6 ms·

Great article, thanks for posting. It makes me think about car detailers obsessing over paint matching for repairs on older vehicles. As a petrolhead I sometime

Great article, thanks for posting. It makes me think about car detailers obsessing over paint matching for repairs on older vehicles. As a petrolhead I sometimes wonder to what extent there will be an equivalent collectors community of old PC hardware to the car community. Obviously there already is substantial interest in older PC's but if you compare the similarly widespread use of cars and computers I'd say that there are many more forums discussing old car maintenance, availability of very specialized detailing products for cars, marketplaces for collectible cars, concours for showing cars off etc. than there are for collecting/restoring PC's. Maybe PC collecting, restoring etc. will be as big a deal but it's just early on the curve still. Or maybe the comparatively much higher steepness of the progress curve for PCs will prevent any sort of similar widespread enthusiasm for older stuff.

hnlmorg 6y ago
People already collect and restore computers. Retro gaming and retro computing is a big scene already. However most IBM-clone towers aren't worth restoring because they're common, not particularly powerful and thus cheap to come by. Much like how a 1990s Ford Escort is going to fetch less interest than a Jaguar from the same era.
- bimmer44 6y ago
  This is also a really good point - I was specifically thinking of PC's in my point above and you're right there is a lot more interest in old gaming systems. Maybe part of it is also the emotional connection and what does or doesn't have it, there are definitely a lot of old cars no one is collecting! Nassim Taleb's "graveyard of silent evidence" at play in my first comment.
eloisant 6y ago
There are people collecting and repairing 80's computers already. I guess the biggest difference is that you can still use a collector car to go for a drive today, but on the other hand there is not much practical use to get from a collector computer. Sure, you can play old games, but most of the task you'd do with a modern computer can't be done with an old one (unlike cars).
- bimmer44 6y ago
  I'm definitely not arguing there aren't people collecting these iconic old computers - just the mismatch between how many people have used computers daily for 20/30 years now and how few people seem to collect them. In my small-sized city in a small country there are maybe 25 car clubs I could be part of, specialist garages for just about every brand of car - even really niche shops that just do custom re-upholstery only for certain brands etc. Whereas for computers there's just a handful of people using the local auction and classified sites. I think the reason you cite for the mismatch is the strongest one. If you're into collecting 80's BMWs you can still easily drive with a club including newer cars every weekend on the same roads, use the same petrol, easily get plugs, belts other parts etc. But an 80's PC is much more "stuck in time" and you need to be quite knowledgeable to maintain and enjoy in the same way.
  - furyg3 6y ago
    2-3 years ago I found my mom's old clamshell G3 iBook in her garage (from around 2000). Surprisingly it still booted up and worked great. I wanted to do some writing that trip and instead of using my own laptop which was full of distractions, I opted to use Word on the iBook. Which was also fun. I saved my work as a text file on a USB stick, which was no problem bringing over to my modern Mac.
    - jfrunyon 6y ago
      Meanwhile, on a system from the 80s, you wouldn't have a word processor, you wouldn't have support for any of the filesystems supported by modern OSes (well, maybe FAT?), and you wouldn't have USB anyway. Heck, you'd need either a serial port or a floppy drive on a modern computer in order to even have a chance of transferring data between them.
      - VLM 6y ago
        wordstar released in '78 and was insanely popular until the 90s when ms-word mostly took over.
ryanmercer 6y ago
>Maybe PC collecting, restoring etc. will be as big a deal but it's just early on the curve still It is a fairly big deal for a lot of us, just in this room I'm sitting in I've got 3 vintage machines from the late 70s to early 80s, and 3 generations of Windows machines (95, 98, XP), alongside my work and personal computers. There are vintage computer fairs the world around, there are vintage computer clubs (ours here in the general Indy area meets monthly) the world around, there are numerous podcasts and some sizable YouTube content creators too. There is even a healthy level of developing new software and hardware for vintage computers and consoles. https://atariage.com/ https://atariage.com/ is a quick look at (mostly, but not exclusively) Atari related for example. Then you have YouTube creators like: - LGR https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLx053rWZxCiYWsBETgdKrQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLx053rWZxCiYWsBETgdKrQ - Gaming Historian https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbvPS_rXp4PC21PG2k1UVg https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbvPS_rXp4PC21PG2k1UVg - Modern Vintage Gamer https://www.youtube.com/c/ModernVintageGamer https://www.youtube.com/c/ModernVintageGamer - Adrian's Digital Basement https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE5dIscvDxrb7CD5uiJJOiw https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE5dIscvDxrb7CD5uiJJOiw - 8Bit Guy https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8uT9cgJorJPWu7ITLGo9Ww https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8uT9cgJorJPWu7ITLGo9Ww - Nostalgia Nerd https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7qPftDWPw9XuExpSgfkmJQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7qPftDWPw9XuExpSgfkmJQ - This Does Not Compute https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEp20NgOZHmgWdbQdHSxgjw https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEp20NgOZHmgWdbQdHSxgjw - Noel's Retro Lab https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2-SP1bYi3ueKlVU7I75wFw https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2-SP1bYi3ueKlVU7I75wFw - RMC - The Cave https://www.youtube.com/user/RetroManCave https://www.youtube.com/user/RetroManCave - My Life in Gaming https://www.youtube.com/c/mylifeingaming https://www.youtube.com/c/mylifeingaming etc. A lot of the above channels have videos restoring vintage hardware, or doing dream builds with vintage hardware. Podcasts like: - ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/ https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/ - Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast https://floppydays.libsyn.com/ https://floppydays.libsyn.com/ - Amigos Retro Gaming Network https://player.fm/series/amigos-retro-gaming-network-amigos-everything-amiga-arg-presents-sprite-castle-pixel-gaiden https://player.fm/series/amigos-retro-gaming-network-amigos-... - Retro Computing Roundtable http://rcrpodcast.com/ http://rcrpodcast.com/ - Sprite Castle https://podcast.robohara.com/category/spritecastle/ https://podcast.robohara.com/category/spritecastle/ - RetroMacCast https://retromaccast.libsyn.com/ https://retromaccast.libsyn.com/ etc Hardware and software developers/stores like: - https://retroradionics.co.uk/ https://retroradionics.co.uk/ (bought a brand spankin' new Joystick for my Atari machines from them in December, it's very nice) - https://atariage.com/store/ https://atariage.com/store/ (you say you want to play Halo on your 2600?) - https://lotharek.pl/ https://lotharek.pl/ - https://www.atarimax.com/ https://www.atarimax.com/ - https://newstuffforoldstuff.com/index.py https://newstuffforoldstuff.com/index.py etc There is also a very healthy vintage computer preservation community on the Internet Archive - preserving magazines, zines, newsletters, manuals, schematics, software, etc. - https://archive.org/details/vintagesoftware https://archive.org/details/vintagesoftware - https://archive.org/details/atari_2600_library https://archive.org/details/atari_2600_library - https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_c64 https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_c64 - https://archive.org/details/commodore_c64_manuals https://archive.org/details/commodore_c64_manuals etc.
tyingq 6y ago
You can find a lot of posts with people successfully using cream hair bleach and UV lights to restore 80's PCs. They call it "retrobrighting". One resource: https://powercc.org/retrobright/ https://powercc.org/retrobright/
- timbit42 6y ago
  It's usually spelled retr0brighting, including on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retr0bright https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retr0bright

hnlmorg 6y ago

People already collect and restore computers. Retro gaming and retro computing is a big scene already. However most IBM-clone towers aren't worth restoring because they're common, not particularly powerful and thus cheap to come by. Much like how a 1990s Ford Escort is going to fetch less interest than a Jaguar from the same era.

bimmer44 6y ago
This is also a really good point - I was specifically thinking of PC's in my point above and you're right there is a lot more interest in old gaming systems. Maybe part of it is also the emotional connection and what does or doesn't have it, there are definitely a lot of old cars no one is collecting! Nassim Taleb's "graveyard of silent evidence" at play in my first comment.

eloisant 6y ago

There are people collecting and repairing 80's computers already. I guess the biggest difference is that you can still use a collector car to go for a drive today, but on the other hand there is not much practical use to get from a collector computer. Sure, you can play old games, but most of the task you'd do with a modern computer can't be done with an old one (unlike cars).

bimmer44 6y ago
I'm definitely not arguing there aren't people collecting these iconic old computers - just the mismatch between how many people have used computers daily for 20/30 years now and how few people seem to collect them. In my small-sized city in a small country there are maybe 25 car clubs I could be part of, specialist garages for just about every brand of car - even really niche shops that just do custom re-upholstery only for certain brands etc. Whereas for computers there's just a handful of people using the local auction and classified sites. I think the reason you cite for the mismatch is the strongest one. If you're into collecting 80's BMWs you can still easily drive with a club including newer cars every weekend on the same roads, use the same petrol, easily get plugs, belts other parts etc. But an 80's PC is much more "stuck in time" and you need to be quite knowledgeable to maintain and enjoy in the same way.
- furyg3 6y ago
  2-3 years ago I found my mom's old clamshell G3 iBook in her garage (from around 2000). Surprisingly it still booted up and worked great. I wanted to do some writing that trip and instead of using my own laptop which was full of distractions, I opted to use Word on the iBook. Which was also fun. I saved my work as a text file on a USB stick, which was no problem bringing over to my modern Mac.
  - jfrunyon 6y ago
    Meanwhile, on a system from the 80s, you wouldn't have a word processor, you wouldn't have support for any of the filesystems supported by modern OSes (well, maybe FAT?), and you wouldn't have USB anyway. Heck, you'd need either a serial port or a floppy drive on a modern computer in order to even have a chance of transferring data between them.
    - VLM 6y ago
      wordstar released in '78 and was insanely popular until the 90s when ms-word mostly took over.

ryanmercer 6y ago

>Maybe PC collecting, restoring etc. will be as big a deal but it's just early on the curve still It is a fairly big deal for a lot of us, just in this room I'm sitting in I've got 3 vintage machines from the late 70s to early 80s, and 3 generations of Windows machines (95, 98, XP), alongside my work and personal computers. There are vintage computer fairs the world around, there are vintage computer clubs (ours here in the general Indy area meets monthly) the world around, there are numerous podcasts and some sizable YouTube content creators too. There is even a healthy level of developing new software and hardware for vintage computers and consoles. https://atariage.com/ https://atariage.com/ is a quick look at (mostly, but not exclusively) Atari related for example. Then you have YouTube creators like: - LGR https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLx053rWZxCiYWsBETgdKrQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLx053rWZxCiYWsBETgdKrQ - Gaming Historian https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbvPS_rXp4PC21PG2k1UVg https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbvPS_rXp4PC21PG2k1UVg - Modern Vintage Gamer https://www.youtube.com/c/ModernVintageGamer https://www.youtube.com/c/ModernVintageGamer - Adrian's Digital Basement https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE5dIscvDxrb7CD5uiJJOiw https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE5dIscvDxrb7CD5uiJJOiw - 8Bit Guy https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8uT9cgJorJPWu7ITLGo9Ww https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8uT9cgJorJPWu7ITLGo9Ww - Nostalgia Nerd https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7qPftDWPw9XuExpSgfkmJQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7qPftDWPw9XuExpSgfkmJQ - This Does Not Compute https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEp20NgOZHmgWdbQdHSxgjw https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEp20NgOZHmgWdbQdHSxgjw - Noel's Retro Lab https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2-SP1bYi3ueKlVU7I75wFw https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2-SP1bYi3ueKlVU7I75wFw - RMC - The Cave https://www.youtube.com/user/RetroManCave https://www.youtube.com/user/RetroManCave - My Life in Gaming https://www.youtube.com/c/mylifeingaming https://www.youtube.com/c/mylifeingaming etc. A lot of the above channels have videos restoring vintage hardware, or doing dream builds with vintage hardware. Podcasts like: - ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/ https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/ - Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast https://floppydays.libsyn.com/ https://floppydays.libsyn.com/ - Amigos Retro Gaming Network https://player.fm/series/amigos-retro-gaming-network-amigos-everything-amiga-arg-presents-sprite-castle-pixel-gaiden https://player.fm/series/amigos-retro-gaming-network-amigos-... - Retro Computing Roundtable http://rcrpodcast.com/ http://rcrpodcast.com/ - Sprite Castle https://podcast.robohara.com/category/spritecastle/ https://podcast.robohara.com/category/spritecastle/ - RetroMacCast https://retromaccast.libsyn.com/ https://retromaccast.libsyn.com/ etc Hardware and software developers/stores like: - https://retroradionics.co.uk/ https://retroradionics.co.uk/ (bought a brand spankin' new Joystick for my Atari machines from them in December, it's very nice) - https://atariage.com/store/ https://atariage.com/store/ (you say you want to play Halo on your 2600?) - https://lotharek.pl/ https://lotharek.pl/ - https://www.atarimax.com/ https://www.atarimax.com/ - https://newstuffforoldstuff.com/index.py https://newstuffforoldstuff.com/index.py etc There is also a very healthy vintage computer preservation community on the Internet Archive - preserving magazines, zines, newsletters, manuals, schematics, software, etc. - https://archive.org/details/vintagesoftware https://archive.org/details/vintagesoftware - https://archive.org/details/atari_2600_library https://archive.org/details/atari_2600_library - https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_c64 https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_c64 - https://archive.org/details/commodore_c64_manuals https://archive.org/details/commodore_c64_manuals etc.

tyingq 6y ago

You can find a lot of posts with people successfully using cream hair bleach and UV lights to restore 80's PCs. They call it "retrobrighting". One resource: https://powercc.org/retrobright/ https://powercc.org/retrobright/

timbit42 6y ago
It's usually spelled retr0brighting, including on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retr0bright https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retr0bright