[commodorejohn]

Yup, the later-model Powerbook G3 was fantastic - the only laptop I've ever used that was truly designed for the human lap.

[Silicon Classics]

Just got this on eBay - it's a BG Systems FlyBox, an industrial joystick. Back in 1995 I had my first experience with SGI systems at Brookhaven Laboratory - they rolled their mobile showroom onto the lot and I played an F/A-18 flight simulator on a rackmount Onyx using this stick.

   

   

   

Edit: Drivers, docs, & software for anyone interested: 

BG Software Library 3.08.tar.gz Size: 772.76 KB  Downloads: 257

[Irinikus]

I couldn't help it, I just had to have one of these! (It was the "Space to your Face 16" marketing that did it for me!)







It should arrive on the 31'st of this month!

[Raion]

An SGI Onyx2 Deskside. Review and thread coming soon.

[Irinikus]

An SGI Onyx2 Deskside. Review and thread coming soon.

Very nice, I look forward to seeing your thread!

[Irinikus]

Today I committed to buying this on eBay from a seller in Germany. (It's new, open box!)







I already have a piano-black backwards compatible one, but this one will look really good placed vertically on my desk between my IRIS Indigo and JavaStation-10!

I think I'm going to move off buying computers and focus on consoles for the next year or so.

On my to do list are the following: SEGA Mega Drive, SEGA Saturn, SEGA Dreamcast, ATARI Jaguar, PS1, PS2, PS4 and Super Nintendo

[commodorejohn]

A Hofner violin bass, because I've been kicking myself for trading away my old one for a good while now.

I may also be picking up a Data General Nova soon; we'll see.

[BackPlaner]

Just upgraded my home studio from Presonus to an Allen & Heath QU-16 Digital Mixer, fantastic!

[jpstewart]

Two days ago I got my first Alpha system:  a Compaq Personal Workstation 600au.  It's a fairly boring-looking tower system, and mine's a little scratched.  But I don't care;  it works!  It's capable of running Tru64, Windows NT, or OpenVMS.  I'm a Unix guy, so it'll be primarily Tru64 for me.  Since the machine can easily switch between SRM firmware (for Unix/VMS) and AlphaBIOS (for NT) I'll probably install NT as well and dual-boot.  I was actually doing Windows software development back in the NT 4.0 era, and dreamed of an Alpha machine at that time.  I was surprised to see that the manual for the system actually talks about the process for dual-booting Unix and NT, and switching between the two firmware images.  It seems that what I'm planning to do was supported by DEC/Compaq.

It cost more than I should have spent, but it was still cheaper than the slower 433au machines I was seeing on eBay.  It turned out be a reasonable configuration:  600MHz Alpha CPU (of course!), an ELSA GLoria graphics card (which will probably be replaced with something better), and a surprising 1.5 GB of RAM (which seems like a lot for a machine from 1999).  No hard drives, but that was expected.  What I didn't realize until it got here is that it's also missing the 3.5" drive cage that goes just below the power supply (right hand side of the interior photo, about halfway down).  Oh well, I've got spare rails to put a 3.5" drive into one of the 5.25" media bays for now.

The cache module on these machines was optional.  I've got one of those on the way from a different seller.  That'll be my first upgrade.

   

   

Out of the box it had a dead battery so I couldn't switch from AlphaBIOS to SRM mode, and it would complain at every power-on about the time being invalid.  Fortunately it uses a common CR2032 battery in a socket so that was a quick fix.  Now it remembers that I've switched to SRM firmware.  Hopefully I'll have time to install Tru64 this weekend, and then NT.

I had considered getting a used Alpha system way back in 2000 but got my Indigo2 instead, and that's the machine that launched my hobby and led me to the SGI community way back then.  First in Usenet newsgroups, then Nekochan, and now here.  It's funny how things have come full circle back to the Alpha. And it only took 19 years!

[Irinikus]

Very nice machine! Welcome to the Alpha Club!