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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers
@retrocomps.bsky.social
22K followers 1 following 7.1K posts
Semi-automated posting of old computers and videogames. Sometimes other bits of retro aesthetics and design. ~6-8 posts a day, ~24 posts on holidays. ⚠Outbound links tagged and monitored by Bluesky.
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 1h
In Quest of the Star Lord (TRS Coco 3, 1988, 4 disks)
A TRS-80 text adventure screenshot. The screan reads: "I am in a pre-war bunker. It appears to have taken quite a bit of damage and remains in poor repair. A hole exists in the west wall. You see: BIN, COT, CABINET, HOLE. EXITS: W U. COMMAND?"
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 7h
Hey! Someone tell @spinny that something in Skybot broke:
Something broke when attempting to embed!
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 11h
two lego characters are standing next to each other with the words " i have so much to learn " written above them
ALT: two lego characters are standing next to each other with the words " i have so much to learn " written above them
media.tenor.com
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 13h
The UNIVAC 1 (1958) (Source.)
An isometric diagram of a computer room. Along the left wall, four Magentic Tape Units, and one Sort Collate Unit. In the far corner, two general storage drum cabinets, showing magnetic tape. Along the right wall, one General Storage Control Cabinet, one Arithmetic Cabinet, two Program Control Cabinets. In the near corner, one 90-column card control cabinet. Along the near wall, a 90-column card processor. In the very center, an operat's desk, labeled Console System.
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 19h
Man, 80s computer books made even non-relational databases look fun. (Source.)
The cover to the book, "Writing Your Own Program: Creating A Database: Adventure Game." Each line is in its own font. The computer (a black affair with rainbow keys" depicts a scuba diver swimming, handcuffs in hand, as it is attacked by a giant cross octopus; the painted octopus is literally bursting out of the monitor. A tiny little banner in the corner states: "For Commodore 64 And Apple IIe Computers"
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 1d
To highlight their "Commodore" brand, Commodore Business Machines once brought an actual ship to the waterfront for the 1983 CES show, meaning there was in fact a brief time where you could be a Commodore Commodore.
A report from the August 1983 issue of Commander Magazine, showing the 'Commodore Clipper', a fairly large ferry decked out in Commodore colors, docked on the Chicago waterfront for the 1983 Consumer Electronics Show.
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 1d
"Elite, the widely acclaimed 3-D space game, is the highest selling game ever published for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron..."
Top, the "Elite" logo - a gold aguila with silver wings and helmet behind the word "ELITE." Left is a screenshot for the BBC Micro B and B+, and right is a screenshot for the BBC Master; both show the player, a first person spacehip, focusing on an enemy ship with stars flying in the background; gauges appear in the bottom left and right, and the now industry standard isomettric radar on the bottom of each screenshot shows the player is surrounded. Below is dense copy, describing the complex aspects of gameplay (exploration, combat, trade, and quests); below that, the Superior Software logo (a red and white interlinked pair of Ss), the Acornsoft logo (an egg), and an order address (mail and phone only) are listed below.
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 1d
Curse of the Azure Bonds
A "Gold Box" computer program, labelled "Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Computer Product: Curse of the Azure Bonds: A Forgotten Realms Fantasy Role-Playing Epic, Vol. II" In the inset image, a chainmail-and-cape equipped soldiar, Alias, rests a long sword on her shoulderpads. Behind her, a mace-equipped lizardman, Dragonbait, stands at the ready. Behind them, the Wizard's Tower, one of the villainous locations they will encounter. At bottom, the logos of TSR (in letters designed to look like an overhead dungeon map drawn on graph paper) and Strategic Simulations Inc (with the large letter Ss made of opposing arrowheads) appears at the bottom.
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 1d
HP OmniGo 700LX (1996). The power of the 186 in the palm of your hand!
A 90's catalog image for the HP Omnigo 700LX. The device itself is a chubby rubberpized pebble with a CSTN display; the box (left) shows there's a recess for the included Nokia phone, allowing true wireless communication; the thick user's guide and the slim quick start guide appear right.
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Reposted by Retro Computers
che666.bsky.social
Che John @che666.bsky.social · 2d
The amazing team @gamesthatwerent.com have supported me recently in recovering & archiving a couple of my unpublished games from the late 80's for Commodore 64 & Amiga platforms. Read more here : www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/hill-19/

#commodore64 #retrogames
Hill 19 (C64) - 1988 Gremlin Graphics - GTW64
Hill 19 was to be a strategic action-shooter game, very similar to Ikari Warriors/Commando, but with more strategy involved. The player would control a team of characters (believed to be about 3), inc...
www.gamesthatwerent.com
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 1d
no, tender reader, YOU stayed up to 6 am coding python for a project that will save maybe two weeks of work and now will be attempting to go to sleep with Goldfinger blasting out your eardrums
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 1d
Sometimes they restore them, so I leave the links up... But what can you do? These days all libraries have torches being taken to them every day.
retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 1d
Feeling older all the time, feeling younger in my mind.
retrogameart.bsky.social
Retro Game Art 🎮🖼️🎃🦇 @retrogameart.bsky.social · 1d
Tony Hawk Pro Skater ad (1999)

#retro #art #gaming #TonyHawk
Tony Hawk Pro Skater ad Activision Multi System 1999
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 2d
The more things change, the more things stay the same. (Source.)
An ad from the classifieds section of the August '85 issue of Computer & Video Games. It reads, "BUSINESS opportunity for quality Games Software Programmer. I have an idea for an original computer game, but not the knowledge to program it. Help me out for 50/50 split on profits. Apply in writing to Computer Game...." And then the rest of the address, which has been edited out of the image so we don't innundate the new tenant with the hundreds of programmers leaping to take 50% of the profit of an 80s computer game.
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 2d
"With Peter Pan, EA*Kids is doing something absolutely new..."
An ad from the October 1993 issue of Compute magazine. In the center, Captain Hook has a indian woman tied to a post, but is terrified in turn of a dolphin the anthropomorphic handbrush and hand of a childlike god. Peter Pan, stage left, looks on in surprise. Stage right, the tiny font describes a game that will let "boys and girls age 5-9 become the hands of the animator," describing a paint-driven choose-your-own-adventure game. The logo for "EA*Kids" at the bottom evokes the squiggly aesthetic of Fido Dido style mascots that were popular in the early 90s "benign disaffected" marketing schemes.
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 2d
Hit-Bit 10 (Sony, '85)
The Hit-Bit 10 is a MSX 1 computer, sold with Lode Runner and a BASIC manual. Unlike most coputers before or sense, the Hit-Bit 10 is a blazing cherry red.
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 2d
I could make a whole sub-bot based just on programming books with dragons on the cover. (Source.)
A blue book. Up top, pteradactors and the Interface Publications logo flirt through the sky. In red text, the words "Creating ADVENTURE GAMES on your DRAGON 32." Center, the main art - a muscular black-eyed green dragon reaches forwards with a great big paw, crushing a tiny thatched-roof cottage. The red text at bottom reads, "Clive Gifford."
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 3d
I looked up the artist of this ad, Martin Kenwright. Mr. Kenwright's had a long and storied career in computer games: working on Tetris ports out of college, flight sims in the 80s, sold one company to Ocean Software, sold two different companies to Sony, not bad for a cartoonist. (Source.)
Top, the title: "Interactive BASIC Programming 48K ZX Spectrum & Spectrum+" Center, a Martin Kenwight cartoon; left, the user imagines the old way, reading books while the comptuer reads "ERROR", and getting rustrated; right, the user is happily computing, using Eigen software to learn how to program his micro. The tagline reads: "The only ZX Basic programming course that runs in your Spectrum and gives you complete control over your computer." Dense ad copy touts the twelve Learning Modules, as well as a giveaway of two Epson FX80 printers; the footer gives the name and address of Eigen Software, and their slogan, "Create Reality," which is really a lot to put on a speccy.
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 3d
Paint on your computer in over 100 colors with 96 different brushes!
In this William Geise illustrated ad, the title "Computer Graphics" appears up top, being cast from a giant Apple II monitor on an iceburg; the casts are a gradiant from purple to orange to yellow to green to blue to purple again, hewing towards neon tones. From the tan Amdek monitor flies a red biplane, a parachuting penguin, and a leaping unicorn; dolphins jump from the ice into the monitor. Around the iceberg, a sea otter peeks up, a penguin tap-dances, and a whale tale lifts a unicorn on a floe. The monitor is sitting on a giant Apple II. Down below, breathless text describes three different programming packages: "For the artist: Special Effects by David Lubar and Mark Pelezarski. Paint on your computer in over 100 colors with 96 different brushes!" "For the designer: The Complete Graphics System II by Mark Pelezarski. Everythign needed for computer-aided design." "For the programmer: The Graphics Magician by Mark Pelezarski, David Lubar, and Chris Joehumson. Add fast, smooth animation and hundreds of pictures to your programs." In the bottom left, the penguin software logo appears next to ordering information, with a sunfish floating to its left; at the very bottom it says, "All Penguin applications products are now on unprotected disks for your convenience."
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 3d
Edison had 1,800 patents in his name, but you can be just as inventive with an Apple. (Source.)
Top Left, a putative illustration of Edison besides multiple prototype light bulbs - and an Apple computer. To the side, the headline "Edison had 1,800 patents in his name, but you can be just as inventive with an Apple." Below, dense ad copy with heading "How Apple grows with you," "Apple speaks many languages," "More illuminating experiences in store," and beneath, the rainbow apple logo reading Apple Computer, Inc. At the bottom, an Apple III with integrated disk drive and detached keyboard is left, and an Apple II is right, with a bamboo fan on the Apple III, which is ironic given the system's heat issues.
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 3d
The VTech Precomputer Powerpad
A grey laptop of early 90s design, with dozens of 'function' keys for each built in application - and a surprisingly nice mechanical keyboard - but the 'screen' is a tiny 4 line 20 character LCD surrounded by a faux Windows interface.
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 4d
Alter Ego (Mac, 1986)
An old System 6 status window reads: "That wraps up your status for the very first years of life. I hope you like yourself. If not, you can always try to improve in the years to come. There's plenty of time." Buttons are Continue and Escape.
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 4d
DEC VT-100 (1978)
A catalog shot of the VT-100 features a white-on-black monichrome monitor, a black monitor inset in a white case, and a black keyboard frontispiece and keys over a white keyboard case, set in a 70s warm umber backshot. The text, barely visible, features various forms of graphics characters, fonts, double-height lines, and inverse video; the 'digital VT 100' slogan appears case right.
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 4d
Buy a portable and get a desktop free.
Left page top, the side profile of the Toshiba portable computer, showing power port and 3.5" floppy drive. Left page bottom, statistics ("17.0 pounds, 16 MHz 386SX with 20387SX-16 coprocessor socket...") and a view of the expansion options ("one full-length, one half-length... [and] three dedicated internal expansion slots"). Right page top, the portable opened up, showing full mechanical keyboard with keypad, an amber monochrome 640x480 plasma screen, and system status lights worked into the monitor case. The bottom right includes ad copy ("The new Toshiba T3200SX. Take it. See how far you can go.") and company slogal ("In Touch with Tomorrow: TOSHIBA.").
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retrocomps.bsky.social
Retro Computers @retrocomps.bsky.social · 4d
The 'Clementina', Argentina's first computer, a Ferranti Mercury mainframe named for its demo program that played "My Darling Clementine." Installed 1961, and effectively destroyed in Onganía's Night of Long Batons in 1966.
A replica of the Clementina computer. It's an 18m long computer with a desk, a QWERTY machine with photoelectric tape reader on the right, and a hardware monitor on the left; image left, one vacuum tube rack lies open, revealing the vacuum tube network within.
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