Keyboards, keyboards everywhere, but not a drop to drink. How many different computer keyboards have you used in your lifetime? Do you remember the good ones? The bad ones? By golly, I’ve known quite a few.

See if you can recognize which vintage computer system each of these keyboards comes from. Feel free to post comments about them and share your memories about keyboards of yore. Answers to the quiz will be posted next week as an update to this entry.

Answers after the break.

[ Continue reading Vintage Computer Keyboard Quiz » ]

Now we move from crowds to Kongs. This week’s theme is “Donkey Kong.” Each of these three pixel blocks is from a version of Donkey Kong. Can you guess which system or computer each is from? The first block is to the right, the other two are below. As always, post your guesses in the comments section of this entry, and don’t be bashful.

    

The answers to the last challenge are after the break.

[ Continue reading Name Those Pixels: Name That Kong » ]

The two most popular news agencies have published no less than two articles in the last two days about vintage computers. Are the planets in alignment, or does there now exist a vast conspiracy (the conspiracy of “twos” perhaps?) to cover vintage computers in the national media? Either way, it’s been a great week for our hobby.

The first article (Reuters via Yahoo) focuses on the ever-popular Sellam Ismail, organizer of the Vintage Computer Festival, and his lovable buddies (Bruce Damer, Evan Koblentz) from the festival scene. Poor Sellam has been covered so many times that he’s probably getting tired of it by now. The second article (AP via Yahoo) “unearths” a relative newcomer to media publicity, Jeremy Mehrle, whose Basement Mac Museum I covered back in February (along with a short interview with the Mehrleman himself). It’s true that many news outlets get some of their news by culling blogs these days. But with cool topics like these, can you blame them? And obviously, the door swings both ways.

Sure, the heroes get all the attention, but what about the loyal fans cheering in the background? This week’s theme and hint is “NES Crowds.” Think of background crowds in games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. That should help you narrow it down a bit. The first block is to the right, the other two are below. As always, post your guesses in the comments section of this entry, and don’t be bashful. Good luck!

    

The answers to the last challenge are after the break.

[ Continue reading Name Those Pixels: And the Crowd Goes Wild » ]

[ ‘Tales From the Benjside’ is a column where Benj writes silly things about computers, video games, and tangentially-related stuff in a blog-like fashion. ]

It’s Christmas time once again in the Land of Benj, and you know what that means: more presents! So get out your stockings and you elf caps and follow me once again into another…

What? It’s March, you say? Egads, man! Seems that I’m a bit late on the festivities (or early?). But then again, the Land of Benj does not observe normal rules of space and time. Only the Rules of Christmas. And the Rules of Christmas clearly spell out (Section 8c, Paragraph 4, Line 3) that it’s time for another Tales From the Benjside. Let it commence.

[ Continue reading Tales From the Benjside: BABY DRAGON IS SLEPT » ]