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1977 Ohio Scientific Inc. C2-4P
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CPU: 1 Mhz MOS Technologies 6502 (8 bit)
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OS: BASIC in ROM, no real OS
This is my first computer. It is an Ohio Scientific Inc C2-4P. It originally
came with 4K (that's a K, not a M) of memory which I upgraded to 8K (which
cost $80 for 4K). It has a MOS technologies 6502 CPU running at 1 Mhz.
It has a Kansas City Std 300 baud audio cassette interface for mass storage
(yes, you use a cassette player for saving and loading programs). The TV
to the left was it's monitor, however, the TTL to composite converter is
not working, so I use my XT's CGA monitor on it. |
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1984 IBM XT Clone
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CPU: 4 or 8Mhz (Turbo) Intel 8088-2 (8 bit)
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OS: MS-DOS 5.0 (has run DOS 1.0-5.0)
This is a IBM XT clone. It orginally came with 256K of RAM (which I upgraded
to 512K) and a single 360K 5 1/4" floppy drive (no hard disk). I added
a 20M hard drive at a cost of $300. The machine has an Intel 8088-2 CPU
which runs at 4Mhz or 8Mhz in "Turbo" mode. The monitor is a CGA (color)
with a resolution of 320x200. The neat thing about this monitor is that
it has a "composite" input. You can hook it up to a VCR and use it as a
TV! |
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I never owned a 286 (IBM-AT) |
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1989 Sun 3/80 (added to collection
on 6/30/99)
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CPU: 20MHz Motorola 68030 (32bit)
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OS: SunOS 4.1.1 (can also run NetBSD 1.4)
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Graphics: Sun bwtwo, B&W at 1152 x 900
This is a Sun 3/80. It was the last model of workstation that Sun
made before they switched over to the Sparc (RISC) CPU. It was also
one of the first non-VME bus systems in the now classic "pizza box"
case. It's architecture is known as sun3x. It orginally
came with 4M of RAM (I have since maxed it out at 64M). It
also has a bwtwo B&W graphics card (it can run sunview or openwin version
2)(color was available), SCSI disk controller, audio, 2 serial, 1 parallel,
and an AUI ethernet port. (This picture is sort of an interesting
"then and now" picture. The 3/80 is sitting on top of a 64bit 200Mhz
Ultra-1 Creator that is roughtly 500 times faster than it is) |
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1989 Atari Portfolio
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CPU: 4.9Mhz 80C88 16bit internal/8bit external (much like an IBM XT's 8088)
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Memory: 256K ROM, 128K RAM (expandable to 640K)
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Display: Monochrome 40 x 8 characters/240x64 pixels. Sound: 1 channel mono
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Size: 200 x 100 x 25 mm, weight 454 grams (about 1 lb)
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Peripherals: Parallel port, serial port via the Portfolio's 60pin external bus adapter
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OS: DIP-DOS 2.11 (MS-DOS 2.2 compatible)
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Power: 3 AA batteries
A decade before the Apple Newton or Palm Pilot, there was the Atari
Portfolio. I bought this Portfolio in 1989 for $400.00 and used it
for several years. It is a very cool computer, it has built-in DOS 2.2 and
Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet compatibility. It also includes a simple
word processor, phone book with auto-dialing via a built-in speaker,
calendar, and todo list. The Portfoliio has many features that Palm
still is not coming close to matching! It also doesn't seem to have any Y2K
problems! :) This Portfolio was tested on 7-13-2002 and still works
fine.
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| See the picture of the 486
(it's the 386 upgraded to a 486) |
1992 AMD 386 IBM Clone
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CPU: 40Mhz AMD 386DX (16bit)
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OS: MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1
The 386 was decommissioned when I upgraded it to a 486/100. It originally
had a 40Mhz AMD 386, AMD math co-proccessor, 4M of RAM, 105M IDE hard disk,
Trident 8900C VGA video card, and a 14" color monitor. |
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1992 Sun Sparc10
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CPU: 40Mhz Sun SuperSparc (32bit) with 1M cache (2 CPUs)
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OS: Solaris 2.5 and 2.6 (multi-boot)(can also run SunOS and Linux)
The RISC era. This is a Sun Sparc 10 which I bought thru the used computer
market. It was my "primary" computer until 1999. It would be easy to argue that this
is the most popular RISC machine ever made. It was light years ahead of
its time. This machine has twin 40Mhz SuperSparc CPUs with 1M cache each.
It also has 192M of RAM, a TX1 framebuffer, a 19" monitor and 2x2G of internal
disk storage. The Sparc 10 comes stock with Fast SCSI-2, 10Mbs ethernet,
and audio.
Recently upgraded to twin SS61s for $500!!! (6/98)
Recently upgraded to three Fast-SCSI II buses to support the robotic
tape drive, 7 external disks, and a 4mm autoloader (4/99) |
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1994 Sun SPARCstorage Library
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140 Gigabyte capacity
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10 160M 8mm tapes + cleaning cartridge
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Random tape selection
No computer center is complete without a backup system. This robotic drive
is actually an OEMed Exabyte EXB-210T. It has a 8505XL 8mm drive in it
and has hardware compression. It can operate in random mode (the robot
arm is SCSI addressable) or as an autoloader. (I'm really erked off at
FedEX, you can see where they chipped the base of the robot). |
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1994 SGI Indy R4600SC
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CPU: 133Mhz R4600SC (64 bit) with 512K cache
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Graphics: XZ-Elan (24bit, 4 GEs, 1 RE, HW Z-buffer)
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OS: Irix 5.3 and 6.2
Man, if your talking graphics, you're talking SGI. I bought this Indy in
July 1998 and it still puts any Wintel computer to shame. This machine
is VERY user friendly, it took all of 10 mins to have it TOTALLY configured
for my home network (without reading a single line of instruction). It
even natively supports my Lexmark Optima R+ printer on a HP EX plus3 print
server! This machine has a R4600SC (MIPS) 133Mhz with 512K cache, 128M
ram, 2G disk, Indycam (color video camera), Fast SCSI-2, very fast stereo
audio, 10Mbs ethernet (AUI and RJ45), Audio In/Out, Video In/Out (S-video,
composite, and SGI), and more multimedia software than I could ever learn
to use. |
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1994 Cisco 25xx series routers (added to collection on 7/24/2000)
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CPU: 30Mhz Motorola 63EC030 (32 bit)
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8M Flash, 16M DRAM, originally 4M Flash and 2M DRAM
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OS: IOS 9(?) - 12.2
Man, talk about a long production run, Cisco finally anounced that they will no
longer sell new 2501 and 2514 routers as of 4/30/2002!! That is a production run
of 8 YEARS!. However, the IOS for the 25xx series will still continue
to be supported for many more years.
The routers in this picture are a 2501 (1Eth, 2Serial ports), 2509 (1E, 2S, 8 async serial),
2514 (2E, 2S), and a 2504 (1TR, 2S). These routers are still in use, and probably
will be in use for many more years (they are used for testing network configurations).
They run current versions of Cisco's IOS and can easily handle dual T-1 speeds, the only
drawback it that their ethernet ports are 10mbps.
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1995 Tadpole Sparcbook 3GX
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CPU: 110Mhz MicroSparc-II
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2M Weitek P9100 Framebuffer
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Removeable harddisk
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2 PCMCIA slots, built in Fast SCSI-II, Fax/Modem, and ISDN
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OS: SunOS 4.1.3 or Solaris 2.5, 2.6, 2.7
This is one mean little notebook. It has a 4G removeable hard disk, 2 ethernet
ports (one built in and one PCMCIA card), 2 modems (one built in 14.4 Fax/modem
and a 33.6 PCMCIA card) and built in ISDN , Fast SCSI-II, and 16 bit stereo
in/out. It also has a 10.4 TFT display with a 2M Framebuffer with 800x600
resolution. |
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1995 Intel 486 IBM Clone
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CPU: 100Mhz Intel 486DX4 (32bit)
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OS: Linux (used to run DOS 5.0/Windows 3.1 and OS/2 (multi-boot))
This computer used to be my 386. It now has an Intel 486DX100 CPU with
32M of RAM, 300M IDE disk, 20x IDE CD-ROM, Diamond Speedstar 24x SVGA video
card, and 10Mbs ethernet. |
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1996 Hewlett-Packard HP9000/715
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CPU: 80Mhz HP PA-RISC 7100LC (32bit) with 256K cache
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OS: HP-UX 10.20 (can also run HP-UX 8, 9, 11)
This is a HP9000 model 715 running at 80Mhz. This computer I also bought
thru the used computer market. It has a 80Mhz PA-RISC 7100LC CPU with 256K
of cache. It also has 64M of RAM, a 1G and 2G disk, a 20" monitor, Fast
SCSI-2, audio, and 10Mbs ethernet. |
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1996 Intel Pentium IBM Clone
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CPU: 120Mhz Intel Pentium (32bit) with 256K cache
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OS: Linux, Windows 3.1, 95 , and NT (multi-boot)
Intel finally comes on strong. It has a
Pentium 120Mhz with 256K of cache, 32M of RAM, 1.5G and 3G IDE hard disks,
24x IDE CD-ROM, 1G Fast SCSI-2 hard disk, 10Mbs ethernet, and a 15" monitor. |
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1996 Sun Ultra-1 Creator 3D (added
to collection on 4/15/99)
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CPU: 200Mhz UltraSparc-I (full 64bit)
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OS: 64bit Solaris 7 (aka Solaris 2.7) Can also run SunOS 4.1.3 thru
Solaris 2.8 and UltraLinux
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Graphics: 24bit Sun Creator 3D graphics
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(DLT2000XT 15/30G tapedrive)
This machine is quickly becoming the workhorse (the Sparc10 is still a
major workhorse). The 200Mhz Ultra-1 Creator 3D comes with a 200Mhz
UltraSparc-I CPU (64bit) with 1M of cache, wide-SCSI disk, 100baseT networking,
16bit audio, crossbar bus/memory controller (direct from Cray Super Computers)
and the fantastic Sun Creator 3D graphics card (using the UPA graphics
connection). I have 320M of RAM in this machine and it is a real
screamer! |
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1997 Sun E3000 Enterprise Server (added
to collection on 5/4/01)
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CPU: 2 x 250Mhz UltraSparc-II (full 64bit)
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Enterprise Class Chassis; 4 slot backplane, 1 CPU board, 2 I/O boards
- AP/DR (Alternative Pathing/Dynamic Reconfiguration) capable
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OS: 64bit Solaris 8 (aka Solaris 2.8) Can also run SunOS 4.1.3 thru
Solaris 2.8 and UltraLinux
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Graphics: 8bit Turbo GX (it's a server, it's doesn't need a graphics
card)
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8 Fast Wide hot swappable SCSI disk (2 x 18G, 2 x 4G, 4 x 2G)
Wow, this computer is not your average computer. It is an Enterprise
Class Server. It can hot swap it's CPUs, memory, I/O boards, and
disk drives. If it were to be setup as a compute engine, it's max
configuration would be 6 x 400Mhz UltraSparc CPUs/8M cache each with 12G
of RAM (3 CPU/Memory boards and 1 I/O board). My configuration has
1 CPU/Memory board with 2 x 250Mhz UltraSparc/1M cache CPUs and 2 banks
of memory for 512M total, 2 x I/O boards each with 3 SBUS slots, 1 FW SCSI
controller, and 2 SOC fibre controllers, and 8 FW SCSI disk drives (52G
total). |
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1997 E3000 upgrade (E3000 upgraded on 12/7/02)
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X2602A CPU/Memory board, 4 x 336Mhz UltraSparc-II with 4M cache CPUs, 512M RAM
This is an upgrade that I bought for my E3000. My E3000 is now a quad 336Mhz/4M cache
UltraSparc-II CPU machine with 1G of RAM (2 CPU/Memory boards each with 2 CPUs and 512M of
RAM). When these parts where new they would
have cost over $60,000USD. I bougth them for $900.00USD. The two 336Mhz CPU modules
at the top of the picture are to replace the 2 250Mhz CPU modules on a X2602A board
that I already have. The board at the bottom of the picture is an addtional X2602A
board that is already loaded with two more 336Mhz CPU modules and 512M of RAM (16 x 32M).
I suppose that 336Mhz CPUs and 1G of RAM seems pretty outdated in this day and age, but
the E3000 is still a very nice machine.
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1997 Cisco CAT 5005 (added to collection on 2/23/03)
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CAT 5005 chasis (5 slot) with redunant power supplies
- SUP II supervisor engine (Motorola 68E030 processor) with 16M DRAM and 8M flash
- 3 X 24 10/100 ethernet ports (WS-X5224)
- 1 x 12 10/100 Fibre MMF ports
This is a big time switch. It currently is running CatOS 4.5 (limited by the 16M DRAM).
It has 1.2 Gbps on the backplane (single bus, oh well...). However, even for today's small
to medium sized networks, it works fine.
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1997 Apple Newton MP2100 (The first Newton was intoduced in 1993)(added to collection on 5/24/02)
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CPU: 160Mhz StrongARM SA-110 RISC (32 bit) with 1M DRAM, 4M flash RAM, 8M ROM
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OS: NewtOS 2.1
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Graphics: Touch screen with 16 bit gray scale, 480 x 320 at 100DPI
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Support for 2 PCMCIA cards (including ethernet and modems), IR, and serial port
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Runs for over 24 hours on 3 AA batteries (uses rechargeables also)
Long before there was a Palm Pilot or Windows CE devices there was the Apple
Newton. The Newton line of palm/tablet computers started all the way back in 1992.
Unfortunately for Apple, they were way ahead of their time again. Unfortunately
for Apple also, the Netwon is too big (1.2 lbs and 8 inches long). BUT, Dang,
it has the BEST handwritting recongnization that I have every seen. I still
use it today (7/6/2002). It's just too bad that all of the Newton developers
are a bunch of greedy folks (EVERY SINGLE piece of silly SW for the Newton cost at
least $10.00).
It would be nice if the Newton had the same OSS following as the Palm has (I
guess that's how how Apple works...) The Newton series of computers where
discontinued in 1999.
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1998 Cisco 2611 router
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CPU : 40Mhz MPC860 with 4M Flash and 16M DRAM, WIC2-A/S
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OS: IOS 11.3(T)
I bought this router brand new. There really isn't that much price difference
between new and used routers. It's a Cisco 2611 with a WIC-2A/S (sync and
async) serial card. It has 2 10mbps ethernet and 2 a/s serial ports. It's
max serial speed is dual T1s (2x1.5Mbps), I guess it's real overkill for
a K56flex modem, but I really like it's ACL (Firewall) capacity. (The router
is the blue box on the bottom of the hub stack) |
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1998 HP C240 (added to collection on 03/06/02)
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CPU : 236Mhz PA-RISC 8200 (Full 64bit)
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1 Gigabyte of RAM
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1 Fast-Wide *AND* 1 fast-narrow SCSI buses!
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Visualize FX-4 graphics
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OS: 64bit HP-UX 11i and 32bit 10.20 (dual boot)
I bought this computer to replace my 9000/715 which is starting to flake out.
It's pretty nice, but I haven't really tried it out much since I'm
waiting for a dang EVC to VGA converter (why in the world did HP
use a EVC graphics connector??)
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2001 Sun SunBlade-100 (added to collection on 5/8/01)
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CPU : 500Mhz UltraSparc-IIe (Full 64bit)
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AMD 600Mhz Co-processor card
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Collaboration kit (Firewire Cammera kit)
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Ultra-SCSI card (add-on)
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OS: 64bit Solaris 8. Can also run SunOS 4.1.3 thru Solaris 8
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OS: Windows98 and Linux (RH 7.1) on the co-processor card
I bought this computer brand new from Sun. $2500.00 bucks, what a deal!
It has the AMD 600Mhz co-processor card so it can run any Intel compatable
OS at NATIVE SPEED! The SunBlade-100 natively uses IDE (which I really
hate) so I added a UltraSCSI controller. I also got the collaboration kit
with included the Firewire (IEEE-1394) camera, microphone, and SW.
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2001 Apple iMac G3 (bought new on 4/07/02)
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CPU : 500Mhz PowerPC G3
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20G disk, 640M RAM, and a CD-RW drive
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OS: MacOS 9 and MacOS X (at the same time!)
I've always wanted an Apple, and since MacOS X is UNIX based I decided to
finally get one. I bought an older iMac since it was cheap and I
wanted to make sure that I like MacOS X. So far, it's ok, but the
file structure is really funky and MacOS X 10.1 doesn't have ANY
DEVELOPMENT TOOLS (unlike most UNIX systems)!!! It doesn't even have
the header files! You have to order them from Apple ($20.00USD)....
Side note: the iMac is stilling on top of an old HP 9000/G50 that
I recently obtained. Too bad that it won't boot. Oh well...
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2002 Apple PowerMac G4 (bought new on 8/17/02)
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CPU : 2 x 1 Ghz PowerPC G4
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80G disk, 640M RAM, and a SuperDrive drive (DVD-R/W)
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OS: MacOS 9 and MacOS X (at the same time!)
Well, it turns out that the iMac G3 is total CRAP! It's not
powerful enough to do any of the cool graphics stuff that Apple
is always talking about. So I bought a PowerMac "QuickSliver".
Man, it was horribly expensive (over $2100.00USD compared to an
Intel 2Ghz going for $800.00USD or a SunBlade at $1100.00USD)
but at least now I can do some nice video editing.
Plus, even with "Jaguar" (MacOS X 10.2) it still has gcc problems
(were is libc!!). I guess that I'm happy that I bought it....
But it won't replace my SunBlade as my primary computer anytime
soon!
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