Any chance anyone can ID this PC my grandfather was using? 1993
Posted by AidenMcSauceyPants@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 79 comments
Posted by AidenMcSauceyPants@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 79 comments
Pavel_Software@reddit
Looks like a standard black domesticated cat
cobra7@reddit
Don’t know about the PC, but it looks like he has the CueCat barcode scanner they gave away for free at Radio Shack.
InfiniteStream@reddit
The monitor looks very distinct. Flat CRT were very rare back then.
Cat does a Degauss 😅
Illustrious-Peak3822@reddit
Could it be one of those grounded mesh screens in front of a regular curved one? Popular in the late 80s.
InfiniteStream@reddit
I tought about that but I dont see it. The monitor is also oddly shaped in the back.
WingedGundark@reddit
It is a double glass screen there is a regular curved tube under and that flat glass is glued on to tube with epoxy.
There is a ebay link to the very same Zenith monitor in this thread and the photo shows that the epoxy layer is failing, which is very typical failure mode for these double glass monitors.
Istartedthewar@reddit
It is not curved underneath, that is the whole thing with it. It's actually flat. Developing flat tension mask was one of the major reasons why they ended up getting split off/going bankrupt. They licensed/sold this tech to LG for their Flatron CRT monitors. (not to be confused with their later CRT TVs that used that branding, which were not flat tension mask).
WingedGundark@reddit
Still that monitor has double glass sturcture, this ebay listing shows the typical failure of epoxy rotting between glass panels:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/116736590003
That wavy line around at least most of the monitor edge is top glass detaching from the actual tube. Many later cheaper flat screen monitors were also actually double glass with regular curved tube. They were much cheaper to manufacture, because you had just a regular monitor and didn’t need to worry about tackiling geometry issues etc. They simply faked the flatness.
When I see this upper glass detaching from this particular monitor, I still very much believe that this is one of those kind flat monitors.
Istartedthewar@reddit
"I still very much believe that this is one of those kind of ”fake” flat tube monitors."
And I believe you're a moron then. Go read about flat tension mask
WingedGundark@reddit
Wow, did you get sand in your pussy this morning or are you this big of a cunt like always?
Why-am-I-here-anyway@reddit
Not that rare, just expensive. We used large flat CRT's for CAD work.
Istartedthewar@reddit
At a later period, maybe. The ZCM-1490 was the first flat-face CRT monitor, and it was truly internally flat unlike all of the "flat" CRTs from the late 90s-early 00s.
blakespot@reddit
Indeed, the ZCM-1490 uses Zenith's proprietary Flat Tension Mask tube, allowing for a perfectly flat display that is extremely sharp. It's strikingly better than a typical shadow-mask display.
We had one in the physics lab in college that I often used for MathCAD work back around 1993. It was striking. I have a strong preference for aperture-grille CRTs over the traditional shadow mask tech displays, and the FTM tube kind of felt like an aperture-grille display. Very sharp and bright.
It may have been just the display in the aforementioned lab, but there was always a kind of slightly purplish oily presence (like someone had rubbed oily hands on the display) that I remember wiping away every time I sat down to use it. A subtle thing, but I wondered at the time if it had something to do with the surface of the CRT. Maybe that's just incidental for the one I used.
Extremely nice CRT and I'd love to have one. They seem to be well sought after by collectors.
Pamphlet: https://www.1000bit.it/ad/bro/zenith/ZCM1490.pdf
AlistairMackenzie@reddit
That looks like a nice PC monitor for its day. The glass was anti-glare treated which skin oils and junk interfere with the anti-glare physics. I hated when people touched the screen because it messed up the anti-glare coatings. If you were lucky there was an approved way to clean it and not erode the coating too much.
blakespot@reddit
That must be the sort of smudging I describe on the unit I used at school.
Istartedthewar@reddit
>displays, and the FTM tube kind of felt like an aperture-grille display. Very sharp and bright.
The mask being under such high tension allowed them to drive it much harder and get more brightness out of it while having strongly tinted glass, traditional curved invar masks of that era could distort from heat if too much energy was being dumped into them. Also allowed for the gaps inbetween the mask holes to be thinner.
ShortingBull@reddit
Flat screens like these IME were nearly always a Sony Trinitron tube (many manufacturers used them).
Istartedthewar@reddit
Flat trinitrons didn't exist for another 10+ years.
Tommix11@reddit
Demouse
mrmichaelrb@reddit
Zenith Z-200 PC with ZKB-2 keyboard and ZCM-1490 monitor
tempfoot@reddit
Black cat edition.
j-random@reddit
The cat's name is Felix, and he's an un-neutered male.
tempfoot@reddit
And only comes in the house to eat and step on keyboards.
mrmichaelrb@reddit
Also, pretty sure it's an Epson LQ-1500 printer
DecentlySpaghetti@reddit
You are right. u/AidenMcSauceyPants , this is it.
AwKmedia@reddit
Looks like a IBM XT to me.
Upbeat-Education2117@reddit
That's a Pussy Cat. Hard to tell the exact model from this angle, might be a tuxedo, or perhaps a bombay.
Ambitious_Turnip_868@reddit
Looks like something that has to deal with cats
YandersonSilva@reddit
'Twas a cat.
KingDaveRa@reddit
Canon Cat.
MoreCockThanYou@reddit
Compaq Kitty-Cat
TripluStecherSmecher@reddit
CatOutside.
Individual_Agency703@reddit
CueCat scanner
Ehanymous@reddit
your grandpa was a great man. respect.
even though the pic dates from 93, this computer appears to be a couple of years older( looks like a generic 286 or 386. I could be wrong(probably). that printer looks like an epson dot matrix manufactired in the 80's.
any chance the pic is older than 1993 ?
RAMDRIVEsys@reddit
My family had a 386 still in 2000, most of us outside the most developed countries kept on using old tech long past its "obsolescence".
stq66@reddit
I also would have instantly said Epson RX-80 or similar. Def. not a FX-80
Ehanymous@reddit
I wanted one so bad :/ but I was a cheap MF so I stuck with my okidata till it was too embarassing to do so...
Powerful-Ad-9378@reddit
I can hear the sound of that dot-matrix printer in my head
xXZer0c0oLXx@reddit
Sounds of a better time🫡
p47guitars@reddit
Agreed.
When programs had real ass storage and memory constraints, and the c prompt was holy.
Scoth42@reddit
Either that or a READY prompt
p47guitars@reddit
I do remember my pc jr..
chuckop@reddit
A simpler time
DrunkW00kiee@reddit
Looks like a GatoNegro 42069
Busy-Emergency-2766@reddit
Looks like and IBM PC with a different monitor, the curved keyboard looks IBM.
zidane2k1@reddit
Huh. Even in the earlier days of home computing, cats were already interfering.
Ok-Hotel-8551@reddit
The “CAT-386 Turbo Clawstation”
ILikeBumblebees@reddit
Looks like a generic beige-box PC.
WillTaylor6275@reddit
Id say an 88 Void looking for attention.
alangcarter@reddit
Modern laptops have flat, warm keyboards. They are much better than those classics. Who's the human?
jdx6511@reddit
In those days, cats had to settle for the sloping top of the monitor for warmth, or the human's lap.
syrtran@reddit
Memories of the day I switched my crt monitor for an lcd. My cat jumped up on the desk, took a look behind the monitor, and stared at me, "Where's MY resting spot, HOOMAN!??"
UrWHThurtZ@reddit
Those curtains!
DecentlySpaghetti@reddit
The PC is the Zenith Z-150. As another redditor here said, the monitor is the Zenith ZCM-1490.
orion3311@reddit
Looks like Zenith to me
DecentlySpaghetti@reddit
Seconding this. The PC is the Zenith Z-150. 35MB ram. A beast.
orion3311@reddit
Yep: https://www.ebay.com/itm/116736590003
WingedGundark@reddit
Bloody hell the price! 80% of the screen has already failed epoxy layer, so it is not like usable in any way at least withouth major repairs, if you even can manage damage on that level.
MuhfugginSaucera@reddit
I remember those days. Most likely running MS-DOS.
Cd Sierra/Sierra/Hero or something like that. It's been a while.
ravensholt@reddit
Hero's Quest (Quest for Glory) is my favourite game of all time.
MuhfugginSaucera@reddit
An absolute gem, both the original and the 1992 VGA remake. I still go back and play them every once in a while.
Have you tried Heroine's Quest? It's a legitimate successor, and free, unlike Quest for Infamy, which has been abandoned by the creator who also took money for special editions and never delivered or refunded it.
Sexweed42069@reddit
Hero-U is a successor by Lori Ann and Corey, who still make spinoffs and stream it on Twitch. They're such fantastic humans.
ravensholt@reddit
Yup - I play Hero's Quest at least once a year :)
Yup, Heroine's Quest is great. I didn't know Quest for Infamy was never finished, I tried an early version a very long time ago and liked it.
BlacksmithNZ@reddit
No mouse to be seen; he is rocking classic DOS
LemonadeStandTech@reddit
pretty close, you just got the wrong slashes, but otherwise, hero's quest is running
Tscotty223@reddit
To throw my guess in the hat I will say a Compudyne 386 from CompUSA.
InfiniteStream@reddit
95% its a Zenith ZBV-2526-EK or very similar. Still unsure about the inreresting monitor.
UnlikelyRise1048@reddit
I have been playing commander keen on this sort of device around 1993. These were some of the legendary MS-DOS days. Windows 3.1 would be on some devices but from what I remember, not most. I would claim eg Compaq Deskpro 386 looks quite similar.
More classics from the era would be Ski or Die and Lost Vikings. Could consider this era to have ended on Baldur's gate, which was released around nineteen ninety eight when the undertaker threw mankind off hell in a cell and plummeted sixteen feet through an announcers table.
ShortingBull@reddit
I was running a BBS on this type of vintage 386 style hardware - had a huge 20MB HDD, thought I was cool as a teenager - I was clearly a nerd.
GATORinaZ28@reddit
Nice to know cats were always like this
cmcstr@reddit
Looks like a generic 286/386 clone
Registry-Editor@reddit
It‘s written in cats lock…
3lectronic_Dream5@reddit
The beige desktop case with black front-mounted drives reminds me of IBM XT–class or early IBM AT–class clone machines. In 1994, I myself had a similar XT clone case (with a top cover that opened like a car hood), in which I installed a more modern motherboard with a 386DX40. It was quite common to upgrade these old desktop machines that way.
kaaskugg@reddit
Compaq Deskpro PCs had a black front panel IIRC. Given the timeframe possibly featuring an Intel i386 or early i486 CPU.
MrWhippyT@reddit
Reminds me of a 286 I had back then, similar case. Weighed an absolute ton.
TigerIll6480@reddit
Cat is a voïd. It may stare into you.
guiverc@reddit
Looks like a pretty standard 101 key keyboard to me; somewhat like what I'm using now (not sure it's IBM Model M like mine; as in the area for pens/key-helpers eg. the word perfect 5.1 one on mine) there maybe something on the keyboard or even extra buttons; but given its only looks a 101 key keyboard I suspect its not anything particular but some other thing like my wordperfect thingy)
The one on the keyboard may also be printed & pasted on, rather than an official thing, as I suspect the keyboard is slightly smaller than my IBM thus what could be a slight overhang that makes it 'ripple' a little and made me thing it may have been keys..
Mortomes@reddit
Is your grandfather George Lucas?
_jtron@reddit
I only wish I could help; this is such a charming picture