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LGR - Vendex HeadStart Turbo 888-XT
🕑 Added 2022-03-02 22:33:30 +0000 UTCGreetings, all! Finally got this one done after working on it off and on since mid-January. It took a little longer to put this one together but that's largely because I kept finding interesting things to say about it, so hey. Not a bad thing in that respect.
That being said, it's a rather straightforward vintage computer retrospective! The Vendex HeadStart is a lovely little turbo XT clone from 1987, a class of machine that for whatever reason I've become increasingly amused by in recent years. I largely wanted to cover this in the first place because of the King Kong Bundy connection, but the deeper I dug the more fascinating stuff I found.
Hope you enjoy! There are a few minor audiovisual edits I have to make since Premiere screwed up my timeline it seems, but otherwise it should be the final version.
The next videos on here will be the February LGR Wrap Up episode for $5+ patrons, followed by a new LGR Oddware episode most likely. I've got a few little oddball things literally on the table right now so I'm not sure which one will get done first, but they're each prime Oddware material so stay tuned for some of that next week if all goes well. Have a good one!
Comments
Becka Pitts
Vintage computers and wrestling is an unexpected yet wonderful crossover for me ❤️ love this!!
Ryan Lawrence
King Kong Bundy was from my area, and somewhere I have a signed glossy photo of him standing next to one of these computers. Always wondered what the backstory was about that...and now I know! I had no idea this was why he left the WWF (although he did come back for a little while in the mid-90s). Unrelated anecdote: King Kong Bundy was a big cat lover (no pun intended) and owned about 10 cats. When he passed, the local shelter was overwhelmed with requests to adopt the "Bundy Cats." This article has a few cute photos of some of the cats with Bundy and their new owners: https://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/south-jersey/2019/03/27/who-adopted-king-kong-bundys-cats/3289591002/ (Yes, I mostly wanted an excuse to link to some cute cat photos.)
Adult Sword Owner
Oh damn ending on the best game of the era, Pharaoh's Tomb
DFawlt Uzr
As a wrestling mark, I love the use of King Kong Bundy to sell computers hahaha. Sadly, Vince McMahon is still very restrictive on the talent working for WWE, despite the whole independent contractor argument; many wrestlers had twitch streams, cameos, etc until they were told to shut them down last year.
Kevin Tacheny
I had one of these with the builtin hard drive in around 1988.
Alyxx the Rat
Now that's an adequate system.
Steve Lovelace
[Vince McMahon meme] 🤨 XT Clone 😏 Secret Samsung machine 😮 Hercules graphics 🤩 Enhanced DOS interface [/meme]
John Piscopo
Amazing research man love it! And yea it just is so crispy clean its almost unreal!
Jim Leonard
The Oldskool PC approves!
The 8-Bit Guy
That machine is surprisingly beautiful. Not just in design, but in condition. It quite literally looks brand new, boxes and all! What an amazing preservation of history there! Too bad it lacks the Plantronics mode, I was hoping you'd test it for that, and I see you tried! Also that monitor, I just love the display on it!
Rutger van Bergen
Size-wise, Vendex truly was a monster of a company by Dutch standards. Amongst others, they owned the Edah supermarket chain where I had my first ever Saturday job as a teenager. That's where I made the money to buy my first PC, component by component.
Braxen
Windex
Daniel Cayea
Always enjoy your work Clint, especially now with the world spinning out of control. Thanks again for the selfie at CR in January.
Deckard Games
WWF in PCs history? Unexpected indeed. Chokehold. Wrestling puns are tight.
