What could/should I do with an old 486DX2/66 computer? My first PC & first mod

[tankman1989]

Actually it is the case of a 486 but upon looking inside I found that this has been upgraded to a Cyrix166, so it is A LOT faster!!

The 486 was the first computer that I had an active part in ordering because I needed something that would play Might & Magic 4 & 5, lol. I remember spending months as a kid looking through computer catalogs from Swan, Gateway (which is where we finally ordered), Micron (I think Micron was around), IBM, etc. Who were the major PC vendors at this point of time (when a 486DX2/66Mhz was the fastest on the market...)?

So this computer has been upgraded to a Cyrix chip. This was also my first modification beside a modem install. IDK if the MOBO is original or not but I remember ordering a new PSU b/c the old one died and the new 270 watt "silent" unit was $140 (an it is silent, the others of the day were NOISY!).

So, this computer brings back some memories and I guess it has some sort of sentimental value to it. I was going to recycle it and it's been sitting here staring at me for 2-3 months and I was wondering why it was taking me so long to rip it apart, well I guess it may have been what started me down this road.

Do any of you guys have your first computer? Is this something that I should keep for any reason beside the possibility of having kids and showing them?

What do yall think?

 

[vdub12]

I lost my first computer about 4 years ago. It was a 386 16Mhz that was over clocked to 20Mhz. It was in the shed of a place I rented and I was to lazy to retrieve it when I was moving. I kind of miss it. It was running Windows 3.1 with Norton Desktop.

I remember the 486 days. I told my dad at the time "Who will ever need a computer faster then a 486DX4 100". At the time I could not wrap my head around a computer faster then 100MHz. I still have a promo key chain with an Intel 486DX4 core in it.

My first web server was a Cyrix socket 360 on a slot1 adapter. It served me well for years. It was very reliable running Windows 2000 server. In fact I just moved it over to a Win2k3 server in a VM on a Linux host about a year ago. However, my website is now hosted on a Linux Drupal server, also a VM running on the same machine. I just tried booting that old Cyrix server up the other day. Thinking about turning it in to a FreeNAS server but I guess the year of siting cold has put it to rest, it doesn't boot anymore. To bad, but its not worth fixing. Obviously, lol.

I love old computers, It always brings me back.

 

[seedubya]

Got this in 1985 as a reward for doing well in my Intermediate Certificate (like O levels) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_CPC
Still have it in the attic. Last booted it a couple of years ago and it was still working fine. I also have http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_PCW I used it in college for reports, thesis etc.
My first PC was a ZX81 but it's toast for about 24 years.

 

[Bryce W]

My first computer that was my OWN computer (rather than the families) was an Amiga 500. Sadly I dont have it anymore. As for what to do with an old 486. One of my old ones was turned into a Firewall/Router machine. Learned a lot about Linux by messing with it:
http://www.smoothwall.org/

Very easy to setup and use.

 

[tankman1989]

This wasn't "MY" (not family as well) first machine, that came as a PII 400Mhz 512Mb Dell my first year of college but the 486. Smoothwall sounds like a good idea for it. I am thinking a VM of smoothwall would be easier and cheaper.

I wonder if the computer can be made into anything like a decoration of some kind, lol

 

[Trenatos]

My first computer was a Commodore 64, sold it to a friend about a year after I got that to buy an Amiga 1200
Kind of regret selling my first ever computer, but I still love that Amiga.

 

[frenchscottie]

My first computer was the Commodore Vic 20 and I think it had a huge 3.5Kb of memory and you needed an external tape drive to load/save programs etc, or you could type in games from magazines. It would be in Basic and most offen it would have a large list of numbers at the end which would be machine code.
Many a night was spent with my wife going through the listing and what was typed in, looking for a mistake when the game or program didn't work.
Then I upgraded to the Commodore 64 with a gigantic 64Kb memory.
I also bought a (very large) 5 1/4 inch disk drive to go with it.
I also spent a many more hours typing in listings, which were huge compared to the Vic 20 ones.
Then it was a Commodore Amiga - great machine - which had a built in 3 1/2 inch disk drive.
i also got a Commodore CD32, which was basicaly an Amiga built into a cd drive games console. Can you see a pattern here?
Then it happened, I began to notice Pc's (IBM style), which were just starting to get better than the Amiga. My first was a Pentium P100, then it went from there through various upgrades/new builds to my Quad core 3Ghz i built a few years back. I also bought a Dell Dimension 5150 3Ghz pentium through an offer at my work 4 or 5 years ago which is going strong today, and is rarely turned off. Who knows what my next will be, maybe a 10 core 10 Ghz which will probably be out in a few years.

 

[strollin]

My first computer was an IBM PC in 1984. I was an IBM employee then and, even with my employee discount, it cost me $2,500. It had a 4.77Mhz Intel 8088 processor, 256K of RAM, 2 360K floppy drives and DOS 2.1. After using that machine for about 6 months I outgrew it so I built a clone of an IBM XT with an 8Mhz NEC V20, 640K of RAM, 20M HDD.

I no longer have my first PC (even though I have several in my collection just like it) but I still have the XT clone I built and it still runs.

Anybody else on this forum collect vintage computers? The oldest computer I have in my collection is a TRS-80 Model 1 from 1979.

As to the OP's question, I haven't really got any use for any of the old computers I have laying around, I just keep them for nostalgic reasons.

 

[vdub12]

My first computer was an IBM PC in 1984. I was an IBM employee then and, even with my employee discount, it cost me $2,500. It had a 4.77Mhz Intel 8088 processor, 256K of RAM, 2 360K floppy drives and DOS 2.1. After using that machine for about 6 months I outgrew it so I built a clone of an IBM XT with an 8Mhz NEC V20, 640K of RAM, 20M HDD.

I no longer have my first PC (even though I have several in my collection just like it) but I still have the XT clone I built and it still runs.

Anybody else on this forum collect vintage computers? The oldest computer I have in my collection is a TRS-80 Model 1 from 1979.

As to the OP's question, I haven't really got any use for any of the old computers I have laying around, I just keep them for nostalgic reasons.

My dad had an IBM 8088 still in the box wrapped in plastic. It was literally brand new. Before he got it the guy he got it from said it had never been fired up. We could never prove that because we didn't have a monochrome monitor to test it.

I think he brought it to the dump. Sad end for that system. It was a total time capsule. I opened it up once and it was shinny inside. Not a speck of dust.

 

[Xander]

How is it a "mod"? Was the case hand-made or something?

I just did my first mod a few months ago so I'm curious.

 

[sgarrand]

My first computer that was my OWN computer (rather than the families) was an Amiga 500. Sadly I dont have it anymore.

Mine as well. It had two floppy drives. One to run Workbench (Windows equivalent) and another to run a program. It had no internal memory but I had CDTV and this awesome game called "Psycho Killer" wherein the game adapted to choices you made throughout. It was pretty cool for the time.

Scott

 

[16k_zx81]

My first computer was a ZX81 which I upgraded to 16kb of ram.

Nope. Dont miss it. Have no interest in playing with one or in emulating one, or any other old machine I used to own.

Im not nostalgic at all about it, and if I still had it, my only reason for keeping it would be to store and resell it later on as a rare item to someone who is.

Give me a core i7 with 8gb ram, a monster gaming card, and an SSD any day.

In regard to a DX 2/66 - I used to have one of these - I reckon the best use it could be put to is as a dedicated DOOM2 Box

Thats the sad thing about PC's. They actually rose to popularity because of their modularity. Unfortunately its precisely this factor that de-values them. A mint-condition MAC from the same era will be worth money in 20 years time. I can't see a 486 (or any other desktop x86 machine for that matter) being a collector's item though, because an x86 was never a singular item. They were a platform to build onto.