utuberangerbob
Member
After years of reading your forums, I finally signed up.
My computer history began in the late '70s when I joined the USAF. There I learned to operate, repair, and program the T.I. 980B minicomputer and all of its' accessories, including the 733 KSR and ASR terminals, Kennedy and Pertec 9-track tape drives, and a washer-sized 1MB disk drive (Control Data, I think). It was at this time that I bought my first personal computer, an Apple ][ with a whopping 16K RAM, and attended AppleSAC meetings (do they still exist?). I was also a frequent customer of Halted Specialties in Sacramento, and still have the T.I. 960A that I bought from them in maybe 1980. That sucker sure weighed down the back of my 1972 American Ambassador on the drive from Sacramento to Albuquerque.
In Albuquerque I was a contractor for the USGS maintaining seismic stations around the world. I think I was only home for 1-2mos/yr. The seismic stations used Data General Nova 1200 computers, 9-track tape drives, Silent 700 terminals w/ 20mA interfaces... the usual stuff. I frequently repaired the Novas to the component level, and once even swapped out a core module. That was some rough desoldering/soldering. Some of our ancient pure analog seismic stations were upgraded in the early-mid '80s to Intel (and NEC) Multibus SBCs.
After that I became a DoD contractor at WSMR and other test facilities. There we always had the newest computer gear as it came out. I remember the long parade of x86, Novel Netware, Windoze, IRIX, SunOS, Linux, beastie Compaqs, Bernoulli's, Zip/Jazz, MFM/RLL/SCSI/IDE...it was just a blur. In my free time I built and upgraded home computer systems. This is when I really got into collecting old computer gear. Anything that was upgraded and headed for the trash, I just kept it. 20+ years, and 5 10x20 storage units later, here we are.
I'll attach a picture below of a portion of my collection that is in my home 'Apple Room'. A few choice items you may notice...a couple of Heath terminals, a NorthStar Horizon, A SWTPC TVT II, HP-86B (matching monitor thanks to 'Panhandle Bob'/Roberttx), and a 99/4A in box. I've had Apple ][s for many decades, but in recent years began expanding, especially my IIGS collection (could have been the greatest home computer ever made, but crippled by a certain someone). Not a MAC fan though, but I do buy dead ones, especially the IIci model, to repair and resell.
Probably enough for now, so we'll let that settle.
Bob
My computer history began in the late '70s when I joined the USAF. There I learned to operate, repair, and program the T.I. 980B minicomputer and all of its' accessories, including the 733 KSR and ASR terminals, Kennedy and Pertec 9-track tape drives, and a washer-sized 1MB disk drive (Control Data, I think). It was at this time that I bought my first personal computer, an Apple ][ with a whopping 16K RAM, and attended AppleSAC meetings (do they still exist?). I was also a frequent customer of Halted Specialties in Sacramento, and still have the T.I. 960A that I bought from them in maybe 1980. That sucker sure weighed down the back of my 1972 American Ambassador on the drive from Sacramento to Albuquerque.
In Albuquerque I was a contractor for the USGS maintaining seismic stations around the world. I think I was only home for 1-2mos/yr. The seismic stations used Data General Nova 1200 computers, 9-track tape drives, Silent 700 terminals w/ 20mA interfaces... the usual stuff. I frequently repaired the Novas to the component level, and once even swapped out a core module. That was some rough desoldering/soldering. Some of our ancient pure analog seismic stations were upgraded in the early-mid '80s to Intel (and NEC) Multibus SBCs.
After that I became a DoD contractor at WSMR and other test facilities. There we always had the newest computer gear as it came out. I remember the long parade of x86, Novel Netware, Windoze, IRIX, SunOS, Linux, beastie Compaqs, Bernoulli's, Zip/Jazz, MFM/RLL/SCSI/IDE...it was just a blur. In my free time I built and upgraded home computer systems. This is when I really got into collecting old computer gear. Anything that was upgraded and headed for the trash, I just kept it. 20+ years, and 5 10x20 storage units later, here we are.
I'll attach a picture below of a portion of my collection that is in my home 'Apple Room'. A few choice items you may notice...a couple of Heath terminals, a NorthStar Horizon, A SWTPC TVT II, HP-86B (matching monitor thanks to 'Panhandle Bob'/Roberttx), and a 99/4A in box. I've had Apple ][s for many decades, but in recent years began expanding, especially my IIGS collection (could have been the greatest home computer ever made, but crippled by a certain someone). Not a MAC fan though, but I do buy dead ones, especially the IIci model, to repair and resell.
Probably enough for now, so we'll let that settle.
Bob
