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Mid Atlantic Pittsburgh, PA - Some Vintage Equipment Needs New Home

Covers: New York, Pensylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC.
granzeier

granzeier

Experienced Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2010
Messages
107
Location
Pittsburgh, PA, USA, Terra, Sol, Andromeda Arm
Delivery Options
Local Pickup Only
We are moving into a smaller house, and I don't have room for all of my vintage stuff. Anyone who is in (or near) the Pittsburgh area, please come and help!
I'm not sure what all I will be getting rid of, but here is a starting list:
Compaq 386.jpg
(The diagonal line is an artifact of the scan rate of the screen differing from the camera's scan rate.)
Compaq 386 Display.jpg
(The top part being lighter than the bottom is due to the above mentioned scan rates, and the blurry display is from my not-so-steady hands. Sorry.)
1) Compaq 386 lunchbox computer; HD, 1.44M FD and built-in display (has a vertical strip of blurry display sections - see photos.) I got this about 20-25 years ago from a church which I used to attend. It has a MS-DOS 6.20 boot disk (which I'll keep with the computer) with a copy of IDEDIAG. This shows that it has a 40MB hard drive, but I do not have the "Install Disk" to set up the BIOS to recognize the HD. It is pretty dirty, from being in storage for many years, and the keyboard cable has dry rot, but it does work. I'll include another keyboard, but both are in need of some TLC (mostly cleaning, and replace the cables if you can.)
286 Motherboard.jpg
2) Intel 286 Motherboard; don't have any info on this, but there is no RAM (nor the cache, if I'm right about the extra DIP sockets.)
3) A couple of terminals; one ADM3 (ADM3A?), and one Heath H19 (neither one has been tested, in fact I can't even get to them for pictures until I pack up some more of my stuff.)
4) Some Commodore stuff; mostly VIC-20 and C=>64 stuff. I have a bunch of this stuff, but want to keep one -20 and one -64 complete set. Most of the stuff has not been tested.
5) A CoCo (2?); no real info, but I believe that it did not power up last time I tried it out.
6) Several PC cards (mix of ISA-16, VLSI, PCI); no status
7) A NEC MultiSync monitor with speakers (needs a good cleaning, but worked the last time that I used it.)
8) ?????
Sorry, but I don't have time to do any packing or shipping. However, I can bring them out to you (packing to move leaves a terribly messy house) when you come to pick them up.
I don't need any payment (although I won't turn up my nose if you want to offer,) I just want them to go to someone who will give them the loving home they deserve. Also, I would love to get a nice, working 486 laptop, if you happen to have a spare.

EDIT: Oh, I nearly forgot, I also have two older (Motorola MC68000) Apple Macs, with some stuff for them.
 
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I'm quite interested in those terminals. Maybe some of that other stuff too if nobody else bites. I'm down in WV, about 4 hours away from Pitt. With my work schedule being what it is, I'd probably have to come on a Sunday. How soon are you needing to be rid of that stuff?

I used to have a pretty decent NEC Versa something-or-other 486 laptop with a passive matrix color screen (PC speaker only for sound though), but I am not sure where it is. Also have a DEC 486SLC laptop, although it is grayscale and I am not sure where the power supply is. They both worked 20 years ago, but I haven't tried booting them in years. Back when I was using them, the batteries were already shot, so I gutted the battery packs so they wouldn't leak and ruin the machine. I think the DEC had DOS on it and the NEC was running Slackware. I can't speak as to whether or not the internal clock batteries have leaked or not though. Whether or not I still have the NEC or the power supply for the DEC all depends on whether or not it went into one of the boxes that made the move when my ex and I split up. I'll see if I can dig them out of the storage area tomorrow.
 
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What would you looking to get for the 286 mainboard? And are you willing to ship? Been looking for a cheap 286 board for a while now..
 
twolazy said:
And are you willing to ship?
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Unfortunately, I just had an eye-opening (and eye-watering) experience working with wperko - he asked about shipping the terminals, and when I contacted UPS, their estimate was almost $350 - plus the packing. The 286 board would be much cheaper than the monitors, but I am just too worn out (disabled and trying to pack up to move.)
 
bladamson said:
I'm quite interested in those terminals. Maybe some of that other stuff too if nobody else bites. I'm down in WV, about 4 hours away from Pitt. With my work schedule being what it is, I'd probably have to come on a Sunday. How soon are you needing to be rid of that stuff?
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Sounds like you are just south of Wheeling - not too bad. I try to keep holy the Sabbath (Sunday for me,) but vintage computing is too much fun to be really considered work (plus my wife *REALLY* wants me to get rid of some more of my "junk" as she calls it.) Let's tentatively schedule for next Sunday (7 Aug, say after 2:00PM?) - let me know what time you would like. Also, it has been quite a while since I have had anyone to sit and talk old computers with - what do you think about going somewhere and BSing a bit over some coffee, or tea?
 
bladamson said:
I'd be willing to pick up the 286 board and ship it to you.
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Lee, that's fantastic - Thanks!
Twolazy, remember that I have no idea if it is any good - it looks fine. I believe that this was from a working system at my work, that I upgraded to a 386, or 486, back in the early nineties. But the old memory isn't what it used to be, so take that with a grain of salt...
 
Aha, the 7th is my birthday! Although I try to forget about it these days haha.

I'm actually down in Pendleton county, the bump at the bottom of the eastern panhandle. I can zip up there pretty quick on corridor-h though. Well, as fast as my old pickup can "zip", anyway. It's 3 hours to Morgantown, and then what, 1 hour more to Pitt as I recall?

I could *probably* squeeze in a Saturday instead if we scheduled it at least a week ahead of time. If you're disabled, I'd be happy to help you move some stuff and/or load heavy stuff or whatever, as long as I can try to get back home before it gets too dark.

But sure yeah, we can grab coffee and chat. I'm kind of a spaz and socially awkward sometimes, but yeah. :)

Edit: Yeah, the 14th ought to be fine. If the 13th would suit you better and be more conducive to me helping you move stuff or whatever if you want a hand with that, I am sure I can wrangle someone else into doing my farm chores by then.
 
bladamson said:
twolazy, if granzeier lets me acquire those terminals, I'd be willing to pick up the 286 board and ship it to you.
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I would be most grateful if you could! That would be awesome! 👍

granzeier said:
Twolazy, remember that I have no idea if it is any good - it looks fine. I believe that this was from a working system at my work, that I upgraded to a 386, or 486, back in the early nineties. But the old memory isn't what it used to be, so take that with a grain of salt...
Click to expand...

I dont mind a challenge at all and if Bladamson can grab it off you so you don't have to ship it, all the better. :D Thank you so much ahead of time both of you! Have my word it will be repaired if possible and stay in the permanent collection. =)
 
bladamson said:
It's 3 hours to Morgantown, and then what, 1 hour more to Pitt as I recall?
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Lee, Morgantown's what I meant, not sure why I said "Wheeling" - I'll blame my poor memory. Morgantown is just under an hour-and-a-half, so not too far.
The 14th will work, our granddaughter is in town, so Saturday would work, but it would be better to spend it with her. So, we can keep our tentative plan for Sunday, the 14th. Let me know if anything comes up; I'll PM my contact info.
Happy birthday🎂, hope you have a great day, and I'll be glad to give you a couple of presents a week late. :p
 
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Lee,
Also, I am interested in the 486 mostly for MS-DOS, and vintage dev work (with a parallel printer, and serial, port.) Although, I would like to be able to run Window for Workgroups 3.11, so color would be great. Thanks for the offer, either would work. I used to run Slackware many years ago, and it might be fun to play with it a bit before loading MS-DOS on it.
 
Alright, sounds good. Haven't been up that way in years. I hope that Little Sandy's in Bruceton Mills still serves those delicious ostrich burgers.

I need to hit the sack for now, but I'll try to dig those laptops up tomorrow evening.
 
Hello! I’d definitely be interested in one of those Macs, maybe some of your Commodore stuff too. I recently picked up a CoCo 2 and haven’t gotten any software (or means to load software) for it yet, so if you have anything like that I might be able to take some of it off your hands. Those terminals sound sweet but that’d be pushing it with my wife, so I’ll leave those to the others 😅

I’m in Pittsburgh as well (West View) and my schedule is generally open, so it should be pretty easy for me to swing by (I’m free this Friday after work / 5pm, or Saturday morning, or next week sometime).
 
I have a bunch of CoCo2 accessories. If you end up with the machine let me know I have a few disk controllers, think a few external drives, a NOS keyboard, an aftermarket 6 pack multipak interface and other stuff some where round here.
 
tdoug870 said:
I’m free this Friday after work / 5pm, or Saturday morning, or next week sometime
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I'm meeting with a kid that I'm trying to get into computers and electronics (he is interested) on Saturday at the Guardian Storage on McKnight Road. We should be there just after 9:00AM, and you are welcome to come for some electronic dumpster diving fun. In fact, I would love to meet with you. I should be able to get the Macs out, but the CoCo will take some time, and I'm not sure that I have any accessories for it.
 
CygnusTM said:
I'm just south of you in northern WV. I'm definitely interested in the Macs and maybe the Commodore stuff.
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Quoting myself to increase visibility. A lot of posts came in before mine was approved. (Of course, this one might suffer the same fate.)

I'd be able to come up on a weekend day or possibly a Friday, if any of the Macs or Commodore stuff remains.

Thanks.
 
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