This'll seem insignificant to most Californians. :)
I've hauled all this stuff home this week, even though I wasn't
really looking for stuff (just lucky!):
IBM PCjr (no power supply)
Timex/Sinclair 1000
TS-1016 RAM cartridge
TS-2040 Printer (no power supply)
Dynalogic Hyperion
VIC-1906 'Alien' game cartridge for VIC-20
'Tennis' cart for CoCo, with box and docs
Carts for the Atari 2600 (yes, I know it's not a computer):
Grand Prix, Gyruss, Jungle Hunt, Keystone Kapers, Mega Force, Skiing,
Sky Jinks, Sorcerer, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: The
Empire Strikes Back, Vanguard, Zaxxon.
All from the same Salvation Army store I cursed a few weeks back for
tossing out all their computer junk.
Well, they keep doing it, but I'll take back my curses because I
understand why they'd do such heinous things. With the way stuff has been
pouring in in the past couple of months, they must get innundated with
this stuff!
I have a feeling that if I visited every day or two, instead of every week
or two, I'd be hauling away a lot more stuff.
I'm still pissed off about the potential Wang monitor tossing, but these
folks are clueless about what's worth keeping.
Anyway, some notes about the stuff mentioned above...
The Dynalogic Hyperion isn't in nearly as good shape as the last one I
hauled out of the very same store. This one is _very_ yellowed, like it's
been sitting directly in the sun for a few years. Which is probably why
someone installed a wire mesh in front of the display. I figure it
must've been an anti-glare measure, though it's still quite shiny so maybe
it was just to ease the fears of a radiation-scared employee.
Anyway, whoever installed the mesh cracked chunks of the case off here and
there. They also neglected to replace several screws. The internal
screws they left out would've been hard to put back, though, with that
mesh in front of the display. Anyway, the front panel is kind of loose.
At least the ports are all labeled on this Hyperion, so I'll have
to revise the poor guesses (ahem) on my web page. :) Also, there aren't
any knock-out panels on this one.
I did notice that there are two EPROMs in the machine. I'm definitely
going to have to get an EPROMmer of some sort. One of the EPROMs in
this Hyperion is soldered directly to the PCB, though, which makes things
difficult. (I haven't checked the other Hyperion.)
This 'new' Hyperion has some 'display issues'. :) The display on the
monitor isn't square, and it jumps inward and back out frequently.
Something I found interesting about the Hyperion is that the cover comes
off identically to that of an old Macintosh. Undo the screws under the
handle, pop the rest of the case from the front face, and pull the case
off. I was scared to try popping the case on the other Hyperion, but this
busted up one just begged to be looked into.
On to the TS-1000. Or at least, what I assume to be a TS-1000. The label
is missing, as are three of its four rubber feet, and some gummy tape had
been affixed to its top. Anyway, it's got "Timex Computer Corporation"
printed on its underside, and it has 2K of RAM (verified with a PRINT PEEK
16389). The motherboard says "ZX81" on it.
The Sinclair ZX81 was the first computer I really wanted to buy. (Note
that this is VERY different from wanting to OWN - I could actually almost
afford a ZX81, I definitely could NOT afford the Northstar Advantage in
one of the local shopping centres ;) ). So finally getting my hands on
one is pretty special. And I was even introduced to its innards right
away, because the damn thing had dead keys on the keyboard. :)
It just turned out to be cracked plastic contact strip thingies. I just
trimmed the contacts with scissors and shoved them back into the sockets.
Hopefully I won't have to do that again or I'll run out of slack. :) It's
kind of neat that I can actually SEE how the keyboard is wired, without
opening the keyboard. :)
The big metal ground thingy on the bottom of the board also broke off at
one end. Bad solder job, I guess. :)
I'm just using my Atari 2600 power supply at the moment, because the ZX81
supply wasn't there.
Man is this thing slow! :) Up until now the (unexpanded) TI-99/4A was my
slowest, crappiest system, but the Sinclair thing beats it for that title
so easily it's not funny! But it's got nostalgic value the TI will never
have for me. And besides, TIs are like earwigs around here. The
Salvation Army has put at least 50 in the landfill that I know about. But
this is the first Sinclair machine to turn up.
The RAM cartridge has a broken, wobbly connector, and bent pins, and I
can't get it to work reliably.
The printer doesn't have a power supply (anyone know the specs?) or the
roll of toiled paper, so I don't know if it works yet.
I also don't know if the PCjr works. The external transformer was
missing. I got the better keyboard with the thing, too, instead of the
original button keyboard. I actually have the Tech Ref for the PCjr
sitting around in a box somewhere, so it'll be cool to go poking around in
it as soon as I know how.
I haven't tested the VIC or CoCo carts yet, but the 2600 carts all work
with the exception of Jungle Hunt, which I think just has dirty contacts.
It's an Atari cartridge, though, so the contacts are 'protected' and I
haven't bothered to find something to stick in those slots yet.
Other recent acquisitions include an IBM-PC (5150) with 64-256K
motherboard (damn!), an Atari 400 with several books, magazines, and
cartridges, and some cool toys for my Amigas.
The collecting has been pretty good this summer.
Doug Spence
ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
Received on Thu Aug 13 1998 - 03:19:25 BST