Computer Rental Value Emphasized by Tandy 2000 Reflections

What does a successful New York banker do with his spare time and money?

Well, sometimes he builds vintage computers.

Rich Cini is a vintage computer enthusiast who got into the hobby after doing his Master's thesis on Microsoft back in 1993. But his interest really took off when he got the opportunity to rescue a PDP11/34 mini computer from the University of Pennsylvania. The professor who had used it for experiments was retiring, and the machine would have been retired as well -- but Cini stepped in.

The "mini" computer was actually something like 800 pounds and resided in a 42U rack. It was no easy undertaking, but he wound up donating it to the Computer Museum of Rhode Island.

Cini's next step was to take over the Altair emulator from Claus Giloi, Microsoft alumni. His work on the Altair32 Emulator was a labor of love, and he had help with certain aspects of the emulation, including the Cromemco Dazzler board and the Z80.

But that wouldn't be his final project -- not by a longshot. After this particular project, Cini became involved with the much maligned Tandy 2000. His first experience with this particular computer had been during his time in high school, when he worked at a Radio Shack. Radio Shack had used the machines for several reasons. Not the least of which was because of their vector-look color graphics that trumped those offered by the competitive IBM and XT models.

The Tandy ultimately failed, and Cini wasn't shy about sharing why. "Software either had to be specifically written for the Tandy 2000 or use only BIOS or MSDOS Int21 calls. One common technique used back then to make some software run faster was for software to interface directly with the hardware, bypassing MSDOS or the BIOS. Well, that only works if the hardware (and related memory and I/O port assignments) is standard, which it wasn't in the Tandy 2000. So, some software written for the PC wouldn't work on the Tandy 2000 because of this. In my opinion, that's what doomed the 2000 -- it was an advanced machine hobbled by incompatibilities."

So there you have it. That's why the Tandy 2000 failed. But its existence wasn't completely without merit -- it shows us just how much technology changes. This sort of exponential growth is exactly why many of today’s businesses choose to invest in a computer rental rather than a flat-out purchase. Companies can harness the latest technology for their needs and then discard it when newer, more desirable innovations come on the market.

Even so, nostalgia a powerful thing, and there will always be a place in the hobbyist's heart for older desktop machines.

Vintage computer enthusiasts should visit the website he maintains for his fellow hobbyists, including http://www.altair32.com/ and http://www.classiccmp.org/cini/.