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The Hord

Hord Of Retro Computers

So this is where I will list & provide a little info on my vintage computers. Also provides a catalog of the collection if anything bad should happen to them. I have had this hord for quite a few years now, some of which I got before i even had an eBay page, although most were from way to much eBaying.

Total vintage computers I have horded: 59

Bispoke Computers

Brother WP1

The WP-1 was a word processor, has a built in amber CRT & daisy wheel printer. It has a signal sided proprietary 160KB FDD & no other I/O. Pretty much a dedicated computer. Some later models were able to play games. Was found on eBay, these are still quite cheap.

These is a really good video series of someone reverse engineering & hacking a Raspberry PI into one of these machines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVZsIcO7xuE&list=PLuQ2s_IbSWv5NDpc9Ew3BYDSF7siX9mNj

Datascan Telepen

Another eBay find. Nothing exists on this computer online. From the design it looks to be an early stock management computer as it has a light pen barcode reader. The only I/O on it is a telephone port on the back, no drought for connecting to a shops mainframe for inventory management.

Dynatech Dynamite III

This looks to be a serial cable tester, probably for testing dumb terminal cables back in the day. It is from the late 70s & uses bubble LED modulus for the display. I did have two of these but took one apart to fix up other stuff. These were given to me at uni.

Burroughs SD280

The unknown single board computer. No one has managed to identify the system this is from. It was obtained on eBay.

Toyota Expert Model 100

An interesting machine got it on a whim as I thought it might be interesting, boy was I right. It is the computer unit for an embroidery machine. It would of connected to the CNC sowing machine part via a serial interface. See the teardown section for more.

This is not a well known machine.

Terminals

PV-DT51-5193 Terminal

A industrial touch screen LCD RS232 serial terminal. Not much exists on this terminal in the wild. It is from the 90s, uses a Z80 for a CPU. I found this in the WEEE bin at uni & did some custom mods so I can use it like it is.

Minitel Terminal

A French terminal system that was a precursor to the internet by about a decade. It was a operational system up until about 2012 & allowed the French to do eCommerce way before anyone else. I got this unit off of eBay, removed but kept the phone line cable & have built an adapter unit so I can use it with standard RS232 from a PC.

IBM PC's & Compaterbles

IBM 5150

The granddaddy of the modern computer. All Intel & AMD CPUs use the x86 architecture 40 odd years later. A modern PC is still technically compatible with this machine. Was gifted to my by one of the uni accommodation staff.

Toshiba T3100/20

A lovely 286 MS-DOS machine from Toshiba back when they knew how to make decent computers. I have two of these on eBay. ordered this one non-working & when I went to the office to clear it out I found the second one I own. So I combined the two to make one working machine. The other one lives with the dead T3100SX.

Toshiba T3100SX

An MS-DOS machine with a gas plasma display, love these displays. Came broken. Managed to fix it but then reversed the 5V & 12V, it was game over after that. Now it is parts to try & fix other machines.

CAF ProLite 286

Another lovely 286 MS-DOS machine that no one have ever herd of. This came to me from eBay working but with issues. By some miracle the HDD in it works & currently still does. I managed to get the machine up to fully operational capacity.

This just needed a new CMOS battery, FDD & the HV wire in the PSU re-soldered.

DEK USA

A PC from 1991 that I found in the skip at uni. Tuned out to work just fine. Had a custom floppy disk that had some industrial program on it. I have added an HDD & a 5/14 FDD to the machine. I use it to interface software between my modern machines & my IBM 5150.

Toshiba T2200SX

An MS-DOS Windows 3.1 PC from 1992, runs on a 16MHz 386SX CPU, I have two of these, one was gifted to me back when I was in school, the other I got off of eBay.

RM NB300

An MS-DOS Windows 3.1 PC from 1992, runs on a 16MHz 386SX CPU, quite rare & also not the only manufacture to bild these. This example was found in a cupboard in the science department at school.

Tandy 1000TL

An MS-DOS 3.3 machine that runs a custom early Tandy GUI from 1988. It was essentially a IBM PC clone with enhanced graphics & sound capability that made it a capable gaming machine. The Tandy 1000 line of computers was a clone of IBM's PC Jr which was a flop due to IBM now knowing how to advertise towards home market. However the Tandy 1000 line of computers was a massive success.

Toshiba T5200/100

A machine from 1991, has a lot better design than the T3200/20 & was not designed by someone who hates technicians. Runs on a 386DX 20MHz with is an unusual package type for a 386. Has a default amount of 2MB & this example has 8MB of RAM. MS-DOS 5 & Windows 3.1 For Workgroups.

Home Micros

Acorn System 1

The beginnings of Acorn computers & be extension the ARM CPU, an exceptionally rear machine. This was was built for PCBs I found on eBay, the parts were all in stock from stuff I have taken apart over the years.

Acon BBC Micro

The machine that put Acorn on the map, there was fierce competition with Sinclair at the time to get the BBC contract. Acorn won out so at least one of these machines ended up in every school in the country, one of the few forward decisions the Thatcher government ever made. Obtained on eBay.

Acorn Electron

I have five of these buggers. One I turned into a laptop, the other one is being turned into an 80s style portable computer. These are cut down BBC Micros & suffered from not having mode 7 graphics. All but one of these were obtained from eBay, the other was obtained from an x friend who was only interested in getting in my pants.

Commodore C64C

This machine was sold to me as dead for £5 from a retro games shop in Canterbury, turned out it was probably just the PSU he was using. Pretty much built all the hardware I connect to it. Deleted the stupid cardboard RF shield that did nothing but get in the way.

Commodore Plus 4

This machine was a bit of a flop when it was released, it is the same as the Commodore C16 but that one fetches higher prices for some reason. This one was dead when I got it. At first I though it was RAM, de-soldered & tested it to find it was fine. Got a CPU replacement kit, nothing wrong there. In the end turned out to be the PLA, so I burned a new on using at EPROM I pulled out of something years ago. Also sourced for cheap off of eBay.

PLA image on this page: https://www.theeprom9.co.uk/rom-dumps

Commodore Amiga 500

This was obtained from the same retro games shop in Canterbury along with a load of disks containing games. Not got a work bench image yet. These are pretty cool machines & compete in interesting ways with the old Atari ST's.

Atari 800XL

One of the later revisions of the Atari 800 series, originally an architecture designed & released in the late 70s & continued into the early 90s. I rather like the style of this machine. Got it from the retro games store in Canterbury for a £5 as it was dead, tuned out to be RAM. A common failure mode on these old machines. Finally can use the touch tablet I got years ago for these machines.

Atari ST520FM

This was also obtained from the retro games shop in Canterbury. I had wanted an Atari ST for years. Got hold of one of the external single sided disk drive at school from a rubbish pile at the music block. It is quite easy to create floppy disks for these on an old Windows XP machine with a built in FDD. So I have quite a few games for this machine.

Sinclair ZX81

The classic worst but best computer to introduce computing to the masses. The keyboard is horrible, the connection to the external memory is horrible, the way it does BASIC programming is horrible, but I cant help but love this machine. I love the retro future look it has, released in 1981 & even crap specks for the time. You just can't help but love when it did for the IT industry. I have two of these machines, one composite modded & the other, attempting to. Both eBay finds.

Sinclair Spectrum +

The number one 80s gaming machine of Briton & contributed greatly to the number of world wide computer & games sales of the 80s. It was a true computer for the masses, educating a generation of software & network engineers. This was a eBay find & stank of the cancer sticks, so had a good clean.

Microprofesor MPF-1

This one was given to me for graduating uni by an x-friend. It is quite an interesting machine that like the Acorn System 1 can only be programed using HEX, not even assembly. It is the lowest level of programming you can do next to flipping switches on a front panel like the first computers.

Texas Instruments IT-99/4A

This TI99 still needs work, been trying to resistor it for a while, something in the boot loader has failed. Very nice machine, first 16-bit architecture although it was squandered due to using a very strange architecture that was very nonstandard for the time & constrained most of the bus to 8-bit, so it preformed like a gimped 8-bit system. Another eBay find.

EPSON HX-20

I got this at uni from eBay. It is an early laptop, one of the first, only beaten out by the DVW Microelectronics Husky. It has two modes of operation by default. Monitor modes for assembly programming the machine & BASIC. The cartridge slot can have a number of different cartridges, but the most common is the cassette drive. The other nice feature is it has a built in printer that you can still get ink ribbons for.

Toshiba HX-10

The only MSX compatible machine in my collection, was an attempt of standardization by the Japanese. Microsoft was still trying to dominate by supplying the BASIC. This was an eBay find & I also designed & 3D printed a new key for it as it came with one of the arrow keys missing, should of used blue plastic.

NEC Starlet PC-8401A-LS

A CP/M machine made by NEC, an interesting & uncommon laptop. Not much about it online. Got it on eBay, uses a ton of custom chips on the motherboard. Another eBay find.

CASIO PB-700

This was the first 80s computer I got hold of, from eBay. Came broken & I fixed it. the battery's had leaked & eaten though the traces on the motherboard. Just neutralist the battery gunge & add a few jumper wires & he burst to life. Had to fix him about five times now. Use to take this machine round with me everywhere.

Psion Organiser II

Pretty much the first PDA, although the version 2 unit. One of these was from eBay, the other was gifted by a very kind Edwin who watched my YouTube. The one from eBay was used at an airbase based on the data I found on the EPROM cartridge.

Amstrad CPC464

The Amstrad CPC464 was released in the 80s, got it from eBay & had it setup in the office back when I worked in London. Made a few BASIC programs for fun, saved them to tape, tape drive only needed a new belt. The monitor just needed the blue gun turned up & all has been good since.

Husky Computers

I have already covered all my Husky computers in detail so I will keep it short here. All of these were obtained on eBay.

DVW Microelectronics Husky

The first DVW Husky I got. Also the first OG laptop ever created.

DVW Microelectronics Husky

My army green DVW Husky. I have two of these machines, sadly one does not work, will probably restore it one day.

Husky Hunter

The OG ruggedized CP/M compatible portable laptop computer. I have three of these, only one works.

Husky Hunter 2

Essentially an Husky Hunter with a bigger screen, I do like the smaller screen though. I have two of these.

Husky Hawk

IA cheaper & non-ruggedized Husky Hunter.

Husky Hunter 16

The first MS-DOS Husky.

Husky Hunter 16/80

A Husky Hunter 16 with a bigger display, aka the Hunter 2 of the MS-DOS Husky's. I have two of these, both no longer function.

Husky FS2

Essentially a smaller handheld version of the Husky Hunter 16. I have three of these.

Husky FS3

A much improved version of the Husky FS3 with more computing grunt behind it & more memory, both non-volatile & volatile. I have three of these.

Husky MP2500

A cut down FS3 that came very muddy.

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