I actually find stuff like this interesting:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xt8gXLlfB5c

I'm trying to find out more about old computers. Not only do I think they are cool, but I believe learning about how they worked back then will help show me how they changed to work like they do now. I'm searching around for a forum where people share an interest in this sort of thing.

If you have any information for me, like books or websites to read, please post them here.

Well, this is more of a coffee-table kind of book, and it's much more concerned with the outsides of vintage computers than how they work, per se, but it's still pretty awesome:

http://www.amazon.com/Core-Memory-Visual-Vintage-Computers/dp/0811854426



All right, all right, so it's computer porn! That doesn't make it any less interesting!

I've been into vintage computers for years.  Even when I was in middle school, my school district was still using Apple II's and TRS-80s.  In my senior year, I realized how cool they had been.

I read a lot of books about it; the history of personal computers is so interesting because, like the old west, it changed the world but it can't ever again be like it was.  It's sounds odd, but the advent personal computer was a part of 60s/70s counterculture, too.  Infinite Loop is my favorite Apple book, but it covers the silicon valley pre-history also to set the stage.

I actually went the first (only) East Coast Vintage Computer Festival in 2001.  A guy who worked on the computers for the first lunar mission spoke, and the editor of Byte Magazine.  The trip was my high school graduation present.  I've put some of the pictures I took at the event on Flickr.


This one is particularly important. It's a minicomputer (mainframe, more like) running Spacewar. I got to play it  This was one of the first video games. There's a java clone of it here.

I possess:
Apple IIc
Apple, IIgs
Apple video monitor (basically a TV with no speakers, which I used it for)
Macintosh Classic
Atari 800XL
Atari 1200XL (not functional)
Plus various other accessories (like cassette drives) and software for all
Also, some gaming systems.

I got the Apple IIc and the monitor from a yard sale.  The family's data is still on the floppies they had, so I have a snapshot of how this computer was really used in their lives; context for the artifact.

Youtube has a wealth of old computer videos.  I was looking at ZX Spectrum videos just a few hours ago.

My asshole older brother keeps telling me that it's stupid, worthless pursuit.

Quote from: joliet_jane;1268294My asshole older brother keeps telling me that it's stupid, worthless pursuit.

If I was your brother I would get HIV soon.

Quote from: MrSaturnClock;1268344If I was your brother I would get HIV soon.

From black rape

im deffinatly interested, but for other reasons than your own, i love making art out of old outdated discared computers, i got in trouble in art class in middle school cause they told us to make something abstract and i stacked several apple II's on each other in the shape of a cross (with supports for the sides of course) and put a shitty image of zombie jesus spread evenly over the monitors


yea i also love the look of the inside of the computers, i make jewlry out of alot of things, i currently have a giant assed 16bit soundcard im going to get chrome dipped soon and its going to be "my chain"

Quote from: joliet_jane;1268294~

That stuff is so awesome
I definately am going to get my hands on that book you mentioned. I also want to find an old Apple ][ or something somewhere, but I will probably have to do it online. I really want to just get in and learn how computers work at thier most basic levels.

Quote from: Pappy Drewitt;1268384That stuff is so awesome
I definately am going to get my hands on that book you mentioned. I also want to find an old Apple ][ or something somewhere, but I will probably have to do it online. I really want to just get in and learn how computers work at thier most basic levels.

i know a guy who has a barnfull, if you want one i can find out pricing



the only bitch will be shipping, what state do you live in?

Quote from: Anime Girl;1268396i know a guy who has a barnfull, if you want one i can find out pricing



the only bitch will be shipping, what state do you live in?

Buffalo, New York. Do they work?

Quote from: Pappy Drewitt;1268404Buffalo, New York. Do they work?

yes, and im in arkansas, ill find this out


also if your looking for a commador 64 i got an extra