Vintage Computers

Some Old Computer I own

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 - Introduced 1972

My pride & Joy for many years.

At one point I donated my entire box of C64 stuff to Goodwill.

Later I longed for my old C64 again and ended up searching ebay to get another system. (thankfully I never gave up the monitor)

History & Specs:

Original Price: $595

CPU : MOS 6510 @ 1MHz RAM: 64k

Display 25x40 Text, 300x200 16 colors graphics.

OS: ROM BASIC

From http://www.oldcomputers.net/c64.html

The C64 looks nearly identical to the Commodore VIC-20, released in 1981. They are similar, but the C64 is more powerful with more features.

The C64's microprocessors support two high-resolution graphic modes, smooth scrolling, "sprites", bit mapping, character collision resolution and character mapped graphics, not to mention three channels of complex sound. All this make it an excellent game machine, which is what it excelled at the most, with thousands of software titles release and numerous peripherals to extend its capabilities.

Originally, the only method of storing your own data was on the proprietary Commodore Datasette recorder. It was rather slow, transferring data at only 300 baud.

A floppy drive was eventually released - the famous 1541. Famous for being very slow (serial), noisy, and prone to failure.

Some more photos:

You can find .PDF versions of most C64 manuals here: http://project64.c64.org/hw/c64.html

Two excellent C64 Emulators are VICE ( http://vice-emu.sourceforge.net/) and CCS64 (www.ccs64.com/) And of course, get your games here: http://www.c64.com/

If you're interested in programming in 6502 assembly language on the C64 DASM supports it and will create output that can be loaded directly into either of the emulators listed above.

DASM's homepage is http://dasm-dillon.sourceforge.net/

I've included a very simple sample ASM program (C64_ASM_Test01.zip) at the bottom of the page.

Apple Macintosh SE March 1987

Apple Macintosh SE - Introduced 1987
Purchased this computer in December of 2022 for $80. Included CPU/Monitor, Keyboard & Mouse.
It came upgraded with 4Meg of RAM and some software on the 20MB internal HDD
This device can use the floppy drive emulator purchased with the Apple ][e (see below)

History & Specs:
Original Price: $2,900 (dual floppy) or $3,700 (with 20 MB hard drive)
CPU : Motorola 68000 @ 8Mhz
RAM: 1MB (upgrade-able to 4MB)
ROM: 256 KB
GRAPHIC MODES : 512 x 384
COLORS: Monochrome B/W
SOUND : one channel - Built-in speaker
OS: System 4.1 - 7.5.5

The Apple Macintosh SE was launched in 1987 at same time as the Macintosh II.
It was an enhanced version of the Macintosh 128 and the Macintosh Plus.
It had almost the same specifications as the latter, and unlike the Mac Plus, it had an extension slot
(which was not compatible with the NUBUS slots of the Macintosh II).

Apple IIe - Introduced 1983

Purchased this computer in October of 2022 for $250. Included CPU, Monitor, Joystick, Printer Interface card & Mouse Interface card.
This unit also came with a floppy drive emulator that uses an SD card to store data.

History & Specs:

Original Price: $2638
CPU : MOS 65C02 @ 1.02MHz RAM: 64k (128K with 80 col card)
TEXT MODES :40 x 24 / 80 x 24 (with 80 columns card)
GRAPHIC MODES :40 x 40-48 (16 col), 280 x 160-192 (6 col), 560 x 160-192 (2 col)
COLORS: 16 maximum
SOUND : one channel - Built-in speaker

OS: DOS 3.3 or ProDOS

After having sold more than 750,000 Apple II and II+ systems, making it one of the best-selling brands in the global computing market, Apple released an updated version of the II+, the Apple IIe ('e' standing for enhanced).

While retaining the previous model's capabilities and software library, the enhanced version featured a revised logic board, keyboard and case design. Since its launch back in 1977, the Apple had been revised 13 times, but never so drastically as with this model. The IIe used only 1/4 as many integrated circuits as the II+. Its keyboard featured 4 cursor keys and a lockable lid.

The Apple IIe was replaced with the enhanced Apple IIe in 1985, which had 128k RAM, 32k ROM, improved support for 80-column text and lowercase characters, and was powered by the 65C02 CPU, the same as the Apple IIc one. (from https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=83)

Timex Sinclair 1000

Find tons of great information for the TS-1000 including simulators and software Here : http://forum.tlienhard.com/TS1000/www.ts1000.us/index.htm

Compaq Portable III

Compaq Portable III

Model: 2660

Released: 1987

Price: $4,999.00 w/ 20meg HD $5,799.00 w/ 40meg HD

Weight: 20 pounds.

CPU:Intel 80286, 12MHz RAM:640k, 2048k max.

Storage: 20 Meg HDD 1.2Meg 5-1/4 inch floppy

Display: 10" gas plasma screen 640 X 400 resolution

80 X 25 text

Ports: RGB, serial, parallel

Expansion: Optional external expansion

OS: Compaq DOS 3.31

This was being discarded at the place I worked. (Naturally I grabbed it.)
This machine still runs like that day it was built! I upgraded it to MS DOS 5.5 It has a MS Word (text based only) and LOTUS 123 along with a handful of utilities and a few games.
NOTE: sadly this PC died in 2022 and has since been sold for parts.

Synertek SYM Model 1

The Synertek SYM Model 1 computer is "one of the most versatile and sophisticated single-board computers available",

"an ideal introduction to the expanding world of microprocessor technology as well as a powerful development tool for design of microcomputer-based systems."

It is a simple computer systems made from basic hardware and software components. Best uses include learning to program, simple machine control, and sensor monitoring.

The SYM-1 is similar to the KIM-1, another single board computer (SBC) which was released by MOS two years earlier, in 1976.

While more advanced than the KIM-1, the SYM-1 was designed to use the same peripheral cards and data storage protocols for compatibility reasons.

Its advantages over the KIM-1 lie in its expandability to 4K user RAM on-board, the provision for up to 8K of ROM or EPROM on-board, a lot more I/O lines, an improved Monitor program, higher cassette tape I/O rates, and a number of other nice little features. (from http://www.oldcomputers.net/sym-1.html)

Tons of great resources including a link to a SYM-1 Simulator can be found here: http://www.6502.org/trainers/synertek/

DASM is a 6502 assembler program for the PC. DASM's homepage is http://dasm-dillon.sourceforge.net/

Using DASM made writing code for the SYM-1 much easier but I still needed a way to get it from the PC to the SYM-1.

So I created 2 utility programs. SYMpgmr.exe will transfer intel style hex files generated by DASM to the SYM-1 and

SYMsave.exe will transfer blocks of memory from the SYM-1 to a hex file on the PC.

(no need for an audio cassette recorder to save your programs)

The source code and executable's for these 2 utilities are attached at the bottom of this page along with a few

sample assembly language programs. (SYM_SRC.zip)

IBM ThinkPad 720

Generic "Beige Box"

Generic "Beige Box"

Clearly not a "Classic" computer by any means but we've all owned or encountered one like this before.
It's obviously something I cobbled together from available components sometime around 1997.

Intel Pentium 166 at 166Mhz, 98MB RAM,
Drives: A: 3 1/2" floppy drive, B: 5 1/4" floppy drive C: = 2GB, D: = 1.5GB, E:= CD-ROM
Currently running Windows98SE with a boot option to enter MS-DOS mode at startup.

I keep this one safely packed away mainly to run a specific piece of interface software called "The Star Commander"
Star Commander is a DOS program that will communicate with my Commodore 1541 disk drive via it's parallel printer port. The particular interface cable I have will only work on a machine with a dedicated printer port card. In other words the printer port cannot be part of the motherboard. So with this setup I can download C64 software from the internet, copy to a CD or Floppy drive then transfer to a C64 floppy in the 1541 drive. This box has no internet connection itself, thus the tedious copy operation.
It's also good for playing older DOS based games that simply will no longer run on modern Windows systems.

Atari 2600 Jr.

Once again not technically a "computer" , the Atari 2600 holds a place in computer history if not only for the number of units sold. I saw this unit for sale online and after downloading the schematics I became intrigued with the simplicity and the potential to plug in a ROM of my own creation.

From: http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/35745/Atari-2600-(Junior)
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in. The first game console to use this format was the Fairchild Channel F; however, the Atari 2600 is credited with popularizing the plug-in concept among the game-playing public.

There are a number of versions of the Atari 2600, which was known as the Atari VCS (Video Computer System) after it was first released. This model, which is known as the Atari 2600 'Junior', dates from the Jack Tramiel era. It was released in 1986, to give a cheap alternative to the 7800, and styled in the same way.

Manufacturer: Atari Release Date: 1986
CPU: 1.19 MHz MOS Technology 6507
Audio + Video processor: Television Interface Adaptor (TIA)
RAM (within a MOS Technology RIOT chip): 128 bytes
ROM (game cartridges): 4 KB maximum capacity

An excellent emulator is available: https://stella-emu.github.io/ as well as a huge collection of ROM image files
that can be played on it. While programming for this device is simply 6502 assembly code, it proves to be extremely challenging since screen output must be timed to execute on the individual TV scan lines.
Any code that executes too long will scramble the display.

About the download links:

C64_ASM_Test01.zip Sample 6502 assembly language programs for C64

SYM_SRC.zip A collection of a few 6502 assembly language programs for the SYM-1

SYMpgmr.zip A utility (source and binary) to load .HEX files from PC to SYM-1

SYMsave.zip A utility (source and binary) to save memory from SYM-1 to .HEX file on PC