Tales of collecting 7

My name is Mark, and I am a 22 year old CS major from Indiana. My passion for computers began at a very young age with my father's TRS-80. I developed a fascination for programming which led to an eventual fascination with hardware and collecting. I started building my collection when I was 10 or 11, a TI-994A being the first "classic" machine in my collection. I have been collecting both vintage computing equipment and game machines ever since.

I was first introduced to the Computer Collector Newsletter while participating in a forum where one of the members passively mentioned the site. Liking what I saw, I couldn't help but join.

I don't know if it is of any interest to the newsletter, but I will share my relatively small collection with the group:

(In chronological order obtaining as well as my memory serves me)

Computers: TI-994A; TRS80 Model II; Tandy 1000 HX; IBM PS/2 Model 30; Mac Classic (Sadly, not signed, but an original release); Rockwell small form-factor 486; Mac 5800; Apple IIGS; iMac DV+ (Not really a "classic" machine, so to speak, but part of my collection nonetheless); I also have an Intel from most all of the major chip revisions from 286 up aside from the ones listed here. I figure since none of them are anything to remark about they needn't be listed.

Game Machines: Atari 2600; Atari 7800; Colecovision; NES; Sega Genesis/32x/CD; Super Nintendo; Sega Saturn; Nintendo 64; PSX; Sega Dreamcast; Nintendo Gamecube; Nintendo Gameboy/Pocket/Color/Advance SP Sega Game Gear.

I've also got an old IBM 3174 coax network processor which lives in my hall closet as it weighs over a hundred pounds and is large enough to be an end table for my couch.

I am in the process of acquiring two rather interesting machines, both deals are in states of mid-completion. I'm (very soon, hopefully) going to be buying a working Osbourne 1 portable, complete with original software disks and I am scoping out a PDP 12, but there is nothing final there.

That's pretty much all there is to me, a collector, programmer, and Linux user. ... I'd love to find a PDP-8 at some point, but that will probably happen when I have a larger living space.

- Mark H.