I wanted to give my Atari Portfolio something new to do while keeping its original keyboard and LCD at the centre of the experience.

The result is the Portfolio AI Interface: an ESP32-S3 expansion module connected through the original Atari Serial Interface and an RS-232 level converter. A small DOS client runs from an apfRAM memory card.

It supports typed and spoken AI conversations, camera image descriptions and background synthwave radio. The AI runs online through the OpenAI API; the Portfolio provides the terminal interface.

Getting the serial communication, speech playback and tiny-screen layout working together took some iteration. I also designed an enclosure to match the original expansion modules, including a speaker grille inspired by the Portfolio.

The Terminator 2 connection was impossible to resist.

Build and demo:

https://youtu.be/itMtJ-JYX_g

Code, wiring documentation and print files are linked in the video description.

I have to say this vintage 300 dpi scanner is pretty good!

medion erazer x6821 (core i7-3610qm, nvidia gtx 670m, 16gb ddr3, intel HM77, 2x sata hdd, 1x dvd, 1080p led) budget gaming laptop.

A while ago I made a post on my socket 939 Windows XP battle station, but much has changed about the little guy since then! I was able to make a little space for a dedicated set-up, and I snagged a better monitor (used up all my FBM luck for the year). I also filled out the drive bays with a media card reader and a neat little hard drive cooler from Coolermaster. The culmination of one whole year of gathering stuff for this has payed off. Very proud of this thing!

Specs:
AMD Athlon 4000+ (OC’d 2.8ghz)
ATI Radeon X850 XT (OC’d to PE speeds)
ASUS a8n-sli deluxe motherboard
OCZ DDR400 2gb, 2.5-3-2-5 T1 timings
Antec Truepower 550w power supply
Antec p160 ATX case (modded with brighter front LEDs)
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS with front pannel IO
WD Caviar 74gb sata HHD
Sony Trinitron Multiscan 420GS monitor

Title: My 1995 AcerNote 760i with a Cyrillic keyboard still works (via VGA). Does anyone know this serial number format?

Hello everyone,

I'd like to show you my old veteran from the mid-90s: an AcerNote 760i. It's the 486-based "i" model, with a built-in trackball in the center (the modern generation doesn't always figure out how to use it right away). It wasn't a cheap machine back in the day.

The keyboard has Cyrillic legends printed directly on the keys in a second, lighter font, not stickers. We all remember the 90s stickers that wore off and peeled. These look like proper printing and are still perfectly readable. I'm not sure if it was done by Acer or by a local distributor.

I left the "Spider-Man 3" sticker on the case. It's part of the laptop's history now.

Unfortunately the built-in screen is dead after 30 years. But I connected the laptop to an external monitor through the VGA port on the back, and it came back to life: the motherboard, CPU and graphics work fine, and the picture is great. So the old flagship will keep fighting.

Now a question. Here's what the label on the bottom says:

Model No.: 760I

Ext. No.: B43

Serial No.: P002397

MFG. Date: 950512 (12 May 1995)

FCC ID: GQ8760I

HDD Type: 34

Made in Taiwan R.O.C.

Does anyone know what the "P" prefix in the serial number means (production line, factory, pilot batch, region)? Is this format normal for the 760i? Does yours start with P too? I also couldn't find any other 760i with a Russian keyboard online. Has anyone seen one?

The irony of me being a computer sci graduate (software not hardware) and getting two Dell XPS M2010s from my restaurant job 😅 didnt really know what I had until I got home and started doing some research. Been reading about retro pcs for the last week and might have found a very expensive new hobby, lol.

The coating has degraded on the complete one, so its really sticky. The optical drive takes cds, ejects, and attempts to read cds (fails though). Did my best to clean it gently but it's not happening. After a new cmos battery, some rewiring on the hard drive connector, and struggling to get the optical drive plugged everything else is functional and in good health! Super cool find. I went to the Retro Gaming Expo and had some fun looking at the retro pcs today!

This is a Zeos Pocket PC (Tidalwave PS-1000 clone) from 1992. It features an impressive NEC V30 CPU and a screen with four whole shades of gray. It runs DOS 5.0 from ROM, which is a modern and feature-filled OS, right?

It's fully functional despite some battle scars. There's damage at the top right of the screen that thankfully don't really reach the usable area. The bigger problem is it's from the era of those wonderful soft touch rubbery coatings that like to break down into goo. It came to me a bit sticky and only got worse as I handled it. It started leaving black marks on my hands. I did what I could to remove the stickiness with a microfiber cloth and some isopropyl alcohol. It's much better now if a little splotchy. Since there's already visible damage to the screen (most visible when turned off) anyway I don't need it to look perfect. I just don't want it sticking to and marking up my hands. You can see where I left a bit of the original finish about the F3-F10 keys since cleaning that area would remove the lettering.

I'm currently exploring the possibility of getting some old text-based games running on it.

Finally completed the 1980s desk setup with the arrival of my A2M2010 monochrome monitor, let me know if you think the motherboards on the wall are tacky lol I’ve heard some others talk about putting them into “Shadow boxes” I think they are like frames for like items that aren’t flat paper.

Absolute grail find (according to me) on Marketplace today. Can't wait to build this into an XP machine. 478 or 775? Or is that a rhetorical question....

This is my Amiga 2000 Setup, 1994 (?), one year later i changed to a 386DX33. It was a A2000A with XT-Board, 20MB HD, 2MB Ram and a Flicker Fixer.

Can anybody perhaps identify the Multisync Monitor? I can not remember it.

The XP drivers offered by HP actually work on 2000 as well, except for the webcam and 3D DriveGuard. I hate seeing myself anyway ;) 2000 actually makes it very responsive and fast. The battery only has 4% wear. The thermal paste has been renewed, the fan cleaned, and the internal fan grille got removed to improve airflow (as was suggested by many people back in the days, as its aluminium shell is prone to getting hot).

Long story boring: my faculty sysadmins wouldn't give me even an old scraped Sparc-station to run Emacs or whatever and this was before me buying my first notebook.

So, this is what I tried to assemble. A shi*ty Celeron@433MHz, 64 or 128 Mb of RAM, plus some harddrive, perhaps 20Gb at that time.