Deep in the heart of Missouri lies a secret underground bunker full of Apple Macintosh computers. Within its stark white walls, you’ll find the computer collection of Jeremy Mehrle, a professional graphic designer with a decided preference for Apple hardware.

Actually, Mehrle’s presentation more closely resembles a swank nightclub than a bunker. The monochromatic color design and minimalistic furniture arrangement compliment the Mac collection perfectly, while adding an incredible touch of class to the makeshift museum. Dozens of compact Macs (mostly Classic IIs), which automatically run screen savers when turned on, engulf a tall bar area in one corner of the basement. In other section, there’s an eye-catching wall full of candy-colored iMacs. And don’t forget to take a stroll down the row of various all-in-one Mac models that includes the rare Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh. Eat your heart out, “Mac Shelf.”

Merhle, who also goes by the handle “soyburger,” posted some pictures of his basement Mac collection on Flickr in August of last year, and links to the gallery have been virally spreading around the web ever since. I just recently ran across the photos myself and was so impressed with the aesthetically adept setup that I decided to contact Merhle and conduct a short email interview, which you can read below. There’s a lot more to see of Mehrle’s basement than the pictures here, so don’t forget to check out the full gallery as well, on Flickr.

[ Continue reading The Basement Mac Museum » ]

It’s the end of an era, my friends. At today’s MacWorld keynote, Steve Jobs announced that the company is changing its name from “Apple Computer, Inc.” to simply “Apple, Inc.” to reflect their increased focus on consumer electronics.

The world’s most beloved computer company is no longer just a computer company. That’s fine with me, of course, because they make some of the best consumer products on Earth. Still, for someone who grew up with the legendary Apple Computer of old, it’s a little sad to see the original name go.

Hello, friends. It’s New Year’s time once again, and by this point, you’ve probably been bombarded by year-end reviews and retrospectives on dozens of other websites and blogs. While typically not one to follow the trend, I just couldn’t resist throwing another log on the fire of your journalistic discontent.

Ok, so I’m exaggerating as always! I’ve actually assembled this list because I thought you might enjoy looking over some of our past “hits,” especially in case you missed any. Also, I wanted to prove to myself that I actually did something with my life this year besides meticulously pick up an enormous scattered pile of foam packing peanuts from my back yard. The following is a list of the top ten most viewed articles that were published on VC&G in the year 2006. I hope you enjoy it.

Have a happy New Year — I’ll see you in 2007!

[ Continue reading The Top Ten Most Popular VC&G Articles of 2006 » ]

In Memoriam: Alan Shugart (1930-2006), inventor of the floppy disk.

Andrew Wiskow emailed me today with news that his long-planned Commodore dial-up BBS’s return to glory is now complete. The Cottonwood BBS, perhaps the last dial-up only BBS running on authentic Commodore hardware (feel free to correct me on this!), is now up and accepting callers at 1-951-242-3593. Andrew also posted a comment about his BBS on another VC&G post, which I have reproduced below:

Well, after a bit of a delay, Cottonwood BBS is now back up and operational! As it turns out, the 1200 baud modem wasn’t the problem, but instead it was the VoIP line I was trying to run the BBS on. I had to switch back to a regular phone line in order to get good results. The 2400 baud modem I tried to used wasn’t working well, so I’m back to where I started on the 1200 baud modem.

Anyway… You can call Cottonwood BBS at (951) 242-3593. Open 24 hours a day, running at 300/1200 baud. For more information on the BBS, or to get some tips on connecting, check out the following website:

http://hometown.aol.com/cottonwoodbbs/

Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Be sure to check out his website to pick up a copy of C64Term for the best Commodore BBS experience for PC users. I haven’t made a call yet, but I plan on it when I get the chance. If you give it a call, please let us know how you liked it.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the United States, which means we cook a lot, eat a lot, sleep a lot, feel uncomfortable around somewhat estranged relatives a lot, prepare to spend a lot, officially start Christmas a lot, and generally take it all for granted, despite the title of the holiday. In order to break with American tradition, I thought I’d offer a personal list of things that I think we — vintage computer and video game enthusiasts — should be thankful for. After all, these things let us enjoy our hobbies. Without them, we’d be collecting dirt and not even know what it’s called. Pay attention, my friends, as we start off serious-ish and degrade into something resembling silliness — but it’s all in the name of holiday fun.

[ Continue reading What Computer Nerds Should Be Thankful For » ]

I’m leaving for California today to attend VCF 9.0, or more properly, the ninth iteration of the Vintage Computer Festival. It’s taking place at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California (home of Google and other cool tech companies). As a result of my trip, regular posts will be thin in the coming week or so, but I hope to be reporting on the going-ons at the festival if I get a chance. If nothing else, I should be able to post a full write-up of my Silicon Valley adventure when I get back.

Maybe I’ll see you there. If you spot a weird, squirrelly-looking guy with a handlebar mustache, neon-pink jumpsuit, and a gigantic sombrero swaggering around, you’ll know it’s me.

With Halloween only three days away, it’s getting quite late in the game to figure out what you’re going to dress up as this year. Here to the rescue, as always, is VC&G with the second of two parts on last-minute Halloween costume ideas. The first part dealt with vintage computer-related costumes. This second part deals exclusively with video game-related costumes. So if you’re desperate for some ideas, feel free to take a look what we’ve cooked up for you below. And by all means, share any of your own ideas with us as well.

Special thanks to Matt of Video Game Obsession for providing the Urban Champion and 3-D World Runner scans used below.

[ Continue reading VC&G’s Last Minute Halloween Costume Ideas: Video Game Edition » ]

Matt Groves, a regular reader of VC&G, is hosting a vintage gaming contest with an innovative concept called “Name Those Pixels.” He’s selected an excerpt from a NES game’s graphics in the form of a square block of pixels (pictured to the right). Your job is to guess which game the pixels came from. The winner of the contest will be selected randomly from all the correct entries and will receive a copy of Dr. Mario for the NES as a prize. If all goes well, he could be hosting more contests like this on VC&G in the future. To enter the contest, visit his site and send him an email. Good luck!