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Man who buys Windows 98-era laptop for $5 finds a Star Trek interface, retro games and bizarre glossary of Australian slang

  • Chrisman01 bought an IBM Thinkpad 365XD for just $5 (£4)
  • The Star-Trek user interface was called LCARS and didn’t have mouse support
  • Instead, he navigated around the computer using the F1-12 keys, and discovered retro games, an Australian slang glossary and a solar system feature

It was one of the most innovative pieces of technology of its time, featuring 40MB of memory and a trackpoint mouse.
But a man who has bought the IBM Thinkpad 365XD – which has just celebrated its 20th birthday – has revealed some unexpected features.
The laptop, which cost him just $5 (£4), had been loaded with an incredible Star Trek-inspired user interface called LCARS, and contained a bizarre glossary of Australian slang.
He said: ‘This is an IBM Thinkpad 365XD, originally launched in 1996 with Windows 95 installed. This one has Windows 98.

‘When it boots up, it shows the Windows 98 splash screen, then loads to this. An interface inspired by Star Trek, with no mouse support.

‘You navigate using F1-F12 and the number keys.’

The laptop seemed to have been owned by a Star Trek fan, as it contained no personal images, but a range of ‘Star Trek wallpapers.’

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