Computer of the day: Osborne Encore at Old-Computers.com

May 24, 2010 — Thumper

Today I noticed the Osborne Encore is the “Computer of the Day” over at Old-Computers.com where they have a nice write up on it. In the text, they mention its younger brother, the Zenith Z-171, where they have a write up on it, as well.

Interestingly, near the top of my stack of stuff to scan I had the original literature for the Zenith Z-171 so I figured I put aside my development on this site for a few minutes and post it here on honor of its older brother being the computer of the day.

Speaking of development, I’ve been working on making the archive database driven. I’m just about finished put the links into a table, and am fixing to start on the ads and articles were there will be multiple databases linked together. It will be neat. Give me a couple of weeks and I may have a prototype to share.

Cheers!

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Idea – Most Recent Postings function

May 18, 2010 — Thumper

Two folks (Jim from Texas and Jan from somewhere out there) suggested in the database to include a way to show the most recently posted literature. Good idea! Keep the ideas coming in…

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Vintage computing links, portal

May 17, 2010 — Thumper

I was just reading a bit of feedback concerning the links to other vintage computing sites suggesting that there is a need for a “Vintage Computing Portal”. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this?

One thing I have done is made a table of some sites and have used the following site classifications:

  • Pre-Microprocessor Computing
  • Mainframes (Cray, Amhahl, etc)
  • Minicomputers (DEC, Data General, etc)
  • Microcomputers
  • IBM PC lineage

    • (I would probably sub-divide many of these categories into major product lines such as CP/M, TRS-80, Commodore 8-bit, MSX, etc.)

    And then what these sites have to offer:

  • Physical library or museum
  • Classic computer ads
  • Classic computer materials (manuals, software, etc.)
  • Vintage computer photos and specs

Do you think I need a basic rating system such as Active or Stagnant. I was thinking about a gold star to highlight sites of particular importance, such as one dedicated to CP/M with lots of materials. I realize these would be subjective rating, but then again, just having the link would allow viewers to go check them all out, as well.

Any thoughts, click on Feedback, Share Your Story to send me a message.

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SQL. Microcenter.

May 17, 2010 — Thumper

I’m back in town for the week. Got a book on using MySQL and PHP while on the road and have started to review it. I would like to start prototyping a query/search system for the materials, especially since I now have permission to post an old computer magazine (details to come in a little while).

After I finish some PowerBasic stuff later tonight, I hope to have a couple of MicroCenter flyers from 1994 to post. Great snapshot and reminder of how far we’ve come in such a short time.

Cheers!

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Out of town again

May 14, 2010 — Thumper

Going out of town for the weekend. I’m in the middle of scanning some larger stuff and have received permission to post a vintage computer magazine. Also, I am trying to figure out how I want to do the data-based version of the archive and skip the file directory setup which is, I admit, limiting. Expect my next uploads sometime next week. Until then…

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Changing a few links

May 11, 2010 — Thumper

I just changed a few links. If you find anything amiss, please send me a note via the Feedback page.

Also, everyone is welcome to share the link to www.thecomputerarchive.com freely.

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Site update

May 7, 2010 — Thumper

Well, uploaded another 50 MB tonight and worked on the forms.

Been thinking about making a database for the archive content as the more I work on the site, the more it seems necessary. I’m thinking about having just a few fields: Company, Product Name, Compatibility, Product Type(s), Year, Source and Comments. I would make sure that users could browse by most of these fields and search by all.

Anyhow, I’m going to be away for the weekend so I’ll have to let the site stand mostly as is for a few days. In the meantime, feel free to share the link with others you know.

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Latest progress

May 6, 2010 — Thumper

Well, I’m sure you can see the obvious changes to the site. I’ve refined the FAQs but there there is still a little to do with the submission forms.

Check out the archive. I’ve added more content and worked on the cosmetics in that area. Again, there’s still a bit of refinement to go but all-in-all, the site has reached a reasonably stable state.

Also, please send me a note using the General Feedback to test that function.

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Got an 11×17 scanner: Brother MFC-6490CW

May 4, 2010 — Thumper

I just purchased the Brother MFC-6490CW All-in-One unit yesterday at Office Depot. I had a coupon, gift certificate and they price-matched a Staples ad, so the deal was most excellent. The best part is that it scans 11×17, which is why it was appealing to me.

The unit seems built well enough, setup was exceptionally easy and I was up and running very quickly. Speed is as expected and the front-panel user-interface is very business-like and reasonably capable. The Windows software to configure the printer has an old-school feel but allows a lot of customization.

The only problem is that it doesn’t scan well at 200 dpi, but it is fine from 300 dpi and up. The best solution I have figured out so far is to scan the image at 400 dpi and to resize the images when creating the PDFs.

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Status Update: File Count

May 3, 2010 — Thumper

I added a file count and total file size to the left column. Still have more work to do on the contact section.

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