Richard's Computers | Computers i have Collected over the years.

Richard's Computers

Welcome!!

Hello and Welcome to my Computer Site, this Site is a collection of my computers, i have been into computers since i was about 11 years old, a lot of the computers i have were either given to me from people who where going to throw them out (i.e from friends and from my local tip) and others i bought from car boots or classified adds, i'm not so much a collector but i more try to fix them up to use, i would like to find a use for every working computer i have but i don't have the room, that's why a lot of my computers are up in the loft, but i'll still try to put then all on this site. If you have any questions, comments or even if you have any information regarding any of the computers on this site then do feel free to contact me.

Zenith Data Systems - Z-39 Terminal (1985)

I got this terminal the same time as i got the icl terminal (i saved both of them from being thrown away, about 11 years ago), on the back of the terminal is two 25pin ports (one male and one female) plus one Rj11 socket for the keyboard, i think the two 25pin ports are serial ports (one for a printer and one for data), it powers on and shows a blinking cursor, an on-line timer and a keyboard error, but thats because i don't have a keyboard for it, so i can't properly test it out, i've tried to find out what the pins do and from what i can see, pin 1 = +12v, pin 2 = +5v, pin 3 = ??, pin 4 = ??, pin 5 = 0v, pin 6 = 0v, i tried connecting the keyboard from the icl terminal, the icl keyboard pins look to be, pin 1 = +12v, pin 2 = 0v, pin 3 = +5v (may also carry data), pin 4 = 0v, but when i connect up the icl keyboard, i just get some kind of data come up on the screen (still showing the keyboard error) but it just looks like garbage, i even tried connecting up an old pc keyboard, but again i only get garbage but this time it looks like binary, it might need some kind of serial/TTL keyboard or something like that, if anyone can help me out with this, i would be really grateful.

Updated: 10/07/2007 - 20:22:58

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Philips nino 300 PDA

I've had this for about 5 or 6 years now, i bought it of some guy for £30, from an Adtrader ad, it might be old but it still comes in handy, i some times use it to jot down notes (using the cool handwriting recognition), also i use the calendar to keep track of birthdays and stuff like that, and play Solitaire when i'm bored.
it runs Windows CE v2, 4MBs of ram (of which is shared between the OS and the storage memory), so you can see that i can't really install a lot of programs on it, but having said that, what it dose have is real handy.

Updated: 22/05/2007 - 15:56:24

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My Computer

i thought you might like to see the computer (that i built about 3 years ago) that i use on a daily bases, it's a Pentium 4 @ 2.4GHz HT 800MHz FSB, 512MB DDR 400MHz RAM, 80Gig hard drive, MSI GeForce4 MX 440 64MB, for my main OS i use OpenSUSE 10.2 Linux. To make this site i use a PHP script i made to allow me to build this site by putting together all the parts of the site for me, i.e the top and bottom sections of the page plus all the middle parts in the right order and to upload everything by FTP.

Updated: 14/02/2007 - 19:45:30

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Amiga 1200

I have had this for about 11 or 12 years and i think it's one of the best compact computers of it's time, when i bought it second hand, it only had the standard stuff inside like no hard drive and only 2MBs of ram, but i put in a hard drive, in the form of a 64MB Compact Flash card (witch makes a good small 'n' fast HD). I installed Workbench 3.0 on the HD, witch is the Amiga's OS, i also have a external floppy drive, i don't use my Amiga 1200 that much now because i mainly use my PC, but the Amiga 1200 is still a really cool computer even today.

Updated: 02/01/2007 - 19:24:06

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Acorn BBC B Micro

This was the first computer i started out with, this is my second BBC B, the one i used when i was young (that my dad got from where he worked) has seen better days plus i'm not even sure if it still works anymore. This second BBC B i got from a classified add for just £10 for the lot, the guy i bought it off was going to take it to the tip if he couldn't sell it, this one came with a lot more stuff than what i had, like a Universal Teletext Adaptor (for reading Teletext on the BBC B), a Video Digitiser (to capture images from a video source), Magic Modem, CommSoft (Terminal Emulator on a EPROM), Inter-Word (a Word Processor on a EPROM) and Watford Electronics DFS (a update for the BBC B's Disk Filing System, on a EPROM). The small black box is a Morse Code Transceiver, this use to belong to my dad (who is no longer alive) but i can't seem to find the disk that came with it so i haven't been able to test it out to see if it works or not.

Updated: 06/12/2006 - 17:34:43

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ICL DRS-a06/303 MK2 Terminal (1986/1988)

I have had this for about 8 or 9 years now and i would really like to see it working, it powers up and shows the ICL Copyright 1986 and the Diagnostic Program works (which is enabled by a Switch on the back of the Terminal), as far as i know that if it's connected up to a Mainframe/Computer or something like that, then all it should do is Dump data (on request) to the Terminal from the Mainframe/Computer that it's connected to. I have had a look on the internet for this Terminal but can't seem to find anything, but i did find out about some of the Chips in the Terminal, it looks like the "LINE INPUT" is TTL and the "COMMS A" port looks like it's a Serial Port, i think this Terminal use to be used on a UNIX based Mainframe/Computer. I use Linux (which is based on UNIX) on my PC and would really love it if i could use this Terminal on my Linux PC, so if anyone can help me out with this then that would be really cool.

Update...

Thanks to Pete for the help he gave me regarding this terminal, now i know what all the ports are for and now i know that all i need is a MicroLan 2 Card to get it working, the not so good bit is that a MicroLan 2 Card might be hard to find, but i'm sure one will turn up on eBay one day.

Updated: 06/12/2006 - 17:29:15

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My Favourite Links

GRC | Gibson Research Corporation Home Page
Steve Gibson's and Gibson Research Corporation's Homepage.

Video - Free video downloads and streaming video on computers, technology, music videos, and movie trailers on CNETTV.com
Download or watch free streaming videos on computers, technology, Windows, music videos, movie trailers, and more on CNETTV.com

Life in Hex
It must be Life in Hex

BetaNews | Inside Information; Unreleased Products

Geek News Central Technical News and Informational Stories
Geek News Central the place for Technology news & Technical Information. Links for geeks. Podcast information and hard to find content security coverage, fair use of music and copyright issues

makezine.com: MAKE: Technology on Your Time
MAKE brings the do-it-yourself mindset to all the technology in your life. MAKE is loaded with exciting projects that help you make the most of your technology at home and away from home. This is a magazine that celebrates your right to tweak, hack, ...

The TWiT Netcast Network with Leo Laporte

CNET Podcast Central - CNET.com
Welcome to CNET Podcast Central, the home for all of CNET's podcasts. From Buzz Out Loud, a daily digest of tech news that's relevant, hard-hitting, or just plain goofy, to help and how-to, to the latest in auto tech, you'll find it all here.

BBC World - Click
Tech News from the BBC

Aminet
A must for any Amiga user.

1000bit
A cool big database of old computers.

HowStuffWorks - Learn how Everything Works!
HowStuffWorks explains hundreds of subjects, from car engines to lock-picking to ESP, using clear language and tons of illustrations. We do the research so you don't have to.

Handbook of hardware pinouts, cables schemes and connectors layouts @ pinouts.ru
Handbook of hardware pinouts, cables schemes and connectors layouts

Last Updated: Tuesday the 9th of October 2007 at 13:20:00

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