Computer bucket list

Introduction

In addition to my typewriter collection and my typewriter bucket list, I also collect vintage computer-related items. Here are some I’d love to find.

Olivetti Programma 101

This is probably a very long shot, but I’d love to find an affordable Olivetti Programma 101, the first desktop computer ever produced, all the way back in 1965.

UPDATE: One sold on eBay in September 2023 for $7,408.49. So I won’t hold my breath about finding a cheap one.

Credit: Museoscienza.org. Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, Milano

Vintage terminals

Introduction

I am lucky to own a few vintage terminals:

• TeleType ASR-33¹

  

• TeleVideo TVI-912 from 1979 (see my blog posts)

  

• TeleVideo TS-800A (TVI-950-compatible, and includes a CP-M system) from 1983 (see my blog post)

  

Those could be connected to vintage computers, but I don’t yet have any candidate. I have a CompuPro System 8/16, but it’s not working yet. In the meanwhile, I have both an Altair-Duino kit, as well as a PiDP-11 kit. These both support RSR-232 serial ports, which many terminals used.²

I wouldn’t mind finding a couple of iconic vintage terminals, including the following.

DEC VT-100

DEC made over a million of DEC VT-100 (see also Wikipedia), so surely there is one waiting for me out there!

Credit: Jason Scott

Lear Siegler ADM-3A

The Lear Siegler ADM-3A (see also Wikipedia) is another iconic terminal, which I’d love to find. Those are still around, but not super common. I love that these machines are made with all discrete logic, and no microcontroller or microprocessor, unlike the TeleVideo terminals (which had an Intel 8035 MCU and later a 6502 CPU) or the VT-100 (which had an Intel 8080 CPU).

Jerry Walker has amazing video series on that terminal, and Usagi Electric has a restoration video as well.

Credit: Chris Jacobs, CC BY-SA 3.0.

DEC VT-52 and VT-220

The VT-52 and VT-220 are also iconic terminals, be it only because they are still emulated by terminal emulation software.

• DEC VT-52
• DEC VT-220

Smaky 8

I own a Smaky 130, as Swiss-made and designed microcomputer. I’d love to find the first 68000-based machine, the Smaky 8. However, only a very small number of those were made. At least one is at the Bolo Computer Museum in Switzerland.

Credit: Musée Bolo

Smaky 6

The Smaky 6 was a Z80-based machine, and the first Smaky to be produced in “large” numbers (about 450 units). It’s the first computer on which I wrote a small working program, in 1986.

Credit: Musée Bolo