rich. O'Bryen June 8th 1786
  3. Microsoft by frozentier · · Score: 5, Funny

    Microsoft is claiming that Windows 7 will work on such a machine, if you can wait a little while.

  4. Impressive by rjstanford · · Score: 5, Funny

    Personally, I'm more impressed with the 13 foot monitor. I'm assuming its some sort of front projection device. Wonder what the resolution is? :)

    --
    You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
    1. Re:Impressive by FatalTourist · · Score: 5, Funny

      Apparently it was found next to an 18" Stonehenge.

      --


      Escape Pod Films: Sketch Comedy and Web Series
  5. Re:You already know where to go for disks.... by Philip+K+Dickhead · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think that Windows 7 will have lower hardware requirements than Vista. Why not give it a try?

    --
    "Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
  6. Re:OT: sig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd like my operating system to have more than two possible settings.

    1) ON
    2) OFF
    3) NEITHER ON NOR OFF
    4) SOMEWHAT ON
    5) ROOTED
    6) FROZEN
    7) DEAD
    8) JUST MOSTLY DEAD