imac G4 - 2002

This model is from 2002 and has the honor of have been exposed in the New York MOMA museum , it was the first imac with LCD display, and was nicknamed "ilamp", as it's shape remembers sometime of a desk lamp , and a video made by pixar.

The design was quite impresive, including the transparent speakers and the boxing of the computers was also great , with space for the mouse, keyboard and all.

This last picture show the imap inside it's box, with the speakers also in their space .

Sun Ultra 5

It was November 2003 and I was in Tokio after a conference, so what is one of the geek places to visit in Tokio ?, ...
(if you don't know the anwser it should be that you have not been in Tokio and not a computer collector ;-).

Akihabara, is an area of Tokio full of electronic equipment, new and also used /old, so it was the perfect place to buy some olf stuff. After visiting the place I bought a Sun Ultra sparc5 for 6,300 Yens , about 50 Euros in 2003, so it was a cheap.

 The problem is, "how to carry a Sun ultra Sparc 5 home ?", (and cheap / free ) , the machine weight about 8kg, so it was not good to put inside the baggage.

The reply is easy , as "cabin baggage", so here are two pictures of the machine prepared to flight home:

Both pictures were taken in the Hotel room just before leaving, it was quite heavy, but fortunately I don't need to walk too much to reach the airport.

 About the machine it wood to remember that was one of the "cheap Sun", (with IDE hard disk & cdrom,  VGA video output and so on,) but with a Ultra Sparc chip , able to run the recent Solaris 10
(if you have enought RAM).

 I will try to put more pictures of this machine at home soon.

16Kb memory expansion for ZX81

The original sinclair ZX81 has only a 1kb memory of RAM, so it was quite difficult , but not impossible , to produce any big program, obviously soon there was memory expansion for them and one of those modules was the 16Kb memory extension (usually any image of this blog , compressed and so on it's too big to fit in those memory modules, but in a few years ago 16 kytes of RAM where a lot of space .

As a curiosity , the three first models of sinclair used the same processor, the zilog z80, so where able to access up to 64Kb of RAM (2^16) , so with the different size in their ROM size (BASIC interpreter, Input/Output routines, etc), produces that the total RAM size of the machines where bigger in the first models (up to 60Kb in the sinclair ZX80, 56 kb in the sinclair ZX81 and only 48Kb in the last model sinclair Spectrum.

After the sinclair spectrum the other models (sinclair spectrum 128, +2, and +3 ) used a technique named "pagination" to share a memory space between different memory banks allowing to have more than 64kb, but not at the same time.

casio FX-702P

Another calculator from casio, with a BASIC interpreter allowing to develop your own programs, this model has the unusual feature of not using a QWERTY keyboard, and keys are aligned following their alphabetic order in a 7x4 rows

Sinclair ZX-interface 2

Sinclair made some interfaces to enhance the posibilites of the most successful product, the Sinclair Spectrum , those interfaces include the interface 1 (allow to connect to microdrive units and serial RS-232 interface ) , the ZX-printer interface (thermal printer and this interface, named "interface 2".

This interface allow to connect two joystick to the spectrum , using the "Sinclair type joystick", that usually links the numeric keys to the joystick and the other facility provided by this interface was the use of memory cards with games and utilities that allow to start running applications and programs without loading them from tape.

Unfortunately the cartridges were quite expensive so few games were produced in this format, also it was ROM (read only memory) so people can't save their own games in them.

The three first sinclair

The first years of the 1980 decade was dominated in Europe by sinclair, the company launch a new model of computer every year, changing from the "white" ZX80 , with 1 Kb of RAM, then the ZX81, with provided a better BASIC support , but still only a 1K of RAM , and the next year the Spectrum with
Color !! , and 16Kb of RAM (or 48K in the upper model) .

Sinclair Spectum 48K aka gomas

This is the FIRST model of computer that I got, as I told before I "upgraded" the sinclair 48k to Sinclair + (the one two or three post before).

This machine is a gift from a college  after he discovered my not so hidden Computer Diogene Syndrome (recollect all kind of old computers ;-)

About this machine there is few more things to say perhaps that the best Spanish Company started developing games for this platform (Dinamic ) and that more than a generation of Computer Engineers and technical people in Spain grew and learn to play games (and sometimes also some BASIC language ) with it.

The machine was too popular that some radio station used to broadcasts games that the user save in a normal tape , loading the games from the tape.

here you can see, from left to right the power connector, expansion slot and the plug for saving and loading files from a normal tape.

Sinclair PC200

This was the last machine produced by Sinclair after the company was bought by Amstrad , and in fact the "sinclair name" is only a commercial brand as it seems that the model is not derived from the work of Sinclair Research, but directly from Amstrad.

This is also the only "PC" clonic from sinclair, and it was intruduced in the late 80's, when the amstrad.

The computer is similar to the Olivetty PC1, and other PC clonic in the sense that has the keyboard and CPU integrated in the same chasis, it has a 8086 compatible micro and a 720Kb 3 1/2 disk drive.



As curiosity the computer has output for a CGA monitor and also a TV monitor, in this other picture you can see the TV , CGA , Serial and parallel connectors, and also the
expansion bay.




After some problems (it's very difficult to find a CGA monitor to test the computer) , I realized that I have some "TV" connectors from other very old computers like the sinclair spectrum so I tested and ....



Keyboard is not working ;-(, it seems that the computer has some keyboard problem, it's a pity as it seems that only 20.000 units of this computer were sold, so it is very difficult to find a working one.

Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer

Another Relic that cames directly from an Ebay auction (now with the "strong Euro" somethings are quite cheap to buy), this machine was produced in the Early 80 (from 1980 to 1983 by Radio Shark) and has a BASIC interpreter (like most of the home computers at this time), the processor was a Motorola MC6809E and was sold with 4Kb of RAM.




The machine cames with a colored basic manual as it was usual in the early 80 :

With nice illustration showing the fundamentals of BASIC programming, trying to attract young people to the language, and avoiding the "serious and technical documentation" of
the first PC sold.


The computer has connectors for TV, Tape Joystick and serial (for using a modem) or printer, and unfortunately a US connector for 120V electric power, I need to buy a 120V to 220V transformer to test it.



There is a lot of more information in the Wikipedia Page of TSR-80 Color computer that show more information about this machine.

Router Vine200

another machine that was literally going to the trash, I found it in a debris container in the street, a homeless was scavenging copper cables when I saw the four RJ-11 connectors, so I got
it, unfortunately without the power adapter that it seems that have a non-standard connector.

The router was covered with white stucco and after carefully removed most of them (still some in the photos) , I found the name of the vendor.


It seems that this router was used mainly by Jazztel an Spanish ISP, when installing xdsl connection in the professional lines, the ISP don't give the configuration password to the users, but as usual the credentials are easily found in Internet.

The four RJ11 connectors don't provide VoIP connections (at least no real VoIP), only allow to connect normal phones to the line.

Sinclair ZX80

The first computer manufactured by Clive Sinclair, the Sinclair ZX80 used (the zilog Z80 chip), the look of the machine is quite similar to the classic ZX81, but as the pictures shows this is still thinner than the ZX81.

The machines included the BASIC interpreter (with the "clasic" token keys , and has connectors for an external tape drive.

It's quite difficult to find this machines in Europe now, most of the current sellers are from the United States, and sometimes the auction price is more than 400$. This was cheaper but only because there is no power supply (I think that the ZX81 has the same kind of connector).

Console Intellivision

In the beginning of the 198x, there was some consoles that perhaps weren't as popular as the newest ones., but some of them were quite amazing when you think about them now.

One of them was intellicovision, they use a ROM cartridge that must be plugged in the console to play the games.

The hand-held controllers have not only the "joystick" (round button), but also 12 digits, and other buttons in the sides of the controllers , depending of the game those buttons are used for different purposes.


The games, ....

There were different games, from the typical shot-up (space invaders, space hawk, ...) to some sport games, like soccer or tennis .

This console was donated by Jesus Guillamon, a friend from Murcia, and still works :


The screen seems to be quite snowy , perhaps the video chipset has been damaged after so much time, but still it's possible to play the games.

Sinclair Spectrum +3

Amstrad bought Sinclair Research in 1985, and after that they produced some Spectrum with tape and floppy disk included.

The last one was the Sinclair Spectrum +3 , that had a 3'' floppy disk.


Below there is a detail of the floppy disk unit:


This unit was buy in Ebay from UK, so it have the UK power jack, but works fine in Europe.

The system tries to boot flom the floppy disk before showing the menu, this would allow this spectrum to boot other operating systems (it seems that there was a CPM disk for the Spectrum ;-), before booting from the rom.

Commodore Amiga 500

f
This is another historical computer , a commodore Amiga 500, this was the FIRST commodore with a 32 bit CPU , with a compact style (keyboard, disk drive (800Mb) and CPU in the same box). as it was usual in the MicroComputer.

This wasn't the FIRST 68000 Micro Computer, Sinclair for example launched the QL (Quantum Lap) before, but this was the first successful one.

This computer was very advanced for its time, it has a 3.5 floppy drive instead of tape, and internally it has a dedicated graphic processor and another coprocessor for the sound.

A lot of people organized championship (demo scene) to program special effects with this machine, the operating system (graphical interface ) was another big point.

The machine is a gift from my friends of "Harry el aleman", one of the best places in Madrid to drink German beer

DEC 4000/600

This machine was part of RedIRIS , the Spanish Academic and Research Network and was used in the late 198x, and first 199x.



The box in the left is the Main CPU, at the RIGHT there is hard disk cabinet.

The machine has 64Mb, of memory and was used mainly to provide Internet/OSI related services to the Spanish Research Community.

The machine was used, for example, to keep the X500 directory (LDAP is based in this protocol), and also to provide email (not only SMPT/TCP services, also X.400 ).

Also it's very likely that the first DNS server for the ".es" Top level domain were running
in this machine.


Opening the door we can see that there are three hard disks (one seems to be broken),
ethernet (RJ-45/BNC) connection, console connection (with the typical DEC connector) and some serial card for consoles and serial connexions to other hosts.

Casio FX-850

This is an small calculator, with a BASIC interpreter and RAM memory (32/64k), it was made by the well known Japanish Calculator firm CASIO. A relative that was working in Canary Island, when the electronic products were still cheaper than in Spain bought one it for me in 1988, but unfortunelly the calculator fell from a second floor in 1992, and the display was broken.


The calculator has also a memory bank with more than 100 different mathematical functions and programs.

This model was buy in ebay in March 2007, in Thailand, good shipping from there , and was partially functional, I'm still looking for one of the memories to be able to access to the memory.

Apple II : lying in the trash

Sometimes strange things happens , Yesterday I was in the terrace of a Bar drinking a beer with some friends, when a bum started to dig in the trash of a container near our table, he found some computer element and started to try to break a solid square box to remove some cables, after some attempts he leave the container.

After a few minutes I went to the container and what was lying there ? .... a very old Apple II Europlus system, with two 5 1/4 floppy drive !!!

Below is the photograph of the machine after arriving home and cleaning some of the dust

It seems that some keys are missing but my first impression is that the motherboard and floppy controler would work, I will loook for some TV cables to connect the system to the TV and see if nice machine still works.

Unfortunately the floppy cables has been removed, so I will try to build a new ones for the floppies.

About the apple II , this was the second machine build by apple, this machine have a 8 bit processor , and apple start to sell this model several years before the first Mac.

DEC 3000/400

This old 64 bit system (according to Wikipedia , this models were build from 1992 to 1995), has been donated by a Spanish University.

This machines were the FIRST with a 64 bit processor (Alpha), from DIGITAL, later buy by compaq , now part of HP, nice world, Digital is one of the historic companies. and Unix was first develoved in a "PDP" series machine.



the system is currenly runninng an old operating system named OSF/1:,

# uname -a
OSF1 theory.cie.uma.es V4.0 878 alpha

but in the ALPHA chip, you could also run OpenVMS (from Digital), most of the free Unix (*BSD, Linux) and also Windows NT for Alpha !!!

This machine has the following hardware configuration:

DEC 3000 - M400
Digital Equipment Corporation
System conducting power up tests
------------------------------------------------------------

Devnam Devstat
-------- -------
CPU OK KN15-BA -V7.0-S887-I21F-sV1.0-DECchip 21064 P3.0
OSC 133 MHz
ASIC OK
MEM OK 64MB
NVR OK
SCC ?? 004 0060 ptr(0) = Not Present keybd(2) = Not Present
NI OK Ethernet Address: 08-00-2B-3F-8F-1A , TENBT
SCSI OK
ISDN OK
TC0 TC0 OK - PMAGB-BA
------------------------------------------------------------

Interesting is that the machine can be opened very quickly: here is an image of the interior , see the FAN row , they don't produce any noise when running.


unscrewing two screws, the rest of the hardware is opened:



showing the memory banks and CPU and the three fan in a row.



As usual with the Digital system, the console uses a "non standard" connector, named "MMJ", and need also a "MMJ to RJ45" cable named BN24J-07 , with and aditional adaptor from RJ45 to DB9 to be used for console, here you can see the rear part of the machine, with the ethernet connector (RJ45 and AUI), the ISDN and RJ11 (modem) connector and then the MMJ , Serial , Parallel and SCSI connector.



To be able to change the root password the system must boot on single user mode, remount the root partition with read write permissions and then change the /etc/password file , deleting the root password "root::0:1:root users:/:/bin/sh:

• from the boot prompt boot: >>> boot -fl s
• from the # console mount with rw persmissions: mount -u /
• Set the console to VT102 : TERM=vt102
• export TERM
• launch vi : vi /etc/passwd
• Contiene with the booting: exit

This is a new addition to the Museum.