Subject: 286 Computers

From: Roger Bisson <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat Apr 19 18:49:00 2003

Dear List,

What is the concensus on disposal of 286 and 386sx
hardware -- should they be consigned to the bin, or
are there any folks out there collecting them? (or
needing spares?).

One is a Schneider 286 Tower PC (10Mhz), and the other
is a Philips P3345 (16Mhz).

Personally, I do not view either as being particularly
noteworth (other than, perhaps, for sentimental
reasons) .. but seems such a shame to turn them into
landfill :-)

Best regards,

Roger
For a better Internet experience
http://www.yahoo.co.uk/btoffer

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From: Vintage Computer Festival <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat Apr 19 19:20:01 2003

> is a Philips P3345 (16Mhz).

I sometimes hold on to some name brand models (i.e. Dell, Compaq) but only
if they are representative of a certain PC era or style, or were
interesting or unique in their own way (both technological and design
wise).

-- 

Sellam Ismail                                        Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger                http://www.vintage.org

 * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

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From: "TeoZ" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat Apr 19 20:31:00 2003

Personally I wouldnt mind an old gateway 386 in the mini desktop case +
keyboard since I liked the design, and could use a 386 with ps2 type
connections.

Its not worth the shipping to bother with the generic packard bells and
other cheap brand 286's.
I dont think many of the 286 computers will ever be collectable. For some
reason they are just not popular, maybe because of memory/memory management
limitations.

The original IBM pc's are still collectable, same with the original compaq
and portable.

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From: Vintage Computer Festival <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun Apr 20 00:02:00 2003

> reason they are just not popular, maybe because of memory/memory management

Or because they are just plain boring and uninteresting.

--

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From: Marvin Johnston <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun Apr 20 00:32:00 2003

> Or because they are just plain boring and uninteresting.

Except for the original IBM 6 MHz AT. It is interesting in the same way
that the Compaq 386 is; both are first editions. Also, the original 512K
IBM AT has the piggyback memory chips which are kind of interesting.
Now, add the 386 multiuser system on the 286, ???386 (can't recall the
name of the Atlanta, Ga company), and we are beginning to see the PCs
get usable.

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From: Bryan Pope <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Apr 23 07:33:01 2003

> Or because they are just plain boring and uninteresting.

*But* you can play Castle Wolfenstein 3D on them! ;)

Cheers,

Bryan

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From: Ethan Dicks <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Apr 23 08:39:01 2003

--- Bryan Pope <[email-masked]> wrote:
> > > I dont think many of the 286 computers will ever be collectable...
> > 

When people were still attempting to sell 286s at Hamfests and Fleamarkets,
you could tell the 286s because *that* was running on them as a crowd
attractor.

It also showed off the dogs... all it took was one 386-25 across the
aisle and nobody paid any attention to the 286s. 

-ethan
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo
http://search.yahoo.com

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From: "TeoZ" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Apr 23 10:04:00 2003

Reminds me of sellers showing doom2 on a 486/133 at the computer shows
trying to get rid of them before people realised that the pentium was soooo
much faster.

I still have a 386/40 for playing the older games. So far I havnt run into
anything that I need a 286 or earlier to play it.

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From: John Rollins <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Apr 23 23:39:00 2003

>*But* you can play Castle Wolfenstein 3D on them! ;)

Why keep a 286 around when it does fine on my Mac? I don't play it 
much anymore, I bought the new Return to Castle Wolfenstein, someone 
told me it's based on the Quake 3 engine. Very nice, but needs a lot 
of memory. The Belkin Nostromo game controller really helps, too.

But what am I supposed to do with the old PC's? I'm keeping the more 
interesting stuff like my PC and XT. And my personal favorite, the HP 
Vectra. But the typical beige box junk is cluttering up my basement. 
Everything from 286/386 parts to Pentium MMX systems, what can be 
done with them besides recycling the chassis and hoping you'll need 
the other parts eventually? I don't imagine many people need or want 
that old stuff, even on eBay.

Speaking of eBay, I have some Apollo parts I'm going to put up just 
to see what happens. Odd stuff like WD7000 cards and memory cards and 
such. Once I gather up most of the other stuff I'll be offering it 
here on the list, but if you're interested in getting an old Apollo 
chassis and various parts and bits, let me know. I could probably 
ship the small stuff, but the big stuff is pretty heavy so I'd prefer 
to give it to someone local. I'll post a note here when I get it all 
together.

-- 

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