Mike's PCjr Page

Hi all,

I just joined the forums after getting a hold of an IBM PCjr. There seems to be a ton of knowledge here and though I won't be doing hardware mods or anything in the near future, it looks like a great place to geek out and ask questions!

I had a PCjr briefly as a kid and my dad worked for IBM for 30 years, so there's a little bit of nostalgia involved in my new vintage computing endeavor.

Looking forward to diving in!

Hi Scott,

Welcome!

What is the configuration of your machine? (Memory, parallel port, etc?) Is there anything unusual about it?

Don't rule the modifications out. Many of them barely change the machine, but they make it much more functional. The bi-directional parallel port, NEC V20, and jrIDE are on my "must have" list.


Mike

Thanks for the welcome

My PCjr is actually brand new (well, new as in still sealed in the box.) I haven't yet opened it, and plan on doing an unboxing video just for fun once I get back from my business trip I'm currently on.

It's the 128k model with floppy drive, and I've also gotten the 128k memory expansion and parallel sidecars. No PCjr monitor, as it will be sharing desk space with an Apple II+ with both machines plugged into a TV composite input.

I'm definitely not ruling out hardware mods, it's just that I've never done them before. Never used a soldering iron in my life, so I'd definitely need to practice for a while before attempting anything. Part of me though wants to keep the PCjr in its native state for nostalgic reasons; we'll see how it works out. I did a little bit of BASIC programming as a kid, so I'm wanting to pick up a Cartridge BASIC for it soon and write some adventure games.

These old computers have a lot of meaning for me ... I currently work in the video game industry and they heavily influenced my interest both in computer games and PC audio. I can't wait to show them to my kids and see the look of disinterest on their faces.

redmagehat wrote:Thanks for the welcome

My PCjr is actually brand new (well, new as in still sealed in the box.) I haven't yet opened it, and plan on doing an unboxing video just for fun once I get back from my business trip I'm currently on.

Nice! That's gonna be pretty cool, can't wait to see that.



Welcome to the board.