4 ms·

Agree with this, there's also another big advantage that the article doesn't mention - the instant response and lack of distraction. 30 years ago you turned on

Agree with this, there's also another big advantage that the article doesn't mention - the instant response and lack of distraction. 30 years ago you turned on, and in seconds were at a DOS prompt. Now you had to load something, to do just that. A C64 or other 8 bit turned on instantly to BASIC. Everyone could program enough to make scrolly insults of their sister or swear and beep on the demo machines in the store. All the improvements have added layer on layer of insulation from the tedious guts, which is great when you just want to work, web surf, write a mail or play farmville, and the machine, even a phone, takes ages to boot. It's terrible for kids in my opinion - all the things that would feed their natural curiosity are just not there. What's there instead is appstores and notifications reminding of social messages and games to play. I made a heavily curated PC for the kids and they were able to do remarkable things in paint (the youngest could do more with paint at 6 than I ever could) or build little programs or make tunes in something that looked like an old tracker. Best part, they did it nearly all themselves. It's a shame for the next generation we've mostly reduced all tech to consumption only devices. Then they hit teen and just got addicted to WoW anyway. :)

bitJericho 10y ago
This is why I collect, maintain and most importantly, make available at a whim many old consoles and computers. Anyone can experience the joy of instantly available basic, duck hunt, Mario paint and many other classic and historically significant games and programs more easily than even when I was a kid. I use LG auto switchers to connect everything so anyone just has to turn on the equipment they want to use. On top of that I also have an av switch reversed so one can choose between the big screen or the crt.
- elliotec 10y ago
  A cool idea could be to do something with those collections like open up an interactive historical technology museum or something like that.
- anexprogrammer 10y ago
  Great idea. I really regret turfing out some of the older kit that weren't PCs. Some of the early games were much more creative (and of course some were terrible). My kids proved frogger is just as addictive as 30 years ago! :)
unexistance 10y ago
OK, now I need to know what that curated PC specs / hardware / software :D
- anexprogrammer 10y ago
  Blimey, it was a decade or so ago. :p As they hit teen years just a normal PC+Internet was enough. From memory... Mid spec, but old, games machine (mum or dad's old one after an upgrade). Spent a bunch of time locking down what was in windows, what damage they could do (like deleting icons, menu items, random important things). Weekly restore from FreeBSD box. Uninstalled or removed visibility of pretty much anything that could do damage. :) Mostly it was things that came up as they happened, and experience supporting non-tech friends and relatives - causing chaos uninstalling the wrong things, installing kazaa or whatever. s/w wise I found a Logo (turtle graphics), Basic, couple of other languages, Amiga-like Music tracker, couple of graphics things to complement MSPaint, MAME with some classic games, a few infocom adventures and a couple of newer games for the Z interpreter (Infocom games not as popular as I thought they might be), a crossword puzzle and a few other logic/tile arrangement type puzzles. Overall it was a great success - we didn't really need to teach anything.

bitJericho 10y ago

This is why I collect, maintain and most importantly, make available at a whim many old consoles and computers. Anyone can experience the joy of instantly available basic, duck hunt, Mario paint and many other classic and historically significant games and programs more easily than even when I was a kid. I use LG auto switchers to connect everything so anyone just has to turn on the equipment they want to use. On top of that I also have an av switch reversed so one can choose between the big screen or the crt.

elliotec 10y ago
A cool idea could be to do something with those collections like open up an interactive historical technology museum or something like that.
anexprogrammer 10y ago
Great idea. I really regret turfing out some of the older kit that weren't PCs. Some of the early games were much more creative (and of course some were terrible). My kids proved frogger is just as addictive as 30 years ago! :)

unexistance 10y ago

OK, now I need to know what that curated PC specs / hardware / software :D

anexprogrammer 10y ago
Blimey, it was a decade or so ago. :p As they hit teen years just a normal PC+Internet was enough. From memory... Mid spec, but old, games machine (mum or dad's old one after an upgrade). Spent a bunch of time locking down what was in windows, what damage they could do (like deleting icons, menu items, random important things). Weekly restore from FreeBSD box. Uninstalled or removed visibility of pretty much anything that could do damage. :) Mostly it was things that came up as they happened, and experience supporting non-tech friends and relatives - causing chaos uninstalling the wrong things, installing kazaa or whatever. s/w wise I found a Logo (turtle graphics), Basic, couple of other languages, Amiga-like Music tracker, couple of graphics things to complement MSPaint, MAME with some classic games, a few infocom adventures and a couple of newer games for the Z interpreter (Infocom games not as popular as I thought they might be), a crossword puzzle and a few other logic/tile arrangement type puzzles. Overall it was a great success - we didn't really need to teach anything.