News and Other Tidbits

• SGI's Galore -- December 9th 2003 -- Paul Reale has a personal computer museum, but he specializes in SGI equipment. The website itself even runs on an SGI Indy!
  
  
• Erik Klein's Vintage Computer Collection -- December 9th 2003 -- I'm going to have to make a page of other Vintage Computer sites. However, until I get to that, check out Erik's collection. I am so JEALOUS!!! I want it... Oh, I'm such a geek!
  
  
• NEW!!! SCSI FAQ -- March 31st 2003 -- Just a little something I'm working on is a series of simple "visual" FAQs to help guide a hardware newbie into what kind of "cool stuff" he or she has just scavanged out of an old computer. The first is a SCSI FAQ, which will give you an idea of the different types of SCSI drives. It's still not all there yet, but I'll be finishing it up soon -- but in the meantime, take a look, and hey, constructive criticsm is always welcome. Please give me material to add to the FAQ!
  
  
• NEW!!! FIRST CLASS BBS -- Feb 17th 2003 -- After much work, I've got a client/server-based BBS going from home, and if you download the client, you can login and join the fun. It's been a BBS that I've been running since 1993, but I've only recently been able to integrate it into the "obsolyte" architecture. Read the webpage for the BBS and download the client (windows or mac) -- See you online on my FC BBS!!!
  
  
• Put a PC in your IPC -- Sept 22 2002 -- Got a cool Sparc "Lunchbox" case laying about? Using the new "mini-itx" style PC motherboards, you can run a Pentium III system in a case from an IPC, IPX, Classic or LX. Defintely a cool project for an upcoming long winter night.
  
  
• The Newton Lives! -- Sept 22 2002 -- Apple's "Newton" is about as 'ObsolYte!' as you can get. The platform that refuses to die. This link is an entertaining read from Wired Magazine about the thriving underground movement headed for a Newton resurgence.
  
  
• Cool Hack for the SparcStation (when running OpenBSD) -- Sept 22 2002 --
  Jason @ OS Strategies has passed on this neat-o trick for any SparcStation running OpenBSD.
  
  In /etc/sysctl.conf set machdep.led_blink=1 and reboot the machine.
  
  This makes the power LED blink (it actually reflects the load average: the slower the blinking the higher the load, the higher the blinking the lower the load!). Sort of the reverse of what you'd expect, but still a handy indicator!
  
  This has been tested on IPX's, SS2's, SS4's, SS5's, and I believe SS10's/SS20's as well -- so it likely works everywhere.... Try it out!
  
  
• Need a Web Browser? -- May 8th 2002 -- Need a browser for your obsolYte! Workstation? Well, some kind soul was nice enough to archive a pretty eclectic collection for a variety of platforms. I didn't even know there were this many different ones (but hey, Lynx rocks!). http://browsers.evolt.org/
  
  
• More Naked Computer Pictures ! -- April 18th 2002 -- Sort of the geek version of porn. http://rndsoft.sytes.net/tech/pic/ has Sparc ELC and other cool stuff, while http://glassfish.nerdnet.com/oldpics.html has Sparcstation 1 and HP Apollo Workstation images. Enjoy!
  
  
• Get Cool ObsolYte! Crap -- March 5th 2002 -- Just like everybody else on the internet, I'm selling T-Shirts. Buy an "ObsolYte" T-Shirt and you can help spread the word and look like the hardware geek you really are. Hey, if you're going to be at the Trenton Computer Fair on May 5th, and I spot you wearing an Obsolyte T-Shirt, I'll give you a SparcStation2! Remember that each sale here helps support the site.
  
  
• Sun 386i Images -- March 2nd 2002 -- Eric Benoit has a whole bunch of high quality images of the insides and outside of a Sun 386i, so if you've got the bandwidth and the inclination to look, have a go. Much better than the blurry images I have in the Old Suns Picture Archive -- I'll have to "borrow" these when I get the chance!
  
  
• Help Support The Site -- Jan 20th 2002 -- Amazon's "associates" program allows those of us with minor websites to get 10% from sales made through such sites. Thus, there's a way for you to get cool stuff and help support the site at the same time. As I add more to the Obsolyte Bookstore Page, there will be more and more cool stuff to choose from. Feel free to suggest items that are cool, and I'll try and get them up on the page! And thanks for your support!