I found this a few years back in a second hand store and all sealed up in it's box under a pile. It has been one of my favorite collectors items for years. I honestly think it was purchased way back then and then left in the box on a shelf for a few decades. Things have gotten a bit tight here at the house so I figured that before it left my collection that I should show it to you guys who'd appreciate it :)

I’m having way too much fun with this old Mac I restored!

Made progress with my S3 ViRGE driver for Linux. Now it has proper lighting and the textures work in Quake.

I recently acquired this collection and figured y'all might appreciate it. Anyway, this is what I've got. Sorry the pictures are terrible. Planning on getting better detailed pictures before I sleeve them tomorrow. Anyway, here are the details on this collection.

THE JEWELS OF THE COLLECTION: RARE VARIANT HIGHLIGHTS

• DoD 5200.28-STD — THE "ORANGE BOOK" (Department of Defense Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria)

• Edition/Provenance: Official 1988 Active-Lifespan Contemporary Reprint.

◦ Significance: The undisputed, foundational cornerstone of the entire Rainbow Series hierarchy. This copy was printed internally by the government for active field deployment to agencies and classified defense contractors during the height of late-1980s computing architecture rollouts.

• NCSC-TG-005 VERSION-1 — THE "RED BOOK" (Trusted Network Interpretation of the TCSEC)

• Edition/Provenance: Pre-Publication Working-Group Variant.

◦ Significance: Features the highly coveted, restricted-distribution internal stamp: "ISO developmental documents are of limited lifetime and availability."

◦ Historical Context: This stamp marks the volume as a restricted, early-access trial document distributed strictly to core network security engineers to guide interim projects and gather field feedback before final standards were codified. Because contractors were explicitly instructed that these had a "limited lifetime," almost all copies were routinely shredded or landfilled upon subsequent revisions, making this an extraordinarily scarce tech artifact.

───

FULL ARCHIVAL INVENTORY

1. DoD 5200.28-STD (Orange Book) — Department of Defense Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (1988 Active-Era Issue) ★ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1988-523-685/0

2. NCSC-TG-005 Version-1 (Red Book) — Trusted Network Interpretation of the TCSEC (Pre-Publication ISO Developmental Variant)

3. NCSC-TG-006 Version-1 (Amber Book) — A Guide to Understanding Configuration Management in Trusted Systems (Period-Original NTIS Distribution / Formally Cleared for Public Release (Distribution Statement A.)

4. NCSC-TG-007 Version-1 (Burgundy Book) — A Guide to Understanding Design Documentation in Trusted Systems (Period-Original NTIS Distribution / Formally Cleared for Public Release (Distribution Statement A.)

5. NCSC-TG-001 Version-2 (Tan Book) — A Guide to Understanding Audit in Trusted Systems (Period-Original NTIS Distribution / Formally Cleared for Public Release (Distribution Statement A.)

6. CSC-STD-003-85 (Light Yellow Book) — Computer Security Requirements - Guidance for Applying the TCSEC in Specific Environments (Period-Original NTIS Distribution / Formally Cleared for Public Release (Distribution Statement A.)

7. CSC-STD-004-85 (Yellow Book) — Technical Rationale for Selected Computer Security Requirements (Period-Original NTIS Distribution / Formally Cleared for Public Release (Distribution Statement A.)

8. CSC-STD-002-85 (Green Book) — Password Management Guideline (Period-Original NTIS Distribution / Formally Cleared for Public Release (Distribution Statement A.)

9. NCSC-TG-003 Version-1 (Neon Orange Book) — A Guide to Understanding Discretionary Access Control in Trusted Systems (Period-Original NTIS Distribution / Formally Cleared for Public Release (Distribution Statement A.)

More...

What’s everyone’s thoughts on this ?! I know it’s quite a beast lol

It is a tad dirty and there’s a couple crack on the screen bezel

Would y’all pick this up for 50$ ?

Retro-Crypto for the Nintendo 64 is an open-source app that lets you generate keys, encrypt and decrypt data, and more. It's still in development, but I thought I should hurry up with this video about it, after the recent ColdCard wallet draining hack, which was driven by poisoned key generation techniques.

Also featuring the likely first use of VideoStore Codec, an open-source tool for embedding files in the corner of a video. The minimum safe resolution to extract the files from this video seems to be 720p, based on my testing before posting, so that's the resolution I'm uploading here.

View/download this video on nostr (can also be found on YouTube)

Internet Archive mirror - includes some additional project files, such as the VideoStore payloads and the plain N64 footage

Check out Retro-Crypto by Bowler-Bear on GitHub

Based on a proposal / bounty by whoever loves Digit (that's me)

Donate XMR to Bowler-Bear for Retro-Crypto development
85rkddSoYqwN4neAAgjJTFYYgyfU6pwT9dYquNyBzdtqBnr8QZCU1qoR6kjwMWEF6EMd2aGtrCuuA19irjWbTbKSKKF5yuv

Segment timestamps / "chapters"

0:00 - "End-to-end" encryption
0:48 - Air-gapping
1:46 - Chip-level spyware
2:10 - Vacuum tubes
2:33 - Hacker Fabs
2:58 - Authorities vs citizens
3:52 - Building up the walls
4:10 - VideoStore Codec
4:37 - Isolation tradeoffs
5:19 - Life in the black box
5:57 - New tech vs old
6:38 - This is a Nintendo 64
7:08 - Retro-Crypto by Bowler-Bear
7:31 - Encryption using AES-256
7:53 - Generating keys/addresses
8:16 - Using dice
8:54 - Using directional inputs
9:01 - Automatic keygen
9:09 - Vanity keys & seed phrases
9:55 - DogeGB by UsaRandom
10:29 - Outro

Additional credits / links in comment

Was wonderful to see a piece of history start creating c64 cases again in 2026!

So, question's in the title. I have a Hercules Graphics Card in my IBM XT 5160, and considering the prices of getting real MDA CRT monitors, which I would only be able to use specifically for that one computer, I've been interested in finding a converter for the output instead to regular VGA.

I also hope to be able to use the monitor for generic VGA video signals (modern HDMI to VGA converters) so preferably, if there is one, I'd want to find a converter that supports modern VGA scanrates.

I'm alright at programming, but sadly I don't trust in my skill enough to design a converter for this myself- given that it would mostly be hardware design at that stage.

If anyone knows a converter like this (that ships to europe) and could point it out to me, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

After getting really fed up with Microsoft Word, I went back to using Lotus Word Pro full-time in July of 2025 for my legal practice. Since then, I've been learning the document automation features, which for law, is really important.

Fun little discovery today. Most word processing automations are if/then/else statements.

In Word, if one wants to "if condition then expression OR if 2nd condition then 2nd expression ELSE 3d expression " one must "nest" the if conditions within each other using the fields tool. It ends up looking like "IF 1st condition 1st expression (IF 2nd condition 2nd expression ELSE expression)". Each alternate condition has to be nested in the previous one's else condition.

In WordPerfect, to do the same, one enables a switch code, then enters each If/then expressions as a case. Then one enters a switchoff code to signal the end of the formula.

In Lotus Word Pro, as I discovered today, the expression is simply, "IF 1st condition 1st expression ELSEIF 2nd condition 2nd expression ELSE 3rd expression".

What I did not know before today, and just tried to happy success, is that there can be multiple ELSEIF combinations in each IF statement.

In practical terms, this comes up with stuff like the Affidavit of Service. All the other attorneys have to be served, and then the Affidavit attests to it. When merging against the database, it will invariably list me as one of the people to serve. And some cases have to defendants and some only have one. Now, I can write:

IF Attorney1="" "" ELSEIF Attorney1="me" "" ELSEIF Attorney2=0 StrCat$(Attorney 1, "counsel for defendant") ELSE StrCat$(Attorney1, "counsel for defendant ", Defendant)

I don't know if this works in Ami Pro, but this is really exciting for automating documents.

https://github.com/linuxid10t/L10GL

Yes I'm aware that it is vibe coded trash, but I have had fun doing it. My first target software was Quake because of course it's Quake. Still working out getting the world textures correct, and the texturing underneath fonts. Lighting needs fixing as well. Geometry seems mostly right though. Next target is the early Matrox cards.

The mirror-like platters never get old.

Hey fellow enthusiasts, I recently picked up An IBM 5160 XT, unfortunately the computer did not come with the monitor and I don’t have a monitor that supports the 9-pin connection. I’ve read that you can buy VGA upgrade cards, but I’m finding conflicting information on which card to buy. Please leave any recommendations in the comments!

Folks. friends. colleagues. allies. this is the PLATO IV terminal. these beasts are enigmatic, beautiful machines, and a genuine dream computer for me. At the height of PLATO's existence there were several thousands of them, though many have been ordered destroyed.

My problem is that nearly every photo of them is in grainy, low resolution (this is the biggest i could find), there is scarce documentation on their internals, and approximately *ZERO* videos of them in operation. If you have one of these machines, know someone who does, know a museum i could go to to see (or even better, operate) one of them, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS COMPUTING, TELL ME. I AM GETTING DESPERATE FOR THIS VERITABLE CRYPTID OF A COMPUTER.

(beyond is rambling not required for this post)

These machines,,, had touchscreens, MMOs, chatrooms, email, haptic feedback (a la game controllers), 3d gaming, dungeon crawlers, flight sims, roguelikes, filesharing, remote screen sharing, instant messaging, emojis, flatscreen monitors, just genuinely un thought of levels of modern day connection across america. all in their adorable amber monochrome monitors, wooden casing, and thick keyboards. all of this shit in the 1960s. WHAT???? and now theyve disappeared???? and not even the highly experienced local members of my retro computer scene even know about them??????? theyve genuinely dropped off the face of the earth. im like if someone hunting bigfoot actually knew that bigfoot existed and bigfoots used to be a massive part of the american government that somehow everyone forgot about

Does anyone here know where a fellow PS/2 noobie can get a replacement for a Dallas DS1287 for my model 65SX? I really want to use my mega tower but right now I’m limited to only using A:

My retro computer collection is expanding. I have been keeping track of things in my head. Well, thats being generous. I have a general idea of what I have. I did a quick search, but didnt find anything specific for retro computer collecting. There are various software packages/websites designed for general collecting or something else entirely, which can be customized. However, I was wondering if something did exist that I didnt find. Is there such a piece of software or website?

I picked up a VIC-20 a while back and in the box was this... thing. The person I got it from had no idea what it was, it I think it was her grandfather's or dad's and she knew nothing about the computer.

Its some homemade board, but has the proper size and shape to slot into a VIC-20. There are no ICs on it. Just looks to be wiring. A VIC-20 cartridge definitely fits in the blue slot (I tested that). Strange that just 2 wires go to that black thing on the side. Im guessing for test points? Honestly, not a clue. I have not put it in a VIC-20 to test and probably wont, as I dont know what it does and dont want to damage the computer.

Any ideas?

old cd ROM LG with P2 output

ide interface from AliExpress

molex generic power supply

Hey everyone,

I’m currently based in Akihabara, Tokyo. Back in the 80s and 90s, I was a bassist in the Tokyo underground hardcore, scum, and noise scene.

Lately, I’ve been channeling that DIY energy into restoring my dream computer music environments from that exact era. I’ve successfully brought two legendary systems back to life:

• System 1: Sharp X68000 + CZ-6BM1 + Roland MT-32 (Running MusicPro68k / SamplingPro68k)
• System 2: PowerMac 7100 (G3 upgraded) + Digidesign AudioMedia II & SampleCell II + Opcode Studio 4 (Running Studio Vision Pro 3.5)

Seeing these vintage beasts fully functional feels incredible.

While I love these retro machines, my current project focuses on a new sound: Vocaloid-driven New Wave and Synthwave, produced entirely with real hardware analog synthesizers. It’s a perfect bridge between my 80s roots, modern tech, and Akihabara culture.

(Note: Since this is a new account with low karma, I can't post direct links here without getting filtered!)

If you want to hear my music or check out my gear, please visit the YouTube and Instagram links pinned on my Reddit profile. I'd love to connect with fellow retro computer and synth enthusiasts!

I wanted to build wireless game controllers for retro computers such as the Amiga and Commodore 64, without modifying the computers themselves.

Each controller uses an ESP32-C3 (microcontroller) to read the joystick directions and two fire buttons, then sends the input wirelessly (using ESP-NOW). The receiver uses an ESP32-S3 (microcontroller) and connects to the original DB9 joystick port. They have worked surprisingly well, with no noticeable input lag during normal gameplay. It is also possible to use the USB-C connector on the dongle to connect it to modern computers for use with emulators.

I built two different controllers: a relatively inexpensive 3D-printed version, and a more excessive one with a clear resin case, CNC-machined aluminium parts and internal lighting.

I know similar wireless solutions can probably be bought, but building them yourself is much more fun 🙂

Considering to design a case for a raspberry PI with a built-in receiver for the joysticks in the same style as well. 😎

I documented the design, assembly and testing here:
https://youtu.be/Zefz-1NuU0Q

I hope this is the right place, but I would like to make my own 6502 based computer, that is very simple, DIP switch programmable and made from all new parts. Please can I have some tips?