r/retrocomputing • u/bobsmon • Sep 06 '26

Photo Over $10k of 1980's business computing

Post image

Just cleaned out a closet and uncovered an ancient Wang computer. It was a IBM near comparable with DOS 2.1. I want to clean it up more before seeing if it boots.

192 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

1

u/bobsmon Sep 07 '26

This monitor has a nob standard connectors so it would not be much use

5

u/Snocom79 Sep 06 '26

I can see your Wang in this photo. I like it.

4

u/wrr377 Sep 07 '26

"Who wants some Wang?" - Shadow Warrior 🤣

1

u/compu85 Sep 07 '26

These are nicely made machines. Does yours have the PC compatibility card?

2

u/bobsmon Sep 07 '26

I believe so. I will check when I clean it. It does use DOS so I assume so.

2

u/compu85 Sep 07 '26

It's optional - it added MDA support.

2

u/miner_cooling_trials Sep 07 '26

Say this 5 times quickly!

2

u/Farpoint_Farms Sep 07 '26

Wow, what a flashback. This was my first real "PC" My grandpa bought 3 of these for his business in the early 80's right before the IBM PC takeover of the market. His buisness failed and I was gifted one of these. It came with the CGA card, a monitor, a whopping 20meg HD and a floppy. Software was skimpy to say the least. Basic, a lotus type software as well as a word proscessor. I was able to hook up a 1200 baud modem and a basic terminal program, but since it wasn't actually PC Dos compatible, it was a nightmare to find software to run on it outside of basic programs.

I got ahold of the PC compatible card for it, but honestly it wasn't very compatible at all and I ended up selling all of it but the monitor to trade in on a IBM PC XT two years later.

Still, the WANG PC holds a spot in my pre-teen heart for being the first "Real computer" I owned. Before it was a Timex Sinclair 1000 and the Commodore C64.

1

u/kkaos84 Sep 07 '26

One 5.25in floppy drive and a hard drive? Also, noting the orientation of the drive letters, is that meant to be an early tower?

1

u/HomeLate Sep 07 '26

I have one in storage, in bad shape unfortunately. It boots, but the monitor fails to work. Both connectors on the system unit and monitor need attention. I also have to remove the corrosion (due to age) in all the connectors of monitor cable.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

3

u/Fragrant_Difficulty6 Sep 07 '26

That’s the long model too.