User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Sat Jul 14, 2018 8:53 am

A large personal collection of 8-bit hardware and software was donated to the Seattle Commodore Computer Club (SEA-CCC) this week. The gentleman who donated the collection had it stored for many years in his nephew's garage. Due to his age and life circumstances, he needed to remove the boxes. His three options were to try and sell everything (not an easy task due to its size and condition), throw it all away, or give it away.

Luckily we found him before it was sent to the dump.

Much of this collection will be taken to next week's SEA-CCC meeting and handed out to members (half of it has already been claimed!).

At least half of the collection is actually VIC-20 related, which is interesting for me to poke through simply because the VIC-20 is so foreign to me. I never grew up with one and never had any friends who did, either. The other half is Commodore 64/128. Most of that hardware is in really, really bad shape.
IMG_6281.jpg
On the ride home after the donation was moved from garage to van.

The 128's in particular... I've never seen anything like it. And yet one of them still powers up! The other... well, it looks like it had been camouflaged and seen some action in Desert Storm.

Regardless, there's plenty of stuff here to make a lot of people happy. Glad to have spared this from the dump. Well, at least most of it. Once you remove several layers of dirt and grime, most of these machines seem to still be good. But a few probably will need to be recycled. We'll see.

Wait until you guys see what I'm picking up later today. You won't believe it (hell, I don't believe it!). You'll know my Commodore obsession has tipped the scales of sanity after this next one for sure. Or maybe, just maybe, you'll be nodding in understanding.
2-IMG_6282-vanView.jpg
Another view of the haul. Most everything was covered in dust and dirt. Not complaining, just saying.

3-entire-collection-renton.jpg
This is what it looked like after bringing it all into the house. Aaa-tchoo! :)

4-IMG_6292-vic-20.jpg
Part of the very large and impressive VIC-20 collection.

5-IMG_6299-nasty-128c.jpg
Pretty sure this 128 was in desert warfare, right? Almost looks like I pulled it out of a house fire. This isn't yellowed - it's *browned*. Never seen anything like it in my life. Reminds me of that C64 in Poland in the auto garage.

6-IMG_6299-nasty-128b.jpg
Pretty impressive. It's hard not to stare.

7-IMG_6296-uglyStillWorks.jpg
This is a different 128 with only 1/2 yellowing. And it actually powers up! The really brown one does not.

8-IMG_6304-cover.jpg
Amazingly, there was an original C= C64 cover in the pile. Shame it wasn't actually used, but it can be now. When I cleaned it, the colors on the cover actually started to wipe off! I had to then be really careful around that logo. It made my rags pink and blue from decades of oxidation.

9-learn-to-code-basic1.jpg
Very cool lessons for kids/adults to learn basic. These are actual workbooks to learn step-by-step. Many of the lessons are actually filled in by a previous owner going through the books.

10-learn-to-code-basic.jpg
11-IMG_6305-mags.jpg
Thankfully theses magazines had been boxed and well-preserved. I'll enjoy thumbing through these later. I LOVE old mags like this and have a decent collection myself.

12-IMG_6293-toysRus.jpg
Looks like a lot of these items were purchased in close-outs at either Toys-R-Us (in the mid-1990s) or a place in Washington called "Value Village" which is a charity driven store that accepts donations and re-sells the products to the community in poor neighborhoods. Much like Goodwill. I think the previous owner must have gotten quite a few C= gems many years ago when they were very affordable.

13-IMG_6283-nos-por.jpg
One of the most amazing jewels in the pile IMO. An original, shrink-wrapped NOS Pool of Radiance. I'm tempted to shadowbox frame this classic.

14-IMG_6306-mach128.jpg
An interesting and unusual fast load cart for the C128! This will go to mattsoft soon.

15-filthy-printer.jpg
One of the more intriguing machines in the pile (IMO) was a filthy 1526 dot matrix printer. I spent a good deal of time trying to clean it up.

16IMG_6310-printer-cleaner.jpg
Here she is after a good scrub. I've still got more to do, though.

And the printer works! I can't believe after 20 years of sitting in a dark, dank dungeon I've been able to get this old beast back to glo... oh shit.
Stupid paper feed is like a faberge egg. I'll work on this a bit more later and see if I can make it more reliable. Worth a shot. And after forwarding the printer ribbon past a ton of mold and mildew, the ink was still mostly good on the inside of the cartridge. Can't believe it!
17IMG_6314-test-print.jpg
Printing in PETSCII mode? Well damn, that's pretty fantastic, right?


User avatar
Bulletdust

Posted Sat Jul 14, 2018 11:40 pm

There must be Commodore stashes everywhere in the US! Here in Australia you've got no hope at ever finding a stash like that. So envious.

User avatar
Dynamic_Computing

Posted Mon Jul 16, 2018 9:18 pm

What an incredible haul! That 128 looks truly nasty... I am so glad it is all going to good homes!

User avatar
McTrinsic

Posted Tue Jul 17, 2018 1:55 am

Awesone!

I love it when old hardware is rescued. And yes, I love going through old mags as well.

Seems that your club already had a purpose.

User avatar
Pinacolada

Posted Fri Jul 20, 2018 11:36 am

Wow, that's quite an impressive haul! I hope it can be cleaned up without much trouble.





Return to “Commodore 8 Bits”