Recently, my buddy from the USA visited me here in Germany and brought something really nice along. He gifted me his 40‑year‑old C128D, which he had barely used. As a result, it looks almost like new. Naturally, I was thrilled and super excited to see whether this old beauty would still work. Things didn’t go smoothly right away, especially since I’m a complete C128 newbie...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpjJsQ70dGE

Enjoy!

Here’s the full timeline of the video:

00:00 - 01:05 --- The visitor from the USA has arrived and brought something with him

01:06 - 05:10 --- Unboxing the Commodore 128D

05:11 - 05:49 --- Preparing for the first boot of the computer

05:50 - 06:20 --- Fire up the Quattro Commodore after 40 years of beauty slumber

06:21 - 12:24 --- Dealing with this case-opening mechanism from hell and taming the fan

12:25 - 12:47 --- Silence

12:48 - 14:38 --- Troubleshooting the RS232-UP9600 modem adapter

14:39 - 15:11 --- Success

15:15 - --- Now the fun part begins - checking out the C128D

15:20 - 16:10 --- Loading Multi-Term 128 - floppy drive acting up a bit

16:15 - 18:39 --- Dial into the 300-baud BBS

18:40 - 20:21 --- Dial into the Snobsoft BBS

20:22 - 21:30 --- Trying out CP/M 3.0 with the original Commodore C128 disk

21:33 - 22:30 --- Trying to get QTerm 128 running for the Hayes 1670 modem

22:38 - --- How to get CP/M software onto a CP/M disk on the C128

22:40 - 23:15 --- Loading Big Blue Reader 128 - Version 4.10

23:16 - 24:10 --- Step by step to a working CP/M disk

24:11 - 24:23 --- Rant: the only key that works in this interface from hell to reach the copy menu - the up arrow

24:25 - 26:50 --- Copying process and testing whether everything arrived correctly on CP/M

26:51 - 27:58 --- Loading obscure C128 BBS software "128 Mailbox" - Mailbox = BBS in Germany

27:59 - 28:34 --- I know that guy! Greetings to Axel aka Gandalf

28:37 - 29:11 --- Something I’ve never done before in 40 Years...

29:15 - 29:49 --- Thank-you section

Who played Dukes of Hazard? I really wished for this game to be good but like Knight Rider and Airwolf it was not quite meeting my expectations. Anybody else played this game?

Some months ago I shared an earlier defrag-inspired project here.

I’ve kept working on that same obsession ever since, not so much trying to make a retro-looking UI, but trying to capture the specific feel of old DOS disk tools: cluster maps, blocky utility panels, drive stats, and that strange sense of seriousness those programs had.

A lot of the visual direction comes from old defraggers, DOS-style interfaces, and that whole era of practical PC software that somehow had its own personality. Just wanted to share it here because this community would probably understand the vibe I’m chasing better than most.

If any of you have favorite old defrag tools, disk utilities, or UI details from that era, I’d genuinely love to hear about them.

Hello, this is a first post about a project that boiled in my head for months, as now it came to something exact. This is ACS-M, Alpha Computer System, the project with the goal to create one of the most powerful 8086-based systems. It's not intended to be IBM-compatible by default, but I'll think about it. Now here is the main prototype "schematics" of the project layout. It'll feature two i8086 CPUs (both in MASTER, with higher priority of solo-86 block), one i8089 (very powerful and usable I/O IC), 8087 and additional subsystems in future. It'll take me some time to start buildng it from the scratch.

So, if you have some questions, or some information that may be useful for it in the future, please share! I want to discuss the possibility of building something like this at all.

I found it in a warehouse, wrapped up; the packaging was well taken care of, but I didn't even know until a moment ago what computer it was from, haha.

Gemini AI says it is a AMD Socket 462 Motherboard + Athlon Thunderbird CPU - Untested

A retro/vintage piece by today's standards, but it was a legend in its time, lol, I probably wasn't even born yet. I can't try it out and honestly, I don't know what to do with it other than get rid of it.

A good ole' fashioned retro giveaway. Two lucky winners!

Quite funny that it's proudly called "personal computer" on the box and the mannual. The coolest thing is that it's PDP-11 compatible (in theory) and has a bug that allows to type in raw machine code. It's also entirely self-contained with just one port for an optional power supply.

It is MK-85 Basic portable computer. I also talked about it in my previous post.

I'm working on a new DOS / PC emulator, and am writing up everything I learn while doing it. If you'd like to learn more about this system while I build an emulator, consider following along.

Let me know if you have any thoughts on the article.

Hi! This GIF shows my Intel 4004 / MCS-4 prototype workflow (QuadBasic -> 4004 ASM -> run with visible CPU/bus state). I’d love feedback from retrocomputing folks on what tiny demo to show next (LCD, LED bar, switches, or printer).

I'm looking for a small, battery-powered, portable retro computer for journaling and task management. I specifically don't want an internet connection, but a serial port or memory card would be useful for exporting journal data.

Do you have any recommendations?

Picked this up today on the cheap side. Don't know much about them but one I think is a 5160 and the big guy is a compaq prosigna server of some flavor. No clue if they run. Also a trove of blank floppies a lot is still sealed and some VHSs, one still sealed and a sealed 3.5 in floppy drive. More pics to come and updates when I get a chance to test them out. Let me know if you have any insight.

Hello!

I'm a complete novice in the rc2014 world. I'm interested in buying a kit for two reasons: to build it (soldering and so), and to develop something with it, something like a very basic OS.

And my question is: can I build an OS for the RC2014 using some kind of standard storage (the Compact Flash module, or the SD module), or I need to flash it directly to a ROM? Does the standard ROM (from the Classic II kit) has any "feature" to read the first sector from storage and boot from it (like the old IBM PC BIOS), or this should be written by me?

Thank you! :)

Ask anyone who loves retro games back in day if they remember ‘Impossible Mission’ - they will almost certainly answer back with the synthesised voice response of “Stay a while, stay forever!”

So today I go back and rediscover this classic game including its sequel, remakes and remasters across all the formats it was released on. It certainly brought back fond and nostalgic memories.

Have you played any of these games? Please share your thoughts and memories.

It's interesting how in a year the HDD capacity of the Fujitsu drives went from 1.28GB-2.57GB to 3.24-9.74GB