For the last few years, I have always kept an eye out for older PC's. The main one on my list, has always been an IBM, beige desktop (Not a tower), 486. Something close to my original first computer (My first computer, not my family computer)!
A quick drive east, and there is a fairly large area (a couple of neighborhoods, all within a few blocks of each other), have an annual yard sales.
The day started early, 7:30am, my little family and I started off, house to house. Among the old people clothes and many old kids toys. I found nothing which really grabbed my attention. The odd monitor here, a few Xbox 360 games there. A Pentium 3 found its way on a driveway, but seeing as I have a few already, I decided to pass. I did find a few video cards (or that's what they looked like) with a connection out to a setup I have never seen before.
I out loud, prayed to the Yard Sale Gods to grant me a single good find. My wife laughed at me and said It wasn't going to happen.
After a few rounds and an estate sale (which was completely fail in general), we decided to call it quits. Across the street of the estate sale, there were a few more houses, a quick look around and nothing.
As I left the last place, an older lady came over and asked if there was anything I was looking for? My typical response would of been, "Nope, just looking. Thanks though". But this time I explained I was just looking for video games or old computers.
"I have old computers!" She exclaimed as she approached me. "What kinda old computers are you looking for?"
I told her I was up for almost anything and then asked what she had. She told me that she had them in her garage, which I didn't hesitate and walked with her towards it. (Thinking about it now, she could of kidnapped me or worse, and I was all like "oooooo Old PCs)
Under a boxed VCR sat a Pentium 3 Compaq Presario. She lifted it up to show me. The front plate fell off and I was immediately disappointed. She exclaimed that they were her sons from long ago, an no longer used.
As she was talking about it, I began to drift away from the conversation. I then looked down to where it sat. Only now, a beige box sat. My eyes widen and my heart started to jump in my chest. Could this be my find?
There was a flap on the front of this unit, she started to fiddle with and eventually snapped off a piece :.( . I asked if I could see that unit. As she pulled it from the ground I clearly saw the IBM logo. Right then and there I knew I was gonna leave with that PC.
She asked what I wanted old PC's for. I told her that I like to relive my childhood and that collecting old PC's was a hobby of mine. that I like to restore and fix them up. And to also tick my wife off. She laughed.
I asked her what she was comfortable taking for the unit. She told me $5 was good.
She asked if I was local, as she would want to have her info removed off the hard drives. "No offence, but I don't want you to have my info" She stated. "I can call my son over, so in a few days he can wipe the drive."
"I am not too local", I told her. I did not want to miss out on this! I offered her another solution. I asked for a screwdriver and that I would hand her the hard drive (God what a mistake, I'll get to that in a bit), as that's where her info would be located.
She brought me a set and I immediately went to work. I pulled the drive, handed her the money and put the PC in the car.
She then told me that she had a few boxes in her crawl space, that may have some stuff in it. She told me, that she didn't even want cash for that stuff. So I gave her my info and told her to call me when she goes through it.
So, what did I get? I have been searching for an IBM desktop, which was a 486. What this beige box was......
It's a few days later, and I am still buzzing.
I have checked the board and resistors. All look good. I gave it a good blast with compressed air to blow the very minimal dust which was in it, out. I plugged it in and it posted. Fired right up into the BIOS.
Without the hard drive, it's kind of a paper weight. All the other drives I have are too modern and the 5GB I had, which I formatted into Fat and partitioned into 512MB large, could be detected, but not bootable. Spent a better part of the day and night, trying to get it to boot.
Finally, I jumped on eBay and found the exact 170MB HDD, Connor brand and all (probably pulled from another PS/1) for fairly cheap. Ordered it, along with some 3.5" Floppies.
Now to wait...