Ok, real #retrocomputing realtalk. In your opinion, what’s the most esthetically pleasing old computer or terminal?

Here’s my top 3 (list subject to change without notice due to new finds and whims)...

@thomasfuchs I wouldn't call it the most aesthetically pleasing, but I like what HP's calculator division was doing in the early 1990s, between the HP 95LX/100LX/200LX (x86 palmtops) and the OmniBook 300/425/430/530 - the family resemblance is huge.

(Source: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?52612-HP-OmniBook-300-find!)

@thomasfuchs The Sharp X68000, on the other hand?

Now that might actually be the most aesthetically pleasing. The dual tower design is... 🤤

(Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfjeY4GHH25/?taken-by=pyract.retro)

@thomasfuchs The original ZX Spectrum should probably get a mention - it may have been utterly awful to use, but it sure *looked* sleek and sexy.

Credit: By Bill Bertram - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=170050

@thomasfuchs While we're on British machines, how about the Acorn RiscPC?

It's not the best looking, but it's an /interesting/ one.

First is a (small) image of a single-slice RiscPC 600 - this means you get one 3.5" HDD, one 3.5" floppy, one CD drive, and 2 expansion slots. This is the minimal chassis configuration. (Source: http://www.georg-basse.de/retro/meine-sammlung/riscpc-600/)

But it gets better.

Next is a 2-slice machine. One more 3.5" bay, one more 5.25" bay, 2 more expansion slots. (Credit: By Christof Efkemann - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=891300)

And, four slices was supported, too. (Source: http://www.webmonster.co.nz/ro_hardware/slices/riscpcflap.html)

Not done yet, though.

@thomasfuchs You want everything *INCLUDING* the kitchen sink?

Fine, have everything.

Have a StrongARM, a 5x86, three hard drives, two floppy drives, a CD drive, three different removable SCSI drives, a docking station for an Acorn Pocket Book (rebadged Psion Series 3), four TV tuner cards, a multimedia card, a SCSI controller, a 28.8 modem, a second power supply to power all of the above crap, a pizza oven(!), and a literal kitchen sink(!!!), in ten slices.

Say hello to the RiscPC Rocket Ship.

Source: http://www.john-ward.org.uk/personal/john/computers/html/rocket.html

@thomasfuchs Who says that we just need personal computers, though?

Let's get into some big stuff.

Have a Thinking Machines CM-5 with 544 processors.

Das blinkenlichten…

(Source: https://people.csail.mit.edu/bradley/cm5/)

@thomasfuchs We need to talk about its predecessors, which used a different architecture, and a simpler version of the same industrial design.

Here, have a CM-1.

(Source: http://www.tamikothiel.com/cm/)