The Latitude line has traditionally been Dell's business line of laptops with the Inspiron line targeted towards the home market. Though they are cosmetically different, they often share a lot of the same hardware internally. The Latitude E5500, or at least this one, features a Core 2 Duo T7250 CPU @ 2 GHz and Intel Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics. Hightlights include:
Digital Archaeology: Dell Latitude E5500
The first photo is undated and features a gravestone. While not an extremely interesting photo, it is interesting for the fact that it goes a long way towards identifying the likely photographer. Based on the name and dates, it was pretty easy to determine that this grave belongs to this individual: https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/961M-FS8. More info along with a photo of the same gravestone can be seen here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9420816/ernest-oran-uptegrove. So this photo was taken at Evergreen Township Cemetery in Sheridan, Montcalm County, Michigan. Moreover, at the first link above, children are listed for this individual including Mary Ann Uptegrove. Information on her can be found here: https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/LVH8-7LG. She married a man named Herbert Edison Kipke I. The Kipke name is familiar as it has appeared on a number of slides from this batch. So all the photos from this batch were likely taken either by Herbert, Mary, or one of their children who are listed at the above link. In the 1950 census entry for Herbert, his occupation is listed as "Recreation Also Promotion Of Softball In State". Given that many of the photos from this batch have been of parks, playgrounds, recreation facilities, and softball games (as well as other sports), I suspect he is the most likely candidate for photographer. Herbert died in 1987 and his wife died in 2008 so one of their children must have inherited these slides. A couple of these children died just a few years ago which would line up with when I picked these up off of eBay (probably purchased by the seller from an estate sale).
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (297-300)
Mr. Do! is an arcade game that was released by Universal in 1982. Game play is somewhat similar to Dig Dug. In Mr. Do! you play the role of a circus clown who digs tunnels and collects cherries while avoiding or defeating red monsters called creeps. Progressing to the next level can be accomplished in various ways. You can collect all of the cherries, destroy all the creeps, collect a diamond, or collect all the letters to spell EXTRA which you do by scoring enough points. Creeps can be defeated by digging under apples to crush them or by throwing your "power ball" at them.
Mr. Do! was very popular at the time of its release leading to a quick sequel, Mr. Do!'s castle. That game actually started life as a non-Mr. Do! game but was modified to reap the benefits of Mr. Do!'s popularity. Interestingly, the game is somewhat similar to Dig Dug and the games were released at almost the same time. Both were popular games at the time though Dig Dug seems to be the more widely recognized today.
Computer & Video Games was the longest running video game magazine that I am aware of. It was published in the U.K. and seemed to avoid the fate of magazines like Electronic Games in the U.S. during the video game crash. Issue number 113 from April 1991 includes:
Computer Video Games (April 1991)
None of the photos in this set are labeled or dated but I'm guessing they were all taken from the late 1960s to early 1970s, probably in the Lansing, Michigan area. This is based on previous photos in this batch.
The first photo features some flowers, probably at the house of the photographer.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (293-296)
Centipede (Atari 5200)
Centipede was another genre defining game by Atari. It was similar to Space Invaders in that you operated from the bottom the screen at things coming towards you. The differences are higher speed, more varied objects and the ability to move vertically to some degree. It was one further step towards the vertical scrolling shooters that would soon come along.
In Centipede, the goal is to destroy centipedes and other bugs that infest your garden. The centipede weaves its way back and forth across the screen, changing directions whenever it encounters a mushroom. Periodically other menaces will come along like the spider that bounces across the screen, the scorpion that crawls across or the flea that dive bombs you. To make things more difficult, the centipede breaks into multiple pieces any time you hit a part other than the head or tail. As levels progress, the bugs get faster and faster.
There were many home ports of centipede. The Atari 5200 version, which is essentially the same as the Atari 8-bit computer version, is a very good port and was a nice step up graphically from the Atari 2600 version. For the best experience you can use a trackball instead of a joystick to mimic the arcade experience.
There have been a number of releases of the arcade version of Centipede and the Atari 7800 version has been released via the Atari Flashback consoles. However, as far as I am aware there has never been a re-release of the Atari 5200 or Atari 8-bit versions. To play these you will have to track down some original hardware and software or resort to emulation. If you have never played centipede (and I can't imagine there are that many people who call themselves gamers that haven't), you should definitely try at least one version. The arcade version is best of course but the vast majority of home ports are very good as well. Even the Atari 2600 version plays well even if the graphics are a step down.
Compute!'s Gazette was one of the most popular Commodore 64 magazines and 1987 was quite possibly the Commodore 64's peak year. The February 1987 issue of Gazette includes:
Compute!'s Gazette (February 1987)
All of the photos in this set were taken in the late 1950s or early 1960s, probably in the Lansing, Michigan area.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (289-292)
PC Zone is a PC gaming magazine that was published in the U.K. In fact, it was the first magazine published in the U.K. to be dedicated to PC gaming. It was published from 1993 to 2010. The January 2001 issue includes:
PC Zone (January 2001)
BreakThru was originally an arcade release by Data East in 1986. I don't believe the arcade version was ever officially released in the U.S. but the NES conversion came along about a year later. This game fits into the sub-genre of side-scrolling vehicle shooter games. It reminds me a bit of a cross between Silkworm and Jackal.
Your goal in this game is to recapture a stolen jet fighter. There are five levels to overcome and obstacles include enemy soldiers, other ground vehicles, aircraft, mines, rockets and even falling rocks. Of course your vehicle has its own weapons and also the ability to jump which is useful for overcoming certain obstacles (e.g. rock slides).
This isn't the greatest game in the world but it is an okay diversion if you are looking for a new old game to play. In addition to the NES, it was also released for the Commodore 64 at the same time. Less than two years ago it was also re-released as Johnny Turbo's Arcade: Break Thru on the Nintendo Switch. I think this is the arcade version of the game. Other than the Switch release, I don't believe there have been any other re-releases.
If you are looking for an original copy, the cartridge is available on eBay for pretty reasonable prices. Otherwise, emulation works well also.
All of the photos in this set were taken in the late 1950s or early 1960s, probably in the Lansing, Michigan area.
The first photo is not dated but looks like it is from the early 1960s or earlier. It is labeled "Ed + Marlene" and I presume that's whose house this photo was taken at.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (285-288)
Compute!'s Gazette was a spinoff of Compute! that exclusively covered Commodore 8-bit computers which primarily meant the Commodore 64. This was one of the two Commodore 64 magazines I frequently saw on store shelves back in the day, the other being RUN. The September 1985 issue of Gazette includes:
Compute!'s Gazette (September 1985)
All of the photos in this set were taken in the 1960s, probably in the Lansing, Michigan area.
The first photo was processed in August 1966. It was taken at a park. You can see a bulletin board on the left and a slide on the right. On the bulleting board is some info for a basketball league and a mock wedding.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (281-284)
All of the photos in this set were probably taken in the 1960s and early 1970s in the Lansing, Michigan area.
The first photo was taken on Christmas Day, 1963, probably in the morning.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (277-280)
The mid 1990s was an exciting time for the PC industry. PCs were rapidly being adopted with nearly everyone having one by 2000. The Internet was just becoming mainstream and that's the biggest part of what drove adoption. The October 1996 issue of PC World includes:
PC World (October 1996)
All of the photos in this set were taken in the 1970s, probably in Michigan.
The first three photos were all processed in August 1979. These all appear to be from a summer trip to a lake with events such as water skiing. There have been several photos from what appear to be this same trip in previous sets.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (273-276)
Missile Command was originally released as an arcade game by Atari in 1980 and was one of the games that made arcades and Atari popular. The premise is pretty simple. Nuclear missiles are raining down on your cities and it is your job to shoot them down before they strike. I guess you could say it was the perfect Cold War era game.
Given its popularity it was an obvious candidate to port to Atari’s own home video game system, the Atari 2600, the following year. Not all arcade ports turned out well for the 2600 but this one was quite good and even better if you had a trackball. Missile Command became the third bestselling Atari 2600 game of all time. It was also released on various other systems throughout the years, sometimes in updated form, but the Atari 2600 is the one pictured above and the one that had the most success.
During the mid 90s, just before the Internet exploded, Computer Shopper was at its peak. The April 1996 issue has more than 800 pages and includes:
Computer Shopper (April 1996)
All of the photos in this set were taken in the 1960s, probably in Michigan.
The first photo was taken in October 1962 and is labelled 'Installation Oct 62' though I'm not really sure what it is referring to. The photo features a woman all dressed up but the photography cut off her head.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (269-272)
The photos in this set average a little newer than other recent sets coming in at the mid 1970s to the early 1980s. I believe that they were all still taken in the Lansing, Michigan area.
The first photo was processed in August 1974 and appears to feature someone's birthday as there is a cake and presents involved.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (265-268)
While none of the photos in this set are labeled or dated, I believe they were all taken on Mackinac Island in Michigan in the late 1960s or early 1970s.
The first two photos appear to show an area along main street near the ferry docks.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (261-264)
Shadowrun for the Sega Genesis is an adaptation of the pen and paper RPG of the same name. Shadowrun is interesting because it combines fantasy with a near future cyberpunk environment. Though based on the same source material, this game was developed separately from Shadowrun for the Super Nintendo and is a different game.
Like the Super Nintendo version, the Sega Genesis version is also third person, turn-based action RPG. However, there are a number of differences otherwise. The Sega Genesis version is not as good when it comes to graphics and sound. However, it does have more open-ended game play which some people may enjoy more. In any case, fans of Shadowrun or RPG fans looking for something different than your typical fantasy based RPG will probably enjoy this one.
The story involves you investigating the murder of your brother. There are three main storyline branches that can be explored separately or all at once. The mystery is not completely revealed until all three subquests have been resolved.
Unfortunately, neither this nor the Super Nintendo version has been re-released. You will have to hunt down the original cartridges or use an emulator to play. However, a Kickstarter based sequel called Shadowrun Returns was developed in 2012 that ties into the plots of both the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis version of the game. Due to its success, two more sequels for developed, Shadowrun Dragonfall and Shadowrun Hong Kong. I haven't played them yet but they get generally good reviews and provide the same basic style of gameplay as opposed to being "upgraded" to some 1st/3rd person 3D action based game. They are all available via Steam and GoG for Windows, OS X and Linux.
Compute! was one of the earliest home computer magazines. Early in its history, it focused on 6502 based machines. In 1981 that meant the Commodore CBM/PET, Apple II, Atari and OSI. The December 1981 issue includes:
Compute! (December 1981)
Extreme Ghostbusters for the Game Boy Color is a bit of an obscure title. It is based on an animated series of the same name which was in turn a sequel to The Real Ghostbusters which was a spinoff of the Ghostbusters movie.
I remember watching The Real Ghostbusters and so I’m somewhat familiar with that one but I had never heard of Extreme Ghostbusters. It would have been targeted at a younger audience than me so I guess that is understandable. That and it only lasted for one year. The Real Ghostbusters had a much more successful run that lasted around seven years.
At any rate, I discovered a few interesting things when looking this stuff up. Apparently, The Real Ghostbusters was created by Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis of Ghostbusters (and other) fame. In addition, many of the episodes were edited and/or written by J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5. This must have been an even more kick-ass show than I remember. I’m going to have to see if I can track down all of the episodes somewhere.
As for Extreme Ghostbusters, neither the cartoon nor the game are nearly as interesting but YMMV, especially if this was something you watched or played as a kid.
All of the photos in this set were taken in 1968 and were all probably taken in the Lansing, Michigan area.
The first photo was taken in April 1986 and is labeled "Ballet Graduation - Preschool Scott Julie - 4/68".
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (257-260)
The Dell Latitude D610 is a Pentium M based laptop that was a slight upgrade to the D600. While looking nearly identical, there are enough internal physical differences to make swapping parts like the motherboard, LCD, Keyboard, etc. between the two impractical.
Digital Archaeology: Dell Latitude D610
None of the photos in this set are labeled meaningfully or dated. They mostly appear to be from the 1970s and are probably all from Lansing or elsewhere in Michigan.
The first photo shows a boat on a lake. There have been other photos from what I believe is this same trip to the lake in previous sets.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (253-256):
Subtitled "The Small Systems Journal", for most of its life, Byte wasn't strictly a "home" or personal computer magazine. It covered computers that would have been used by businesses, hobbyists, etc. though it did also, of course, cover home computers. In the early to mid 1980s, issues tended to be huge with this one coming in at about 564 pages. The April 1984 issue includes:
Byte (April 1984)
Lethal Weapon is a side-scrolling action game released for the Nintendo in 1992 which was a pretty late release for that system. Despite the name, it is really based on the first three Lethal Weapon movies, not just the first one.
As far as games based on movies go, this one is probably better than most. The graphics and music are excellent. However, it is not without its drawbacks. The biggest drawback is the fact that this game is really, really hard. Expert gamers intent on their next harder challenge may enjoy this one but more casual gamers will just find themselves frustrated.
Lethal Weapon consists of three levels each of which contains three stages. You use both the main characters from the movie, Murtaugh and Riggs, and swap between them throughout the course of the game. While a character is not being used, he gains back some of his health. The characters have slight differences. Riggs can jump higher, pick up knives and has a special high kick attack. Murtaugh can pick up crates and has a stronger punch. Some other items can be picked up along the way as well, including grenades.
In addition to the NES version, there were also a number of other versions. The Game Boy version was essentially a port of the NES version but with a slightly cut down number of stages. There was another version of Lethal Weapon developed and released for the Super Nintendo, Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64 and DOS based PCs but this version is substantially different from the one released for the NES and Game Boy.
Lethal Weapon has not been re-released and probably won't given that it is a movie license (though I hear another movie is coming). While it is a nice looking and sounding game on the NES, it is hard to recommend because of its difficulty. However, if you are a masochist or a really big fan of Lethal Weapon, it might be worth picking up. Otherwise, give it a try on an emulator and see how you like it.
Screen shots above are from the NES version of the game.
All of the photos in this set are from the late 1960s and they were all probably taken in the Lansing, Michigan area.
The first photo was processed in January 1966. It is labeled and while I can't quite read it all, it says something about a 1965 MRPA program. I think MRPA stands for Minnesota Recreation and Parks Association. I'm not sure what the point of this program was...maybe a fundraiser? But it was probably in late 1965. Photos from this same event have shown up in previous sets.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (249-252)
Mountain King is a game that was released by CBS Electronics in 1983. The basic goal is to descend into a diamond mine, retrieve a crown and bring it back out again. Obviously, it isn't quite so simple and there are certain challenges that must be overcome. First, you have to collect 1,000 points worth of diamonds. You then must find the flame spirit. The flame spirit is necessary to gain entry to the temple the crown is in which also must be found. Assuming you accomplish all of this, you must make it back out of the mine before time runs out. Be careful as there is a spider guarding the depths of the mine and bats bats will try to steal the crown from you. Once you complete your task, you begin again but with less time.
This game got pretty good reviews when it was released. However, I don't think it has held up as well as some other classic games. The graphics are pretty weak for this type of game regardless of what version you are playing. Sound and music are put to pretty good use though you may found the music repetitive as it consists of two musical pieces by Edvard Grieg, including 'Hall of the Mountain King' from which the name of the game is derived.
This game was released for a variety of systems, including the VIC-20, Commodore 64, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit computers, and ColecoVision. Graphically, the 8-bit computer versions are not as much of an upgrade as you would expect over the Atari 2600 version. This game has not been re-released as far as I know so you will have to track down an original or use emulation to play it. It isn't the best game but it is a fairly unique little platform game that's probably worth adding to your collection for whichever of the above systems is your favorite if you can find it cheap (which you probably can).
Screen shots above are from the Commodore 64 version of the game.
PC World was one of the most popular PC specific magazines for a long time throughout a good portion of the 1980s, the 1990s, and well into the 2000s. The September 1990 issue includes:
PC World (September 1990)
None of the photos in this set are labeled or dated. However, I believe they were all taken at the same time and place, probably in the early 1970s. These appear to be from the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in Michigan. There was an earlier set from the same location and probably the same day. There appears to have been some kind of event going on but I haven't been able to figure out what it was.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (245-248)
RUN was perhaps my favorite computer magazine. It was dedicated to Commodore 8-bit computers which primarily meant the Commodore 64 and 128. Things were definitely winding down commercially for the Commodore 64 in 1990 but a few major games were still coming out and RUN would be published for a couple more years. The April 1990 issue includes:
RUN: The Commodore 64/128 User's Guide (April 1990)