TeleVideo Tele-PC Plus TS-1605

So, this is the 20th post in Joe's Blogspot (I actually didn't realize that until just a moment ago when I checked the "dashboard" and noticed that this blog had 19 posts, compared to only 1 in my Dodge Dynasty Blog. But anyway, in this post, I will share information on my family's very first computer - a TeleVideo Tele-PC Plus TS-1605 (I'm not sure if that was the whole, official name, but nonetheless, the basic brand and model was a TeleVideo TS-1605 as far as I can remember).

I haven't found a whole lot of info. on this computer online, and I really wish I kept (or at least made copies of) the user manual(s) before donating them with the computer. Most of the TeleVideo-related things I find online (or on eBay for that matter) is for the TeleVideo TS-803. I haven't found much at all on the TS-1605. The two models look about the same as far as I can tell, so it's not important, though. But anyway, before I go on, I'll put up a picture of the TeleVideo TS-1605 (taken in April 2004) to put things into perspective.


I don't know for sure, but I think my dad got this computer around late 1983 or 1984. It had a 4.77 - 5 MHz 8088 processor, maybe 512-640k of memory (ultimately), and two 5.25" floppy disk drives (later, I think around 1988, my dad installed a 32 MB hard drive). What made this computer particularly unique to me was that it was one unit, as opposed to most other IBM computers, which were sold as components. The keyboard was connected via a RJ11 cable, and the screen was 14" in diameter and was monochrome. The green monochrome screen in particular was one of the things I later loved about this computer. It made it feel like a true vintage machine, and the operating environment with just text made things feel so simple (though less user-friendly). Other features of this computer included RGB and composite output ports, a RS-232C serial port, and a parallel port.


My dad used this computer for a number of years. He even had two or three dot-matrix printers to go along with it. He used this computer even into the mid-90s before finally getting a new Packard Bell Platinum 2240 in April 1997. Upon the purchase of the Packard Bell, the TeleVideo TS-1605 was set aside and was pretty much untouched for the next two years until February 1999 when I was really interested in it and wanted to try it out. My dad turned it on and showed me how to start the MultiMate word processor.

Since then, I was enthralled with the computer and used it from time to time - particularly for typing stories in the simple text form. My dad even set up one of the old dot-matrix printers so I could print my stories. Even three years later, I still enjoyed using this computer despite its age. For many years (excluding the brief period when I used the Packard Bell Platinum 2240 for a few months), I didn't have a working computer I could call my own, so that's probably part of the reason I liked this computer a lot.


Between 2002 and 2004, with the advent of my Packard Bell Platinum 2240 acting up and being unreliable, I began using the TeleVideo a lot more often for my personal computing needs. I became a computer nerd in late 2003, and in 2004 in particular, I spent a lot of time thinking of ways to tinker with the TeleVideo - making it as close to modern as possible. It ran MS-DOS 3.3, but I wanted to eventually upgrade it to either DOS 5 or 6 so I could utilize a mouse. I also looked into getting drive bracket adapters so I could try putting in a 3.5" floppy drive. Nothing ever came of it, though. I never bought anything off eBay, and it was just as well anyway, as I don't think I had the right cable connections. I also got a modem but couldn't figure out how to make it work (not sure it even would work on the TeleVideo, anyway). I also tried to run the "DOS version" of Windows 95, but it gave me some error message, so that was a big "no." I also stupidly erased the hard drive, and it took me a while to figure out how to get the computer to boot from the hard drive again. Sadly, there were many directories that were now long gone. I wish I remembered everything that was on there.

On the plus side, I downloaded some simple DOS games (most notably Castle Adventure), which seemed to work pretty nicely. The TeleVideo was playing games for perhaps the first time in its life! I transferred the files by putting in the spare 5.25" floppy drive in the Packard Bell (which had come back from the repair shop and was otherwise useless by that point) and copying games from the 3.5" disks to the 5.25" disks. It was fun to play games on that old computer.


Around late 2004 and early 2005, I finally was able to make the upgrades I hoped for on the TeleVideo (sort of). I got a copy of MS-DOS 6 and a serial mouse. As expected, MS-DOS 6 ran fine, but the GUI was pretty pointless because I wasn't really able to use the mouse. Sometimes, I saw the cursor appear on the screen, but I couldn't move it around. I don't know if I was doing anything wrong - or if that old computer simply wasn't designed for a mouse.

2005 was a year in which I tried to go through various personal changes. I tried to leave behind my childhood interests and also get rid of many material things I felt were holding me back. One of the first "big" things to go was the Packard Bell Platinum 2240, which was now just sitting on a shelf in my closet collecting dust. And later that year, I decided to get rid of the TeleVideo. Not only was I trying to rid myself of some material things, but it was big, old, and taking up a lot of space. A charity agreed to pick it up, and so that September, I got a big box and put the TeleVideo inside - as well as the manuals that came with it, many floppy disks, and probably some of the original receipts that came with it.

Looking back, I miss that computer a lot. It was such a unique computer to me, and I wish I hadn't gotten rid of it. Since then, I have found old-style computers (particularly the digital DECpc LPx 560), but even they aren't the same as the TeleVideo. It was the true essence of a vintage PC with its monochrome green screen - and it was neat how the whole computer was one piece (except for the keyboard). I hope to find another computer like it - or at least similar to it. I have visited thrift stores a number of times this year, and while I have come across some pretty old computers, I haven't seen any like the TeleVideo. I have seen the TeleVideo TS-803 on eBay, but it's very expensive. Maybe someday I'll be reunited with a TeleVideo...or not.

My Comics (Partial Russian Entry)

In 1997, I started drawing comics. I drew a car named Greg, a dog named Mr. Dog, and a refrigerator named Refrigerator. In October 2004, I started drawing a character named Big Phill. He was a student in my class. Finally, in January 2009, I started drawing two guys named Robert and Daniel.

В 1997 году, я начал рисовать комиксы. Я рисовал машину по имени Грег, собаку по имени Мистер Дог, и холодильник по имени Рефриджерэйтор. В Октябре 2004 года, я начал рисовать персонаж по имени Биг Филл. Он был студентом в моем классе. Наконец, в Январе 2009 года, я начал рисовать парней по имени Роберт и Дэниэл.

Writing in Russian

I'm going to write part of this blog in Russian just for the heck of it.

Привет, всем! Меня зовут Джо, и я живу в США со своей собакой. Я студент в колледже и хочу стать фармацевтом. Я люблю Южный Парк, компьютеры, и торговые центры. До свидания.

Hello, everyone! My name is Joe, and I live in the USA with my dog. I am a student in college and want to become a pharmacist. I love South Park, computers, and malls. Goodbye.

Please correct me if there are any errors with my Russian grammar and/or translation. I've been studying it for the last four years or so but still don't know it fluently. I still have some grammar and vocabulary to learn before I can really write much with Russian.

Current Packard Bells in My Collection

Earlier this year, I became interested in '90s Packard Bell computers again and really wanted one again. Up until recently, the only one my family ever had was a Packard Bell Platinum 2240, which I got rid of in 2005 after it was unable to be fixed properly. Since then, I've somewhat regretted that decision even though the computer didn't work, as I just love the appearance of the '90s Packard Bell cases.

Anyway, I learned of a YouTube user named Roadgeek, who obtained most of his Packard Bells from a thrift store called Value Village. I never really considered checking thrift stores for computers but decided to give it a try. Fortunately, there was a Value Village not too terribly far from where I live. Shockingly enough, on the very first time I checked Value Village, I found a Packard Bell! Even more shocking was that the cabinet was in the same style as my original Packard Bell Platinum 2240! Since then, I've checked various other Value Villages in my area for Packard Bells but was coming up dry until the last month or two when I got two horizontal PBs (I've always wanted one of those). And just a few days ago, I found a Packard Bell Legend 814CD but decided not to buy it because the cabinet style was the same as the last one I got, so I didn't want to spend the money.

Anyway, the Packard Bells currently in my collection are the Packard Bell Platinum Supreme 1665 (the first I got), the Packard Bell Legend 18CD, and the Packard Bell PB 5310. I'm glad I got these from thrift stores, as they'd be a lot more expensive on eBay. I'd still like to find a computer like my old TeleVideo TS-1605, though.

Outrage over HOPE Grant Changes

Now, recently, I've had some news that's both angered and concerned me. Governor Nathan Deal signed something not too long ago that will bring changes to the Georgia HOPE Scholarship and Grant. The Grant will now pay only about 90% of tuition and will not pay any mandatory fees or books.

I am just so outraged by this decision. The books, and maybe the fees, are okay to cut out, but some people (my family included) likely can't afford to pay 10% of tuition! What annoys me is how they're bragging about how they're "saving the program" by making cuts. In my opinion, they might as well cut the whole program altogether. I don't think my family or I can afford to pay even 10% of tuition, so what does it matter if it still covers 90%? I mean, really!?

I'm just disgusted by that decision. What makes it worse is that part of the reason that was probably done is because the officials are so hung up on making the Grant based on academic achievement only. I understand why they want to have it that way, and normally, I would support that, but when a government's got a bad budget, I think it would be a better use of money and more of a relief for poor families and college students to use the money to help pay for the education of people who don't have high incomes. I'm sorry, but I just don't think that a government needs to pay for a rich person's education - especially not when the state has an insufficient budget. But no, these dang government officials HAVE to make the Grant "academic only," and thus, they have no money to pay 100% tuition, and so those people who really can't afford to go to college can't pay the 10%.

As I said, I'm just furious about this. I understand that the state doesn't have an unlimited amount of money, but as I said before, a lot more money could be pumped into the system by setting an income cap. I'm very well aware that a lot of people are against that idea, but to truly help those who can't afford college, I really strongly wish everyone would reconsider.

And what about student loans? I don't have a credit rating, and I don't know about anyone else's rating that could possibly co-sign for me. Besides, I don't like the idea of loans anyway - especially since I don't have the cash upfront anyway or a decent credit rating. A loan just seems like an overwhelming obligation for me at this point in time. My current philosophy is to either pay the bill in full upfront or get a scholarship that can do that. And since I probably can't do either at this point in time, well...come fall 2011, I'm not sure if I'll be able to go to college. I really don't know what I'm going to do.

Update for 2011

Hey, everyone, it's Joe again. It's been over a year since I've blogged here. Wow. Hard to believe it's been that long. Anyway, I guess I'll post an update on how things are going in my life.

Since my last post here, I finally applied to Griffin Technical College in April 2010 (now better known as Southern Crescent Technical College). I had a bit of a problem at first, as I mailed in my high school transcript with my application, but for some reason, the college didn't get it. How that happened I'll never know. I finally decided to hand in another copy of my transcript in person. A few months pass, and I don't hear from the college. I decide that soon I'll go reapply at the college and hand in all the paperwork in person at the same time. Maybe things were all mixed up because of the way I handled things. Finally, in September, I got an acceptance letter, so I didn't need to reapply after all. In the remaining few months of the year, I concentrated on getting financial aid (the Georgia HOPE Grant) and registering for classes. And as of now, I am a student at SCTC. I don't know for how long, though. I'll get into that in another blog post in just a minute.

Another bit of news is that last year, my grandmother's health went downhill, and she spent her last few months in the hospital. In May, things were not looking good for her, so we went to Knoxville, Tennessee for the first time in almost six years to visit her. Several weeks pass, and she goes back and forth from the hospital and the nursing home. Then, in July, her health took a turn for the worse, and my mom and I made another trip to Knoxville. Sadly, she died, and a funeral was held for her shortly after.

Since then, we've made multiple trips to her house in Knoxville to try to clean out her house to get it ready to sell and to get any personal things we wanted out of it. As of now, the house has been on the market for almost two months now, and a few people have looked at it, but as far as I know, nobody has made an offer yet.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that my grandmother had a will in which she left all her property to my mom and uncle in the event that she passed. That, of course, included her car. After going through the probate court process, my mom and I went to the tag office and transferred ownership of the car to me. So since last November, I've been the proud owner of a light blue 1989 Toyota Camry! It sure is a nice car in my opinion. It needs a little bit of work, but it's still functional, and any car is better than no car as far as I'm concerned.

Now, very recently, I've taken an interest in The 7th Guest computer game, Beavis and Butt-head, and old-school computers and computer software - like old Packard Bell computers and operating systems like Windows 95. Ah yes. The good old days.

That's about it for now.

Looking into Colleges...finally

Well, here I am several months later after making that last post in October, and wouldn't you believe it - I still don't have a job and am not in college. I still have many personal projects yet to finish, and I think it's possible my ADHD may be preventing me from getting a lot done (it's been said that it can sort of cause a lack of motivation to finish certain things, and also, I was diagnosed with it many years ago, anyway).

Anyway, it looks like I may finally be moving things along as far as my future is concerned. I learned that you don't need to apply for college only within a few months of the deadline, which made me understand why other students in my high school class were sending out applications in the late part of 2007 even though a lot of them would probably be heading off to college in the fall. It was good news, as it meant I could apply earlier and get my dad off my back. I'm doing more research on some colleges and on different careers to make sure I have a better of idea of what I'm getting into and what is needed, but hopefully, I'll at least start applying to some colleges in maybe the next week or two.

It really is time for me to move along. Having time off from school has been nice, but when you just sit around all day and rarely talk to different groups of people on a regular basis, it gets pretty boring.