I thank Daniele F. for donating this terminal. He contacted me from the donation page at the end of May but I couldn’t retrieve it until the beginning of October, when I passed through Verona while I was going to Brusaporto (a few kilometres from Bergamo) where I attended an annual retrocomputing meeting.
Author Archives: Giacomo Vernoni
Commodore 64 (1982)
About a year ago I bought this Commodore 64 from eBay US. I got it cheap because the seller didn’t advertise the fact that it was a “silver label”, and there were 4 pictures of the (not so good-looking) box before seeing an actual photograph of the computer. So I was the only person who bid on the item! It’s a bit yellowed on the right side and a most of the hooks are missing on the back, but otherwise it is in good working condition. Continue reading
Commodore MPS 801 (1984)

I don’t usually care about printers: they take up precious space (especially the office/business ones), there are tons of models and most of the times they’re just rebranded items.
But there are a few printers that deserve some care, mainly the early ones or those that made us print the first happy birthday card for a friend. Continue reading
Apple Macintosh IIfx (1990)
In the previous post I thanked Enrico for the donation of this Macintosh IIfx, now it’s time to show how it’s been cleaned and repaired. A quarter of a century ago this was the most powerful Macintosh of the series II: it was powered by a 68030 processor at 40MHz, outperformed only by the following Quadra computers with a 68040 processor.
Donation from Enrico F.
Last year I found an online classified from a person in Milan that was giving away for free a Macintosh IIfx, collection only. I called him and we had a nice chat on the phone, and he added a few other items to the lot after asking me if I was interested. But since I live in the opposite part of Italy, I asked a friend (Thanks Daniele!) who lives in Milan to pick up the items and keep them until he was coming back home. Continue reading
Sony Hit Bit HB-75P (1984)

One of the few MSX of my collection. The computer was quite dirty, but since the internal components were tightly fitted, I didn’t want to disassemble it completely.
Apple Macintosh PowerBook Duo 2300c (1995) and Macintosh Duo MiniDock (1992)

I received this laptop as a gift in 2010. I always liked the Duos, both for their design and the idea of a slim lightweight laptop (remember it’s 20 years old) which, if needed, could be hooked up to a dock to transform it into a real desktop computer.
Donation from Chiara M.

I thank Chiara M. for the donation.
Items received:
- Atari 600XL
- Atari 1010 Program Recorder
- Atari Donkey Kong Game Kit
- Casio Western Bar
- Casio Heli Battle
Koala Technologies KoalaPad TouchTablet

In the mid Eighties I had a Commodore 128 and I sometimes used KoalaPainter – the program that accompained the KoalaPad – with a joystick. Now, 30 years later, I can finally paint with the graphic tablet.
Cleaning the keyboard of a VIC 20

The computers I get often need thorough cleaning, but the keyboard of this Commodore VIC 20 was filthy, especially under the keys and on the motherboard. Continue reading



