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superultragman

Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2017
Messages
21
Location
New York
Hey! This is my first foray into this hobby, and to be honest, i have no clue where to start! I've been wanting to get into this for a while.
So if anyone can tell me the basics, i would really like that.

Anyways, all introduction aside, what i really need to know from the people here is WHERE DO I START?!?!?! So what I want for my PC is, first and foremost, something that won't drain my pockets, can run 3.5 floppy disks, (possibly 5.25 ones too) and if it runs MS DOS, that would be great, but i suppose it isnt required.

Thanks! :-D
 
Where I started was the TRS-80 Model one but I'd consider the Model 4 or the Tandy 1000 series (MSDOS). Either that or I'd consider the Commodore 64 computer. The basic peripherals are inexpensive and the computer does a lot for the size and value!
 
To add to that, I'd look for an Apple IIe -- they still go for around $40 or less, and it is easy to get them bootstrapped from ground zero thanks to ADTPro (you can transfer floppy disks over the cassette port using the line-out of your desktop/laptop if you can't use serial). Additionally, a metric ton of Apple II software is available from various places on the internet.
 
Trixter said:
To add to that, I'd look for an Apple IIe -- they still go for around $40 or less, and it is easy to get them bootstrapped from ground zero thanks to ADTPro (you can transfer floppy disks over the cassette port using the line-out of your desktop/laptop if you can't use serial). Additionally, a metric ton of Apple II software is available from various places on the internet.
Click to expand...

You said you can pick one up for around 40 bucks, but where? Ebay is definitely a no because they already charge that much just for shipping. I was thinking of going to thrift stores but i dunno if they'll have anything
 
You can find them locally, I'm sure, in the New York area for that much or less.

If $40 is too much to start with the hobby, then I expect the best system for you to start with is the first system you're able to obtain within your budget.
 
Looks like OP wants a DOS machine with floppies. If you want one for cheap, that's basically going to use junk bin parts, look for a Pentium 2 or 3 with ISA slots. It will almost certainly have a floppy controller that supports both 3.5" and 5.25" floppy disks, and it'll run DOS fine. You can also run Windows 95/98/2000 and with sufficient RAM even XP is usable. Pentium 3 beige box machines should still be basically freebies. I'm sure if you're in the NYC area (I know NY isn't just NYC -- lived in Troy for five years) you can find one cheap. If you're upstate there's a few forum members there who would probably sell/give you a P3 box.
 
If you want to be a little more vintage than a Pentium II, get a 386 (or 486) machine with a 5 1/4" and 3.5" disk drive, and a hard drive. This will be your bridge system between the really old things like an IBM PC and modern machines. Most of us here have a machine we often call a "tweener" for moving files around easily. Nothing wrong with a Pentium box however, put DOS 6 on it and it'll do fine.

Compaq_Deskpro_386s_drives.jpg


Bill
 
If you're going the DOS machine with floppy disk era stuff....

If you are strapped for cash, the early PIII era on back to the Pentium 1 era is still reasonably inexpensive for the most part and fairly compatible with most of the late era DOS and Windows 9x games that were popular during that time (Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, Diablo....etc), it'll also be less "fiddly" for the newer software.

If you are willing to spend a little more, I consider the 80486 era to be the perfect "middle ground" when it comes to DOS/Win9x and Floppy drive enabled stuff. They have enough CPU variants available that if you go early (ie 486 DX-33, 486 SX) you have basically a top notch DOS gaming machine, but if you go into the later stuff (DX2, DX4, AMD 5x86 133 - the era of VLB and later PCi, and the dawn of high-speed disk access, large capacity drives, and high speed video accelerator cards) you can cover most of the Pentium era ground as well. 486 stuff WILL set you back though as it is extremely popular these days for retro-gaming, and that era is the most fiddly when it comes to jumpers, and so fourth, so if you are looking for a plug N' play scenario.

The further back you go in the DOS PC genre it will get more expensive as the supplies have been getting lower and lower, but some bargains can still be had from time to time depending on where you look. Price inflation on this stuff is largely false or created by the fact gold scrappers were sucking up the supply years ago to accumulate gold from the chips inside these systems. The Compaq BillDeg posted above me is a good 386 era machine that does not go for too much. The older bigger Deskpros ask for $$$ on E-bay though.

If you want cheaper, I'd avoid IBM as EVERYONE (me included) loves IBM for DOS stuff up to or maybe even through the PS/2 era. Compaq can be good, depends on whose selling it. Whitebox clones can be had cheaply if you know what to look for, just be caerful because there are a lot of those out there that will be hiding newer hardware under the hood. One of my biggest laughs was that "386 DX" tower I bought a million years ago that was actually an AMD K6 with a pre-release of Windows ME on it.
 
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Trixter said:
To add to that, I'd look for an Apple IIe -- they still go for around $40 or less, and it is easy to get them bootstrapped from ground zero thanks to ADTPro (you can transfer floppy disks over the cassette port using the line-out of your desktop/laptop if you can't use serial). Additionally, a metric ton of Apple II software is available from various places on the internet.
Click to expand...

Here's an example of something currently listed on Craigslist somewhat local to me:
Apple IIe 2e vintage Macintosh - $100 (Bainbridge Island)
https://seattle.craigslist.org/kit/sys/6002527230.html

If it was closer to $40 instead of $100 and there wasn't a ferry ride involved I might be tempted to grab it myself. Still, not all that bad for including the monitor, dual floppy drive, and manuals.
 
billdeg said:
Most of us here have a machine we often call a "tweener" for moving files around easily. Nothing wrong with a Pentium box however, put DOS 6 on it and it'll do fine.
Click to expand...
I like DOS 7.x on my 233 Pentium tweener. It's got fat32 support for large drives and I use USB sticks (in DOS) to transfer files between my contemporary machines and the tweener.
 
gslick said:
Here you go, just up I-5 from you:

Original IBM PC Computers !!! XT !!! Huge Vintage 1985 machines - $50
https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/sys/6003939751.html

5150, 5160, random clone. If there was a 5170 in that lot I would definitely be interested.
Click to expand...

(Jaw hits floor with a loud bang) Uh....wha.....errr......huh.....

I swear to dear god Everett Washington is like the last bastion for retro-PC hardware. I've lived here for 10 years now and after having gone to PC- Recycle in Bothell, Lynnwood, and Bellevue, RE-PC in SoDo Seattle and Tukwila, and Computer Surplus in Redmond, I've kicked up more vintage x86 and mac stuff in Everett than ANY of those places, possibly even combined. I wish I could buy those PC/XT but my wife would KILL me if I took on any more "projects"....at least, she would until we get a house.
 
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