About Us

What is our mission?

Leadingedgecomputers.com's mission is to preserve vintage Leading Edge computers and supporting materials. This includes, but is not limited to, a knowledge base about the hardware, software imaging and archival, scanning of vintage user manuals for hardware and software applications.

Many people only recall the Leading Edge Model D when someone mentions a Leading Edge computer. It's true that the Model D was the most successful and prevalent of the Leading Edge computer models produced. Digging a bit deeper, though, reveals an eclectic model line of 286, 386, and 486 CPU based computers. Given that so many more machines were produced and sold than just the Model D, but little knowledge remains, preservation of what knowledge we do have is a significant task to undertake immediately to better aid hobbyists in later days.

It's important to provide as much information about these machines and the literature and software that made them run. As time moves on, knowledge about Leading Edge Products becomes more and more difficult to gather. Folks often will dispose of vintage hardware without a thought about the important history behind the hardware and software that helped to lay the groundwork of today's technologies during the early PC era of the 1980's.

Visitors are welcome to browse about and download any resources they may need such as software images and downloadable manual PDFs.

Many people purchase vintage hardware off of eBay and sometimes these items are sold as non‐working units and this archival and knowledge‐base site may prove to be a valuable resource to someone restoring a Leading Edge computer. Motherboard manuals and configuration tables are available as they are added and any Leading Edge first party software and third‐party Leading Edge branded software images are available for download.

For more technically savvy visitors, BIOS images are available as they are added to the archive for download as well as keyboard firmware.

Even visitors who are not restoring a Leading Edge machine may very well find valuable information in sections such as the restorations and restoration tips section as many of the guides and processes discussed can be used on pretty much any beige‐box machine's restoration.

Our ultimate goal is to prevent the Leading Edge story from fading into a lost history.

What about Archive.org?

No doubt Archive.org is a seriously important player in preservation. We know that there is no way nor is there any desire what so ever on our part to supersede Archive.org in preservation. While Archive.org is without a doubt the best archival site we have, LeadingEdgeComputers.com's focus is far, far more narrow and niche than that of Archive.org. It may very well be much easier for a hobbyist who is working on a Leading Edge computer to find exactly what is needed in a much quicker time‐frame. All of our resources are very highly organized and with a few clicks of a mouse, you can have the image file, manual PDF, or motherboard diagram without having to filter through irrelevant results.

What's with this website's colors?

These colors are all based upon the official colors used by Leading Edge Products. Simply look at the logo, that triple triangle was the logo used on all but the very latest hardware and software produced by Leading Edge. It's a very iconic logo of its age when simplicity in a corporate logo was king.

Keeping with the spirit of the Leading Edge brand, this site has been designed with that in mind. From the beige background that was used on many manuals to the royal blue that is fading the images at the top of each page, symbolizing time fading the memory of the Leading Edge brand, and the urgency with which we must act, the design is more than skin‐deep.

Our Funding

Currently, LeadingEdgeComputers.com is largely funded directly by private individuals. Funding comes in the form of cash or donation of vintage equipment, documents, software, and other items related to the now long‐defunct Leading Edge Products that was once headquartered in Canton, Massachusetts.

If you would like to help, please fill out the form below and let us know that you have some of the mentioned items pertaining to Leading Edge that you would like to donate. We are eager to preserve all that we can!

Other sources of funding come from advertisements on select pages throughout the site as provided by Google's AdSense program.

Privacy Policy

Please see the Privacy Policy page for details about what data we collect, how we use it, how we keep it safe, and your rights.