Old School Computers 101

Tuskerbane Published 02/12/2014

Some old school photos from the earlier pieces of computer hardware.

1.
30 pin Simm
2.
386 Processor and motherboard. Notice it says DX. SX meant the lack of a math co processor on the processor. The open slot above the processor to the right was to add an aftermarket math co processor if you needed one.
3.
AMD 2700, not very old school but a good ole processor.
4.
AMD 486 120Mhz... Megahertz. Yes, computers were slow.
5.
6.
Apple 2
7.
Old school Cache chips came in little chips you manually added to the motherboard to increase performance.
8.
The Shatner loved the VIC 20.
9.
Math Co Processor. I actually installed several of these back in the day.
10.
3DFx started the video card madness. Was bought out by Nvidia after the Voodoo 5 series flopped.
11.
Intel 386 SX... The joke is they left out the U. No math co processor gimped the SX series.
12.
Pick one.
13.
These overdrives gave you modest performance increases at best. Still cheaper than buying a new PC.
14.
The Mouse!
15.
16.
VIC 20 Cassette Deck.
17.
Radio Shack Trash 80
18.
Another old VIC 20 newspaper add. The VIC 20 was my first true PC.
19.
Commodore VIC 20.
20.
21.
Voodoo 3D. If you played Doom 2, you wanted a Voodoo.
22.
The Voodoo 3 was a bad ass video card back in 2000, 2002 or so. All the engineers at work had them. We would play games at lunch. Increase CAD performance as well.

1.
30 pin Simm
2.
386 Processor and motherboard. Notice it says DX. SX meant the lack of a math co processor on the processor. The open slot above the processor to the right was to add an aftermarket math co processor if you needed one.
3.
AMD 2700, not very old school but a good ole processor.
4.
AMD 486 120Mhz... Megahertz. Yes, computers were slow.
5.
6.
Apple 2
7.
Old school Cache chips came in little chips you manually added to the motherboard to increase performance.
8.
The Shatner loved the VIC 20.
9.
Math Co Processor. I actually installed several of these back in the day.
10.
3DFx started the video card madness. Was bought out by Nvidia after the Voodoo 5 series flopped.
11.
Intel 386 SX... The joke is they left out the U. No math co processor gimped the SX series.
12.
Pick one.
13.
These overdrives gave you modest performance increases at best. Still cheaper than buying a new PC.
14.
The Mouse!
15.
16.
VIC 20 Cassette Deck.
17.
Radio Shack Trash 80
18.
Another old VIC 20 newspaper add. The VIC 20 was my first true PC.
19.
Commodore VIC 20.
20.
21.
Voodoo 3D. If you played Doom 2, you wanted a Voodoo.
22.
The Voodoo 3 was a bad ass video card back in 2000, 2002 or so. All the engineers at work had them. We would play games at lunch. Increase CAD performance as well.