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I’ve often wondered: what do vintage computer users actually do with their vintage computers? The old ones won’t have internet capabilities and were mostly for

I’ve often wondered: what do vintage computer users actually do with their vintage computers? The old ones won’t have internet capabilities and were mostly for business settings, so do you just fire up Lotus123 and click around in a spreadsheet? Or do they just look cool on a shelf?

mmphosis 2y ago
Running on the original hardware is a different experience than using an emulator. Also, you can test if your emulator is correct. The old ones can have internet! They were mostly for playing games. There was far more software than Lotus123. They look cool on a desk powered on. For instance, I have llamafile piping output to the Apple II.
- parpfish 2y ago
  I often miss the HDD noise/light grinding away mid game. But I suppose that that is the type of thing that causes hds to die
snakeyjake 2y ago
I use a Digital AlphaStation 200 4/233 from 1995 running Digital UNIX as my home's GPS-disciplined NTP server. In the corner of my home office is a Power Macintosh 6100/66 from 1994 whose sole purpose is to be my Sim City 2000 machine. Whenever I feel the urge to generate some 24-bit color Mandelbrot fractals extremely slowly I have an HP 9000 712/100 (1994) workstation running NeXTStep 3.3 I can use. I have a Sun Enterprise/Ultra 450 (1997) that I use as an end table. It started out as a midrange Enterprise that I upgraded the hell out of into a high-end Ultra configuration before realizing that drawing 800W at idle was no way to go through life. You can probably tell when I started getting into computers.
ASalazarMX 2y ago
Most will carefully pack and store them, use them for exhibition/decoration, or as a speculative item. The lucky devices live in museums, regularly maintained and working. The unlucky ones are seldomly used, as that would degrade them, hurting their speculative value. Even if you genuinely love them and use them to play or compute, they have little practical usefulness today unless you mod them with modern components, which again hurts their vintage value.

mmphosis 2y ago

Running on the original hardware is a different experience than using an emulator. Also, you can test if your emulator is correct. The old ones can have internet! They were mostly for playing games. There was far more software than Lotus123. They look cool on a desk powered on. For instance, I have llamafile piping output to the Apple II.

parpfish 2y ago
I often miss the HDD noise/light grinding away mid game. But I suppose that that is the type of thing that causes hds to die

snakeyjake 2y ago

I use a Digital AlphaStation 200 4/233 from 1995 running Digital UNIX as my home's GPS-disciplined NTP server. In the corner of my home office is a Power Macintosh 6100/66 from 1994 whose sole purpose is to be my Sim City 2000 machine. Whenever I feel the urge to generate some 24-bit color Mandelbrot fractals extremely slowly I have an HP 9000 712/100 (1994) workstation running NeXTStep 3.3 I can use. I have a Sun Enterprise/Ultra 450 (1997) that I use as an end table. It started out as a midrange Enterprise that I upgraded the hell out of into a high-end Ultra configuration before realizing that drawing 800W at idle was no way to go through life. You can probably tell when I started getting into computers.

ASalazarMX 2y ago

Most will carefully pack and store them, use them for exhibition/decoration, or as a speculative item. The lucky devices live in museums, regularly maintained and working. The unlucky ones are seldomly used, as that would degrade them, hurting their speculative value. Even if you genuinely love them and use them to play or compute, they have little practical usefulness today unless you mod them with modern components, which again hurts their vintage value.