Any old PC collectors?

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I had a 1980 to 1983 years TRS-80 Color Computer (LINK) - The disk-drive was a modified tape cassette recorder.
LINK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80_Co ... %80%931983)

I remember the CoCo. My first computer was a TRS-80 and I wrote my first BASIC program on it. Never got a CoCo - got a Apple IIe next. TRS-80 and Apple both had tape drives. I copied a bunch of assembly code from a magazine and managed to get a "talking computer" with my Apple IIe - 6502 CPU. The CPU was so slow that actively sampling the incoming tape signal in 1 bit was still a bit noisy. I discovered that if I sampled my sister's voice (a bit higher than mine) and played it back at a slower bit rate it sounded more like my voice than sampling my own voice. "Good Morning, Professor. Would you like to play a game?"

Franklin PC 8000 - late 1980s - IBM Clone. Remember 'Quick Basic' software?
https://blog.notartyoms-box.net/franklin-pc-8000/

I've got a couple of old Thinkpads. I'd love to collect gaming computers from the 80s and 90s but I don't have the cash.

You can get them for really cheap if you know where to look, or if you're just plain lucky.
Most people think those things are just old junk. Half of the reason a lot of it is so expensive is because people are trying to keep vintage electronics out of the hands of gold scrappers. The other half is just because of ridiculous shipping prices.
If you don't mind having a computer without a case, you can buy the motherboard + parts online for decent prices.
I got lucky and found a really nice 486 tower at a thrift store for $10. I came back the next week and they had a Pentium for $5.
Got my Apple II from a thrift store for $25.
Got another computer from work that they were going to throw out. It's not that vintage (1999), but it's a really nice system for that era.

I have a soft spot for 90s PCs, 486s and the first generation of Pentiums becaused that's when I first got interested and it was all so exciting - massive leaps forward were being made. I'd love to collect these things and tinker with them but I have neither the space nor the time for now. Maybe when I'm old(er).

I also wish I'd kept hold of my 8-bit micros I had in the 80s. I had an Amstrad CPC 6128 and an Acorn Electron. I can't even remember what happened to them.

I started collecting old IBM Thinkpads a couple of years ago, from the T20/21/22/23 series and the T40/41/42/43 series. More recently I've been into ancient Dell Latitudes, most particularly the D500/505/510/520/530 series, though I've also got a few D410/430 models and some of the earlier C500/600/640 ones.

I've now got over 40 laptops. How crazy is that?

^ can you fix/rebuild the batter packs yourself? I have read "how-tos" on the internet but never actually done it.

^ Not absolutely sure what you mean by 'batter packs'. Something to do with the batteries?

Sorry - type-o-graphical error. "batter packs" should have read "battery packs". The laptop batteries that they sell for high prices are actually made of a number of replaceable cells which look like AA or AAA batters encased in plastic. So the "battery" is really a pack of smaller batteries. When the original battery stops holding a charge some people cut them open with a dremel / rotary tool and replace the cells. You can get them with or without soldering tabs. There are how-to videos and blogs if you google.

I was going to do this on an IBM Thinkpad 600, but whilst looking
into it I found that these laptops have a fault in the charging
circuit that damages the batteries.



With another Laptop, the battery contained about nine
Panasonic 18650 batteries.
Replacing them with original batteries would have cost
more than the laptop was worth.

^ I've noticed something similar as well. In some of my old Thinkpads, the battery loses a significant chunk of its capacity with every charging cycle. Something similar may well be happening with one or two of the old Latitudes.

I have my 1989 Atari 520st and a load of others I bought later some for parts other because they were higher spec. Still have a ton of games for them but they haven't been powered on for many years.

Also occasionally get given dead PC's to mess around with so have a bit of a collection; machines running Win 95, 98, XP, Vista, 7 and 10. I have mum's old old PC from 1997....she would've got it the year before but instead she bought a very large scale model locomotive (3 1/2" gauge live steam) which was found in a house clearance dad did.

I've thought about it before, but I never have a need to really unplug my laptops from the wall...so basically anything with a working battery is just a UPS for me.

My old 486, I took the cells out of it, just so the laptop would be much lighter, and not have a big empty gap in it (I could probably hide things there!)

I also have a lot of old laptops, but they are dear to me as a memory. Now I plan to buy a brand new gaming laptop MSI GL65 Leopard. I think I will use it for many years because it has excellent characteristics. For example, the best Core i7-10750H processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 video card. I already love this laptop!

I have an Old Macintosh SE, and I am trying to get my hands on something XT or Tandy from the late 80s