Hardware/software you have that no one talks about.

[Arbystpossum]

I occasionally search Youtube for specific hardware or software and see if anyone has done a video about them, and even after all of these years, the answer is still No. At times, someone will make a video about something I never could have imagined.

Do you have a piece of hardware that hasn't been discussed by anyone, big or small? Either because it's extremely rare, common, or uninteresting to most people? Perhaps you have a game that you really enjoy that no one has done a deep dive on for similar reasons?

For myself, a piece of hardware I have is an OrangePC 660. It's a PCI card with an entire PC on it, made for Macintosh computers so that can run Windows on a hardware level. I've seen people talk about Apple DOS compatibility cards, but not these, and definitely not this particular one. I haven'y heard of a card like this that has its own on-board GPU.

A game I've always loved but barely hear anyone talk about is a DOS game called BattleDrome. It's a 1vs1 Mech combat game, but it has some pretty interesting mechanics the more played it. I've seen a few people on Youtube play it a few times, so people know it exists, but it doesn't seem to be anyones favorite for sure.

I'm thrilled when people cover something new and strange, I didn't know Macintosh PC compatability cards existed until I saw LGR cover one in his Powermac 6100 video. What an insane world that opened up, computers inside of computers. How about you?

 

[stepleton]

Not many people talk about the Whitechapel MG-1 workstation, or about the NS32016 CPU that powered it. That's probably one of the more obscure items in my collection. Whitechapel stuff isn't even on Bitsavers despite some very low-effort lobbying to get it there.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

Not a lot on my first computer, the Tomy Tutor.

 

[Arbystpossum]

Not many people talk about the Whitechapel MG-1 workstation, or about the NS32016 CPU that powered it. That's probably one of the more obscure items in my collection. Whitechapel stuff isn't even on Bitsavers despite some very low-effort lobbying to get it there.

I have never heard of this. I'm continually fascinate by computers that used strange and different CPU arcitectures. I imagine there were a ton in the sub 10mhz days, but it's still wild. What can you do with this thing these days?

Not a lot on my first computer, the Tomy Tutor.

This reminds me of something I had, a PreComputer1000. It had an excellent keyboard for what it was. It looks like a bread bin computer with what looks like the most miserable keyboard to do anything on.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

I have never heard of this. I'm continually fascinate by computers that used strange and different CPU arcitectures. I imagine there were a ton in the sub 10mhz days, but it's still wild. What can you do with this thing these days?

Speaking of oddball architectures, I've got a recalcitrant AT&T 3B2/310 I'm trying to get into Unix (it doesn't like the kernel). That's WE32000. The chips themselves have an interesting physical form factor.

This reminds me of something I had, a PreComputer1000. It had an excellent keyboard for what it was. It looks like a bread bin computer with what looks like the most miserable keyboard to do anything on.

The Tutor keyboard is chiclet rubber and not nice for touch typing (the later Pyuuta mk II has a CoCo-like "melted" keyboard which should substitute directly, but these are even rarer). On the other hand, it is fluid resistant (not impervious but tough), and stands up to some abuse, so good for a kid's computer. I also note that the operating system doesn't do it any favours: the hardware is there for full n-key rollover, but the ROM routines are crap and don't do it. I wrote my own keyboard handler for it which is substantially more pleasant to type on.

 

[warmech]

I've got a 6802 computer kit that I found at an estate sale years ago. I periodically google the only number on the two PCBs (MPU and KBD) to see if anyone else has ever come across them, but never to any success: ATS-6802-FE. The thing is actually assembled and works! I just can't find any documentation for it anywhere. It's clearly a kit intended to teach how a computer works and probably was ordered out of a catalog in the 70s/80s, but there were a million of those and this one is not terribly different. I'll dig it out and post some photos later.

 

[stepleton]

I have never heard of this. I'm continually fascinate by computers that used strange and different CPU arcitectures. I imagine there were a ton in the sub 10mhz days, but it's still wild. What can you do with this thing these days?

Nothing in a hurry

For all of its quirks (and if you overlook its slowness) it is a pretty straightforward BSD 4.3 workstation with a graphical windowing environment (not X though; it's its own thing). It has an AUI ethernet port on the back and will speak TCP/IP, so during COVID work-from-home days I ran it constantly as a webserver just for fun. It stayed up for months that way.

I like the window system (called "Oriel", after the architectural feature I assume) just because it's something different. To use fancy modern terms, it features a compositing window manager --- all the way back in 1985, and with only 2 MB of RAM! But it's all monochrome bitmaps, so the graphics don't need to take up that much space. Anyhow, knowing how X and other windowing environments evolved, you can have fun playing out in your head how they would have had to adapt Oriel to meet developing needs.

The 32016 is also something different. I still prefer the 68000, but I haven't really tried this alternative to it with much gusto. I think it's the kind of thing where it's similar enough that you mostly get annoyed by the differences. Also, it's little-endian, and despite it all I like big-endian.

Speaking of oddball architectures, I've got a recalcitrant AT&T 3B2/310 I'm trying to get into Unix (it doesn't like the kernel). That's WE32000. The chips themselves have an interesting physical form factor.

Someday I'd love to have a chance to try low-level programming all of the weirdo also-rans; Hobbit, Clipper, WE32000 sure, Itanium (if anyone has a spare machine please drop me a line), i860 and i960 both to keep it Intel; there are so many others. It's the most fun when you can feel the designers' vision shining through. My experience with transputer programming was this way; it was so different and so thought-out, almost a separate world to explore.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

I've got a 6802 computer kit that I found at an estate sale years ago. I periodically google the only number on the two PCBs (MPU and KBD) to see if anyone else has ever come across them, but never to any success: ATS-6802-FE. The thing is actually assembled and works! I just can't find any documentation for it anywhere. It's clearly a kit intended to teach how a computer works and probably was ordered out of a catalog in the 70s/80s, but there were a million of those and this one is not terribly different. I'll dig it out and post some photos later.

Just a 6802? No 6847 or anything else?

 

[warmech]

Just a 6802? No 6847 or anything else?

Ah, sorry, it does have some support ICs (two 6821s, a 4016, a 2716, and some TTL ICs), but not much else. Grabbed some pictures as well!

Been meaning to take this thing apart to document and reproduce schematics for a while, but spare time is scant these days.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

That looks like a clone of the MEK6802D5. It even has the same "0 F E D" lower row, though the G M R X column is a bit out of order. Seems like you should be able to power it up, the ground and power connections should be easy to identify from the data sheets.

 

[warmech]

Oh my goodness, that looks darn near the same! Thank you for finally putting a mystery to bed, lol!

 

[Froggy814]

My PT-10 brother label printer, there is like one short on it on youtube and no teardown guides. So I am waiting till it totally stops working to recap it. It even has a olympics sticker and all the original paperwork. It also came with 8 label reels.

 

[splorp]

I've got a recalcitrant AT&T 3B2/310

Speaking of AT&T gear … I have both an EO Communicator 440 and 880, in the box.

Those are a couple of the oddball tablets in the collection.