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Packard bell computer - it's that old?

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P4mustangtime

P4mustangtime

Member
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Joined
Oct 24, 2004
Location
Alberta, Canada
Last night a friend gave me an entire OLD computer system - montior, CPU, keyboard and inkjet printer...even its mouse too! Before that come to me, my frind was telling me about it and if I want it? I said after hearing what it was, that I thought was a old 386 system.

After having seen in person - I told him that it's actually a 286 system! Man, I can't believe it's that old...I mean , haven't seen it for what? 25 years something like that! The system is called "Packard Bell" if I remember used to be during early 1980s.

Since I don't really know what to do with it - do you know if anyone collects old computers and where in the classifeds should I post? Thanks for any feedback!
 
I doubt you would really get anything for that. shipping would kill you on it as well. You could try, since nothing gained nothing lost, I would post in the misc. hardware
 
CrackerD|ce said:
I doubt you would really get anything for that. shipping would kill you on it as well. You could try, since nothing gained nothing lost, I would post in the misc. hardware
Click to expand...

Ok thanks - I'll try post it in this section. Shipping? No way:eh?: , I'm not doing that - been there done that before in eBay with engine parts and they're heavier than the old computer, lol! I'm hoping someone close to me in local areas would come pick up...
 
There are some fantastic DOS games that should run nicely on that machine.

Try these games if you can find them (maybe at the Underdogs):

The Adventures of Aldo
Aquanoid
Buck Rogers: The Countdown to Doomsday
BattleChess
Infocom (all of the great Infocom text games!)
Joust
Lemmings
Mario Bros.
Prince of Persia
Scorched Earth
Starflight (possibly the greatest game of all time!)
Starflight II: Trade Routes of the Cloud Nebula (possibly the second greatest game of all time!)
Simcity
SimEarth
SimAnt
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary Edition
Stock Shock
Super Tetris
Turbo Trek
Wing Commander
Wing Commander II (if it is a fast 286)

Those games will play better then they would in an emulator such as DosBox. My suggestion is to have some fun with it, and then send it off to Packard Hell once you are done. Or give it away for others to experience the greatness that was 286-era gaming.
 
I remember my packard bell..... had to live with that thing until i "Accidently" poured uh dropped a cup of water on it. ;)
 
Most downloads on Underdogs are for software that doesn't allow you to distribute it, ie piracy, though it seems they're being left alone, more-or-less. Helps them that anytime they get a valid cease-and-desist, they take the offending program off their fileserver (page still stays with all the info, though). However, they do have what I understand to be legally distributable games, such as Prince of Persia 4D -- supposed to be devilishly harder than the original.

Another alternative you have is to buy the game off of eBay, they're usually pretty cheap there.
 
Lionsault_100 said:
Hold on to it for a little while longer for it to start collecting value as an antique.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if he could get some coin out of it now, however, I wouldn't expect a whole lot for a computer that age. It's old, yes, but it's not a 4004 or a 8008.
However, I took the liberty of looking for a 286 system on ebay and found a 10MHz IBM for $235 plus shipping. Whether it will actually sell for that amount remains to be seen. Interestingly, the system probably cost ten or even twenty times that amount when new.
 
There's not much market for the old hardware. I thought there'd be several folks that would be interested, however, I came by a old (not quite as yours) MAC Powerbook, fully functional except the battery's shot, with every accessory under the sun, including a neat little portable printer. I listed it on eBay and had '0' (read 'zero') hits on it. I played with it a little but but don't have the time, or inclination at this time, to fiddle with learning a new OS.
Another buddy offered me his functioning computer as a plaything, and I have been rounding up parts for a NAS, so I thought this might be the ticket. Well, unfortunately the 75mhz processor won't quite cut the ice. it even has 1 mhz video RAM and 5mhz of system RAM! Any takers? I'll harvest the hardrive, all 20g's of it.
 
Don't you say your said PC is old! I had an Ollivetti 286 with ""8MHz" clock and a merely 16MB RAMs. It weighed a TON but with only an 8MHz system clock and a merely 16MB RAMs. It only had an 5.25 inch Floppy Disk and about 250MB MFM HD. It was so old that I chucked the whole lot (including a dedicated keyboard, CGA monitor and printer) to the local Recycle Collection a few days ago.
 
Your 8MHz has 16 megs of RAM? If I'm not mistaken, that's a lot for that processor (or was, in those days). I remember running Win95 with just 32 megs!
 
theG said:
oldest pc i had was only a k62, it was aiiight
Click to expand...

You were born in '81 and your first PC had a K6-2? Jeez, I was born in '84 and had an Apple ][ GS. Ahh, single digit MHz lovin'.

ponkan pinoy said:
Your 8MHz has 16 megs of RAM? If I'm not mistaken, that's a lot for that processor (or was, in those days). I remember running Win95 with just 32 megs!
Click to expand...

No kidding! I didn't get 32MB until 1996 or 1997. My Pentium 120 system came with standard with just 16.
 
Yeah 16 MB of RAM sounds like an overkill for a 286. Windows 3.1 wouldn't know what to do with that much RAM....well on second thought I'm sure Windows 3.1 could think of a dozen ways to hog all of that rather quickly. :-/ I used to run Windows 95 on a 386 with 5 MB of RAM, now that was interesting. It took six minutes to boot but I could run Solitaire in 16 shades of grey!

The "oldest" PC I ever had was an IBM PC Model 5150 that I found at the thrift store in the 90s, it was like $3 for the computer and $8 for the matching Hercules monitor. The most enjoyable part was getting it to power up and boot DOS 3.3. I really don't think old PCs hold their value, I would not pay even $100 for a 286. Anyone that does should have their head examined.

Now a PC from the late 70s, something running CP/M, might fetch some cash.
 
Back in the day, I bought a new PB 286 rig, and it cost in the area of $1200. Today its only worth is as a boat anchor.
 
My first comp was a packard bell, but a 386. :(

It was the best thing around until my cousin got an Acer with a 486 to replace his Tandy :eek:
 
FlailBoy said:
And at the time that was made, that RAM was probably about 50 bucks/MB.
Click to expand...

You're not far off, in the mid-90s I remember buying a pair of 1 MB 30-pin SIMMs for $90 at Fred Meyer. Granted Fred Meyer's electronics prices have always been gouged through the stratosphere but I was young at the time and had not yet discovered the beauty of purchasing mail-order.
 
benbaked said:
You're not far off, in the mid-90s I remember buying a pair of 1 MB 30-pin SIMMs for $90 at Fred Meyer.
Click to expand...

http://www.mchoward.com/generic.html?pid=1

A buck. Mind you, on a $/mb scale, this is still frightfully expensive.


EDIT: And I'd also like to add Caesar II, Star Control 2, and Pacific Air War Gold to the list of games that might be good on a comp that old. They certainly rocked on a 486.
 
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