Category: Electronics

Two of the world’s first desktop computers, nearly 50 years old, were discovered during a routine house clearance, revealing an important and rare piece of computing history. The Q1 desktop computers, launched in 1972, were found hidden under boxes in London by the waste firm Just Clear. Initially, the staff did not recognize the significance…

They were written on a laptop that is technically brand new, in the sense that it was only released recently. But everything from the word processor this text was written in to the CPU that ran it is decades old. I am writing this on the Book 8088, an utterly bizarre $200-ish imported system that…

Expect a little cleaning to be on the to-do list for anyone refurbishing vintage Macs these days. If trying to modernize a machine like this, maxing out the RAM and VRAM is a logical upgrade. To bring the system up to a total of 68MB of RAM, I went online and purchased four 16MB 30…

A rare Apple-1 computer from the 1970s that was designed by Steve Wozniak and built by Steve Jobs in his home just sold at auction for $400,000. One of Apple’s first computers, built by Steve Jobs in his home, has sold for $400,000 at auction. It is one of 200 Apple-1 computers and one of…

An original Apple computer, hand-built by company founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak 45 years ago, sold for $400,000 at auction in the United States on Tuesday. The functioning Apple-1, the great-great-grandfather of today’s sleek chrome-and-glass MacBooks, had been expected to fetch up to $600,000 when it went under the hammer in California. The so-called…

In the modern world of constantly updating technology, many items are rapidly replaced, with older gadgets often put out of sight in the loft. However, as years pass by, many once redundant items can actually increase in value. Whether it is an iPhone or a games console, if you have the right one stashed in…

Desktop Power Macs are certainly the easiest to upgrade beyond just installing more memory or RAM. My dad and I both upgraded older Power Mac G4s recently, and our experience is telling. My dad has a 450 MHz Power Mac G4 (known as the “AGP Graphics” version); mine is a backup and file server with…

Exciting news for video game music enthusiasts! Hyperdub, the renowned London-based record label, has announced the release of a new collection titled “Diggin’ In The Carts, A Collection Of Pioneering Japanese Video Game Music.” This 34-track compilation builds upon the critically acclaimed Red Bull Music Academy documentary series of the same name, which explored the…

A new business named Nrdvana is set to offer gamers and collectors a unique way to sell their video games and collectibles on consignment. Scheduled to open on April 4, Nrdvana will be located in a retail center on 49th Street just west of Western Avenue. “Basically, the premise of the business was that as…

While the long-lived Z80 continues on in Z180 and eZ80 forms, the standalone DIP-packaged variants’ days are numbered. Zilog has announced it is halting production of its standalone DIP-packaged Z80 CPU models – a move that could spell trouble for vintage computing enthusiasts looking to build Z80-based systems or repair existing machines with new parts.…