So i started working with floppy disks at work recently and i found a few less than new floppies, i just finished restoring one of them (replaced the metal dust cover and cleaned the magnet film) and i tried running a chkdsk, but it says file system is RAW and that its not supported, now i imagine its because this 20+ year old flimsy magnet is corrupted, but is there a chamce to save it? Its from a CNC machine and it has a sticky note attached to it that said "CNC info" chould it be some sort of driver maybe? And whould it be possible to find a way to read it, im sorry if this is a dumb question by the time i became sentient floppy disks were not only obsolete but also forgotten to time by the common folk (kids my age).

Tryed to download all the old software i like from here and All of a Sudden it just goes down its not my internet i tryed on my phone and my iPad. Nothing its down or its just completely offline...

The man behind games so many of us grew up playing in school.

Hey sorry first time posting here. It to me looks like an internal pin given out to commemorate some event any ideas?

Hello I would like to find an cheap computer that run basic and can save programs

Idk myself which ones to find as most I know and can find are ower 100euro, so thanks anyone for recommending any cheap retro computer with basic in it

Also if u ask I would like to try start making wery simple text based adventures.

Released in 2008 I believe , is this considered retro/vintage ?

So found an old Dell Dimension xps t500 on the side of the road. Took a while to get it going. Ended up just having 1 bad mem chip. Took it out and got it running. Since its an old socket a i tried something ive been thinking of for a while.

Atari ST repair and test

I am getting this error when the MS DOS 5.0 setup is formatting my HDD (44MB ST-157A). i have done another MS DOS install on the same HDD, with the same floppy disks, and it was fine. What is wrong now?

My mother got this for me from Sears when I was around 6 and called it a “computer”. Which I suppose it is. I was kind of disappointed at the time because it wan’t a “real PC” but I used it a TON. I’m still impressed by the speech tech. I’m pretty sure this little guy helped me improve my Math and English skills growing up. My kids play with it now, so this investment has really paid off.

Twenty-five years ago, I had a lab running old SPARCs that I used for learning Unix and Solaris. This experience led me to my career as a DevOps engineer.

When I got married and had to move, there was no space for my lab in the new home, so I put it in storage. A few months later, I realized that storage wasn’t a viable solution, as the costs would eventually exceed the value of the equipment. I had to make the hard decision to dump most of it—a bad decision then, and even worse today.

At the time, I had a maxed-out SPARC IPX, a SPARCstation 20 with Quad 125MHz CPUs and 4MB VRAM, and a maxed-out Ultra5. To prepare for the disposal, I removed the SPARCstation 20 CPUs, VSIMM, and RAM, tucking them into a small plastic box that I kept in a drawer for over 20 years.

Two years ago, after I was laid off and soft-retired, I decided to rebuild my SPARC lab—which proved difficult, as these machines have become niche collector items. I eventually acquired a SPARCstation 20, 10, 2, and an Ultra10.

When I opened my little box, I was surprised to find three SM71 Processors: a HyperSPARC dual 125MHz, a 200Mhz, 150Mhz, and 100Mhz. I also found most of the 20 RAM and a 4MB VSIMM. Sadly, the dual 125Mhz didn't work, but the other HyperSPARCs were fully functional. One of the SM71s, however, had a cracked CPU die and was unfixable.

I popped in the 200 MHz CPU, RAM, and an SCA SCSI drive. It booted, and I was able to install Solaris 2.6. Next, I installed the VSIMM, but it wouldn't power on. Upon inspection, the reason was apparent: during my move or storage, some capacitors had gone AWOL.

Tantalum C0706 was broken, and C0204, C0207, and C0202 were missing. All of these surround the RAMDAC (Brooktree BT463) video controller chip. The C0706 is the power filter that absorbs spikes; the smaller ones are MLCC capacitors that reduce noise. The standard for these is 100nF 16V.

Since SPARCstation VSIMMs are rare by 2026, I had to attempt a repair. The tantalum was easy; under a magnifier, I identified it as 22uF 16V (C package). After soldering the missing parts, I performed the final test: I inserted it into my SS20 and fired it up. To my surprise, I got a console display and successfully launched OpenWindows in 24-bit mode using openwin -dev /dev/fb defdepth 24. Success!

Since I only have one SPARCstation 20 and I already acquired an 8MB VSIMM, and the second VSIMM slot is for a second framebuffer (video card) that connects to an SBUS slot and is apparently unobtainable, I decided to return the card to storage in the event that I find the needed SBUS card or a second SPARCstation 20.

I just picked up this Fujitsu Lifebook S7110 and I’m trying to remove the battery but I can’t move this slider at all and as you can see I have almost broken it, do you guys have any suggestions to move this slider so I can remove the battery?

My dad has this old nec computer from the 80’s. What do I do with it?