Tezza's Computer Retirement Home

[tezza]

Ok, I succumed to the temptation to show off to friends and relatives (just to confirm I'm a nutter) and put my modest collection on-line plus a few notes.

Have a look at http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/collection

It's not hard-core but you might enjoy seeing these old machines together and working.

Enjoy!

Tez

[JDT]

Nice site, very good read =) Nice to read a bit of your own personal history with the units as well. Im jelouse of your SX-64. Thanks for sharing!

[Druid6900]

Yup, Looks good, Tez.

To complete your collection, I see two options;

a) win a lottery or
b) move to a BIG country LOL

[Zeela]

Really nice Tezza. It's always nice to see working old computers.

You do have some gems in there!

// Z

[TroyW]

Wow, very impressive, thanks for that, I just spent a few hours on and off checking it all out, very well done mate!

The only thing I'd say is that it would be good if you could get your hands on an Amiga 1000 (aka just the "Amiga"), because it was the very first Amiga and was revolutionary back in 1985!

[tezza]

Glad you enjoyed those pages...

Yup, Looks good, Tez.

To complete your collection, I see two options;

a) win a lottery or
b) move to a BIG country LOL

Looking at prices vintage stuff seems to go for these days I would say BOTH options are needed Druid my friend :)

Opps, I forgot to put up a page for my little donated Mac powerbook!

Better go find out something about it...

Tez

[Ksarul]

Nice site Tezza. Thanks for putting it up!

[Vint]

Hey Tez, super collection with great brief comments for all the units. I really enjoyed the 'trip'. It's easy to see you really value and like your collection. I especially liked the SpectraVideo 318, the Dick Smith System 80, and your display of the 5150 IBM. I notice you lay out manuals with your displays, which completes the picture. Each display thus becomes it's own separate little world unto itself. What I mean is - let's say it's many years from now - going forward. Perhaps a great grandson of your has inherited your IBM 5150. He could sit down, open a manual and find the same world of charm we did running DOS from way back when. The world keeps moving forward, but it's such a pleasure to be able to 'look back', now and then. We mostly share one thing here - 'we lived it'.

[DarthKur]

I just read through everything. That's a rather nice site. It sounds like you've definitely put a lot of caring work into your machines.

[tezza]

I just read through everything. That's a rather nice site. It sounds like you've definitely put a lot of caring work into your machines.

Thanks to both you and Vint.

Yes, I do try to nurse them along. I guess that where the retirement home analogy is fits in. Occassionally they need minor surgery to cure complaints, just like elderly people.

My big fear in carrying out repairs though is that my less-than-adequate knowledge of electronics may cause a minor problem to get worse. It's always in the back of my mind when I'm pulling things apart. I think "If I break this, I just can't go do down the road to the local electronics store and buy a replacement component". It's a no-brainer if the machine is already dead. Then I've got nothing to lose. But if it's something minor that's another story.

For example, should I pull my IBM monitor apart to see if I can stop it going blank on occassions. It's not too bad at the moment, in that a tap on the case usually fixes the problem. However, in opening the case I might make it worse. If it doesn't turn on, that's the whole machine dead.

So should I just live with it? This is one of the dilemmas in keeping a bunch of old computers working , when the skills aren't really there. At least the passion is though. I have repaired some of them, so I guess the skills are starting to follow.

Tez