New computers, Bargains galore, and Plans!

Рет қаралды 326

Күн бұрын

This Video is sponsored by PCBWay. Check out the link below for more information.
www.pcbway.com/
I love a bargain, and while the world of Retro computing can throw up ridiculous prices if you're lucky, you can find a machine or two for cheap, if you know where to look.
Today I'm checking out a few recent purchases, and talking about the future of what the Tech Dept should be. Why not join me and see if I've bought bargains or bloody rubbish. Los Gehts
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Пікірлер: 17

@xrayspx8725 2 ай бұрын

My first computer was a Texas Instruments TI 99/4a bought, as most of them were, at closeout prices after they were discontinued. I learned a ton with that machine and there were some very fun games for it. The TI was probably not too common in Europe since it didn't last very long at all. That was followed several years later by an Atari 800 when I was 12 and I was an Atari Kid from then forward. Your videos are great and hopefully you can amass a good pile of interesting retro for your museum!

@techdept 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the comment. I’ve seen a few Ti 99’s kicking around here. Interestingly, the little Tomy Tutor machine in this video is based on, but not compatible on the Ti 99.

@xrayspx8725 2 ай бұрын

@@techdept Oh that's cool, I"ll be looking forward to the Tomy Tutor video for sure. The TI is a weird machine but 7 year old me loved it.

@Olinca 2 ай бұрын

oh goodness the katagana keyboard on the tomy tutor! what an interesting little machine...

@techdept 2 ай бұрын

It’s soooooo cute. I’m looking forward to getting this one restored.

@goldenchild2504 2 ай бұрын

It's fun to watch you try out all of these old systems. You might try the MAME emulator as it has support for a lot of old (and obscure) computer systems, the MSX1 driver seems to work pretty well. It can be useful to learn about these systems by using MAME and the software lists. My favorite Atari Flashback is the Flashback 9 which has an SD card slot. I grew up on Atari 2600, then Apple II, then Amiga 1000.

@techdept 2 ай бұрын

Thanks. I have to get around to trying MAME. It’s been there just waiting for me to get around to trying it out. As for the flashback, I’ve seen a lot of different ones around recently here in Vienna. I’m debating about adding more to the collects as I find it fascinating that some systems seem never to die. The keep turning back up again and again. Nice computing history as well. I went from Atari 2600, ZX Spectrum, PC then Amiga A500, plus a few other machines as well as my dad would just come home some days with a new console or computer. I learnt a lot.

@goldenchild2504 2 ай бұрын

@@techdept MAME is kind of cool in that it supports Win, Mac and Linux. I like to compile and run it in Ubuntu and fiddle with the source code and the debugger. I have a c64 mini and an Atari Flashback 9 but I keep coming back to MAME on my Ubuntu system. My favorite game controller of all time is the Hayes Mach III joystick (on the apple II as well as the IBM PC). I'm able to still use it on linux with a USB to gameport adapter. There was a neat computer museum called the Living Computer Museum (which is closed because of the pandemic) but you could play on a bunch of classic computer systems that they had there. I remember they had a sign that said "No more commodore 64 donations" next to a huge pile of c64s.

@martingarciacarmueja2340 2 ай бұрын

Great video! To your question: I grew up with a ColecoVision. I have no idea how hard to find they are today, but to me, it was a nice console and a far cry from the Atari 2600 in terms of graphics and sound.

@techdept 2 ай бұрын

The ColecoVision is a cool machine, and I have 5 for some reason. None of which work! They’re on my current ‘todo’ list, but two of the machines will never work again.

@lsvemir27 2 ай бұрын

Greetings from Croatia 😊 Atari 800xl guy... Tone 😮

@techdept 2 ай бұрын

Hey, great machine. The 800XL is really a proper 1980s looking machine. Atari just knew how to build them back then. :)

@joelavcoco Ай бұрын

You seem a bit dubious about the Tomy Tutor's claim to be a 16-bit computer. I believe it really is, technically, a 16-bit computer. IIUC, it uses the Texas Instruments TMS9900 CPU, which is the same microprocessor that was in the TI99/4A. In the TI, the architecture of the computer was horribly crippled, so that it had only 512 bytes of 16-bit memory (which the TMS9900 used as a register file), and had to access its 16K of 8-bit wide RAM through the video display processor. Furthermore the BASIC was _doubly_ interpreted, so it was even slower than necessary. I'm not sure how similar the architecture of the Tomy Tutor is to the TI99/4A, but the CPU is a 'real' 16-bit processor. I was glad to see the CD-i. Looking forward to future videos about that. I'm also curious about the Laser 310. The screen looks like a Motorola 6847 VDG like the Tandy CoCo 1&2 and the Dragon. Great video.