Vintage Computer Festival Shows Off Ancient PCs

Markgor writes "Just finished looking through some pictures from the recent Vintage Computer Festival in Marlboro, Massachussetts, the first time that it's been held on the East coast. The best pic has to be the one of the Sol-20. Here in Ottawa, we have a bunch of vintage computers sitting in one of our museums, including an Altair, but I haven't seen an intact Sol-20 in a long long time"

Re:You Whippersnappers

[Anonymous Coward]

And you mean to tell me that, in all of your experience, you still don't know how to format a paragraph?

Re:I remember...

[WasterDave]

one transistor.

A transistor? A transistor? You LUCKY BASTARD. When I were a lad we had to switch currents with our teeth, and only when a wire marked "gate", which was shoved up me arse, went live with over a kilowatt.

took up half your backyard.

Half your back yard? You LUCKY LUCKY BASTARD. Ours took over t'town, and town next door. And it were so heavy that people making tide tables used to have to come to me mothers' door and ask where t'computer would be on such and such a date.

Dave

Re:Proof that Computers Get Better With Age

[BigBlockMopar]

And when you are 10 years old with one of those things(PEB), they are a royal bitch to carry around.

Tell me about it. I was the buffest ten-year-old on the playground, with bigger biceps and triceps than most of the bullies, and I thank Texas Instruments for that.

Vintage is not always a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

Unlike wine, computers do not get more potent with age.

A good marketing lesson here

[skilletlicker]

If you want your PC company to survive, don't name your computer SOL.

I remember...

[MortimerK]

I remember when computers only had

• one transistor.
• one bit of memory.
• no hertz.
• a keypad with no keys - just a sharp point that would prick your finger each time.
• a 4dpi video display with one pixel (black) that was fixed to the keypad (underneath).

It cost $80,000, would generate smoke, and took up half your backyard.
Yep, those were the days.

Proof that Computers Get Better With Age

[BigBlockMopar]

Unlike wine, computers do not get more potent with age.

I beg to differ. Here's a picture of the 32K RAM expansion card (and a few other cards) in a 1981 Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Peripheral Expansion Box [glowingplate.com]. Yes, they're clad in cast aluminum. Yes, the steel chassis is stamped of far thicker metal than the unibody of a Toyota Tercel.

On the other hand, I could beat someone over the head with a stick of SDRAM, but it would be more memorable to the DIMM than to the individual requiring the physical behavior modification.