As part of my work for OSNews.com, as well as out of my own personal interest, I am a huge fan of a variety of retrocomputing platforms. I own an extensive collection of various personal digital assistants, covering everything from Apple’s Newton to my personal favourites, Palm OS and Microsoft’s PocketPC platform, as well as various other devices and computers.
On this page I’m listing a few computers and that are at the very top of my list, as well as a few other devices I’m still looking for, so I can review them for OSNews.com. If you happen to own any of these, and are looking to get rid of them, feel free to e-mail me, or contact me over at Mastodon to see if we can work something out.
UNIX workstations
I have a special place in my heart for the last few UNIX workstations from companies like Sun Microsystems, HP, SGI, and so on. With these machines being hard to find here in Europe, I’m still on the lookout for a variety of machines to add to my collection.
First and foremost, I am looking for my white whale, the one machine I want to own more than anything else: the Sun Ultra 45 workstation. This is the last of the UltraSPARC workstations, and ever since it was released, I’ve been desperate to add it to my collection and write a proper review for OSNews.com.
It will come as no surprise that I am also looking for an SGI machine, but these have become such desirable collector’s items I doubt that will ever happen. Another machine on my list is the HP zx6000, HP’s final Itanium workstation. These should be relatively easy to find. Lastly, we have any of the late PowerPC UNIX workstations from IBM, which can run AIX, an operating system I have never used but desperately want to. A great example is the IntelliStation POWER 285 or 185.
Personal digital assistants
My PDA collection is already pretty substantial, but I’m still looking for more. I desperately want the late-era Sony Clié PEG-UX50 as one of the final, craziest Sony Clié experimental devices. As a huge PocketPC fan, I also want to round out my PocketPC collection with the HP iPAQ 900 or the HP iPAQ Glisten, some of the last Windows CE-based classic Windows Mobile devices before Windows Phone fully took over (and then promptly died).
Since I only have one Sharp Zaurus - the SL-5600 - I’d love to expand this corner of my collection too. The Zaurus line saw more models and success in Japan than it ever did over here in Europe or the US, so I doubt they’ll be easy to find over here.
Other stuff
There’s obviously more on my list, but this is a good overview of some of the ones I want to get my hands on just a little bit more. If you have other hardware that you think should pique my interest and deserves an article or two on OSNews.com, feel free to e-mail me, or contact me over at Mastodon.