Born sometime in 2004, The $7 Dream Machine was an HP Compaq d220 MT that was likely used as a standard office computer throughout most of his life.
Many details about his life before meeting Viktor are unknown, as the two only crossed paths in his final years. On September 9th, 2023, Viktor
attended Vintage Computer Fest Midwest in Elmhurst, Illinois. There, he discovered The $7 Dream Machine, littered among other low-end
2000s PC Towers, for sale from an unnamed vendor. He was missing parts, and only cost $7. He was slowly refurbished and was set up on
an old warm brown wood desk with a 4:3 Dell Monitor, a pair of Polk Audio speakers, a HP media controls keyboard, and a blue Microsoft optical mouse.
He ran Windows XP.
The day he came home.
The $7 Dream Machine spent much of his final years suffering multiple hardware failures and was constantly in need of new parts, but was kept
in good shape as a labor of love. Most notoriously, he survived multiple severe power surges, including two that were strong enough to override
a surge protected outlet, but needed a new power supply unit installed after each surge. In total, The $7 Dream Machine saw 4 PSU changes.
These were notoriously complicated procedures, as his case contained a fan hood that blocked access to the PSU and could only be removed
through physical force. After Vintage Computer Fest 2024, his Dell monitor was replaced with a ViewSonic ve170b View Panel.
Being worked on with loving hands. The black fan hood visibly blocks the smooth gray power supply.
The final power surge, however, is likely the one that sent his passing into motion. After his PSU was replaced for the fourth time, he had trouble
booting properly, and he was diagnosed with a dead CMOS battery. However, upon the CMOS battery's replacement, he was unable to reach the boot menu
despite multiple attempts from multiple different angles.
First time set up and running healthily.
Due to the instability and unpredictability of his health, he wasn't powered on often and spent most of his time resting. He was adorned with
casino stickers and his set up took on a Las Vegas/casino theme. The space around his components was filled with snow globes, desktop slot machines,
mugs, and other casino memorabilia, including a martini glass filled with real poker chips. In his time spent with Viktor, he only played 2 games,
which were SpongeBob SquarePants: Employee of the Month, and Barbie as Sleeping Beauty. The game Palette, an unstable game built in
RPG Maker 95, was downloaded but unable to run, and cult classic Myst was also downloaded, but was saved for a later date that never came.
A newer set up after a room rearrangement that occurred in August 2024.
To honor his memory, The $7 Dream Machine will have his parts removed and given to computers in need, and his case is planned to be renovated into
a small desk shelf of some sort. He is survived by Red Devil, which, interestingly enough, now makes use of his hard drive.
