Welcome Ben! Glad to have you on board! On Fri, Jan 19, 2024 at 2:40 PM Benjamin Krein via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I was having problems with my first subscription to this list so hopefully re-subscribing has fixed that! I figured it was as good a time as any to introduce myself to the list too since I didn't do that before.
I'm fairly new to the retro/vintage computer scene but I've been around computers for over 40 years now starting with the lowly Commodore VIC-20. I'm sure my story matches many of your stories on here in one way or another. In high school I was selected to be the SysOp for their brand new BBS part of a network of K-12 grade schools & as a node on good ole' FidoNet! I've progressed my career through general IT work to web development in the early 2000's to Linux system administration work & finally to Kubernetes administration today. It all started with something along the lines of '10 PRINT "HELLO"' though!
I stumbled across an Apple //e in excellent condition at an antique store a few years ago now for a decent price so I snatched it up. I never had any Apple gear growing up but we had them in school so the nostalgia was still strong. Of course one thing led to another as I tried to collect more of the computers of my past & now I've got a tiny collection including that original Apple //e. I don't aim to be a serious collector but I would like to collect some specimens that were somehow connected to my past. Current collection contains:
- Apple //e - Apple ][+ - Commodore 64C - Macintosh SE - Macintosh Performa 475 - NABU (not in my history but I didn't dare miss out on the fun!)
Things I'd still love to find:
- Commodore 128 - Amiga 500 (or better - C128 & Amiga 500 were 2 of the options to replace the C64 when I was a kid) - Early IBM compatible (XT - 386 - I got an Epson Apex 100 after my C64 & would love another!) - Sun Sparcstation 20 (or better, I had a small collection of Sparcs at one point & sadly got rid of them) - 8-bit Atari of some sort (See FujiNet below!)
I've latched onto a couple really cool retro-hardware projects now that have been a TON of fun to be part of. FujiNet (see, I need an Atari!) and PiSCSI/BlueSCSI. I'm slowly learning my way around a soldering iron, logic analyzer, low-level code & microcontrollers but have a LONG way to go. I can't say enough good things about the folks at the FujiNet project & the enormous education they've given me letting me hang out with them!
Anyhow, that's me. I'm going to get more involved in helping out at InfoAge & some other venues to inject myself into the community. I love this stuff & can't wait to learn more. Hopefully I'll see some of you around & get to know you all a bit better!
-- Ben Krein