Historic Microcomputer Restoration?

Pojodojo asks: "I am doing an independent study next semester with my computer science professor which we decided to call Historic Microcomputer Repair and Restoration. I will be working with such classics as the Altair 8080 and the Apple II. After I have repaired and or restored these machines, I will put them in a display for others to see. I have the opportunity for a modest budget to get equipment to put in the display, and would like to know is, what sort of things would you as fellow comp sci geeks like to see in a Historic Computer exhibit?"

The Amiga 500

[scenestar]

this thing is mroe important seeing as it was used for years for video editing.

But who am I to judge.....

Variety of platforms

[Marxist Hacker 42]

There was an amazing variety of 8-bit platforms manufactured between 1976-1985, the more you have the better. But take my advice, having refurbished a number of these machines: Plan on buying 3 for every one you get working, Ebay is your friend, no single machine is worth more than $5. You should be able to pick up core cpu/keyboards for $15 following these rules. Use a modern audio cable switch box and a single composite monitor to switch between them- Composite monitors are hard to find and expensive, but many modern cheap 15" TV sets have the correct RCA inputs.

I think your best bet...

[Bin_jammin]

is to stick with well documented hardware. The two you've picked so far ought to more than fit the bill, but considering you've added "repair" to the title of the class, I assume you'll be doing pcb level hardware repair. This is a LOT of fun and frustration at the same time, but if you start digging into machines that nobody's thought of, cared about, or kept track of over the past 30+ years you probably will start getting into headaches of trying to diagnose some seriously weird bugs. Not to discourage you from this course of action, in fact far from it, it sounds like something I would have enjoyed in my public schooling days (or at least getting credit for it). Find clubs that support the machines and can give you advice, don't try to go it alone, after all, the machines were built by teams, teams should help you rebuild them. Most of all remember to have fun!

Computer History Museum

[Tackhead]

If you haven't already done so, you and your professor need to contact the Computer History Museum [computerhistory.org] in San Jose.

Next week's big festivities involve a restored PDP-1 [computerhistory.org].

Their collection of hardware is pretty much unmatched, and is open to the public. What's on display is the tip of their collection's iceberg. Who knows what might be kicking around in the background, just waiting for a small team of geeks to restore? [computerhistory.org]

And conversely, who knows what might be kicking around in your classmates' basements that's on CHM's wish list [computerhistory.org]?

so many milestones...

[TheSHAD0W]

Here's some computers I'd recommend you try to get. Each represents one or more milestones to what we now consider commonplace. (I've left out some of the more obvious ones; please forgive me if I've named some you consider obvious.)

Desktops:
Commodore PET 2001 (color chicklet keyboard).
Sinclair ZX-80/81.
Coleco Adam.
DEC Rainbow 100.
Amiga 2000.

Portables:
TRS-80 Model 100/102.
Osborne 1.
Compaq suitcase PC.
HP 200LX.
Apple Newton.
Toshiba T1000.

Re:The Amiga 500

[Tumbleweed]

The Amiga 1000 (the original Amiga) is the better historical computer, IMO. Hey - any movie used in The Price of Darkness has gotta have it goin' on!

"I LIVE! I LIVE! I LIVE! I LIVE! I LIVE! I LIVE! I LIVE! I LIVE! I LIVE! " ...
"IN FACT...YOU WILL NOT BE SAVED!"

Classic.

Definitely the computer Matthew Broderick used in WarGames (IMSAI?) should be in there.

Scrounging up a working Apple Lisa and Apple /// would be good, same for a Kaypro and an Osborne. All the classic 8-bits: Atari 400 and 800, Commodore PET, Commodore 64 (and weird ones like the SX64, etc.), TI-99 4/a, and if you have an Amiga, you can't skimp at avoid the Atari ST line. Coleco Adam.

There's actually a little museum of this type here in Seattle in the SODO area Re-PC store. Some really awesome stuff, though the machines are all turned off. It'd be more fun if you could mess with them. There are actually working older computers for sale there pretty often, such as Apple //gs, etc. I'm sure glad I didn't buy that piece of shit, and went for an Amiga 500 at the time. *whew*

Re:The Amiga 500

[drinkypoo]

I believe there was an external genlock for the Amiga 500. However, the Amiga 2000 was by far the more popular platform for business use, with or without the toaster. I used to have an A2000 with the internal genlock (used the video slot, same place the toaster taps into for video, while it also goes into a normal slot) and the only thing I ever used it for was to chat over television (output from my vcr, which has a tuner of course) but it was pretty spiffy and fairly decent-quality.

A friend of mine always wanted someone to ask him to hack a video toaster onto an Amiga 500, but no one ever did. He thought he could do it, based on the schematics of both systems, which were thoughtfully included with 'em.

Re:so many milestones...

[Orrin Bloquy]

Atari 400/800/XL series. One of the first computers to feature separate programmable chips for CPU, I/O, sound and graphics, and much more sophisticated multi-mode interrupt-driven video than either of its 6502 peers, the Apple ][ and the C64. The first digitized video I was on was connected to an 800 and the first computer playback of music I ever heard came from it (10 scratchy seconds of "You Really Got Me" by Van Halen).

Remarkably hackable OS for ROM firmware. Arguably the truest random number generator (derived from multiple hardware sources like timing and voltages rather than a seed). G:, the Epson-compatible graphics printer device. And a level of hardware incompatibility that paved the way for the first Macintosh.

Re:Really old stuff

[LWATCDR]

"you could get a version of MS-DOS that would run on these beasts."
No you couldn't.
Not unless there was an 8088 or 8086 card you could put in them. I guess it is possible such a beast was sold but they would have been rare.
You could get CP/M for them and maybe ZPCR. I also remember a OS called LDOS I think was available as well.
Now the Model 16 could run Xenix which was very cool.
The first computer that Tandy made that ran MS-DOS I think was the Model 2000. It was better than the IBM CP but it wasn't PC compatible and failed in the marketplace.

If you're in the northeast US.....

[SomeoneGotMyNick]

You might want to contact MARCH [midatlanticretro.org], The Mid-Atlantic Retro Computer Hobbyist group. They've only been around for a very short time, but they're gathering a lot of informative members. They are running an exhibit this weekend (May 13) in Wall, NJ. Their website is still just basic info, but they have a discussion forum on Yahoo as linked on their main page.