I've had a good week.

Posted by LopsidedLegs@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 40 comments

I've have a good week. I've been helping a friend who has a relative with a bit of a hoarding issue (think double garage filled to shoulder height of everything and anything). We filled a couple of skips with rubbish, hundreds of VHS tapes, cassette tapes, broken pots, pans everything. If someone in the family was throwing something away they would take it. It was two days of hard work. Well I got three computers as payment (as well as fish & chips). Another friend who owes me a couple of favours gave me another three as he knows I like computers. The haul: Lenovo ThinkServer TS140 (Intel Xeon E3) Viglen Genie ATX (Intel Pentium or Pentium MMX) HP DX2300 (Intel Pentium Dual Core) Clone (Intel Pentium 3) Dell Dimension XPS T700r (Intel Pentium 3) Dell Optiplex GX260 (Intel Pentium 4HT) I don't know if any of them work, all I've done is clean the outsides as the hoarder computers were very dirty. Hopefully will get the chance to go through them this week.

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40 Comments

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Maximum_Help_4371@reddit

Who put a grey DVD in that Dell?

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monkeyboywales@reddit

Didn't realise Viglen lasted into the Pentium era...

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LopsidedLegs@reddit (OP)

I think they were making machines up until recently.

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monkeyboywales@reddit

No! Wow.

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Fibonacchoz@reddit

Was always a fan of that white Dell case , I painted a few in my youth

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glp_808@reddit

Love that ThinkServer. The two 5 /14" bay covers especially. I have not seen a DVD drive setup quite like that before. I like that kind of stuff...

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PunkyB88@reddit

I love the plain no nonsense black aesthetic of them it's so industrial, like the equivalent of some sort of brutalist architecture for a PC case

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glp_808@reddit

I am in total agreement. From the Thinkpad up to a room full of S390 mainframes, IBM nailed the blackout industrial look -- brutalist, yes! All business, but elegant. Understated and yet ominous.

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PunkyB88@reddit

Totally. I started my career looking after professional workstations and servers such as IBM AS400s but also machines designed to run the display, hydraulics and controls of a flight simulator rig for an airline. SGI workstations had funky colours and appealing shapes and SUN was boringly beige with the odd highlights of purple on some models but IBM and later Lenovo nailed the look of corporate equipment. The black finish would hide a multitude of sinful scratches and gouges that made other kit look tatty and gross. No sunlight UV damage which the SPARC stations picked up quickly!

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glp_808@reddit

...and being so familiar with IBM systems, those 5 1/4" bay covers that I have never seen just jumped out at me. They got the look and then some...!

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LopsidedLegs@reddit (OP)

It's a nice little machine, if it works think of slapping in a couple of SSDs and running Hyper-V 2012R2 on it.

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glp_808@reddit

Yeah, it definitely is! I have a ThinkStation D10 and a D30. They are both dualies -- two xeons. Always wanted a dualie. I run Mint Linux on both machines. The D10 is unfortunately in a storage space far from me. Not going to ask my kids to ship that big beast to me right now... But, I have the D30 cranking away on the World Community Grid using BOINC and with 48 threads it gets me lots of points -- just for fun! Enjoy that beauty! :D

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MajorInterest2033@reddit

Ahhh that Viglen case brings back memories, replaced many of those whilst working in a school early in my IT career 🤓

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LopsidedLegs@reddit (OP)

I have memories of Viglen in schools, but this is back in my school days with BBC Micro B computers.

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b33znutz@reddit

That Viglen is gorgeous!

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KingDaveRa@reddit

Proper old school Viglen Genie that one! Nice haul.

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LopsidedLegs@reddit (OP)

I hope it works. I don't have a socket 7 machine.

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Taira_Mai@reddit

The bottom left case is Enlight brand - they were good cases and one of the first to use drive rails. There may even be a small removable drive cage for the 3.5 inch drives. Loved those cases - they don't make them anymore.

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hawkenhiemer@reddit

I would kill for that Viglen case. You could install a spanking new ATX motherboard, power supply, GPU and have yourself a sleeper

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LopsidedLegs@reddit (OP)

It's a shame that they don't make Desktop ATX cases like that anymore.

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hawkenhiemer@reddit

https://evercase.co.uk still sells some. But I don't like their designs & most are low-profile. Not many desktop ATX cases were ever made because by that point the tower form factor was already immensely popular, even with the AT standard. There are reams and reams of beige ATX towers on eBay. But not a single desktop case.

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VimtoUK@reddit

Bottom left there is a nice case, we used to build into similar.

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LopsidedLegs@reddit (OP)

IIRC it's an Enlight, they were very popular at the time.

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Norphus1@reddit

I was going to say, I think that’s an Enlight. I used to work for a computer builder back in the late 90s/early 00s and they used to use Enlight cases and PSUs. They were brilliant cases and pretty good PSUs. That looks like a mini version of the EN-7287, a case I had for many years. It was a belter.

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VimtoUK@reddit

It is indeed, solid cases, we built into those for many years while it was still practical for us to do so. Not the prettiest but very well made.

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PaleDreamer_1969@reddit

I’m me of those Dells just gave me PTSD.

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Inquisitive_Lime@reddit

I want that Dell! Great sleeper build base there!

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LopsidedLegs@reddit (OP)

I haven't tested anything yet, and haven't decided what I'm going to do with them. Are you in the UK?

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Inquisitive_Lime@reddit

I am in the UK :)

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LopsidedLegs@reddit (OP)

Where about? I'm in Hertfordshire.

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Inquisitive_Lime@reddit

Bristol way! DM me and we can talk what you are after

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Lyrizcen@reddit

Something about the clam shell Dell’s really is appealing to me. I have a Optiplex GX60 and I love it. What do you plan on doing with this lot? Are you a collector or do you have use for them?

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LopsidedLegs@reddit (OP)

I was never a fan of the clam shell design, it was always a pain in the arse. Haven't really decided what I'm going to do with them yet. Need to test but I'll keep the Think server, the HP and viglen.

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Mairon121@reddit

I think the hoarding compulsion has been transmitted to you now.

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Privileged_Interface@reddit

Yep, these suckers grow like weeds. As much as we love them.

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LopsidedLegs@reddit (OP)

Definitely not. I don't have a dozen kettles, a dozen toasters, 30+ garden chairs, 7 broken hose reals. Apparently it's a real problem, literally will buy things on sale because it's a bargain or will take anything family or neighbours throw out because it might be useful or "it's a waste". And then it gets thrown into a room, when the room is full onto the next, and then the next, and finally the garage. There are two rooms where the doors won't open. Still I've agreed to help on any future clearances as long as I get any tech.

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SeaworthinessUnlucky@reddit

Need any more? I’m trying to get rid of a half dozen or so computers from this era, but I can’t put them in recycling because I want to find out if there are photos on the hard drives.

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LopsidedLegs@reddit (OP)

Are you in the UK? Quite happy to help.

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lancer_force@reddit

I know our old family dell optiplex-type tower has plenty of bulging caps and doesn't turn on as is, so maybe peep inside and check out the boards

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LopsidedLegs@reddit (OP)

It's big problem with old Dell Optiplexes, remember having to deal with it at the time.