Here are some of my phlogs. I made them viewable on the web:
__________________
| ______________ | IBM PCjr
| |=== === = =| |
| | = = = =====| | My first "real" desktop computer system.
| | = === = = =| |
| | = = = = =| | First used around 1987 as our family computer.
| |=== === = =| | Set up in a common area, I spent most my time
| [_________256kb| | playing Disney's the Black Cauldroun, a Sierra
| |||||| # | adventure game using the AGI game engine.
--------------------
-------------------- We also had a few other game disks including
| |||||| [--===--] | Math Blaster by Davidson & Assoc, an edu-
| |||||| === === | tainment title where you solve problems by
-------------------- blasting out of a cannon into the right answer
Around 1990 the PCjr was abandoned by other family members and was
moved into my bedroom. The other computer user in the household, my
father, had upgraded to a 286 with a modem and a hard drive. Fortun-
ately for me this system had a floppy drive compatible with the PCjr
and I was able to download software from dial-in BBS systems and
make program disks for the PCjr. My floppy collection exploded.
I ran the PCjr as my main computer through most of the 90's. playing
video games, typing up papers for school, and learning how to use
DOS 2.1 and BASIC. The Jr was the system I cut my teeth on creating
ASCII and ANSI art which was used to beautify a batch menu system I
had cobbled together.
The Jr. Served me well and because of this, I would rarely use the
family computer. When I did, it was mainly to download software and
make disks for the Jr.
Then my father upgraded the family computer again. This time it was
a 486SX with Windows 3.11 and an even faster modem. I don't remember
the year exactly, I was in community college so probably around 1997
or so. Shortly after the upgrade we subscribed to America Online
and it was then that my regular use of the PCjr began to decline.
The Jr remained set up in my room until I moved out of the parents
house circa 1998 at which point it was boxed up and stored. I had
upgraded to a system I put together with an AMD 5x86 and about 16MB
of RAM. This processor was the poor-mans version of a Pentium and
that was indeed what I was, a poor man. The little AMD powered IBM
clone PC was a great little system, but that's not what this story
is about.
When I Went to school out of state, I stored the PCjr at my parents
house, in a box, where it remained until I graduated in 2005. At this
time I picked it up, brought it home with me, and set it up in my
bedroom. Just like old times. I found a community of fellow PCjr fans
online and continued to upgrade it with home-brewed modern hardware.
To this day it continues to be used on a semi-regular basis. I have
continued to collect software for it and enjoy playing the many AGI
Sierra games I did not have the money to aquire when they were being
sold. Despite it's bad reputation, the IBM PCjr continues to be my
favorite computer of all time.
Evolution and upgrades to my IBM PCjr
=====================================
* IBM 4860 128K PCjr System
* IBM 4863 Color Monitor
* IBM 7257 Enhanced Keyboard
* Jr Hotshot 512k Internal Memroy Expansion
* PC Enterprised Combo Cartridge v3.0
(BIOS patches that improve performance and compatability)
* Racore Drive II Plus 512k Memorey Expansion
(this gave me a second floppy and obsoleted my Jr Hotshot memory
expansion)
* Mouse Systems 2-Button Optical Mouse
* JrIDE HDD Adapter, 1MB Memory Expansion and Real-Time Clock
(This obsoleted the memory expansion in my Racore Drive II.
Though it provides 1MB Memory the Jr is maxxed out at 736KB)
If you have a Gopher client, you can see these phlogs in their original form here: Kablamabam's Gopher Hole