Retro x86 PC eBay Deals

[Keatah]

I drove past the former Myoda place. It's now been torn down and a McDonalds is there. Gotta be one of the smallest plots for McD's I'd seen in a while.

 

But more importantly, before it was even Myoda, there used to be a Precision Video there. Back when "Hi-Fi", mullets, and bell-bottoms were all the rage. I remember getting my very first CD there. Police "Synchronicity". Still have it. Don't know if it's rotted away, but as of 6 years ago it hadn't.

 

It was a special and nearly momentous occasion. I was entering the digital audio era! And it was like magic, being able to move between tracks at the touch of a button, and never having the stuff wear out. To a kid it sounded absolutely incredible and should have been featured on "That's Incredible". My gramma got me a new disc every week till she kicked the bucket, so I ended up with some odd 500-1000 "free" discs. But I always remember the first one. And we paid like $24.95 for it.

 

Naturally it's ripped into iTunes now. In fact. I rarely, if ever, buy streaming music. It's always real discs that I can have use however I choose. Same goes for games. Even back in the 486 days I always purchased my games.

 

On occasion I did try the digital download (were there ever analog downloads for games?). And I found the support to generally be lousy, and they either went out of business or converted to freeware. So I don't bother with digital downloads unless I can make a real disc or keep it on my server/hdd, along with complete documentation. For the future, you know..

[CatPix]

If you consider dial-up as analog, then it existed, with download via telephone or cable for the Atari 2600 and Intellivision.

In France there was a service to download games on the Amstrad CPC via Minitel, but since Minitel use a Transpac (X25) communication protocol, I'm not sure that you can consider it being analog, or early digital download.

Of course it's "analog" only because it's transmitted as sound, dial-up is digital using an analog transmission/support.

 

Edited September 14, 2016 by CatPix

[Keatah]

I'm not sure what to make of the early modems. While they transmitted different tones and such. They weren't infinitely variable, they had discrete steps and phases. We tend to think of them as analog modems because they warble and operate in an audible frequency. Cable modems are the same, they just have a more tones and more phases.

 

Not all different from modern flash memory which stores up to 1 of 4 or 8 voltage levels in a cell to represent a couple of bits or even a nibble.

 

The useful input/output of both devices is a series of zeros and ones..

[CatPix]

Well you mentionned "analog downloads; if this doesn't refer to the transmission, then what else? All games or game-able systems that can load games use digital programs.

Aside from some experiment that use sounds and other analog input to display something (but that something itself is programmed) I can't think of any game that used "analog".

Aside from some ZX Spectrum games that used recorded voice on the game tapes to add to the narrative.

 

The only way to have "analog download" is to have digital data put on home hardware, such as using the landline or music tapes (analog supports) to carry on this data, as opposed to a dedicaced hardware such as an ADSL modem.

[boxpressed]

There is a seller on eBay who says he used to be a computer wholesaler and says he has over 50 NOS Turtle Beach Maui sound cards. $22 each plus shipping. These are just card only, no retail packaging.

 

If you aren't familiar with this card, it is a good ISA-bus General Midi (GM) music card for your DOS system. It has 2MB of sample ROM, 256KB of RAM (upgradable to 8MB). It uses the ICS Wavefront patch set.

 

This card is strictly a wavetable upgrade card, so it doesn't do digital audio or FM synthesis. You just run its output into the line in of your Sound Blaster or other digital audio card.

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 112138558281

[Keatah]

If I say BEEP it's a high/1, if I say BOOP, it's a low/0.

 

While analog in nature, it is digital by the two possible discrete states. Analog because it can vary, digital because it is highly likely to experience two states only.

[Stormbringer]

how the hell does anyone know of Myoda in Hoffman Mistakes? does anyone remember the computer store that was across the street next to the jewel?

[Keatah]

How they or anyone would know of Myoda in Hoffman Estates? I don't know. But they would know. *I* know of it because the fucker took me for a ride and sold me a Pentium IV for $636. And some dumb-ass sever case for $312. On the other hand I got a prototype AL440LX board for a song and a dance.

 

Sometimes I would think Myoda was an eyesore, a cancer upon the IT world. Certainly not festive, happy, or colorful like Comp-USA or anything.

 

At any rate, I vaguely remember going to the one by the Jewel. I think. I don't recall if it was next to Jewel in the same building, or just on the side of the parking lot in a separate strip. If the latter, then it became a pawn shop. And then it degraded even further. I don't know what it is now. I'm not up that way frequently enough to pay attention unless I'm, well, going there!

Edited September 16, 2016 by Keatah

[Osgeld]

Another Shameless self promotion

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/122139945054?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l2649

[boxpressed]

Another Shameless self promotion

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/122139945054?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l2649

 

I was just about to post this auction without knowing it was Osgeld's. The Gateway 486 desktops are my favorite OEM design. Just looks so vintage.

 

It looks like the video is onboard. Do you know if it is local bus? Only ISA slots on the riser?

[Osgeld]

dunno if it is local bus on the board, video is onboard though, and yes 5 ISA only slots on the riser