Computer Archaeology

[Zobeid]

A couple of days ago I went out to The Ranch to dig up some old computer stuff.  In late 1998 I got an iMac, so shortly afterwards I packed up all my accumulated old Atari, Amiga and Windows PC stuff and hauled it out to the ranch -- just in case something didn't work out with the Mac, and I might need that stuff again.

But of course the Mac worked out fine.  (I've bought seven of them by now.)  And the stuff stayed in the barn for almost ten years.  Understand when I say barn, I mean a large quonset building with farm machinery, piles of grain, mice and raccoons.

Out of the boxes of old computer books, I found a couple that might actually still have some small value.  Most of them go in the trash.  Out of the many boxes of software -- some boxed, but also lots and lots of 3.5-inch floppies -- it was all worthless.  It was interesting to note, stuff in plastic storage boxes survived quite well on the whole.  It was the stuff in cardboard boxes that really got messed up.

The most tragic thing of all. . .   The Amiga 3000T computer had a hole knocked in the front (by a piece of farm machinery, I assume), rodent nests inside, and ALL of the wiring chewed up.  Somewhere an Amiga collector is weeping.  The 3000T was the best-engineered Amiga ever, and is a relatively rare and desirable machine.

Sitting next to the 3000T was a 20-inch Mitsubishi Diamond Scan monitor.  It's a monster, it weighs about 100 pounds.  This was one of the few monitors that would sync all the way down to NTSC 15KHz and also up to super-high-resolution (800x600!) SVGA.  After ten years in the barn it was coated with a layer of brown stuff.  After seeing the insides of the Amiga, I was very doubtful about being able to power up the Diamond Scan without starting a fire.  I opened it up, cleaned up as much of the brown stuff as I could reach, observed no obviously chewed wires.  I got my safety glasses and a fire extinguisher, then plugged in the monitor. . .   And there was no smoke.  I then hooked it up to my TiBook and got an image!  Peering through all the filth on the screen, it actually looked okay.

I also went in the ranch house. . .  I had to be careful, there is a huge bee hive near the back door where I would normally go in.  I could easily get stung to death if I had fooled around there.  I finally got in the front door.  The house has been abandoned for years, but it's much better than the barn.  There wasn't much, but I found the monitor's shipping box and an Amiga 4000, both nice and clean.  Too bad I didn't put the 4000 in the barn and the 3000T in the house.  Or both of them in the house.

Also found in a box. . .   An Amiga CD32 gamepad.  A couple of Advanced Gravis joysticks -- one analog for the PC, one 8-way for Atari.  A tiny, short-throw stick, Atari compatible, with no visible brand name, but it was made in England.  And. . .   Two Wico Bat Handle sticks!  I should clean those up and put them on eBay.  Somebody will want them.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the Atari 800XL.  Many years ago I packed away my entire 800XL system, along with a couple of disk drives and a large number of cartridges and floppy disks, into a pair of 20mm ammo boxes.  They were in the barn too.  I haven't opened the ammo boxes, but everything inside should still be clean and dry.  I must say it would be interesting to see if I could get the 800XL running again.

[ark_ader]

Really?

You should have seen my loft in the UK.  I had everything from Vic-20s to the Lisa.

One day I thought I would have a clear out and rented a skip and put all my old magazines like Zzap! 64 and PCWs.  Hard Drives ,Floppies you name it.

Yep the old PCs and consoles went in black plastic bags and into the skip, late at night too.

It took me two days.  I sure hurt the the day after, but it was worth it.

I always have MESS if I want to play them again. 

Old junk like that holds no value.

Better to get rid.   Just dump it.