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PeterNC

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2013
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2,694
Location
Miami, FL
Late 2018 I took a break from the whole vintage computer thing. I accumulated quite a few machines and bought quite a few whilst living in NC for a year. I sold everything however.

Then I moved back to FL last year and started with LaserDisc again. Trying (and succeeding) in finding equipment thru searches is very satisfying. Plus I finally managed to obtain some AC3RF (Dolby Digital decoding thru specialized equipment) stuff finally so that is really cool. I have watched a lot of great classic action and WW2 movies so far.

Now I find myself exploring if I should get back into vintage computers again.

As I knew Miami has far fewer opportunities to acquire vintage stuff and many sellers are completely delusional. But the search is still fun. Maybe I should just search for fun without buying. Then again: I do enjoy playing Warlords II, Defender of the Crown, Civilization I and some other games. Until I do not and get frustrated when I have too many desktops and concurrent projects.

I am contemplating just getting one Pentium 233 MMX machine and leave it at that.

Then again I said the same about just getting a Pioneer CLD-D704 but almost a year later I am up to close to 10 LD players again.

Anyway: cool to read up on all the latest and greatest. Especially the MCA sound card topic is very interesting.

The one challenge is the proliferation of classifieds' platforms outside eBay and Craigslist. Offerup / LetGo / Mercari / Facebook Marketplace and so on are very hard to search. The upside is (at least with LaserDisc) that it also makes it much harder for people to find stuff. Many sellers also appear to have a lower barrier with those platforms and often describe items with anything but what it actually is so that is kind of funny.
 
You'll need a 6502 machine too, though. Maybe a couple, I mean at least an Apple 2 and a C64. And a Z80 box. And a 68k Macintosh. And if you're gonna have a 68k Mac, you might as well get an Amiga too. And that P233 won't slow down enough for really olllld games, so you might as well get an old Tandy (or three) too. And maybe a few old Unix workstations. And if you're going to go that far, I mean it wouldn't hurt to grab a System/360 and a couple PDPs too, right?

....... Right?

;3
 
Probably not. I have played with 8086 thru Pentium 3 in vintage / retro. Atari 1040 STF and Philips / Magnavox CD-I may be options but those are expensive.

A 8086 thru 80286 would be good for some early CGA/EGA games like SimCity and Defender of the Crown.
 
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Bought an EGA CRT for $65 including shipping with a cut power cord. The gamble will be that in case the power cord can be fixed it may work. If not I may have a TV technician look at it locally. Negotiating another EGA CRT also.

Kind of weird that EGA CRTs are easier to find than cheap OEM desktops right now. :)

There is also an auction for a 5150 with 5154 going on right now. http://cgi.ebay.com/254533957005
 
PeterNC: Any recommendations on what LD player to get, if you're getting only one? I have an LD of Johnny Mnemonic ("Whoa.") that I sometimes feel should be viewed from the original media...
 
Bought a OptiPlex GL 590. Looks like it may have a CR-563B and CT1740 in it (based on the text next to game port and audio connections). Wait and see.

Looks like it could be upgraded to a Pentium 166 instead of a 90.

https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/D/DELL-COMPUTER-CORPORATION-Pentium-OPTIPLEX-GL-OPTI.html

s-l1600.jpg

s-l1600.jpg

s-l1600.jpg


Supposedly also includes a keyboard and mouse.
 
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Thats a nice little box. They were made pretty well back then. I have two Optiplex GX1 machines (Pentium II/III slot 1) Really reliable.
 
PeterNC said:
I have owned other Dell machines before. They are really cool.
Click to expand...

Id love to get one of the first few generations of the Dell XPS line... ( 1 through 5) I used to have a few in charcoal gray, blue and silver] xps_dark.jpg
The bottom psu is modular and slides out. It was a slick design. I used to run a couple as servers back in the day.

Granted the last of them were made as dell was becoming trash, but the first few were rocks.
 
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Cool. They may pop up from time to time. Searching is a big part of the fun. At least I think so.
 
Got the Leading Technology EGA CRT today. Reconnected the power cable. It makes a humming sound. Will take it to a CRT technician (when I find one) after the virus situation is resolved (hopefully sooner than later). Do not have a system to test it with either (yet).
 
Bought 49 Maxell 3.5" DS/HD diskettes for $17. And a white 15" NEC LCD for $30 including shipping. So that is not bad.
 
Picked up a VGA cable for $4 @ Goodwill locally today. The AST VGA CRT works great. Even at 1920X1080 which is a bit surprising to say the least.
 
Received the Dell today. Seems to be fine. Has a CT2740 instead of a CT1740 but that is fine. No HDD so I picked up a 1GB 50PIN SCSI (Toshiba MK537FB) for $12 including shipping. Amazing. Wait and see if it arrives alive. Listed as wiped and working. Also bought an AHA-2940 + 50PIN cable for $18. Put in an offer for a SCSI CD-ROM also: those can usually read virtually anything. Fun!

The 49 diskettes are still in transit. From OH to CO to get to FL: weird!

The AST VGA CRT does not work on the Dell: it has a power issue because the Dell BIOS throws back a keyboard data line error when the CRT is connected. Works fine with the NEC VGA LCD.
 
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Acquired a SCSI CD-ROM for $21. Not super cheap but still a pretty decent deal all things considered (including USPS).
 
Got the Maxell diskettes finally today. Created MS-DOS 6.22 diskettes. System boots fine. Was able to play Lotus - The Ultimate Challenge from diskette. Adlib / Sound Blaster works great also. Fun!

Hopefully the SCSI stuff will get here sometime next week so I can install MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11.
 
SimCity also loads fine. The CR-563B is not reading CDs (factory silver pressing). Weird. Could be DOA. Not the most reliable units. Anyway: the SCSI CD-ROM I acquired should arrive with the HDD and Adaptec controller next week. SCSI is usually far more reliable.
 
CT2740 works great when I test 8BIT, 16BIT and FM. Need a HDD to install the CD-ROM drivers. So that will be sometime next week hopefully. Next step: installing a CR2032 to replace the dead one.
 
smj said:
PeterNC: Any recommendations on what LD player to get, if you're getting only one? I have an LD of Johnny Mnemonic ("Whoa.") that I sometimes feel should be viewed from the original media...
Click to expand...

Forgot to respond: any working LD player locally should be fine. Spending lots of $ on a top player like LD-S1, LD-S2, CLD-97, CLD-99 or CLD-D704 only results in marginally better quality. Check out forum.lddb.com and/or LaserDisc Forever on Facebook for more insight.

My favorite player is a DVL-V888 (AC3RF surround sound output: decoder or compatible receiver needed) that I bought for $20 and fixed with a new $8 loading belt (VEB1184). Have 8 other (backup) players acquired locally. Do not buy on eBay: chances of a player surviving USPS/UPS/FedEx are very low.

I like to pay up to $50 for a player: local examples: too expensive mostly IMO:
https://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/ele/d/miami-pioneer-elite-laserdisc-player/7092901434.html
https://fortmyers.craigslist.org/lee/ele/d/fort-myers-pioneer-laser-disc-dvd-dvl/7091253678.html
https://fortmyers.craigslist.org/chl/atq/d/punta-gorda-laser-disc-player-asst-discs/7073575229.html
https://sarasota.craigslist.org/ele/d/sarasota-pioneer-laser-disc-5-cd-changer/7084985346.html
https://miami.craigslist.org/brw/tag/d/deerfield-beach-pioneer-laser-karaoke/7085115878.html
https://miami.craigslist.org/brw/ele/d/fort-lauderdale-call-text-only-vintage/7092931165.html

There are usually also listings on OfferUp, LetGo and Facebook Marketplace. eBay is typically significantly overpriced.

You can search on LaserDisc, Laser Disc, Lazer Disk, Lazer Disk, LaserDisk, Laser Disk, Pioneer Laser, Pioneer CLD, Pioneer DVL and Pioneer Karaoke. Folks post in many different ways: that is how I find cheap players.
 
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