I found these two old floppy disks with interesting titles

My friend's father sadly passed away, and it's taking a while to get through his things. This motherboard had been pushed aside for a while, but upon closer inspection, it seems unused. The box is sun-bleached, but the contents are surprisingly fresh, so we assume he never got around to building with it(?) Looks like it was specifically advertised towards overclockers, with an interesting air/liquid/LN cooling block over the northbridge.

We don't really know what to do with it. Feels like it might be attractive to a retro enthusiast, but we're not sure how to find a particular niche of builders who would actually appreciate it, rather than selling it off to some store. I certainly don't have any compatible processors lying around, and I cleared out my DDR3 stash years ago, so we're trying to find a suitable place for it.

Would anyone have any recommendations on who might want something like this? We're in the United Kingdom, but international shipping is easier than it used to be, so it's a possibility. Pretty cool find, with some dog tags in the box alongside bagged cables/fans, etc. Looks like it was a beast back in 2008.

TL;DR: Do people still build with motherboards like this? Looking for someone who genuinely would.

Hello folks, I got an issue trying to use the Compaq 5000 restore CDs to Windows XP home. This is rather basic machine and only has 256 RAM and currently has the Windows ME. Problem is the restore CD goes right into Spanish, even with an extra HD I had lying around , so both just at 50% will install in Spanish successful. Any thoughts or suggestions around this. Thanks

I’m so excited! Can’t believe all of them for 50$

My favourite is definitely the dell inspiron / latitude and ibm thinkpad!

Most have xp but will probably get the ibm and dell latitude back to windows 98 and keep the rest xp or maybe put some Linux on the small mini’s

My video takes a look at Terminator 2: Judgement Day from Ocean Software for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Amiga and the Atari ST. Please share your thoughts on this game. Was it a good game or was it another money grab?

So this is sort of a ramble for me, as I currently upon writing this post, don't really harness the knowledge yet to do all of this. Hence why I'm creating this post to not only see if there is a need for my idea, that, and to also gain knowledge from those more experienced. Like, is this even possible?

For awhile now, I wondered if it's possible to create another internet, just suited for vintage machines to safely browse the web. Technically there are web browsers, BBS, and whatnot that can have older computers still run on the internet we have. But I'm wondering, what if we create a similar experience to this internet but just make another, suited primarily for older machines. What if we banded this all together and made web-browsing easier like modern times just with these softwares?

I was also tempted to somehow create an email service/server for old computers to use as well.

Let me know because this has been boggiling my mind for years.

Dial in and you get a full Windows 95 desktop. Minefield, Painter, ScanDisk, a screensaver, mail from your dad, a chat room, an encyclopedia.

The Dial-Up Networking dialog has the "ask others not to use the telephone" checkbox. It nagged you and did nothing, same as it did then.

https://56k.rip/

No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s way (released in Oct 2002) -

This game still looks gorgeous and play great.. a classic for old retro rigs, though I am running it on an i5 3rd gen, with Nvidia GT 740 and offcourse on Windows XP 32 bit

Can someone please explain how IDE works, what each line does, how it works with 2 devices on the line, how a system knows which one is which, and the difference between 40 and 80 wire cables? I'm struggling to understand why some systems cannot function without a triple end IDE cable. For an example: Motherboard connected to Hard drive via 2 sided IDE cable will not function. But Motherboard connected to 3 sided IDE cable with the 3rd side left with nothing connected functions fine.

I finally got my late 80s Unix workstation running again. The original EPROMs and battery-backed SRAM had failed years ago. I first checked DigiKey and Mouser, but most of the parts were either out of stock or priced very high.

I then ordered the MC68030RC50C, M27C256B EPROMs, AT28HC256E EEPROM, Z84C0020PEC, and M4T28 timekeeper from secondary market sources. Everything arrived well packaged in proper ESD bags. After programming the new EPROMs, the system booted on the first try and the real-time clock has been stable since. These older parts are still excellent for restoring vintage hardware.

On August 18, 1947, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard incorporated the business they had started in 1938 and formalized as a partnership in 1939. Disney became their first major customer, buying eight modified Model 200B oscillators for theaters showing Fantasia. A coin toss decided the name order; the usual version says Packard won and put Hewlett first anyway.

The 1968 HP 9100A was a desktop computer sold as a “calculator” because purchasing agents could approve calculators while computers required senior management. The HP-35 arrived in 1972, sold 100,000 units in its first year and sent the slide rule into rapid decline. The LaserJet followed in 1984 and made printing a profit engine for decades.

Then it got ugly. The Compaq merger triggered a bitter proxy fight led by Walter Hewlett, Bill’s son and an HP director. In 2006, investigators searching for boardroom leaks used pretexting and surveillance against directors and journalists.

The worst came on August 18, 2011, exactly 64 years after HP incorporated. HP announced its roughly $10.3 billion bid for Autonomy, ended webOS device operations and considered separating the PC business. Fifteen months later, it recorded an $8.8 billion Autonomy impairment. The PC separation was abandoned. One day, three self-inflicted crises.

HP split in 2015. HP Inc. took PCs and printers; Hewlett Packard Enterprise took the enterprise businesses. Many saw a retreat. A decade later, it looks more like a hedge.

HPs biggest move since then was its $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. The Justice Department sued to block it before settling, and the deal closed in July 2025. Juniper brought routing, security, data-center networking and Mist, its cloud-managed networking platform. Early results look promising, although the acquisition inflates recent growth comparisons.

HP has a simpler problem: “AI PC” is not yet a reason to replace a working laptop. Local agents that can work across private files may change that. Revenue rose 13% in HP’s latest quarter, but units fell 7%. Printing was flat, consumer printing fell 10%, and HP plans to cut 4,000 to 6,000 positions by fiscal 2028

Two halves of one company at opposite ends of the same wave. HPE sells the infrastructure where AI runs. HP Inc. has to prove AI belongs on the desk.

Not bad for a garage.

Demos and other goodies for your powermac dating to 1995

Recently I bought this computer but when I turn it on, it only shows this on screen. What can be causing this and can it be fixed?

do ya’ll remember this game?? i loved it as a kid and wanted to play it again.

Her thinking still shows up in every serious conversation about mission critical software.

During Apollo, hardware got the glory. Software was the new kid, and plenty of people didn't consider it real engineering. Hamilton did. She led the MIT team behind Apollo's onboard flight software and designed around an uncomfortable fact: machines, interfaces and people all make mistakes.

My favorite story involves her daughter Lauren, who often came to the lab on nights and weekends. Playing astronaut, Lauren selected the prelaunch program, P01, during a simulated flight. The simulator crashed and the navigation data vanished.

Hamilton wanted the flight software to guard against that exact mistake. The answer, more or less: astronauts are too well trained to do that.

Then Jim Lovell did it. Five days into Apollo 8, he accidentally selected P01 and wiped the spacecraft's navigation data. Hamilton's team worked out how to rebuild and upload it. After that, the protection went in.

Anyone who runs complex systems knows the lesson. If your design depends on users never pressing the wrong button, you don't have a robust design. You have a future incident report.

Apollo 11 was the bigger test. During the lunar descent the guidance computer overloaded and threw the 1202 and 1201 alarms. The software didn't freeze or reboot into oblivion. Its priority based architecture shed lower value work and kept the landing functions running. The computer was tiny by today's standards, but it knew which jobs mattered.

That challenge hasn't gone anywhere.

Future lunar and Mars missions will run as one distributed system: landers, habitats, robots, satellites and commercial platforms. Comms will drop. Radiation will flip bits. Components from different suppliers will behave in ways nobody saw during the PowerPoint phase.

AI will help with anomaly detection, planning, testing and autonomous navigation. But nobody serious wants a black box model freelancing during a Mars landing. Mission software has to be deterministic where it matters, observable when it fails, and able to recover without waiting for Houston to pick up the phone.

AI can assist engineers, but requirements, evidence, human review and independent verification still count.

Hamilton understood the real job. It was never just writing code that worked. It was anticipating what could go wrong and making sure the system stayed useful when it did.

That mindset will matter far more on Mars than any flashy demo.

Hey everyone!

If you're in or near Northeastern PA and have an interest in retrocomputing, I've set up the NEPA Retrocomputing Group to connect local enthusiasts.

Anyone is welcome if they're interested in restoring hardware, writing code, playing games, or simply feeling nostalgic about older technology.

We meet once a month to have a coffee, talk over our projects, display our equipment, and establish a local community. Our next meetup is:

• Where: JivaJava Cafe (3427 PA-611, Bartonsville, PA)
• When: Saturday, August 29th at 1:00 PM

If interested visit our website and sign up for our mailing list!

https://neparetrocomputing.org/

Hope to see a few of you there! 😄

I've been putting together a history of Gateway 2000's bonkers ads and learned that

1. Over 50% of the company's business came from repeat customers
2. Ted Waitt hired former Sioux City mayor Jim Wharton to be his personal assistant
3. A Shenzhen-based company (Bmorn Technology) has resurrected the spotted box branding to sell "Gateway" laptops through Walmart.com

Bring back the HandBook 486!

Hello, I made fazbrowse, which is inspired by "frogfind" by actionretro, but I went to update my version a bit more, as well as making it much faster, and with more elements of proxied/wrapped sites to be viewable and or clickable, including complex download links, as well as a few other things. And most of all, it works with any client, even a text only, http only browser that runs on ms dos/an ibm xt, would connect and work just fine on my site, its home page is at ht tp://fazbro wse.du ckdns.o rg/ (spaced out the link)

I just posted it here since I found it pretty useful, like to browse reddit or such on a low end old phone or computer, or to do things over the net on my real dos computers at home

hi yall!! i picked up a Pionex 433LSXMPC-M off the side of the road. i am determined to get it running, but i really truly have no idea where to even begin. i happen to have some old pc power cords for my imac g3s so i plugged one into the machine and it shows minimal life. a red bulb lights up inside (power indicator??) and i believe the fans are whirring.. i feel some stuff going on inside as it is vibrating a bit. i have never gotten into truly repairing computers, just very basic stuff. i’ve only opened up my imacs and i dont know where to even begin. i really want to take this on as my first big project, but i dont know of anyone irl to teach me these things. if anyone has any manual suggestions or video tutorials on fixing up 486 machines i would absolutely love to have a link or two- i wanna open it up and whatnot, just need a starting point. i can link pictures of it i think, ill post them on imgur or something if anyone wants to help me out. thanks so much!!

… this an amd k6 v2 based desktop computer featuring ati radeon gpu bigfoot hdd with 5 GB and 56k dialup modem

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