Instead of simply letting their classic machines collect dust on a shelf as display pieces, vintage computing enthusiasts regularly struggle to find modern uses for their equipment that also double as good excuses to keep them “around” and active. I know this because I’ve been looking for novel ways to use my obsolete computers since I started collecting them. Thankfully, a new Internet service just popped up that will give us all a reason to pull that old terminal out of the closet again. It’s called StarTTY.

StarTTY, created by Dorian Garson, is an information “push” service designed for old serial terminals and computers than can run terminal emulators. It turns your old computer or terminal into an “information kiosk” by displaying live, up-to-the-minute weather, news, date/time, and other features directly on your terminal’s screen. It accomplishes this feat through the ancient-but-perennially-useful protocol known as telnet, which is commonly used for remote server administration, MUDs, and Internet BBSes these days.

[ Continue reading StarTTY: Turn Your Vintage Computer Into an Information Appliance » ]

Sure, consoles age and get dirty. Heck, I remember a suspicious incident involving my Super Nintendo (SNES) console and a can of Coca-Cola in the early ’90s that left my SNES looking more like a moldy loaf of bread than a video game system. But around five years ago, I noticed that my SNES console was aging particularly badly. I cleaned off all the remnants of fossilized Coke residue from the chassis with a wet washcloth, but the “moldy bread” look still remained. The top half of the console’s plastic body retained a uniformly nasty yellow-brown hue, while the bottom half flaunted its showroom shine — that native SNES gray that we all know and love. I soon realized that a much deeper mechanism was responsible for the aesthetic disfigurement of my beloved SNES than mere dirt and sugar.

To further complicate matters, I have another SNES unit that was obviously produced more recently than my original one, and that console shows no sign of aging whatsoever. Comparing the units and the way different parts of them had discolored led me to believe that there is something different about the two batches of plastics — the one for the top half of the SNES chassis and the one for the bottom, or the plastic for the old unit and plastic for the new — that made them age differently over time.

Immediately below are two photos I took of my actual SNES units. Notice the difference between the colors of the top and bottom halves of the plastic chassis on the older unit, and also how the newer unit shows no sign of discoloration at all.

My first SNES console (right) exhibits discoloration on the top half only.
The newer unit on the left, however, looks as good as new.

The top half and bottom half of my first SNES console, disassembled.
Notice that the underside is yellowed with the same uniformity as the top.

[ Continue reading Why Super Nintendos Lose Their Color: Plastic Discoloration in Classic Machines » ]

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.

Here’s a toast to all those that didn’t make it.

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Welcome to our first Name Those Pixels Challenge of 2007. I think I’ll be making this column bi-weekly from now on so as not to overload your ultra-sensitive pixel receptors. Also, if you like this column and want it to continue, please show your support in the comments.

Now, on to the pixels. This week we’ve got three games again, and two of them are from the same system. The first is to the right, the other two are below. As always, post your guesses in the comments section of this entry, and don’t be bashful. Good luck!

    

The answers to last week’s challenge are after the break.

[ Continue reading Name Those Pixels: Challenge #6 » ]

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 » ]

The TRS-80 Color Computer (CoCo), as seen in this 1982 ad, has a special place in my heart because it was one of the first old computers I obtained when I started collecting them thirteen years ago. A family friend heard about my new hobby and donated the machine to me, complete with a disk drive and some cartridges. I had lots of fun learning the machine’s particular brand of BASIC (I still maintain that the BASIC manual for the TRS-80 CoCo 1 is one of the best computer manuals ever created).

I also had a blast playing with the CoCo’s Audio Spectrum Analyzer cartridge, which lets you graphically view an audio frequency spectrum through input from the machine’s cassette jack. It had a really neat kaleidescope mode that was a lot like “visualizers” on MP3 player software these days. I spent hours MUSHing (not on the CoCo, of course, but on a PC) while listening to classic rock on the radio, all while the kaleidescope effects from the music played out on a RGB monitor beside me. Good times.

Strangely enough, the distinctive chiclet keyboard on the CoCo 1 never bothered me at all — it is probably the most usable and comfortable chiclet keyboard out there. And knowing chiclet keyboards, that’s saying a lot. All in all, the CoCo was a great little machine. Did anybody else out there have one?

Oh, and Merry Christmas!

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Among those who celebrate it, Christmas is often remembered as a magical time full of joy, excitement, and anticipation. It all goes back to when we were kids and we begged our parents all year long to buy us something we wanted so badly, but they resisted because the item usually cost over $20. We typically lost all hope of ever getting the item until Christmas rolled around. That was the only time of year that you could ever get that one mythical item, usually courtesy of Santa Claus.

Let’s talk presents. Since this site is called Vintage Computing and Gaming, I’m limiting the discussion to those items relevant to the site. I’ll give you some examples of VC&G-related presents I received when I was younger, then I’d like to hear about some of your favorite VC&G-related Christmas memories.

Some of the greatest computer-related Christmas presents I’ve received throughout the years include a Prodigy sign-up kit and membership (Man, I wanted that so bad. It was in my early BBS days), a 14.4 kbps modem (which was bad-ass at the time), a SoundBlaster Pro (our first sound card ever), and our family’s first CD-ROM drive and some software on CD-ROM. Some of my favorite video game presents have been Mega Man 3 and Castlevania III (my brother and I received them in the same year, which was incredibly exciting at the time) and our first PlayStation with a copy of Twisted Metal 2. My brother typically received various PC games over the years, like Shogun, Planet’s Edge, Thexder, Wasteland, Silpheed, Bard’s Tale III, and more. I had a lot of fun watching him play them, of course, so they were like presents to me too.

So now it’s your turn. Post some of your favorite computing- or gaming-related Christmas memories. Tell us about some of the best Christmas presents you’ve ever received. Just leave a comment on this entry, and don’t be shy.

Thanks, and Merry Christmas from Vintage Computing and Gaming!