Vintage computing!
Bring me your bulky, your junked, your old hardware yearning to breathe free
Journal created:
on 2 March 2005 (#6321755)
Updated:
on 30 December 2021
Membership:
Open
Posting Access:
All Members , Moderated
Yes, this is it, Livejournal's first -- and only, as of this writing -- community totally and utterly dedicated to the art/science of vintage computing. Whether your weapon of choice was a beloved machine of decades past (say, the Mac Classic or one of Atari's) or a product that sank almost instantly (Enterprise, anyone? At least the built-in joystick was cool...), this is the forum in which to discuss them endlessly.
Take a long, hard look in the mirror. Do you consistenly partake in any of the following activities?
Playing vintage computer games. ... because who doesn't love a simple session of pure, unadulterated fun in this day and age? Can't we just blast the aliens for a while without having to consider how many polygons are currently being bump-mapped? Can't we?
Browsing the thrift stores for classic electronics. Push aside the stifling racks of mustard-stained, event-specific ("But I wasn't even at the Cat Spay-a-Thon '92!") shirts and make your way to the only halfway decent section of your local Goodwill: the one that contains old computer hardware. The search may prove long and arduous, but the occasional sweet deal makes the whole painstaking process well worth it.
Emulating retro computers on your non-retro computer. Sure, it might not be The Real Thing, but sometimes emulation is the only alternative. Luckily for us slobs, emulation has come a long, long way in the last few years, to the point that we almost can't tell the difference. Almost.
Taking apart/"hacking" old hardware. Few hobbies are more fun than, Frankenstein-like, grafting odd components onto the products of yesteryear. For example, the techies among us are, as we speak, working hard on such projects as creating USB (!) ports for quarter-century-old machines and converting bulky, meant-for-TV CPUs into semi-sleek laptops. Pure genius, I tell you. (Then again, you already know, don't you?)
Creating cool new software for the computers that have gone before. If you loved playing the entertainment offerings initially available for your vintage computer, chances are you'll jump at the chance to play the new stuff being homebrewed by the fans. Sure, it's old hardware, but it's combined with the sophisticated gaming sensibility of the 21st century. I ask you, how could that go wrong?
Just messin' around with cheap technology. Speaks for itself, doesn't it? Deep down inside, we all have the desire -- impanted within us back in our "primordial ooze" days -- to take things apart and see what makes them tick. There's no better arena to indulge that vile impulse than old computers.
If so, you're in the right place. We can all indulge each other's addiction. Very healthy. Yes, very healthy indeed.
As far as introductory posts are concerned, why not tell us the story of your very first computer? Bonus points will be awarded if it is either (a) gut-bustingly funny or (b) breathtakingly perverted. Wait, that came out wrong...
Take a long, hard look in the mirror. Do you consistenly partake in any of the following activities?
If so, you're in the right place. We can all indulge each other's addiction. Very healthy. Yes, very healthy indeed.
As far as introductory posts are concerned, why not tell us the story of your very first computer? Bonus points will be awarded if it is either (a) gut-bustingly funny or (b) breathtakingly perverted. Wait, that came out wrong...
1970s computers, 1980s computers, acorn, acoustic coupling, alan turing, altair, amiga, amstrad, amstrad cpc, antiquated computers, apple, apple ///, apple ][, apple ii, apple lisa, apple macintosh, apple newton, atari 400, atari 8-bit, atari 800, atari computers, atari st, basic, bbses, building computers, bulletin board systems, cannibalizing computers, cartridges, cassette drives, chiclet keyboards, classic computers, classic games, coleco adam, colecovision, commodore 64, commodore pet, compute!, computer games, computer modification, computer science, computers, creative computing, digital retro, dismantling electronics, electronic junk, electronics, electronics projects, enterprise 128, floppy disks, green screens, hacking, hardware, hardware modification, kaypro, mac classic, macintosh, mainframes, midi, msx, nascom, next, next computers, next cube, next slab, obsolescence, obsolete computers, obsolete hardware, old computers, old laptops, old macs, old technology, pcjr, peripherals, programming, proprietary hardware, radio shack, retro computers, sinclair spectrum, sinclair zx80, soldering, steve jobs, steve wozniak, taking computers apart, taking things apart, tandy, tandy computers, tape drives, teletypes, text adventures, the woz, thrift stores, ti-99, ti-99/4a, trs-80, vic-20, vintage computers, vintage computing, vintage electronics, vintage games, wang computers
