Machines I've Owned
(More or less in order... )
Computers
- ZX-81 - The black and white wonder! I love how the screen went apeshit when using the cassette recorder.
- TI-994A - The RF switch was crazy! Ultimately, this is what failed.
- TRS-80 Model II - My absolute all-time favorite. TRS-DOS READY. I miss it much.
- Commodore VIC-20 - Ask me about the Super Expansion Cartridge.
- Mattel Aquarius - Didn't have this very long. Unremarkable, other than being connected spiritually to the glorious Intellivison.
- Commodore 128D - Wonderful machine. I spent my first years BBS'ing from it with a 300 baud modem. I toasted the shit out of it with a home-made 1200 baud modem I built in electronics class...a sad story for another time...
- Visual Commuter Computer - [1991] 8088 4mhz "laptop". This thing was frickin' HUGE, but I BBS'd off it a lot.
- Tandy 2500SX - I'm not sure about that model number, but it's definitely looking the same as the one in the pic on that linked page... definitely a 386.
- From then on it was various hand-assembled PC-compatibles (possibly incomplete list follows:
- 486/66DX
- K6-2/266
- K6-2/500 (?)
- 1ghz Athlon - I had this for about 30 seconds before completely frying it. In the process of doing this, I learned a valuable lesson about then-modern computers. You see, the huge gap between my old machine and this newer one left me a bit naive concerning the importance of...heat sinks and...fans...and such. Never again.
- Duron 800 - A couple weeks later...all I could afford. :D
- Athlon XP 2600 - 2700? I refuse to look it up.
- Athlon64 3000+
- Athlon64 X2 Dual Core 5600+ (2.80ghz) - Interesting to note that my previous and current machines cost me almost exactly the same amount of money to build from parts. I compared my Newegg order forms.
- Thinkpad X21 (600?mhz P3). I like it quite a bit, but its battery can only hold a full charge for about 20 minutes so.
- Around New Years 2008/2009, I picked up a Compaq CQ50-130US laptop. (2 GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core Mobile Processor T3200, 2 gigs RAM, 160 gb drive, 15" widescreen 1280x800 display, etc.) It's sweet.
- Mid-July '09 I acquired an Acer Aspire One D150 off of Woot. Love the thing to pieces.
- AMD Phenom II X4 955 (3.20 Ghz, Apr. 2010)
Video Game Consoles
- Various super-old school ball/paddle direct-to-TV machines.
- Magnavox Odyssey2 - I barely remember this.
- Atari 2600 - Damned sticks always broke... I still have a nice cache of 2600 cartridges in a box.
- Intellivision - My hands down favorite EVER. (Okay, I never really owned one, but I was downstairs playing it on a near-daily basis after school at my then-landlords apartment. Sorry for being such a pain in the ass. :))
- Vectrex (Yep, actually owned one.)
- Nintendo Entertainment System (The original R.O.B. package with Gyromite, Kung-Fu, and Hogan's Alley. Not sure what happened to this machine, but some time later I receive an NES again, with Super Mario/Duck Hunt after having my tonsils removed.)
- Super NES - I remember drooling over blurry photos of Super Mario World in EGM, and then getting the delightful experience of getting to play it on an imported Super Famicom before it was released over here, at the Ultimate Game Club in Old Saybrook.
- Nintendo Gameboy - I know someone who paid $19 for a used nasty copy of the original Tetris. I won't tell you who though. (Hint: It wasn't me.)
...and then there was a huge gap until late 2002 as the 3D/Playstation era loomed into view -- I took the rejection of 2D for ugly 3D polygons personally! :)
- Sega Dreamcast - My first gaming console of the 3D era. Bought it used super-cheap at EB Games. Fantastic machine. Shame it died like it did.
- Nintendo Gamecube - Poor little guy. :(
- Gameboy Advance - It's like a portable Super Nintendo that requires you to bring really bright lighting.
- Nintendo DS (Phat, and then later a black Lite) - I still play this every night. A fantastic piece of hardware, but really guys, the next generation better have some kind of texture filtering. Metroid Hunters gives me a headache just looking at it.
- Sony Playstation 2 (Slim) - A pleasant little machine. Wish I had more time to explore it's catalogue of games but...
- Nintendo Wii - Interesting, but vastly overrated hardware. I love Mario and the gang, but I'm completely burnt out Nintendo's properties and frankly the behavior of the company. Far too conservative. Nice to hear they found a niche with selling games to grandma, but at what price? (No, I will not sell it to you.)
- XBox 360 - Suuuure, the price drops a month after I buy it. The thing was stuck at the same price for years until I finally break down and buy one. Thanks.