Post some hardware porn

The most expensive memory card I have ever bought was a JustRAM AT 8MB memory board from Monolithic Systems. Sadly I can't find a photo of it on the web. The board was a full-length 16-bit ISA-bus PC card, with a baseboard and a mezzanine card. It used a large number of very high density SIP (single-in-line) package DRAMs (I think they were 256K DRAMs) to construct an 8MB store; there was 4MB on the baseboard and another 4MB on a 'mezzanine' daughter board that plugged onto the compent side of the baseboard . At the time that (I think, maybe around 1986-7?) that was a vast amount of RAM in a PC. I used it for some high-speed satellite data acquisition software I wrote for the PC-AT in protected mode assembler. It was a high quality board, made in the US, and I found it highly reliable.

It was similar to this, also from monolithc systems, but the ones we used employed a large number of SIP memory chips, which makes me think they were 256K DRAMs.
stason.org

JUSTRAM/ATZ Memory card Settings and Configuration

JUSTRAM/ATZ, memory card, user configuration, chipset and other specs
stason.org stason.org
Note this type of SIP package is nothing to do with the modern "system-in-package" which is also called SIP.
electrical-information.com

What is Single In-line Package (SIP)?

There are various types of semiconductor and IC packages, such as Single In-line Package (SIP) and Z
electrical-information.com

From memory, that 8MB memory board cost I think 1500 pounds at the time, I remember it cost as much as the IBM PC-AT system unit. I may have remembered the price wrong though, it may have been more.

Adjusted for inflation, 1500 pounds in 1986 is 4500 pounds ($6000 US) today, according to:-

Value of 1986 British Pounds today - Inflation Calculator

How much are 1986 pounds (GBP) worth today? This tool calculates the time value of money based on inflation and CPI historical data from the United Kingdom.
www.inflationtool.com www.inflationtool.com
 
Commander Garble said:
So, #1 is my oldest active computer (Dell Inspiron 3668) which has no network connection and is running a several-years-old Slackware.
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Spotted an interesting book! 😁

half-01-DSCF5392.JPG

Haven't read that one! I just ordered one from ebay for a fiver.

en.wikipedia.org

Infinity and the Mind - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
My primary workstation still uses an IBM AT full size keyboard.
I had two, until my cat knocked my coffee into it.
Now I only have one... and dread losing it, cuz they don't make them anymore.
Maybe I can get lucky and find another one at a garage sale.
 
bgavin said:
Now I only have one... and dread losing it, cuz they don't make them anymore.
Click to expand...
Unicomp is the official successor for producing IBM keyboards using the patent of the buckling spring technology.
After my both original Model Ms died the same way (It wasn't coffee but beer, and not my cat but me) I also got me Unicomp's keyboards. Apart from the color very much like the original: noisy, but robust, and exemplary - reference- tactile feeling.
When I get it right, they also repair your IBM KB.
 
Two nice UPS's I just bought. Seem to be in good nick, self-tests pass. These have 8 IEC outlets on the back, should be enough. :)
They weight a ton though! Giving them a little bit of juice before I install them.


upss.jpeg
 
DerTeufel said:
Those IBM keyboards are really good - I have one as my main keyboard.
The Dell on the right side is also nice - one of the later Celerons, as it was already a Celeron D. Sadly, only x86, so no FreeBSD 15 on it. Celeron D was available with 64 Bit too, but for socket 775, and IIRC those Dell models had 478.
What is in the machine on the left side and the HP in the middle?
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Yeah, I've gotten used to lower/quieter keys (I'm using a low-end Cherry on the ECS1250 right now and I've fallen in love) but I definitely loved the IBMs before and I'm sure I could get used to them all over again. Built like a tank, too.

The Compaq is a 1.7GHz P4 with 384MB (originally 256) SDRAM and I think a 20GB HDD. I think it has an old Slack on it though, now that I think about it, that may have been what was running FreeBSD the first time. Be wild if it was still on there. The HP is a 1.2 GHz Celeron and I think it has 512GB SDRAM (I think I remember doubling the original) and a 40GB HDD. Both with floppy/optical (I put a DVD-RW in the Compaq, but just another CD in the HP). I think I put Windows back on it when I 'mothballed' it to sort of 'restore' it closer to OEM. And I think I was mistaken - the Compaq may be from 2001 just like the HP. I'm not sure about more specifics but if you were curious about anything in particular, I could try to look it up - I have some stuff on most computers I've had somewhere on the 3668. :)
 

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I don’t have any photos but I did receive a dozen Xeon based medical workstation that were otherwise being sent to the crusher.

I gave away several to clients that needed a server plus one to my daughter who hosts a Minecraft gaming server over IP.

All are SuperMicro based machines and the epitome of high quality.

I kept one for myself with 128gb of EEC memory for a graphics workstation with an nVidia 4060ti GPU.
 
Patient Monitors are smaller. These were used on Medical Carts. The 24" model has 3 battery bays for cordless use. They sell a gang charger for them.
I would guess these go room to room with a doctor.

FreeBSD runs fine on both NB24 and the S19. No glitches. NVMe only runs at x1 lanes but I do have an board edge x8 slot onboard.
Touchscreen working well. Have not tried the custom buttons yet.
 
Maturin said:
You mean, it's cold enough to place it on the balcony and overclock it?
Click to expand...
No, you will welcome the heating capacity. It will not make a dent into the Blockchain, so that can't be the reason to put it to work on crypto.
 
Ah, now I got it.
Yeah. I also estimated this would bring maybe 0.01 Cents per year while it cost me >400 € per year for electricity. 😂 (A heating, actually.) Other idea was to place an AI on it. A very, very stupid AI. 😂

Nah, seriously: Since the battery is also complete toast, this almost twentyfive year old thing is no good for anything anymore but to post here some pics showing I have an original IBM, while the youngsters only knew Lenovo. 😎
The manufacturing quality of the robust, well designed housing is exemplary - original IBM, so was the docking station.
But what's the use for a 1GHz Pentium III (single core 32bit?) with 256M RAM?
I could try to get NetBSD running on it - but then what? It was produced in large numbers, so nothing a computer museum was interested in. So, I guess I will trash it into the dumpster.
 
Maturin said:
T23
Besides the battery the thing is technically tiptop. Also the keyboard is very nice. I can understand it's fun to learn C on that thing. And I preferred the trackpoint over any touchpad.
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Much older, I see. Pentium 3 time. Would still be fine for C. Did it mostly with man 3 pages of FreeBSD at the time, in the old 80x25 console.
 
IMG_20260118_150122.jpg


15 years old Acer Aspire. During the years I:
  • replaced the CPU (from Celeron P<something> to i5 );
  • expanded the RAM from 2 to 8gb;
  • replaced twice the hard drive (currently it has a 1tb ssd);
  • bought some oem internal speakers and discovered that the person who originally assembled the laptop (which I bought new in a physical store) only installed one of them;
  • replaced the keyboard I believe twice (but I may be wrong as I have a spare keyboard new in is original box in a closet somewhere, so I probably intended to do the second replacement but never did);
  • bought a double capacity battery that now is not keeping the charge anymore, so I removed it.
I don't know if it can be seen from the picture but the chassis is now held together by a couple of nuts and bolts that I installed using a drill and some super glue. All the original screw standoffs are broken.

This laptop still works perfectly under Windows 10 IOT and I use it as a radio and music player connected to my vintage Yamaha amplifier, which also provides power to the laptop. Also, this is the last computer I have that will has an optical device, so I use it to burn audio CDs for my vintage Technics CD player.

Apart from the OS the laptop runs only open source software (audacious, librewolf and CDRTFE).
 
IMG_20260118_150201.jpg

Amplifier and CD player mentioned in the previous post. 30+ years old both, still going strong (along with the custom speakers I built by myself in the same period).
 
ME193TF3_o.jpg

ME193TF2_o.jpg

ThinkPad T60.
I collected one of several. The end result was:
Intel Core 2 Duo T7600(2.33GHz), 4GB RAM, 200GB Intel SSD, 14.1in 1400x1050 LCD, Intel 950, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11a/b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth/Modem, 1Gb Ethernet,PCMCIA, IrDA, Secure chip, Ultranav, Fingerprint reader +Thinkpad Laptop 2504 Docking Station.
The old coating on the lid has been removed down to the bare metal. It has been painted and sealed with two coats of varnish. In the first photo, the lid reflects the wallpaper on the wall.
 
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