The pdp11 is oddly interesting to me. Never used one or touched one. But the instruction set is interesting in so many ways. It looks like something I could actually write code for and not spend the whole time in anger.
Ask HN: Which vintage computers do you find interesting?
101–110 of 142 posts
Re: Ask HN: Which vintage computers do you find interesting?
#102The Z80 and CP/M are where it's at for me. A couple of years ago I ported a Z80 emulator to run under Unreal Engine 4, and wrote a telnet client for it to allow it to connect out to BBS's on the internet: https://i.imgur.com/59RufvT.png
Please tell me you can wander around different rooms and there are multiple terminals like this.
Re: Ask HN: Which vintage computers do you find interesting?
#103The Psion II organizer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Organiser).
In my opinion, the filing system of "hit SAVE and write whatever you want, up to 254 characters in a record, and search for them later with FIND" is literally an offline, portable Twitter-esque infodumping tool. Simply elegant.
Re: Ask HN: Which vintage computers do you find interesting?
#104I really like the old SGI computers, the design was amazing. Not sure how much fun those are nowadays even if you happen to be into CAD or 3D modelling. I friend of mine got an old workstation from eBay and it weighed 50 kg and had a huge power supply.
A really interesting one might be Apple Newton, they have been quite powerful for their time. I think a few years ago I read that there is still a vibrant community around it.
Re: Ask HN: Which vintage computers do you find interesting?
#105I really like the old SGI computers, the design was amazing. Not sure how much fun those are nowadays even if you happen to be into CAD or 3D modelling. I friend of mine got an old workstation from eBay and it weighed 50 kg and had a huge power supply. A really interesting one might be Apple Newton, they have been quite powerful for their time. I think a few years ago I read that there is still a vibrant community ar…
I miss SGI IRIX `hinv` - it told you what hardware was plugged on the machine.
I think Apple Newton (today) seems an interesting piece of hardware to try and tinker.
Re: Ask HN: Which vintage computers do you find interesting?
#106I pulled an Amstrad cpc464 out of the loft at the beginning of the year and headed deep down the rabbit hole. For me the most interesting thing is interfacing with modern microcontrollers. Pics, stm32, esp(s) etc. There's something about telneting to BBS over the internet from a machine from 1985. The wargames effect maybe. Standouts for the CPC include the M4 board, the dandanator and the USIFAC. I have a lot of res…
Amstrad is definitely one of the machines I want to buy at some point. I really like the design.
Some friends discovered during quarantine their old Amstrads still worked but their monitors weren't.
Don't remember if they were green phospor CRT or color.
Re: Ask HN: Which vintage computers do you find interesting?
#107What I’ve read about Lisp machines[0] really piqued my interest.
Haven’t tried one yet though.
NeXT’s computers[1] also seems very cool. Haven’t tried them either but I’ve used both WindowMaker and macOS.
Re: Ask HN: Which vintage computers do you find interesting?
#108I’m into a weird part of retrocomputing where I mess with things other than just general purpose computers. Most of my equipment is old network/telecom stuff (mostly ISDN and general T1/E1 stuff rn, but I want to get into ATM) and network analyzers. Notably my Agilent J2300E which is a massive Windows 98 machine that look like a laptop but contains all sorts of sync and async serial interfaces too expensive to put on…
I hope you are part of NPSTN and the various phreaking discord groups.. LOTS of old switching stuff going on there.. some people from Binrev, etc... good to meet you. I probably already know you. :)
-lucidphreak
Re: Ask HN: Which vintage computers do you find interesting?
#109I really like the old SGI computers, the design was amazing. Not sure how much fun those are nowadays even if you happen to be into CAD or 3D modelling. I friend of mine got an old workstation from eBay and it weighed 50 kg and had a huge power supply. A really interesting one might be Apple Newton, they have been quite powerful for their time. I think a few years ago I read that there is still a vibrant community ar…
They had beatiful cases. Now all computers look like they are designed by Henry Ford - black.
Re: Ask HN: Which vintage computers do you find interesting?
#110I really like the old SGI computers, the design was amazing. Not sure how much fun those are nowadays even if you happen to be into CAD or 3D modelling. I friend of mine got an old workstation from eBay and it weighed 50 kg and had a huge power supply. A really interesting one might be Apple Newton, they have been quite powerful for their time. I think a few years ago I read that there is still a vibrant community ar…
> I really like the old SGI computers, the design was amazing. Not sure how much fun those are nowadays even if you happen to be into CAD or 3D modelling.
At least they can be easily repurposed to do something useful:)
https://www.instructables.com/Convert-a-Silicon-Graphics-Ser...