The Past is the Future
Mon 19 January 2026
Yesterday was my grandmother's funeral. As a family member, I had the shared duty of greeting the various guests, and then when things got started, I just kinda hopped from table to table, talking to people I know and catching up with folks. It was a great way to top up my social batteries, as an ambivert (but just as you'd expect, my social batteries were completely drained by the end of the day). 😄
Not having any assigned seating, I had planned to just hop around indefinitely, but when one of the guests said, "Oh there you are, we would like to sit with you!" I stopped hopping around, and just entertained/engaged where I was at, which was fun.
One of my acquaintances asked me about what was going on in my life, and we spoke about things going on in the world at large. I don't remember how we broached the subject of modern technology, but of course I expressed that things were not good, thanks to "A.I." huckstering and the tech industry's general cozing-up to fascists.
My conversant asked, "So what are you excited about these days? What gives you joy [in that realm]?"
That's when I launched into a monologue about retrocomputing, regaling them with the story of how a handful of nerds pooled their money together to buy the Commodore brand and I.P., and how there were all of these amazing retrocomputing projects out now, where people are either adding hardware to make really old computers work on the modern internet, or recreating ancient computers with modern hardware and a modest modern spin on the classics.
I told them that the beauty of old computers, and the beauty of Free and Open Source Software (though not using that terminology) is that your computer is your own, and does only what you tell it to do. It doesn't tell you what to do.
Now, I must confess, I'm hardly a retrocomputing champion. My oldest computer is only from 2010 (though I do use it pretty much daily thanks to OpenBSD making it still a compelling device for personal use (though almost any well-configured FOSS OS would do, not just OpenBSD)), and my Commodore 64 Ultimate is still unopened in its box after nearly a month. But in my defense, I've kind of had a lot going on, and I politely decline to apologize for taking things slow. ðŸ¤
One thing I do get to enjoy from time to time is infinitemac.org, which has pretty much replaced mini vMac for my emulation needs. With it, I can re-live the glory days of Macintosh System 6, System 7, or even NextStep!
So, whether your jollies are from keeping ancient computers running and relevant, re-living the past with emulation or modern spins on the classics, or just enjoying your computing devices your way thanks to FOSS, here's to a fun 2026 ahead!
Just Never Mind the Bollocks.
Disclaimer: I absolutely don't mean to make light or ignore the horrific events going on right now, but merely to distract from them for but a minute. Cheers.
P.S., for a humorous take on retrocomputing (with a little bit of political snark mixed in), check out my article entitled A Time-Traveler's Guide to Affordable Computing!
Category: Tech Tagged: BSD Computing FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) Hobbies Life Loss Non-technical post Personal favorites Philosophy Retrocomputing
Modified image of a stack of thinkpads taken originally from https://old.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/17xf8kl/my_thinkpad_stack/