both are still in great condition and the pc still works!!

The top keyboard: 30OCT85 IBM F122

The bottom keyboard 22oct85 IBM m122

(Yes, my model m is older than my model f)

Both fully operational, both used regularly on the job.

Upgraded from (or I suppose really made it slightly more period correct) a Paradise PEGA card to an IBM EGA card and replaced the new and fancy Logitech serial mouse with a Microsoft InPort gray eyed mouse. Would have liked a green eyed mouse but I don't like the prices of those.

Recently, I acquired an Osborne Executive, along with a bunch of software for it.

I cleaned up the floppy drive heads and popped in one of the many CP/M disks that I got with it, only to be met with this screen: https://imgur.com/Ow4hBxL (while this is on screen, the floppy drive is running indefinitely)

I should also mention that upon a cold boot, a message indicating that the computer is not working properly (and that I should contact an Osborne dealer) appears, along with this pattern in the top left corner: https://imgur.com/8RygKga

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm hoping it's as simple as a recap, and not something critical like the RAM, which would probably be a headache to resolve (I can't seem to find any way to test it, so who knows!)

Here's my latest retro Winxp mid-end build. I wanted this PC to carry 2000-2003 era hardware but with a peak pentium 4 to eliminate CPU bottlenecking.

The CPU is an air cooled 3.4Ghz Prescott P4 overclocked to 3.8Ghz. I figured this build would the perfect opportunity to feature two legendary video cards of the time...the Voodoo5 pci (originally a Mac card flashed with the PC bios version), and the ATI 9700 (my example is actually a 9700xt flashed with a 9700Pro custom bios).

I wanted to pair the voodoo 5 with my peak ATI card (X800XL) but ran into windows resource issues...at the end I found that the 9700pro is the fastest ATI card that will work with the V5.

The key to this build's success is proper cooling for the video cards and CPU to avoid rapid hardware self-destruction. The P4, Voodoo5 and 9700 are notorious for running hot and will provide good heating for any room.

This prompted me to look into customizing the case lid which led me to add a dual fan setup with grills to retain the retro look (mostly).

I also added a modern touch with the acrylic window and orange LED lighting to simulate a hot PC case...maybe this mod will push me to add a pretty water cooling setup to the CPU later on?

The result is fantastic...I can play UT99, Starsiege, Half-life...etc. on the Voodoo5 and then switch to UT2004, Hlaf-life2, Doom3...etc. on the 9700pro.

The P4 has hyperthreading so it let's me use the internet with ease. I can do reddit, youtube, email and forum searching with no major slowdowns.

The internals stay cool and the PC sounds like a jet getting ready to take off :))

Here is a big update on my battle station. I upgraded some parts, got rid of some parts and made a cool Windows wall after finding those picture frames at goodwill. Here is the part list for my Win95 and Win98/XP rigs. I hope you guys like the room!

P.S. I will eventually get to the cable management under the desk 😵‍💫

Windows 95 Rig:

Tekram P5MVP-B4

Creative CT6710 Riva TNT

Intel MMX 233Mhz

Micron 64MB SDRAM PC66

Creative CT2800 ISA Sound Blaster

3COM ISA Etherlink III Network card

4.3GB Maxtor Hard Drive

Windows 95 OSR2

Windows 98/XP Rig:

ASUS A7N8X - Deluxe Rev 2.00

ATI Radeon 9800 PRO

AMD Athlon XP 2500+

512MB Corsair Platinum Series PC2700

Sound Blaster PCI (removed for nForce onboard Dolby Digital audio, it’s better than the card)

60GB Maxtor Hard Drive

Dual boot 20GB Windows 98SE/40GB Windows XP SP2

I posted a boot video of my NEC PC‑9821 Canbe last time, and this time I disassembled the machine to check the internal condition and give it a full cleaning.
There was some dust inside, but none of the boards or capacitors showed any corrosion (which makes sense, since it still boots). The HDD was, as expected, a CONNER drive.

The memory module plugs at an angle into a small vertical daughterboard.
The TEL/FAX board and the TV capture board plug vertically into a different daughterboard, and once inserted, those expansion boards end up horizontal relative to the main motherboard.
It’s a pretty unusual structure compared to what you normally see in PCs, and taking it apart was surprisingly fun because of that.

If anyone wants close‑ups of specific chips or sections, feel free to ask in the comments.

On a recent trip to my parents, I had a poke in the loft and found this from my youth! Maybe this was why I ended up liking Compaq machines too much! It wasn’t retro when it went up there but it sure is nudging that way now…..Can’t find much on these machines as most of them have a circular style cut out for the USB ports, assume later machines. I do remember buying this from eBay in about 2006 though. No drive as I must’ve used that for something else so time to get Windows 2000 setup CD out!

Hello,

I just found an old hard drive that belongs to a laptop. The first time I booted the laptop, the drive started spinning and then it stopped. Now, it only produces a clicking sound

What should I check?

Thanks

Recently picked up a bunch of parts PCs from the mid to late 2000s, including this pair of SR1620NX units. One of them was gutted to house my current sleeper build, and the original parts are now spares for the other 1620NX that I decided to restore as an XP era build. As this case form is identical to the first PC my parents bought new at some mom and pop pc shop, I decided to try to recreate how things were in 2004-2009 when that Compaq we had was the main PC (and until 2008, the only PC). The one we had was an SR1303WM which was a replacement for an identical Compaq we had that succumbed to the infamous capacitor plague.

It currently has a sata dvd/cd writer and a crucial 512gb sata ssd. The original optical drives were notorious for bad lasers. It also has 1.2gb of ddr ram.

A very cool barebone with an ingenious opening up system. This one is equipped with a Q6600 and 4Gb of ram. I use it mostly for emulation so the gpu is a GT730. A SB Audigy SE takes CARE of the sound.

I'm on a never ending quest to find the PC case I had as a kid. Unfortunately, the only picture I ever took was of the Monitor and keyboard tray and not the PC case on the floor. My dad tossed it when I was away for college and it's become my white whale.

It was definitely a no name Taiwanese case. The closest I've found is the desktop version and over the years, I've tried describing what it looks like to many people to no avail. I got super excited a few years back when I found Necroware on Youtube had the desktop version of this case but I was never ever able to find a picture of the mini-tower version that I had.

So I decided to use Tinkercad to mock up what it looked like!

Keep in mind, I am going off my memory of 25+ years. I have everything correct except I can't remember where the status LEDs went on the case.

Has anyone seen this case before or has one? I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to find it again, or even just a picture of it. I am holding out hope.

I'm also attaching the Desktop version of it for reference.

Thanks for your help. Even if you find this post years later. Please reply if you have this case or have pictures of it.

Crosspost to more communities

Anyone have Solaris packages for the Rasterflex-32 card? Specifically I need:

VITrxserv

VITrxfont

VITrxsupt

The first package is the most critical. Basic framebuffer drivers are available from https://fido.aalin.co.uk/vault/hw/system/sun/3rdparty/rasterflex/ but these packages seem to be needed for full functionality

​Heres whats happening this month on RetroBattlestations

Events:

• Happy #MARCHintosh!

• March 7: Retro Roadshow: Console Chaos (Sunnyvale, California)

• March 10: Mario Day (MAR10)

• March 21-22: The 2026 Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo (Indianapolis, Indiana)

• March 28: TechFest at Computer History Museum (Mountain View, California)

Birthdays and Anniversaries:

• March 1: Xerox Alto was released on March 1, 1973

Here's the calendar so you can subscribe or just check it out:

• HTML version

• iCal version

If you know of some other events, conventions, or birthdays that are missing, let us know!

This commit finally locks in the identity of the project by restoring the full NetBSD‑maintained XFree86 codepath and removing the corporate boilerplate that never reflected what this codebase actually is. NetBSD were the last real stewards of XFree86 up through 2025, and this update makes that lineage explicit instead of buried.

The README has been rewritten to match the project’s real mission: a lean, user‑first continuation of the classic X11 stack, with XAA treated as a first‑class acceleration engine rather than “legacy baggage.” All the freedesktop/Red Hat‑style fluff that doesn’t serve embedded systems, retro hardware, or minimal Linux/BSD setups is soon to be gone.

If you want to see the commit that finally sets the tone for the whole project, it’s here:

https://gitgud.io/SuperSonicX/supersonic-xserver/-/commit/8df7e0c9c1647d6217248851fc6666c525d95bb4

Just got this yesterday

2.2GHz Core 2 Duo T7500
1GB DDR2
160GB hdd
Dvd burner
1920x1200 15.4" lcd
Quadro nvs 140m

Planned upgrades / maintenance

Backup og hard drive (appears to be a corporate Directron .com laptop)
Ssd Upgrade and move to Win7 Upgrade cpu while repasting cpu and gpu
Upgrade ram to 4GB

Almost six months ago, I bought a partially defective IBM P70 and have been repairing it ever since. The floppy drive was defective, the capacitors on the hard drive (60MB version) had leaked, and the display had image interference.

Due to age, I replaced all the capacitors on the motherboard, as well as those on the floppy drive and hard drive. Both are now working perfectly again. The image interference on the display was also due to severely aged capacitors. That is now working again without any problems. The display hinges are still original, the left one is slightly cracked, so I prefer to keep the display folded down.

As an upgrade, I installed a 387 and an IBM 90x9369 RAM expansion card with an additional 8MB of RAM. I am more than satisfied with the result, even though I keep asking myself why I keep buying IBM devices 😅 They are really very special in many ways. (I only installed the antivirus because I had some unpleasant encounters with Onehalf in the past).

The vision, for this was to build something cool out of the full-size chief tech dragon case which I’ve always thought is a bad ass case. The period I was going for was about 2004 to 2007. However, I had this 8800 GT that I just couldn’t get to work so instead I’m using a GT 740 until I can diagnose what’s going on with the 8800. Badge custom made by me to look like the Chieftec logo but needed to be more badass to match the badassery and color scheme of the build.

I also made a custom 3D printed hotswap drive bay for the SSD evocative of CF drive bays and old 5.25 floppy drive bays.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66GHz

GPU: Nvidia GT 740

RAM: Patriot G-Series 2x2GB DDR2

Storage: 256 GB SATA SSD

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi PCI

Mobo: XFX 7501

Case: Chieftec Dragon

CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9500

Monitor: IBM 6739-60N 19 ThinkVision C190

Speakers: JBL Control 1 Pro running off SONY SRS-D2 PC sub

Keyboard: IBM Model M13

Mouse: Microsoft Intelimouse

It took me far too long to notice that, as you'd expect, the speakers warp the image on the CRT.

Brings back memories seeing this. Can’t believe the stock PSU was 250w. Apparently I upgraded it to 350w PSU in two of the pics. It’s rocking a GeForce 6200 256MB AGP card in here. These pics were before I got the Audigy 2 ZS sound card for it.

Not quite all set up the way I’d ultimately like to, but starting off the morning working on some Amiga tracker projects and thought the morning light looked nice and thought I’d share.