Computer Stuff Retro Computing Hardware They're Mine! All Mine!!

Well, old visitors to The Thugdome will notice that this page has had to go through a bit of a revamp. When I moved to England, I obviously wasn't going to take all my computers with me. (Besides, my 21" Monitor was a Southern Hemisphere model, so its display quality wouldn't have been optimal over here anyway. <grin>)

So, the old network of Diggler, Big, Little and Server got broken up. (Can you work out the naming?*) Little got slightly upgraded and given to my sister so she could connect to the net. Server got decommissioned and I went back to a peer-to-peer network. Big was going to disappear too, but has hung on for dear life, so that now my parents are left with a computer each, which is pretty silly, really.

And for me? Well, I had to get a new machine, of course. Introducing Detachable! (to continue with the naming theme.) Detachable is a DELL Inspiron 5000e with all the extra features. Nice? Very! I think it became my most expensive purchase ever too. <frown>

Retro Computing

But I don't forget my computing roots. My first computer, back in 1982, was an Apple ][+ clone. Over many years I learnt an awful lot about that computer. I learnt to program BASIC by typing in programs from computer magazines. Eventually I learnt 6502 assembly and could do reasonable amounts in it. (I was much better at understanding other people's assembly language than writing my own.) I could dissect Apple DOS and muck around with it, and all sorts of other bits a pieces. And of course, there were the games.

Some things are hard to leave behind. The old Apple is still at home, still just managing to function. But these days I mostly use Apple Emulators to get my fix of nostalgia. Here are some Apple links:

	The Apple IIgs Gaming Memory Fairway
	Apple II Oasis Home Page
	WelcomeIIC
	The Treasure Chest Project
	Catweasel Advanced Floppy Controller - Read Apple floppies on a PC!

You can also find some Apple Emulator related software that I have written on my Software page.

Then there's the MAME and MESS projects. They seek to recreate/emulate the old arcade machines and PC/Consoles of my youth respectively. Damn if they aren't both a lot of fun. Time for some more links!

	MAME - The official Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator site
	The Official MESS Home Page
	MESS ROMs - Great site that has them all, plus photos and info.

Hardware

I've bought and used a lot of hardware over the years. Click here for my unsolicited advice about purchasing computer hardware! For more advice about computer hardware, I recommend the following sites:

	AnandTech
	Tom's Hardware Guide

They're Mine! All Mine!!

I used to proudly list the exact specs of all my computers with model numbers and web site links. This was mostly for the glorification of my ego, partly to fill up space on my web page, but also so that when the page got indexed by the web search engines out there, people looking for info about a particular bit of hardware would find me. Over the years I've received quite a few e-mails from people needing info on an old bit of hardware, and I've been more than happy to oblige with scans from pages of manuals, advice, etc.

Now that most of the hardware and documentation is scattered around the globe, this doesn't make as much sense anymore. But, I'd still like to be a helpful netizen so I've just summarised all the specs and listed them below in a big chunks as "search engine fodder".

Detachable

Diggler

Big

Little

Server

Other Bits

* What? You still can't work out where the names come from? Have you watched the film "Boogie Nights"? Does the name "Diggler" make more sense now? No? Still need help? Well, look, it's a size thing, OK?