What 8bit / 16bit / workstation do You own?

[Matej]

- Atari 130XE, Atari STE, Atari FALCON 030, Atari 2600

- Commodore 64, Amiga 500+68030 turbocard, Amiga 1200

- Apple 2 GS Woz, Apple PowerMAC G5 Dual/8GB/1TB/256mbVGA PowerPC workstation

- ToshibaTecra8000 (DOS gaming)

- Philips MSX2, Sony MSX1

- ZX Spectrum 48K, ZX Spectrum 128k

- Nintendo NES, SNES, N64, WiiU, GBA, DSlite

- Sega Genesis/Megadrive 1 & 2 and rare Genesis 3 clone

- Cute SUN Microsystems SUN RAY2 risc client

And You?

[AndyMt]

Impressive!

Me - none. I think a MiSTer doesn't count?

[TomXP411]

4 hours ago, AndyMt said:

Impressive!



Me - none. I think a MiSTer doesn't count?

Why wouldn't it? 

He did say "retro." By definition, a MiSTer is retro. Retro is a modern thing that looks like an old thing. 

An Atari, Commodore, or Apple II would be vintage. Vintage is an old thing that is actually.... old.

Anyway, my vintage hardware:

• 
  Commodore 64 breadbin (1984 board, I believe the 3rd rev)
  
  
  
  • 
    1541 (gray) with drive select
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  Commodore 64C (early model with front printing, long board, and 6581 SID)
  
  
  
  • 
    1541-II
    
  
  
  • 
    1541 Ultimate
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  Commodore 128 (mostly just sit there, looking good. The keyboard needs to be torn down, cleaned, and lubricated.)
  
  
  
  • 
    1571
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  Compaq Portable (not working, same issue as the one David fixed on his channel)
  


• 
  Tandy 102
  

My Retro hardware:

• 
  MiSTer FPGA
  


• 
  Ultimate 64
  


• 
  Turbo Chameleon w/stand-alone dock
  


• 
  TheC64 (pre-ordered)
  


• 
  3 Altairduinos and an Altair Clone
  

I've also got several SD2IEC devices: a black one with a tape port connector, white one with a User port connector, and a larger one that has a removable power cord and dual IEC jacks (allowing for pass-through to a real floppy drive or 1541U).

I'm on the lookout for CP/M hardware, such as an S-100 or a Kaypro CP/M system. I can't afford what I'm seeing, though, so I'm keeping an eye out for a lucky deal...

 

[StephenHorn]

My vintage hardware is pretty much entirely video game consoles:

• 
  Atari 2600
  


• 
  Atari 5200
  


• 
  NES
  


• 
  Gameboy
  

I suppose if you want to get technical and define "vintage" as anything 20 or older, we can add:

• 
  Sega Genesis
  


• 
  Super NES
  


• 
  N64
  

I wouldn't exactly call them "workstations", though.

Except for the NES, these are all the original devices I'd played games on growing up. Never sold them, and eventually took them with me when I moved out of my parents' house.

I used to have a Macintosh SE at my parents' house, which Dad had gotten when one of his employers was clearing out old workstations. I wonder if it's still around somewhere.

But sadly, I missed the 80s PC scene at home, and instead we had a dumb terminal with a 2400bps modem that Mom used to work from home (she was a full-time programmer).

[Doigt]

Unfortunately I don't have any vintage computer in my collection. Most of my childhood was playing games on the Sega Dreamcast and the SNES. I think the only remotely vintage or retro things I own are a cartridge for the gameboy and another for the gameboy color - I played those on a GameBoy Advance SP though (which was stolen, someone had broken in our home and they stole a bunch of other useless stuff like a laptop that could only power on when it was plugged with its charger - without the charger...)

So I own 2 Dreamcasts and a Nintendo 64. My parents are still holding on their SNES even though it doesn't work anymore and why shouldn't they? The console had amazing games with very nostalgic memories attached and my mom knew how to clear many Super Mario titles by heart and she could beat LoZ A Link to the Past without dying. I remember when I was a kid I was mostly watching my parents play. We even had nights where my brother and I would get to sleep like that - we'd watch our parents play Mario and fall asleep like that. Fun times.

[John Chow Seymour]

Those are some impressive collections.  Mine is a bit more humble and is mostly old video game systems that my family never got rid of:

Vintage:

• 
  A C64 Breadbin that I rescued from the trash and repaired.  (It was literally on the curb in my neighborhood; the house was put up for sale and the real estate company removed everything and put it out on the street for trash pickup.)  I'm learning the ins and outs of the SID chip on it.
  
  
  
  • 
    Datassette that I bought on eBay (listed as broken) and repaired.
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  386-based "IBM Compatible" as we used to call them, branded with the name of a local electronics store that has long since closed. Has a SoundBlaster 16 card.  Too low-powered to run Doom, but great for playing Planet X3.
  


• 
  Atari 2600  (Sears "Telegames"  model), and about 3 dozen games.  Been in my family since before I was born, stopped working about 5 years ago.  I'll repair it one of these days - I need Joust back in my life.
  


• 
  Intellivision, broken, that used to belong to my aunt.  It has never worked, not even when I was a kid.  I should try to repair that too.
  


• 
  GameBoys: While I still have the original DMG I got when I was a kid, I do all my chiptune work on a GameBoy Pocket that I bought at a flea market and then "ProSound" modded. (I didn't want to open up my original one in case I botched the mod!)
  


• 
  NES:  I still have my original NES, but I don't use it for anything besides playing games.  I have plans to get a second one and take the R2a03 out and use it as the base for a breadboard computer, to use for making chiptunes, but I haven't done it yet. It'll be a tough project. I don't want to risk dissecting my childhood one since it still works!
  


• 
  SNES, the one I had in my childhood. On mine, the top shell piece faded into yellow while the bottom stayed the original grey.  My best friend's, however, ended up with the bottom shell faded and the top shell stayed perfectly fine.  The mysteries of SNES plastic.
  


• 
  I like collecting 90s-era MIDI tone generators, although I think those are all too new to be 8/16bit.  I have a few versions of the Roland SoundCanvas, a couple in the Yama MU series, and a Yamaha QY70. 
  

My first computer growing up was an Apple //e, with a "green screen".  Alas, we don't have it anymore. I miss it!

Retro:

• 
  I think the only 'retro' computer I have is the PE6502, which I put together from the kit. It's a pretty fun little device. I'm still hoping Jason Putnam will release the sound card.
  


• 
  I'm in the Kickstarter for the "Liven 8bit Warps", a modern music synth with chiptune sensibilities. Apparently some of the audio generation is actually done with 8bit processing. They're starting to ship, but mine hasn't shipped yet. (Here's a link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sonicware/liven-8bit-warps-8bit-wave-memory-synthesizer-8 ).  Maybe I'll make a post about it (in the off-topic forum) when I get it.
  

[Ender]

My collection isn't very big.

• 
  My interest in retro things started when I was a kid with a C64, which my uncle gave to me.  He later took it back and gave me a C128, which I still have in storage, along with a floppy disk drive and a monitor for it, and tons of books.  It hasn't been turned on in like 15 years so I don't know if it still works. I really need to set it up again and see if it still works.
  


• 
  If we're mentioning old video game consoles then I have:
  
  
  
  • 
    Sega Gamegear
    
  
  
  • 
    Sega Genesis
    
  
  
  • 
    PS1
    
  
  
  • 
    PS2
    
  
  
  • 
    Xbox original
    
  
  
  • 
    N64
    
  
  
  • 
    Gamecube
    
  
  
  • 
    Gameboy Color
    
  
  
  • 
    We also have an Intellivison in storage somewhere that also hasn't been turned on in a long time, so who knows if that still works.
    
  
  
  
  

[Justin Baldock]

My Hardware is more Commodore centric since that is what I grew up with.

Commodore 64 (3 x tape, floppy drives etc)

Amiga 500

Amiga 600

Amiga 2000

Wanting to get a few more Commodore bits and pieces like an early Commodore PC. Maybe a VIC20 as well.

My day drives are a i7 Win10 PC, iMac 27" and a MacBook. 

[Strider]

Sadly, none anymore. ?

While I have owned many over the years, I just don't have the time or room for them these days. It sucks, but it is what it is. That's why I am interested in the X16, a "one stop shop" for all my retro computing needs. ?

Right now, it's all emulation, via Windows PC and Raspberry Pi. That's the second reason the X16 captured my interest, I would be able to mess with something that's close to original "80's" hardware.

Talking my wife into it when the time comes, that will be the true challenge. ?

 

[rje]

As Strider says, I lack the time and space.  I donated my C64 and disk drive 15 years ago to a co-worker who was an enthusiastic young techie.  Then I sold my C64 game collection 12 years ago. 

Finally 10 years ago a very kind and helpful retro BBS guy digitized my three remaining 1541 diskettes for me.  Those are all I have left, but they represent a significant portion of the coding I did back in the 80s, so I really haven't lost all that much.

...But I have room for an X16.