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Hardware Technology

2,200 Forgotten Vintage Computers Are Being Liberated From a Barn In Massachusetts (vice.com) 63

Posted by BeauHD from the story-time dept.
A collection of over 2,200 new old stock computers from the 1980s, manufactured by a company called NABU and featuring a groundbreaking pre-internet network, are being liberated from a barn in Massachusetts. "In a way, this is two stories: The first, of a breakthrough network from Canada, a consumer-friendly 1983 version of the internet decades ahead of its time," writes Ernie Smith via Motherboard. "The other story, of the man who got a hold of these machines, held onto them for 33 years, and mysteriously allowed them to flood the used market one day. One day, thanks to a confluence of the right people noticing the right eBay listings, these two stories merged and created a third story -- the tale of a computer network, brought back to life." An anonymous Slashdot reader shares an excerpt from the report: For more than two decades, the biggest retro computing story in recent memory sat like a sleeper cell in a Massachusetts barn. The barn was in danger of collapse. It could no longer protect the fleet of identical devices hiding inside. A story like this doesn't need the flash of a keynote or a high-profile marketing campaign. It really just needs someone to notice. And the reason anyone did notice was because this barn could no longer support the roughly 2,200 machines that hid on its second floor. These computers, with a weight equivalent to roughly 11 full-size vehicles, were basically new, other than the fact that they had sat unopened and unused for nearly four decades, roughly half that time inside this barn. Every box was "new old stock," essentially a manufactured time capsule, waiting to be found by somebody.

These machines, featuring the label of a forgotten brand built around an idea that was tragically too early to succeed, could have disappeared, anonymously, into the junkyard of history, as so many others like them have. Instead, they ended up on eBay, at a bargain-basement price of $59.99 each. And when the modern retro computing community turned them on, what they found was something worth bringing back to life. It took a while for anyone to notice these stylish metal-and-plastic machines from 1983. First, information spread like whispers in the community of tech forums, Discord servers, and Patreon channels where retro tech collectors hid. But then, a well-known tech YouTuber, Adrian Black, did a video about them, and these eBay machines, slapped with the logo of a company called NABU, were anonymous no more. [...]

Black was impressed. These devices, which utilized the landmark Z80 processor -- a chip common in embedded systems, arcade machines like Pac-Man, and home consoles like the Colecovision -- had an architecture very similar to the widely used MSX platform, making them a great choice for device hackers. (Well, minus the fact that they didn't have floppy drives.) Plus, they were essentially new. "It's new old stock, but it is tested," he says at the beginning of the clip. "I think the seller actually peeled the original tape off, tested it, and then taped it back up again." Essentially, this was the retro-computing version of a unicorn: An extremely obscure platform, being sold at a scale wide enough that basically anyone who wanted one could have it. And on top of all that, NABU -- an acronym standing for Natural Access to Bi-directional Utilities -- was essentially the 1983 version of AOL, except built around proprietary hardware. The flood of interest was so significant that it knocked the seller's eBay account offline for months while the company verified that the units were actually his. (They were.)

For people who love tinkering with devices, there was a lot to work with here, especially in 2023. There was a real chance that this relic of the past could live again, with its network available to anyone who took a chance on buying one of these devices. "The kind of hardware and software hacking that people are doing with those wouldn't have been possible 10 or even 5 years ago," says Sean Malseed, host of the popular YouTube channel Action Retro and one of the many people who bought a NABU from the mysterious eBay listing. "These machines were once considered basically e-waste, but instead they're seeing a very unlikely renaissance." So where did this computer come from? Why did this seller have so many? And why didn't you know about the NABU until now? [...]
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2,200 Forgotten Vintage Computers Are Being Liberated From a Barn In Massachusetts More

2,200 Forgotten Vintage Computers Are Being Liberated From a Barn In Massachusetts

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  • The components in those machines, like the capacitors, were only designed to last for 3 years, not for 40 years.

    • Re:How many of them actually work? (Score:4, Informative)

      by MBGMorden ( 803437 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @04:34PM (#63641264)

      These are new old stock, and things like that are typically that much usage time not calendar time. They're probably fine.

      Plus there's a pretty good track record of vintage computers from that era still being functional. Plus components of this era are pretty large - something like a blown capacity is a pretty easy replacement if needed (I actually had to replace a number of capacitors in my original Xbox about 2 years ago and even that was pretty easy).

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Put a crowbar circuit between the power supply and the mainboard - just to make sure it doesn't blow the magic smoke out of the various chips.

        The tantalum and electrolytic caps should be replaced, along with any carbon resistors.

        The above mods probably cost more than what you paid for the unit - but will ensure years of serviceable life.

        As for folks that think these are worthless junk... that's your opinion and you are welcome to it. But don't call someone stupid for wanting to learn about our industry's

        • Actually, the AC is right, electrolytics dry out over long periods even if unused, and the old Tantalums are dodgy with age. That said, I do a lot of recapping 80’s gear, and the ones that used good quality caps are surprisingly good still, mainly value drift rather than more serious shorts/leakage.

      • If any of them use EPROMs then they will need them reprogramming though - those things only keep data for ~20-30 years. But as long as you have the original image files that is fixable.

    • So replace the $5 worth of caps and call it a day. I routinely restore and use much older and larger computers.

      • The labor for the rework is the real cost. I agree that that actual parts cost should be trivial, but it would be easier to just replace every one than figure out which ones were bad.
    • I know another place that has tens of thousands of forgotten vintage computers, all still in working order. If you'd like them, you can pick them up from 1400 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC, United States.
  • Contradictions shouldn't be used as adjectives in a natural language.

    • The verbiage of "New Old Stock" is far too ingrained into the language to quibble with it.

    • Re:"New old"? Go with "never used." (Score:5, Informative)

      by msauve ( 701917 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @04:35PM (#63641274)
      "New old stock [wikipedia.org]" is a very commonly used phrase.
      • Then I'd say replace it with "legacy stock" or something like that.

        • Why's that? Everybody understands it. That's the purpose of language, isn't it?

          • Yes, but language has layers. Ideas can "hitchhike" in turns of phrase. Unironically using contradictions deadens people's logic instinct.

            It's fine in normal conversation, but using a contradiction as jargon? Bad news.

            • "Legacy stock" is less intuitive than "new old". Why I would leave chicken broth to my next of kin is mystifying.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward

          Or, people could just accept it as an established term of art - like Jumbo Shrimp.

          They are "old stock" (manufactured long ago) but are "new" (as in unopened and never used).

          A car last manufactured five years ago is an "old car", but if it's never been used or licensed, it's still a "new" car.

          And that's advice from a bit of a grammar Nazi. If your resume says you had the role or title of "Principle Engineer", you had darned well better be prepared to explain how you were responsible for developing the "princ

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by msauve ( 701917 )
            >If your resume says you had the role or title of "Principle Engineer", you had...

            better not be applying for a position which requires good language skills. It's "Principal Engineer." Some "grammar Nazi" you are.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by msauve ( 701917 )
          Nope. And it's not a contradiction as you claim. It's "new" as in unused, and "old" as in aged. It's a widely used, well known phrase known to just about everyone but you.
    • that may be so, however this term has been used for decades... and in many areas, not just for these computers. When I was a car guy, it was commonly used for car parts that were found in the backs of old, out of business car parts stores among other places/things... So, I doubt seriously that the term will go away, especially due to just one posting on Slashdot.

      You're jousting at a much bigger windmill than you think.

  • There's no easy way to boot these things. They apparently were set up to remote boot over the cable system. No mass storage device. They do have a floppy port but it looks highly nonstandard and you'd have to construct a custom cable.. Though I imagine you could use a flash floppy nowadays, at least.

  • Not very useful (Score:4, Interesting)

    by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @04:35PM (#63641272)

    I watched Adrian's video on the Nabu when it first came out. I'm glad I did and didn't purchase one of these things. These things were custom built for a cable company to act as a pseudo interactive cable box. $59 is even too much to scavenge parts from them. That video was made over 7 months ago so I'm going to assume this article is an advertisement trying to offload these things.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Stonent1 ( 594886 )
      DJ sures has already "hacked" the network and made an interface where it boots from a PC and has software to use.
    • +1

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kazymyr ( 190114 )

      ...and the price is $99 now, plus shipping. Coincidence? :)

      • ...and the price is $99 now, plus shipping. Coincidence? :)

        The latest - sold out! - eBay listing had them going for US$119.99. For new old stock that actually doesn't seem that bad considering that MSX computers are going for more on eBay used and hobbyists have managed to get MSX games running on NABU computers now.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      I watched Adrian's video on the Nabu when it first came out. I'm glad I did and didn't purchase one of these things. These things were custom built for a cable company to act as a pseudo interactive cable box. $59 is even too much to scavenge parts from them. That video was made over 7 months ago so I'm going to assume this article is an advertisement trying to offload these things.

      Good. We don't need people who are jumping into things as they're getting good.

      I mean, nothing could ever come from 7 months of

    • $60 is pretty damn cheap by retro computer standards.

      If you value your sanity, don't even look at Amiga prices these days.

  • I have known about them for months now. Why do you feel the need to be insulting just cause you just heard about them

  • Fame has its own reward.

  • Are there cruise missiles being implemented in this operation?

  • as the Leo Binkowski mentioned in this article... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Grokko ( 193875 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @06:34PM (#63641622)

    ...I am tickled pink that this story made it to the front page of Slashdot.

    So while I'm here, go ahead and ask me almost anything.

    I still haven't recovered everything. There are many NABU titles believed to be on a Cabserve DEMO system I have that will no longer boot or give me a directory. I was very fortunate to save a box of backups of source, including NABU PAC-MAN, Miner 2049er, Q*Bert, Alphablast and others that I'm trying to get some expert advice in old floppy and MFM hard drive extraction.

    All my NABUs have different boot ROMs, and the community have been having fun disassembling them and actually updating them.

    I didn't know the full story of the Barn and the ebay vendor until I saw this article. There were rumours, of course.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by quax ( 19371 )

      This is such a cool story. My son is intro retro computers and will soon enroll at York university. I am tempted to get him one of these machines.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Grokko ( 193875 )

        A great learning device, but if you can't get one, there is always the MAME emulator version.

    • Hi Leo

      I bought my NABU on E-Bay yesterday. I'm pretty excited for it's delivery soon I hope.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Grokko ( 193875 )

        I really do hope you have fun, and seek out the other help and projects, like those at forums.nabu.ca

  • GenXer here, who actually worked in IT in the late 80s. I have a really different take on this.

    GenZ and Millennials - Vinyl LPs are cool! They rock!
    GenX: Records suck. CDs are better in every possible way. Have fun with scratches and skips. That's why my generation gave up on records.

    GenZ and Millennials - Cassette tapes rock!
    GenX: Sigh. They're even worse quality wise than vinyl records.

    GenZ and Millennials: NABU computers rock!
    GenX: We moved on from 8 bit computers in the early 90s. Good luck with that.

    • GenZ and Millennials: NABU computers rock! GenX: We moved on from 8 bit computers in the early 90s. Good luck with that.

      I can safely say that the TI graphing calculators kept 8-bit processors though the 90s to the present with a fairly robust Z80 programing community still around.

      Vinyl LPs still suck though, only thing I can give GenZ is that they do tend to have better album art.

  • I looked at them, and as is they'd take a lot of work to get functional. I'm wondering if a business could be created where the base computer is purchased, an OS installed, any other issues taken care of (like maybe replacing the capacitors onboard) and then resold. The OS could be something classic like CP/M or Z80-RIO or maybe Zeal or Fuzix, include some development tools, and resell.

  • Nabu was an Ottawa, Ontario Canada company that built their system around the North American Presentation-Level-Protocol Syntax (NAPLPS) for providing information over the Cablevision networks. It had some amazing technology but like the Hyperion Computer, it was another "Next Great Thing" that failed...not from the tech, it was excellent for its day, it was the lack of venture capital to grow the company from the respectable beginnings into an international product offering.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Grokko ( 193875 )

      NABU did not do NAPLPs, ever. That history is wrong. They delivered an MSX compatible computer that was not capable of displaying NAPLPs protocol.

      You are correct about Venture Capital shutting off before NABU realized its potential. That and very greedy cable operators was its DOOM.

  • ...where you can buy one: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.htm... [ebay.com] . Enjoy!!

  • ....there are only really half-systems?
    They each also required a second local unit to operate (like a proprietary cable box, I think?), but nobody has those as far as I can tell?

    • A few of the cable modems are available but no one is buying them. They are an additional $60 but you don't need one because an RS422 adapter to ethernet puts the NABU on the net to connect with hobbyist recreations of the NABU network.

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