PB145B’s finds

[bibilit]

had a look at mines yesterday evening, some forgotten, have some Sony Clié also (using Palm Os) and a Symbol SPT1500 (barcode scanner)

except for two of them (which were bought new) all of thew were around the 1 to 3 € price tag (all are still working great today)

 

[PB145B]

had a look at mines yesterday evening, some forgotten, have some Sony Clié also (using Palm Os) and a Symbol SPT1500 (barcode scanner)

except for two of them (which were bought new) all of thew were around the 1 to 3 € price tag (all are still working great today)

The Cliés are awesome! I’ve got a few of those.

 

[bibilit]

The Cliés are awesome! I’ve got a few of those.

I agree with that, probably better in some respect that the Palm itself.

Should have 3 of them.

 

[PB145B]

I agree with that, probably better in some respect that the Palm itself.

Should have 3 of them.

Yes, the Cliés were very featured-packed. They are also pretty cool looking too!

 

[PB145B]

My latest find; a prototype Compaq LTE 386s/20!



I still think I’m dreaming  

Here it is is next to me regular LTE 386s/20 (on the right).



Notice the gray embossings and different screen bezel.

Going to try and get the screen issue sorted out eventually.

See my thread on the Vintage Computer Forum about it here:

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?69128-My-best-find-ever

 

[EvieSigma]

Wow, what a score!

 

[PB145B]

Wow, what a score!

Thanks! I’m definitely honored to own this piece of Compaq history!

I should also mention that this machine came from Huston, Texas! Exactly where Compaq’s headquarters used to be located!

 

[Retro Rider]

Holy cr*p! dang. Thats a really good find. 

 

[PB145B]

Holy cr*p! dang. Thats a really good find. 

Thanks! Definitely happy to have it!

 

[PB145B]

Here’s what I found inside:





Notice that the hard drive says “CPQ-EVAL” (Compaq Evaluation) on it.

See my Vintage Computer Forum thread for more details:

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?69146-Documenting-repairing-the-Prototype-Compaq-LTE-386s-20

 

[PB145B]

I got another prototype LTE 386s/20 from the same person! Turns out he was on the original design team! 

This is one is a slightly newer proto:









Notice how how someone wrote “modified” in the lower case. 

Couldn't save the hard drive unfortunately. The gasket melted, which got on the platter and ate through some of the magnetic coating :



Shame too, because I didn’t power it on until I cleaned it, so the heads never drug through the goop, meaning had the coating not been eaten through, it would have probably worked fine once the platter was cleaned (gentle rubbing with a dry microfiber cloth works really well for cleaning these old hard drive platters).

 

[PB145B]

After wanting one of these for years, I finally got one:



It’s a Kaypro II! This is the first CP/M machine I have ever owned.

Sorry I haven’t had any Mac conquests in a while, but don’t worry, I haven’t lost any interest in Macs, just haven’t found anything spectacular lately  

 

[EvieSigma]

Wow, your Kaypro works! Mine is still faulty, haven't nailed down what chip is keeping it from booting yet.

Where did you get it? Someone had one of those for sale at VCF East.

 

[PB145B]

Wow, your Kaypro works! Mine is still faulty, haven't nailed down what chip is keeping it from booting yet.

Where did you get it? Someone had one of those for sale at VCF East.

Hope you can get yours working!

I got this one off of eBay for $60 plus shipping.

I absolutely love it. Might be the best $60 I ever spent  

Edit: I did discover that one of the connecters on the power supply is almost completely unsoldered! It completely died on me about 10 minutes ago, and taking it apart and and pushing it back in to place has restored functionality, but I’m going to pull the PSU out tonight and resolder that connector.

 

[PB145B]

I acquired these two Osborne 1s recently:





The one in the first pic is an early, tan-case model, and the second one is a later model “1A”.

While the Osborne 1 wasn’t the “first ever portable computer” like so many people think, it was the first fully-featured and commercially successful portable computer, which is pretty damn cool.

The Osborne 1 was actually released several months before the IBM PC was.

Isn’t that 5-inch monitor just adorable? It’s an incredibly sharp little display. You can also see that the older one has a black & white monitor, while the newer one is green.

 

[PB145B]

Found another SE, which I have made a thread about here:

 

[CC_333]

I acquired these two Osborne 1s recently:

I have a couple of these myself!

I got one at the VCF West in 2017, and another similar one sometime during 2018.

I have yet to try them to see if they work, but they look nice enough cosmetically.

c

 

[PB145B]

I have a couple of these myself!

I got one at the VCF West in 2017, and another similar one sometime during 2018.

I have yet to try them to see if they work, but they look nice enough cosmetically.

c

Cool! Be sure to remove the big filter capacitor in the power supply, as it’ll rupture if you don’t! This happened on one of mine. You don’t even have to replace it. It’ll work just fine without it installed.

 

[IlikeTech]

I hope you mean the line filter.  Do not remove the DC filter, bad things will happen.  I think you mean the Paper RIFA-Style caps like in the AC side of things.  Macs have similar caps that also happen to go pop.

 

[PB145B]

I think you mean the Paper RIFA-Style caps like in the AC side of things.

Yes, there is one big RIFA in there (the Osborne 1) that’ll rupture if it’s not removed. Makes a good bit of smoke and a really interesting smell...