Wow, Clint! I was happy to wait patiently for this video because I knew you were taking your time to give it the royal LGR treatment, but you continue to exceed my expectations! I'm so glad this machine and its history have been documented now, and can now be enjoyed by retro computer enthusiasts everywhere. Thank you, and well done, sir!
So glad you saved this machine and sent it to LGR to share with all of us. How else would we have found out that Samsung was the man behind the curtain making a ton of Turbo XT clones. It's awesome that it had all the original software and documentation with it
McMahon always wanted it both ways, calling wrestlers independent contractors so he doesn't have to give them employee benefits or a safety net, but also wanting to keep a complete stranglehold on them and treat them like full contract employees I definitely support bundy in this....over thirty years later, for an event that happened before i was born... the internet's weird
More recently, he made all the wrestlers stop streaming on Twitch, because they were making independent monies as an independent contractor and he didn't like that.
@@TubbyJ420 i remember that happening, it's such a scummy move and i bet when Vince steps down and Stephanie takes over eventually she'd be just as bad, cause apparently she's a bit of a tyrant The only McMahon people usually say good things about is shane, Cause apparently he's much more chilled
@@ichimaru96 These days it’s looking like Stephanie isn’t gonna get the company either! They’ve gutted their talent pool with mass firings to get them ready to be sold in the near future!
it's so bizarre, i understand wanting to make more money.. that's natural, that's healthy for the economy but what is with all these scumdorks who seem to get angry at _anyone else_ making money? how does that benefit them?
Dude, this was so good. I wasn't expecting to learn about both a late 80s IBM clone and King Kong Bundy in the same video but here we are. I sent this one to all my wrestling buddies.
I had one of these!!! (bought in the Netherlands from V and D Shops(Vroom and Dreesmann)) in Dutch you write AND as EN so V AND D would become V EN D, hence the name VENDEX. I played Zak McKracken and the Alienmindbenders on it and my mind was bend alright.. What a FANTASTIC machine WITH FANTASTIC graphics, I was 15.. oh. the memories.
And this is why my German friends think my last name is so hilarious (McCracken), I take it that it was popular in the Netherlands too? I had never heard of this game until moving to Germany 😆
@@albeedude Weird, it's a Lucas Arts (or Lucasfilm?) early classics, why would it have been more popular in Germany and Netherlands than anywhere else?
Things haven't changed much over the years. Vince still says the wrestlers are independent contractors and still does not let them do any side work without his permission.
Awesome review! Good thing the battery was removed in time. I own two of these machines, both were severely damaged by leakage. In case anyone else encounters similar issues: In one of my 888-XT's the floppy drives stopped working entirely, even after cleaning up the damaged traces. It turns out there are some 74-series logic IC's sitting right next to the battery, that will cause issues after a leaking cell. These IC's supply the floppy controller with multiple clock signals, and when they're absent, the drives won't work. If anyone reading this owns one of these machines, remove the NiCd battery -now-!
Wow. This takes me back. This was the first computer I ever used at home! It was bought for my older sister, at first, but when she tired of it it fell to me. I mostly used it to write my, err, novels and play Police Quest. It was starting to show its limitations by the time Police Quest 2 came out, but the game was still playable. Ours wasn't sold with the monitor included, so my dad just got a monochrome one at first and later a CGA of a different brand. It's odd because Police Quest actually looked better on the monochrome display as the CGA presented in unnatural colors heavy on red and blue. I remember opting for the mono switch often. I also remember how time consuming it was to save my place in a game using the two floppies. I still, to this day, can recall the sound of those floppies working. I also still expect this weird ticking sound to happen when I hold the back button down in a word program even as I type on new keyboards. Thanks for this.
Pretty sure someone has made some sound emulator for that. I mean WinUAE has floppy sound emulation for it to be closer to real hardware. Having something that simulates the backspace.
Good to know Vince has never changed over the last 3 decades. Considering the state of RAW though, unsurprising. Love your videos but always a bigger wrestling fan so when two interest cross paths, it's always amusing.
Exactly what I was thinking during that side story, man he really hasn't changed a bit, has he? Still pulling the same independent contractor crap today with his wrestlers...
Something tells me the same thing would have happened if he worked for Gagne, Crockett or *insert promoter here* because wrestling carny gonna wrestling carny.
Coming to an LGR video with King Kong Bundy in the thumbnail forced me into a double-take. Vince had a bad tendency to try and strongarm his wrestlers into giving him a cut of their outside ventures. Something similar happened to Jesse Ventura over a Sega Genesis endorsement (and the fallout was also similar).
@@parlinmains He actually tried to get Ventura to ref a match after he became governor but Ventura opted out because the heel in the match was going to win and he didn't want to associate his platform with supporting the "bad guy". Kinda weird.
The Headstart III was my first PC, growing up. Great to see its ancestor on here! I'll add that having a version of HOT on my first PC made learning as a kid a lot easier.
Okay, you hooked me with that thumbnail! HAD to see what King Kong Bundy had to do with this computer haha. Shout out to all the other wrestling nerds who are also retro-computing nerds! XD
Kind of sad that he lost his career over. Promotional job. I'm not into wrestling but McMahon can get bent if they simultaneously don't get the full gamut of benefits of an employee and also can't do promos for income. :(
What floored me is how it looks utterly untouched by time. I mean wtf? Was it sotred in a hermeditcaly sealed vault? The click of the on button even sounded like it was made yesterday. Mind, blown.
Another well researched video! Thanks Clint!. The Dutch Vendex Headstart Turbo XT computer was probably used by many amateur genealogists back in the day to run their 'hccgenealogie' genealogy DOS program (at least we did😉). You could buy the computer at the Vroom & Dreesmann warehouses in a lot of Dutch cities like Alkmaar. Thanks again for this video! We also shared it on our Twitter account.
I don't what it is about the computers from the 80's and 90's but the aesthetic is so damn comfy and nostalgic even though they predate me. Something about the big blockyness of it is just awesome.
@Jason Fitch i mean when it didn't rely too much on your information like making an email to activate your hardware and Internet required games. And maybe it was speaking from childhood memories
Ah Vendex..Nice video, Clint! This really takes me back to the eighties when I used to play on these things as a kid at our local V&D (Vroom & Dreesmann) warehouse here in The Netherlands, which was once very succesful but now defunct because of competing web shops. These guys literally sold everything and Vendex was their in-house brand. I always like their quirky low cost Explorer model which had a home computer vibe with a foldable keyboards and looked a bit like a Tandy 1000EX/HX, Atari ST, Amiga 500 or Laser XT. I think V&D stole this idea from RadioShack 🙂 Vendex later became a daughter company of Philips. Some of the Headstart machines like your 888 were indeed rebranded machines, made by Samsung and the monitor is actually a Daewoo.. Others like the later Headstart 500 were Philips/Magnavox machines. We used to have Holborn, Genisys/G2, Tulip, Laser, Vendex, ARRA and of course Philips/Magnavox (Dutch computer companies). Sadly there isn't anything left of them. Of course Philips is still with us but they don't produce any PCs anymore :-(
@@laurensa.1803 Vendex had everything. They also had a range of hifi equipement, home appliances and tools. My dad has a Vendex branded drill from the late 70’s that it still working. I kinda miss Vroom & Dreesman stores, their in-house brand had good value products. Visiting department stores used to be a Saturday pastime for a lot of people. I always liked V&D’s games and media section. It brings back memories of the early 90’s.
The Tulip being the first official IBM Clone, that BIOS cloned, was the trigger for V&D to build a cloned PC too, needing a less then 1000 Guilder system including all peripherals. They did a more then perfect job, selling them in the US too. I was doing research for many years, are these systems still in the US, after we lost the shops. Being a personal project for me as a kid, got involved in it.
I'm so glad I got an Amiga 500 at the time and not a Headstart :) Still it does bring some nostalgia. V&D also had a home computer club called MCN (Microcomputer Club Nederland). You can sometimes still find accessories like floppies with the MCN logo on it. They even had a sort of magazine.
@@MarcovandenHout DJ? why you kept using Amiga, Fat Boy Slim levels, many DJ's use them, Holland, i know, i need to repair them. Only nerdy people needed PC! creative people NOT! apple and Amiga still! Mircocomputer? next to Minicomputer only! Homecomputers they were called, that club does mini support too, old mainframes?
Our family's first computer was one of the Magnavox 286 HeadStart machines. My mom about lost her mind when I put Windows 3.1 on it and she had to learn a new way to get to her word processing program.
I was the youngest of three, serving long stints on a VIC-20 and some Commodore machines when my dad declared me the computer expert - and I had to choose a clone for our house. This is the machine I picked, from a choice of no others as I can remember from some electronics retailer that vanished long ago. Those color coded floppies are things I can't forget. I discovered local BBSes on this computer, and the internet has been bumming me out ever since. Love this video, thanks for the content Clint!
I love history lessons from this cadre of technology preservers! I lived through this time, but I was a student and not aware of the larger picture. So many goings-on! And I like the different drive LEDs - helps differentiate them!
This brings back memories! My first IBM compatible PC was a Goldstar Turbo XT. It came bundled with Alphaworks, and GEOS. I miss it. I've looked on ebay for years but I never found a Goldstar Turbo XT.
I've been waiting for this video since the Vendex showed up in the unboxing video. Was hoping to see it compared to the Apex but wow that twist that they're both secret Samsung machines was thrilling and unexpected! What a wild time in computing, and it always fascinates me how so many companies thought they could succeed in the PC market by selling rebadged/outsourced machines. Like you said you're in a price war with yourself essentially and with the shrinking margin going to the OEM it's no wonder these types of brands always failed to stick in the market long term. A very neat machine though and I love the design of the machine and the printing of the labels/box/manuals
So happy to see the ATI training software. I had the XT/DOS trainer, and we had a WordPerfect/DBASE/something else trainer too. Ooh, and typing as well! Taught me an amazing amount of info from a very young age. Thank you for bringing back good memories from my Packard Bell 8088 turbo/640K/20MB/360K - got us through until 1999!
Your respect for technology over time brings warmth to my heart LGR ❤. I hope someday to do the same for my growing 80s-90s collection of a different type :)
Nice little machine, im from holland but i never knew vendex was a dutch company. Tulip was a pc company that was more known around my area, my brother had a Tulip compact III with monochrome monitor and it was more of a ibm system running ms dos 5.0
Vendex were the owners of V&D amongst others, and they were massive back in the days. Tulip is probably the best known/selling Dutch brand of computers, helped in no small part by the PC Privé projects of the 80s. My first PC was the PC Compact II, with a massive 20MB hard disk and 3.5" HD and 5.25" DD disk drives. And of course their own quirky graphics card which could do either colour emulated CGA/Hercules (using a switch on the graphics card) or colour CGA. Best of all, no battery soldered on the mainboard to keep settings intact, but relying on a battery holder that would hold 3 AA batteries to keep things ticking over. And now I feel old. Really old.
@@NumptyMcNumptyface oh yea thats right, they also made other electronic components like portable record players. and yes i remember the battery holder, we had replaced the batteries on it once and i actually still have that thing.
There's something soothing about your videos. Your voice, the warm lighting and the background music truely sets a cosy mood. Nice video as usual ! Will we ever see more of your audio setup ?
It makes me weirdly happy to see people wanting to send you (or other computer archivists/restorers etc) these machines that are otherwise going to be in a landfill. Part because I hate to see things go into landfills and cause more harm to the planet, but also because these machines ARE history. It's so interesting and amazing to see how quickly we have managed to improve on the technology. This machine is a year older than me, and yet only 33 years later I have a machine in my POCKET that is thousands of times faster, smarter, and space wise bigger than this.
What a pleasant surprise. Our first PC Compatible was a Magnavox HeadStart 300. A 286/12 version of this machine. Despite the different manufacturer name, the Magnavox looked nearly identical. And given the HeadStart name I am guessing Magnavox must have stepped in and either bought Vendex or rebranded it. Ours ended up getting a 1st generation, full length, Sound Blaster. 8MB of RAM on an ISA card. A 1/3 speed Magnavox CD drive (It was converted from an audio shelf model and benchmarked at 54Kbs transfer speed.) Logitech HandyScan Handheld scanner. U.S. Robotics 28.8 modem 3.5" and 5.25" drives, 40MB IDE HDD. Graphics were VGA 256/640x480. I was constantly inside the case on that machine and it definitely led directly to my career.
Nice XT system! I still use my Atari PC3 XT machine on a weekly basis. It's amazing what's possible with only 8Mhz. I did upgrade it from EGA to SVGA and added a SB, UMB card and a XT-IDE card to make it more useable and robust. Next I'm going to rebuild the PSU with modern hardware (swap internals from a decent ATX PSU to the original case of the AT PSU is the idea) because I don't want the AT PSU to blow up the system some day.
Seeing Pharaoh's Tomb at the end is a nostalgic flashback in itself, when I remember watching your video about it waaay back in 2009. Great video, man.
Clint, Yet another AWESOME video by you yet again, Please take as long as you want between videos, just keep giving us solid content like this. I love learning things about pcs I've never heard of.
In the late 1980's I was involved in this whole project as an employee under the Dutch Vendex International flag (Audiosonic Netherlands, Vendex Software Development and Vroom & Dreesmann) as "Technical Support Specialist". I remember a lot about it and enjoyed being a part of it.
It was a practical and "affordable" PC for more "serious" tasks at home or on a small business. P. S.: My 20 years old 3,5" FDD do not work anymore, but those six 5,25" FDD are in great shape... as usual.
Hi Clint. I love it when you zoom out, while the onboard speaker is doing his squelching thing, and you see your face in the reflection. Priceless. X Love your channel. Gaz from The Netherlands.
Thank you for this video! My first computer growing up was this exact Vendex model. It’s currently sitting on my floor with a dead hard drive like yours was. I didn’t know about the compact flash adapter, and I will definitely be trying that out to get it up and running again! My dad used to code educational games for me as a kid on this pc, and it’s an important part of my interest in retro electronics today. Thank you for reminding me to work on it again!
I can't recall seeing any of these when I was young, but it makes me wonder if I saw the IBM versions at some point. There's quite a lot I saw when I was a kid, so it makes it hard to remember specifics until I check out your videos or someone elses.
Never thought i'd see so much wrestling talk on LGR on a system review. Absolutely love it. I'd love to hear a Tech Tales esque retelling of the Monday Night Wars
My Grandpa died in 2008 at age 93 years old , He had one of these , I got to Play it , So over the Years as a Collector I now have one With the Vendex label and about 7 Clones , the case is Great every time I see one reasonably affordable I buy one and the Documentation and Software , I see the advertisements in My old Bite Rags from the 80's with so many of these cases , Someone put every issue in Binders and it worked great and they were donated to me with other Magazines , LGR I see you have multiple places for storage I live in a Duplex by myself I am so addicted I have little room to Walk and still have some at Moms basement too , I plan to retire by selling them one day . :) QC
My dad bought this in 88 in the Netherlands. Rocked it a couple of years. After this bought a XT with double density drives and then a 286 with 12,5mhz. I was a true OG then.
Tros actua in bedrijf, you knew they did sell then in the US too back then? They showed the commercial too, saying that they will never air that in the US, but they did..... Same as Cloony Nesspresso now?
You should do a series of videos with your vintage stuff collection. not just the games but also programs, old computers, machines, gadgets, accessories etc you must have accumulated a veritable treasury of that stuff and it would make a great few videos
It's kind of my little ritual to watch your vids before heading to bed. Thanks for all the awesome content you've released unto the public over the years. Appreciate it!
Hey Clint this was really cool to see !! The Vendex Headstart II was actually the computer that got me in touch with the hobby of my life :) I remember my parents getting it while they were actually intended to get an Amiga 500 at the time but at last moment the sales men at store convinced them that PC compatible would definitely be the better choice haha. How different my computer "bringup" would've been if they'd gone for that Commodore machine at the time. But anyway, I had lots of fun with this headstart II. And lateron even got my own first computer, the Vendex headstart Explorer. That was also an XT machine, but having special casing with fold-in keybard with some pretty nifty things, like DOS and some custom shell in ROM. ( I always wondered how it was able to do 2 color (blue and white) at 640x200 in graphics mode while it was only CGA :) Definitely check it out if you can! Good times ! :) Best regards !
I remember watching King Kong Bundy when I was a kid and actually being scared. He was this monster filled with rage, an unstoppable force. It's funny to hear him so soft spoken and polite. Kids are easily tricked, I guess. Man, I miss those days of wrestling shows on UHF.
I'm glad old tech like this finds a home and not a death sentence. I must say Clint you are my favorite retro pc enthusiast! I have 7 old pcs and 8 old laptops that I love to tinker with and your channel really brought out the joy and intrigue of my childhood. Btw I am getting 2 compaq luggage for free. 1 with a hdd and one without. Also I do have 6 different hardcards if you would like to take a Crack at them. Not sure I've seen that video before!
holy crap, you crammed so much into this video it's insane!! first off, I had no idea King Kong Bundy would advertise anything, let alone a computer! it's hilarious too, seeing act completely opposite to his in-ring persona😂 thank you, too, for showing Commander Keen 4 with PC speaker sound. I grew up with DOS machines before SoundBlaster or anything similar started to rule the market, so hearing those old sounds, like the water droplets or the jingle when you grab ammo (🎶da-da-da-daah-da-daah🎶) is so nostalgic 😊 man, I think I'm gonna look up some King Kong Bundy clips on TH-cam, the man's a legend...
Ahh, I love seeing LHX. Even just a brief glance takes me right back to playing it on my first computer - an Olivetti Prodest PC1. I'd love to have one again!
Vendex the computer brand was publicly known as the in-house brand of the tiny Dutch equivalent of Walmart, named V & D, or Vroom en Dreesman, "en" being the dutch word for "and", so "V and D + ex = Vendex". Vroom and Dreesman was founded in 1887, expanded into Vendex International in 1982, swallowing two more tiny Walmart equivalents: HEMA and Bijenkorf. It started its slow death around 1998, when it ignored rise of the internet. By selling off its massive premium location town center buildings and then renting them back, it managed to limp along all the way to 2015 before going bankrupt.
I wouldn't call v&d a Walmart, moreso a Sears-like store, as Walmart is more like a a French hypermarché, like the Cora, Auchan, or Carrefour, rather than a supermarket Edit; department store is what you call a "warenhuis" in Dutch.. And yeah, the V&D is still sorely missed, having left these giant gaping holes in our shopping districts, as they used to have their own custom designed buildings in many city areas, and it's been impossible to fill up the gap it left, in cities like Leyden, Enschede; and similar places..
I loved going to the V&D and looking at all the newest computer stuff they had, like the SNES with the Star Fox demo running in a loop. My Commodore 64 couldn't do that! Good memories. Too bad they went out of business. I wouldn't exactly call them 'tiny' by the way; there were 70 department stores across the Netherlands. By comparison, the Bijenkorf only has 7 stores.
Vince McMahon's attitude of "my wrestlers are contractors so I don't have to pay them well or offer full medical, but they're NOT contractors so they can't breathe in public without my permission" is terrible. Sad to see King Kong Bundy's career being killed over a kickass PC ad.
this was my first computer (at home)! edit: actually, this is a reduced version of what I had. mine had a full mobo, not this cute little thing. also, the Head Start branding was more prominent (I forgot Vendex was a thing).
Sweet addition to the collection. The fact that it looks like brand new makes it a real keeper. It's gorgeous and those mismatched LED's? Nah, that's an upgrade enhancement.
Oh wow! This was my first IBM Compatible PC and the second computer I ever owned (coming off an Atari 800XL). The documentation it came with really helped me understand DOS in a way I couldn't on the Atari and really launched me into a lifelong appreciation for all things computer. Thank you for this video and the nostalgia rush!
Hey LGR! I just found a console listed in a Wikipedia article with no page attached to it and upon looking it up Immediately thought of how FKING COOL it would be to see you review it so here I am- Your delivery of narration and hardware testing is the best in my opinion, and this is so niche it seems right up your alley. The console is Sega's 1988(?) "Video Driver" and it's this weird ass battery powered device that has its games on full-motion video VHS tapes, but still requiring a VHS player to function. It's main part is the sensor that's supposed to be attached to the bottom of a 4:3 ratio TV and what I'm finding weird is your "player" is literally just a car on top of that mounted sensor (not in the video) and you move it to avoid obstacles on the screen with the steering wheel joystick. It released only two games (on one tape) and "two other games" are known to exist. The public didn't favor it apparently and it was discontinued shortly. I would PAY to see you review & test it- the only obstacle is finding out where the fuck one is. I am about to go on a quest to find one and will return if I bring answers LOL
How cool! “Santa” brought my family an identical Vendex 888XT Turbo during the Christmas of 1987. However, ours did include a Headstart branded 3 button mouse and an excellent mouse based painting program.
I lusted over Headstart computers on the rare occasions we got to visit a JCPenny. We were too poor to afford, but I hoped to have one one day. Finally in 1989 as a 12 year old I worked a whole summer saving up money and headed to MW to purchase. At that time the Headstart was a 286 Monochrome. The PS/1 Color 386SX had just come out, and it ended up being what I purchased as my first computer.
Thanks for calling it the "then WWF". I feel like the WWE is doing everything they can, when possible, to strike that name from the record. I know they changed their name and brand for a reason, but history is history, and should be maintained as such.
I know it has been over 20 years, but I am still amazed Vince gave the name up. For him, business isn't just business, it is personal (like the King Kong Bundy story here.) He seems like the kind of guy who would spend his company bankrupt on endless legal action just to try to keep the name so he wouldn't have to say someone/some entity got the best of him.
We had a Samsung SPC3000 in 1988 here in the UK, with 20MB hard drive, green screen, so this Vendex looked very familiar. The power switch & led on the monitor are exactly the same. It was a reliable machine over the years we used it.
I started my career in 79 so these are all commonplace computers for the day back in the 80s oh, and the 90s thing started to take off technology-wise even though sarek and AMD were The Underdogs I found them to be quite impressive during their time,
Generic clone systems like this at the time always traded quality for price/performance, such as it was. Many of us owned systems like this that we could legitimately claim were superior to IBM's own machines in many ways... but secretly we still wished we could afford to own a real IBM, or at least a computer with that level of quality that could play the games we wanted. (At the time, such a thing didn't really exist.) My roommate had an AST, then an Acer clone, while I had a Packard Bell. Systems like these served a large niche that IBM and its main competitor Compaq didn't, and helped popularize the IBM-compatible platform, but I and most of the others I knew with rebranded clones like this always felt a little inferior. Today, when you can go back and more cheaply compare systems directly, it's still pretty obvious why we felt that way.
I suspect the Model M keyboards actually had a great deal to do with this. Considering at the time a new Model M cost $600, it was really a great bargain for IBM to include with their PCs. No one else had comparable keyboards. BTW to this day, don't pay inflated for used "vintage clicky" keyboards if they aren't IBM Model F or Model Ms. Their appreciated prices are inflating the market for all keyboard of this era, and it's not justified.
I like the red and green LED thing. Seeing this old PC brings back great memories. Spent many nights playing Wheel of fortune and test drive on it Thanks for making the video. PS I still have the old girl in the basement. along with my father's Commodore Colt with orange CGA monitor
Wow, Clint! I was happy to wait patiently for this video because I knew you were taking your time to give it the royal LGR treatment, but you continue to exceed my expectations! I'm so glad this machine and its history have been documented now, and can now be enjoyed by retro computer enthusiasts everywhere. Thank you, and well done, sir!
I’m glad you enjoyed! And huge thanks again for sending this lovely system my way.
Man I Love The 80's And 90's Computers Thanks For The Video "LGR"
thx for sending it in dude
Yeah, that was marvellous. LGR art, that is exactly what people hope for, everything why i have, will be a loyal viewer.
So glad you saved this machine and sent it to LGR to share with all of us. How else would we have found out that Samsung was the man behind the curtain making a ton of Turbo XT clones. It's awesome that it had all the original software and documentation with it
McMahon always wanted it both ways, calling wrestlers independent contractors so he doesn't have to give them employee benefits or a safety net, but also wanting to keep a complete stranglehold on them and treat them like full contract employees
I definitely support bundy in this....over thirty years later, for an event that happened before i was born... the internet's weird
More recently, he made all the wrestlers stop streaming on Twitch, because they were making independent monies as an independent contractor and he didn't like that.
@@TubbyJ420 i remember that happening, it's such a scummy move and i bet when Vince steps down and Stephanie takes over eventually she'd be just as bad, cause apparently she's a bit of a tyrant
The only McMahon people usually say good things about is shane, Cause apparently he's much more chilled
@@ichimaru96 These days it’s looking like Stephanie isn’t gonna get the company either! They’ve gutted their talent pool with mass firings to get them ready to be sold in the near future!
@@paulrose1634 get ready for the saudi wrestling federation, crown jewel all year every year 😂
it's so bizarre, i understand wanting to make more money.. that's natural, that's healthy for the economy
but what is with all these scumdorks who seem to get angry at _anyone else_ making money? how does that benefit them?
Dude, this was so good. I wasn't expecting to learn about both a late 80s IBM clone and King Kong Bundy in the same video but here we are. I sent this one to all my wrestling buddies.
Thank you, I'm happy to hear it man! 👍
Username checks out.
Oh, hey Yahel.
@@chrisfratz hey Chris!
The creators of Married with Children named Al Bundy as a tribute to King Kong Bundy, he was even on the show at least once.
I had one of these!!! (bought in the Netherlands from V and D Shops(Vroom and Dreesmann)) in Dutch you write AND as EN so V AND D would become V EN D, hence the name VENDEX. I played Zak McKracken and the Alienmindbenders on it and my mind was bend alright.. What a FANTASTIC machine WITH FANTASTIC graphics, I was 15.. oh. the memories.
1lJN
And this is why my German friends think my last name is so hilarious (McCracken), I take it that it was popular in the Netherlands too? I had never heard of this game until moving to Germany 😆
@@albeedude Weird, it's a Lucas Arts (or Lucasfilm?) early classics, why would it have been more popular in Germany and Netherlands than anywhere else?
@@albeedude Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders ist ein 1988 erschienenes, Dutch wiki only, no English. German....
Lucas arts ! your name?
Things haven't changed much over the years. Vince still says the wrestlers are independent contractors and still does not let them do any side work without his permission.
What a cheapskate.
What a POS.
I mean you know that when you sign the contract. At some point it's on the talent for signing the dotted line while knowing full well what it entails.
@@derpderpin1568 He's not going to socially or financially elevate you for defending him, man.
@@ffnbbq and you're not going to get laid because you're trying to stick it to someone more financially secure than you, "man."
Awesome review! Good thing the battery was removed in time. I own two of these machines, both were severely damaged by leakage. In case anyone else encounters similar issues: In one of my 888-XT's the floppy drives stopped working entirely, even after cleaning up the damaged traces. It turns out there are some 74-series logic IC's sitting right next to the battery, that will cause issues after a leaking cell. These IC's supply the floppy controller with multiple clock signals, and when they're absent, the drives won't work. If anyone reading this owns one of these machines, remove the NiCd battery -now-!
Wow. This takes me back. This was the first computer I ever used at home! It was bought for my older sister, at first, but when she tired of it it fell to me. I mostly used it to write my, err, novels and play Police Quest. It was starting to show its limitations by the time Police Quest 2 came out, but the game was still playable. Ours wasn't sold with the monitor included, so my dad just got a monochrome one at first and later a CGA of a different brand. It's odd because Police Quest actually looked better on the monochrome display as the CGA presented in unnatural colors heavy on red and blue. I remember opting for the mono switch often. I also remember how time consuming it was to save my place in a game using the two floppies. I still, to this day, can recall the sound of those floppies working. I also still expect this weird ticking sound to happen when I hold the back button down in a word program even as I type on new keyboards. Thanks for this.
Novels? 😏
Pretty sure someone has made some sound emulator for that. I mean WinUAE has floppy sound emulation for it to be closer to real hardware. Having something that simulates the backspace.
Good to know Vince has never changed over the last 3 decades. Considering the state of RAW though, unsurprising. Love your videos but always a bigger wrestling fan so when two interest cross paths, it's always amusing.
Once a greedy POS, always a greedy POS. I'll never understand millionaires. They have enough money for 5 lifetimes yet constantly want more.
Exactly what I was thinking during that side story, man he really hasn't changed a bit, has he? Still pulling the same independent contractor crap today with his wrestlers...
@@gaylordfocker7990 "The more ya have, the more you'll want," or something?
Something tells me the same thing would have happened if he worked for Gagne, Crockett or *insert promoter here* because wrestling carny gonna wrestling carny.
@John Williamson Huh? I don't even watch wrestling.
There is nothing more relaxing that a full computer focused LGR episode!
LGR and WWF. An invasion angle i would have never guessed. Bundy was a favorite as a kid, and all of this computer selling is news to me. Great job.
BAH GAWD
One of the cleanest, most well preserved old PC's ive seen on this channel. Wow!
Coming to an LGR video with King Kong Bundy in the thumbnail forced me into a double-take.
Vince had a bad tendency to try and strongarm his wrestlers into giving him a cut of their outside ventures. Something similar happened to Jesse Ventura over a Sega Genesis endorsement (and the fallout was also similar).
What did McMahon do when Ventura became Minnesota Governor?
@@parlinmains He actually tried to get Ventura to ref a match after he became governor but Ventura opted out because the heel in the match was going to win and he didn't want to associate his platform with supporting the "bad guy".
Kinda weird.
The Headstart III was my first PC, growing up. Great to see its ancestor on here! I'll add that having a version of HOT on my first PC made learning as a kid a lot easier.
There is just something about classic/retro computers, the sounds, the site, the feel, the total experience. Just awesome.
I wasn't big on pro wrestling in the 80's, but I'd heard of King Kong Bundy. Sounds like he got a raw deal!
Pretty much all the wrestlers of that era got bad deals. Even in today's wrestling.
I would really enjoy the differing LEDs in the floppy drives myself. Excellent video!
Okay, you hooked me with that thumbnail! HAD to see what King Kong Bundy had to do with this computer haha. Shout out to all the other wrestling nerds who are also retro-computing nerds! XD
Kind of sad that he lost his career over. Promotional job. I'm not into wrestling but McMahon can get bent if they simultaneously don't get the full gamut of benefits of an employee and also can't do promos for income. :(
What floored me is how it looks utterly untouched by time. I mean wtf? Was it sotred in a hermeditcaly sealed vault? The click of the on button even sounded like it was made yesterday. Mind, blown.
Another well researched video! Thanks Clint!. The Dutch Vendex Headstart Turbo XT computer was probably used by many amateur genealogists back in the day to run their 'hccgenealogie' genealogy DOS program (at least we did😉). You could buy the computer at the Vroom & Dreesmann warehouses in a lot of Dutch cities like Alkmaar. Thanks again for this video! We also shared it on our Twitter account.
I don't what it is about the computers from the 80's and 90's but the aesthetic is so damn comfy and nostalgic even though they predate me. Something about the big blockyness of it is just awesome.
ok zoomer
Maybe the thoughts of simpler times, when things were not complicated.
@Jason Fitch i mean when it didn't rely too much on your information like making an email to activate your hardware and Internet required games. And maybe it was speaking from childhood memories
@@lightly-red-huedmaleindivi6266 stick a cob up the but
man LGR knows how to set the mood just right on these videos. PC all set up neatly on the desk with good lighting just for the video. love it
and great audio quality too.
Ah Vendex..Nice video, Clint!
This really takes me back to the eighties when I used to play on these things as a kid at our local V&D (Vroom & Dreesmann) warehouse here in The Netherlands, which was once very succesful but now defunct because of competing web shops. These guys literally sold everything and Vendex was their in-house brand. I always like their quirky low cost Explorer model which had a home computer vibe with a foldable keyboards and looked a bit like a Tandy 1000EX/HX, Atari ST, Amiga 500 or Laser XT. I think V&D stole this idea from RadioShack 🙂
Vendex later became a daughter company of Philips. Some of the Headstart machines like your 888 were indeed rebranded machines, made by Samsung and the monitor is actually a Daewoo.. Others like the later Headstart 500 were Philips/Magnavox machines. We used to have Holborn, Genisys/G2, Tulip, Laser, Vendex, ARRA and of course Philips/Magnavox (Dutch computer companies). Sadly there isn't anything left of them. Of course Philips is still with us but they don't produce any PCs anymore :-(
Vendex was V&D's inhouse generic brand. I have seen various objects with the Vendex-brand... I have a spanner with the brand...
@@laurensa.1803 Vendex had everything. They also had a range of hifi equipement, home appliances and tools. My dad has a Vendex branded drill from the late 70’s that it still working. I kinda miss Vroom & Dreesman stores, their in-house brand had good value products. Visiting department stores used to be a Saturday pastime for a lot of people. I always liked V&D’s games and media section. It brings back memories of the early 90’s.
The Tulip being the first official IBM Clone, that BIOS cloned, was the trigger for V&D to build a cloned PC too, needing a less then 1000 Guilder system including all peripherals.
They did a more then perfect job, selling them in the US too.
I was doing research for many years, are these systems still in the US, after we lost the shops. Being a personal project for me as a kid, got involved in it.
I'm so glad I got an Amiga 500 at the time and not a Headstart :) Still it does bring some nostalgia. V&D also had a home computer club called MCN (Microcomputer Club Nederland). You can sometimes still find accessories like floppies with the MCN logo on it. They even had a sort of magazine.
@@MarcovandenHout DJ? why you kept using Amiga, Fat Boy Slim levels, many DJ's use them, Holland, i know, i need to repair them.
Only nerdy people needed PC! creative people NOT! apple and Amiga still!
Mircocomputer? next to Minicomputer only! Homecomputers they were called, that club does mini support too, old mainframes?
Our family's first computer was one of the Magnavox 286 HeadStart machines. My mom about lost her mind when I put Windows 3.1 on it and she had to learn a new way to get to her word processing program.
I was the youngest of three, serving long stints on a VIC-20 and some Commodore machines when my dad declared me the computer expert - and I had to choose a clone for our house. This is the machine I picked, from a choice of no others as I can remember from some electronics retailer that vanished long ago. Those color coded floppies are things I can't forget. I discovered local BBSes on this computer, and the internet has been bumming me out ever since. Love this video, thanks for the content Clint!
I love history lessons from this cadre of technology preservers! I lived through this time, but I was a student and not aware of the larger picture. So many goings-on!
And I like the different drive LEDs - helps differentiate them!
This brings back memories! My first IBM compatible PC was a Goldstar Turbo XT. It came bundled with Alphaworks, and GEOS. I miss it. I've looked on ebay for years but I never found a Goldstar Turbo XT.
I've been waiting for this video since the Vendex showed up in the unboxing video. Was hoping to see it compared to the Apex but wow that twist that they're both secret Samsung machines was thrilling and unexpected! What a wild time in computing, and it always fascinates me how so many companies thought they could succeed in the PC market by selling rebadged/outsourced machines. Like you said you're in a price war with yourself essentially and with the shrinking margin going to the OEM it's no wonder these types of brands always failed to stick in the market long term. A very neat machine though and I love the design of the machine and the printing of the labels/box/manuals
So happy to see the ATI training software. I had the XT/DOS trainer, and we had a WordPerfect/DBASE/something else trainer too. Ooh, and typing as well! Taught me an amazing amount of info from a very young age. Thank you for bringing back good memories from my Packard Bell 8088 turbo/640K/20MB/360K - got us through until 1999!
Hack, Tapper, King's Quest, Police Quest, ETERIS, ACE, Amazing Spider-Man and Captain America vs. Dr. Doom, Double Dare, Wizard, and so many more.
Your respect for technology over time brings warmth to my heart LGR ❤. I hope someday to do the same for my growing 80s-90s collection of a different type :)
Nice little machine, im from holland but i never knew vendex was a dutch company. Tulip was a pc company that was more known around my area, my brother had a Tulip compact III with monochrome monitor and it was more of a ibm system running ms dos 5.0
Vendex were the owners of V&D amongst others, and they were massive back in the days.
Tulip is probably the best known/selling Dutch brand of computers, helped in no small part by the PC Privé projects of the 80s. My first PC was the PC Compact II, with a massive 20MB hard disk and 3.5" HD and 5.25" DD disk drives. And of course their own quirky graphics card which could do either colour emulated CGA/Hercules (using a switch on the graphics card) or colour CGA.
Best of all, no battery soldered on the mainboard to keep settings intact, but relying on a battery holder that would hold 3 AA batteries to keep things ticking over.
And now I feel old. Really old.
@@NumptyMcNumptyface oh yea thats right, they also made other electronic components like portable record players. and yes i remember the battery holder, we had replaced the batteries on it once and i actually still have that thing.
Weren't Tulip making Commodore branded PCs about 20 years ago?
Vendex = V en D (ex): Vroom & Dreesman
@@MarcKloos And they also vend (sell) stuff.
There's something soothing about your videos. Your voice, the warm lighting and the background music truely sets a cosy mood. Nice video as usual ! Will we ever see more of your audio setup ?
I also watch several wrestling TH-camrs, so it was interesting to run into a fact that they haven't covered. Thank you!
It makes me weirdly happy to see people wanting to send you (or other computer archivists/restorers etc) these machines that are otherwise going to be in a landfill. Part because I hate to see things go into landfills and cause more harm to the planet, but also because these machines ARE history. It's so interesting and amazing to see how quickly we have managed to improve on the technology. This machine is a year older than me, and yet only 33 years later I have a machine in my POCKET that is thousands of times faster, smarter, and space wise bigger than this.
I have to say this.... Youre Videos are like an island of peace in this hellscape they call TH-cam. Thx for this^^
This thing somehow looks exactly how I remember all computers looking form this era... and now I know why.
What a pleasant surprise. Our first PC Compatible was a Magnavox HeadStart 300. A 286/12 version of this machine. Despite the different manufacturer name, the Magnavox looked nearly identical. And given the HeadStart name I am guessing Magnavox must have stepped in and either bought Vendex or rebranded it.
Ours ended up getting a 1st generation, full length, Sound Blaster. 8MB of RAM on an ISA card. A 1/3 speed Magnavox CD drive (It was converted from an audio shelf model and benchmarked at 54Kbs transfer speed.) Logitech HandyScan Handheld scanner. U.S. Robotics 28.8 modem 3.5" and 5.25" drives, 40MB IDE HDD. Graphics were VGA 256/640x480. I was constantly inside the case on that machine and it definitely led directly to my career.
this is top quality content mate. clearly so much time went into this! Well done!
Thank you!
'Hitherto unsuspected intellectual prowess'. Thats my new favortite thing to say for the next week or so.
Why does LGR make my day much brighter?
Because he is a nice boy who shares his toys with us.
Because its good content?
Even the smallest of bulbs can light up the darkest of rooms
Because it's just so enjoyable.
1.6m subs? I've been watching for many many years. Proud of you man!!
Thank you for sticking around!
Nice XT system! I still use my Atari PC3 XT machine on a weekly basis. It's amazing what's possible with only 8Mhz. I did upgrade it from EGA to SVGA and added a SB, UMB card and a XT-IDE card to make it more useable and robust. Next I'm going to rebuild the PSU with modern hardware (swap internals from a decent ATX PSU to the original case of the AT PSU is the idea) because I don't want the AT PSU to blow up the system some day.
Seeing Pharaoh's Tomb at the end is a nostalgic flashback in itself, when I remember watching your video about it waaay back in 2009. Great video, man.
Clint, Yet another AWESOME video by you yet again, Please take as long as you want between videos, just keep giving us solid content like this. I love learning things about pcs I've never heard of.
Thank you!
In the late 1980's I was involved in this whole project as an employee under the Dutch Vendex International flag (Audiosonic Netherlands, Vendex Software Development and Vroom & Dreesmann) as "Technical Support Specialist". I remember a lot about it and enjoyed being a part of it.
It was a practical and "affordable" PC for more "serious" tasks at home or on a small business.
P. S.: My 20 years old 3,5" FDD do not work anymore, but those six 5,25" FDD are in great shape... as usual.
Hi Clint. I love it when you zoom out, while the onboard speaker is doing his squelching thing, and you see your face in the reflection. Priceless. X Love your channel. Gaz from The Netherlands.
What a gorgeous little machine. I love the bright green motherboard.
Thank you for this video! My first computer growing up was this exact Vendex model. It’s currently sitting on my floor with a dead hard drive like yours was. I didn’t know about the compact flash adapter, and I will definitely be trying that out to get it up and running again! My dad used to code educational games for me as a kid on this pc, and it’s an important part of my interest in retro electronics today. Thank you for reminding me to work on it again!
I can't recall seeing any of these when I was young, but it makes me wonder if I saw the IBM versions at some point. There's quite a lot I saw when I was a kid, so it makes it hard to remember specifics until I check out your videos or someone elses.
The. Manual. Contains. Pinouts. I am in awe. I remember those days, but increasingly question whether those memories are real.
Never thought i'd see so much wrestling talk on LGR on a system review. Absolutely love it. I'd love to hear a Tech Tales esque retelling of the Monday Night Wars
Might I suggest War Stories by Cultaholic?
@@GamerKing50 Love me some Cultaholic, but Ross, Adam, Sam, and Jack are NOT Clint, and don't present things in the same way.
My Grandpa died in 2008 at age 93 years old , He had one of these , I got to Play it , So over the Years as a Collector I now have one With the Vendex label and about 7 Clones , the case is Great every time I see one reasonably affordable I buy one and the Documentation and Software , I see the advertisements in My old Bite Rags from the 80's with so many of these cases , Someone put every issue in Binders and it worked great and they were donated to me with other Magazines , LGR I see you have multiple places for storage I live in a Duplex by myself I am so addicted I have little room to Walk and still have some at Moms basement too , I plan to retire by selling them one day . :) QC
My dad bought this in 88 in the Netherlands. Rocked it a couple of years. After this bought a XT with double density drives and then a 286 with 12,5mhz. I was a true OG then.
Tros actua in bedrijf, you knew they did sell then in the US too back then?
They showed the commercial too, saying that they will never air that in the US, but they did.....
Same as Cloony Nesspresso now?
You should do a series of videos with your vintage stuff collection. not just the games but also programs, old computers, machines, gadgets, accessories etc you must have accumulated a veritable treasury of that stuff and it would make a great few videos
Never knew that Vendex were sold in other countries than the Netherlands and Belgium, learned something :)
It's kind of my little ritual to watch your vids before heading to bed. Thanks for all the awesome content you've released unto the public over the years. Appreciate it!
Two things that I like to listen to, LGR and classic wrestling lore.
Hey Clint this was really cool to see !! The Vendex Headstart II was actually the computer that got me in touch with the hobby of my life :) I remember my parents getting it while they were actually intended to get an Amiga 500 at the time but at last moment the sales men at store convinced them that PC compatible would definitely be the better choice haha. How different my computer "bringup" would've been if they'd gone for that Commodore machine at the time. But anyway, I had lots of fun with this headstart II. And lateron even got my own first computer, the Vendex headstart Explorer. That was also an XT machine, but having special casing with fold-in keybard with some pretty nifty things, like DOS and some custom shell in ROM. ( I always wondered how it was able to do 2 color (blue and white) at 640x200 in graphics mode while it was only CGA :) Definitely check it out if you can! Good times ! :) Best regards !
I remember watching King Kong Bundy when I was a kid and actually being scared. He was this monster filled with rage, an unstoppable force. It's funny to hear him so soft spoken and polite. Kids are easily tricked, I guess. Man, I miss those days of wrestling shows on UHF.
Clint, I love that you've adopted the Mario-shotgun hurt sfx from Tim Rogers' videos.
I love the toggle switch on the video/ memory card.
I'm glad old tech like this finds a home and not a death sentence. I must say Clint you are my favorite retro pc enthusiast! I have 7 old pcs and 8 old laptops that I love to tinker with and your channel really brought out the joy and intrigue of my childhood. Btw I am getting 2 compaq luggage for free. 1 with a hdd and one without. Also I do have 6 different hardcards if you would like to take a Crack at them. Not sure I've seen that video before!
Luggables
holy crap, you crammed so much into this video it's insane!! first off, I had no idea King Kong Bundy would advertise anything, let alone a computer! it's hilarious too, seeing act completely opposite to his in-ring persona😂
thank you, too, for showing Commander Keen 4 with PC speaker sound. I grew up with DOS machines before SoundBlaster or anything similar started to rule the market, so hearing those old sounds, like the water droplets or the jingle when you grab ammo (🎶da-da-da-daah-da-daah🎶) is so nostalgic 😊
man, I think I'm gonna look up some King Kong Bundy clips on TH-cam, the man's a legend...
Ahh, I love seeing LHX. Even just a brief glance takes me right back to playing it on my first computer - an Olivetti Prodest PC1. I'd love to have one again!
Bundymania lives!
King Kong Bundy pulled me in! LMAO good thumbnail LGR!
LGR videos are so relaxing
I was just going to write the EXACT same thing
This was my family's first computer! I was like 7 when we got it! So cool to see this! Thanks!
Vendex the computer brand was publicly known as the in-house brand of the tiny Dutch equivalent of Walmart, named V & D, or Vroom en Dreesman, "en" being the dutch word for "and", so "V and D + ex = Vendex". Vroom and Dreesman was founded in 1887, expanded into Vendex International in 1982, swallowing two more tiny Walmart equivalents: HEMA and Bijenkorf. It started its slow death around 1998, when it ignored rise of the internet. By selling off its massive premium location town center buildings and then renting them back, it managed to limp along all the way to 2015 before going bankrupt.
I wouldn't call v&d a Walmart, moreso a Sears-like store, as Walmart is more like a a French hypermarché, like the Cora, Auchan, or Carrefour, rather than a supermarket
Edit; department store is what you call a "warenhuis" in Dutch..
And yeah, the V&D is still sorely missed, having left these giant gaping holes in our shopping districts, as they used to have their own custom designed buildings in many city areas, and it's been impossible to fill up the gap it left, in cities like Leyden, Enschede; and similar places..
To be fair though, there's no equivalent "people of V&D" page on Facebook. 😛
I loved going to the V&D and looking at all the newest computer stuff they had, like the SNES with the Star Fox demo running in a loop. My Commodore 64 couldn't do that! Good memories. Too bad they went out of business. I wouldn't exactly call them 'tiny' by the way; there were 70 department stores across the Netherlands. By comparison, the Bijenkorf only has 7 stores.
Always great to wake up on a Friday and have a new lgr vid!
Vince McMahon's attitude of "my wrestlers are contractors so I don't have to pay them well or offer full medical, but they're NOT contractors so they can't breathe in public without my permission" is terrible. Sad to see King Kong Bundy's career being killed over a kickass PC ad.
This makes me think that I’d want to see a video all about different keyboards and their switches.
I went to the mall with my buddies to meet king kong bundy at a department store promoting this computer.
That's rad.
6:15: "Commodore Colt - 25 pc. package IBM XT compatible [...] 10 Diskettes" - yeah, marketing in the 80s... when computer ads read like cuttlery ads.
this was my first computer (at home)!
edit: actually, this is a reduced version of what I had. mine had a full mobo, not this cute little thing. also, the Head Start branding was more prominent (I forgot Vendex was a thing).
I kind of love that you can actually kind of make out how the screen looks in person at 4K. You can see the scanlines and everything!
15:57 It's nice to see a few moments later that this machine is Y2K compliant : )
The video quality is so crisp ! That screen zoom at the beginning made me go 'wow'!
Sweet addition to the collection. The fact that it looks like brand new makes it a real keeper. It's gorgeous and those mismatched LED's? Nah, that's an upgrade enhancement.
Aaaah Clint, the perfect compliment to my morning coffee, this gem of a video is.
Good to the last drop.
Thank you good sir.
😊
$995? That was DIRT CHEAP for a desktop PC of that form factor back then.
It really was!
Oh wow! This was my first IBM Compatible PC and the second computer I ever owned (coming off an Atari 800XL). The documentation it came with really helped me understand DOS in a way I couldn't on the Atari and really launched me into a lifelong appreciation for all things computer. Thank you for this video and the nostalgia rush!
this episode was great, how the Vendex deal impacted Bundy's career is the type of in-depth research and thorough coverage I can only expect from LGR!
Hey LGR! I just found a console listed in a Wikipedia article with no page attached to it and upon looking it up Immediately thought of how FKING COOL it would be to see you review it so here I am- Your delivery of narration and hardware testing is the best in my opinion, and this is so niche it seems right up your alley.
The console is Sega's 1988(?) "Video Driver" and it's this weird ass battery powered device that has its games on full-motion video VHS tapes, but still requiring a VHS player to function. It's main part is the sensor that's supposed to be attached to the bottom of a 4:3 ratio TV and what I'm finding weird is your "player" is literally just a car on top of that mounted sensor (not in the video) and you move it to avoid obstacles on the screen with the steering wheel joystick. It released only two games (on one tape) and "two other games" are known to exist. The public didn't favor it apparently and it was discontinued shortly.
I would PAY to see you review & test it- the only obstacle is finding out where the fuck one is. I am about to go on a quest to find one and will return if I bring answers LOL
Turbo? That means it’s awesome in the 1980s.
That's Rad!
Totally gnarly, dude!
How cool! “Santa” brought my family an identical Vendex 888XT Turbo during the Christmas of 1987. However, ours did include a Headstart branded 3 button mouse and an excellent mouse based painting program.
I wonder where LGR keeps all these computers.
Either throughout his home as decorations, in a storage unit or both
Storage
He has a video for it.
He sells some gear off too, eventually.
you can tell he's not married! lol That sounds sexist, but I know I had issues with my ex about keeping vintage PCs and PC parts!
7:38 - Now that's a sound I haven't heard in a long, long time. Thanks for volume boosting that for us olds in the crowd :)
That is one sleek machine, wish I had one back in the day!
I lusted over Headstart computers on the rare occasions we got to visit a JCPenny. We were too poor to afford, but I hoped to have one one day. Finally in 1989 as a 12 year old I worked a whole summer saving up money and headed to MW to purchase. At that time the Headstart was a 286 Monochrome. The PS/1 Color 386SX had just come out, and it ended up being what I purchased as my first computer.
Thanks for calling it the "then WWF". I feel like the WWE is doing everything they can, when possible, to strike that name from the record. I know they changed their name and brand for a reason, but history is history, and should be maintained as such.
It cracks me up every time I see World Wide Fund for Nature advertised on TV. Can't help but think of pandas wrestling.
I know it has been over 20 years, but I am still amazed Vince gave the name up. For him, business isn't just business, it is personal (like the King Kong Bundy story here.) He seems like the kind of guy who would spend his company bankrupt on endless legal action just to try to keep the name so he wouldn't have to say someone/some entity got the best of him.
We had a Samsung SPC3000 in 1988 here in the UK, with 20MB hard drive, green screen, so this Vendex looked very familiar. The power switch & led on the monitor are exactly the same. It was a reliable machine over the years we used it.
I started my career in 79 so these are all commonplace computers for the day back in the 80s oh, and the 90s thing started to take off technology-wise even though sarek and AMD were The Underdogs I found them to be quite impressive during their time,
Oh wow, that operating environment. Every school computer back in the day had that over here in the Netherlands. That brings back memories.
Oh that's awesome!
I miss dual floppies..so cool..
I always enjoyed the sound of floppies.
My old WinXP rig has dual dvd burners. On the fly copying was so convenient, and always impressed friends haha.
King Kong Bundy and his 5 count! 😁 I remember all the Vendex ads with Bundy in popular magazines. I always wondered about them & LGR delivers!
Generic clone systems like this at the time always traded quality for price/performance, such as it was. Many of us owned systems like this that we could legitimately claim were superior to IBM's own machines in many ways... but secretly we still wished we could afford to own a real IBM, or at least a computer with that level of quality that could play the games we wanted. (At the time, such a thing didn't really exist.) My roommate had an AST, then an Acer clone, while I had a Packard Bell. Systems like these served a large niche that IBM and its main competitor Compaq didn't, and helped popularize the IBM-compatible platform, but I and most of the others I knew with rebranded clones like this always felt a little inferior. Today, when you can go back and more cheaply compare systems directly, it's still pretty obvious why we felt that way.
I suspect the Model M keyboards actually had a great deal to do with this. Considering at the time a new Model M cost $600, it was really a great bargain for IBM to include with their PCs. No one else had comparable keyboards. BTW to this day, don't pay inflated for used "vintage clicky" keyboards if they aren't IBM Model F or Model Ms. Their appreciated prices are inflating the market for all keyboard of this era, and it's not justified.
Tulip in Holland did the first official IBM clone
we still have it here, demanded by Dutch law!
Intel by AMD systems, weird times....
I like the red and green LED thing. Seeing this old PC brings back great memories. Spent many nights playing Wheel of fortune and test drive on it Thanks for making the video. PS I still have the old girl in the basement. along with my father's Commodore Colt with orange CGA monitor
Clint: “So here’s this clone computer that was pretty popular…”
Oh neat
Also Clint: “So Wrestlemania…”
I don't know a thing about old computers but the quality of this video is reason enough for me to be watching it regardless.