• ODT Gun Show & Swap Meet - May 4, 2024! - Click here for info

Old vs retro computers?

I thought retro was something new but made to look like something old
Nope. Retro is anything that was common a long time ago but isn't anymore. The actual items from back then would be considered tetro, and things can be made new today to fit this old retro style that you could then also describe as being retro.

A pre-a2 style fixed carry handle on an AR15 was retro. If you had an AR that was made back then it would be retro. If you remade an AR with that kind of carry handle today from new parts and made it in such a way like they did back then it too would be retro.
 
I was stationed in Japan 1986 - 1992. During that time I helped build up a computer based BBS using a 386-SX 16 no name computer and 8 2400 baud phone modems. We ran 8 telephone lines in and the chat board function ran 24/7 for almost 8 years before it became unsupportable. We had people dialing in from bases all over Japan. I'd love to have that setup just to sit on a shelf in the office.
 
I think this qualifies as old.

20191220_180513.jpg
20191220_180445.jpg
20191220_180439.jpg
 
In 1984 my wife was pregnant with our first child and was on bedrest. With nothing else to do I played Zork I, II and III, Planetfall and a bunch of the other Infocom Games for hours every day on my Commodore 64. Some where I've got a Zork I emulator for my computer. I can still remember the first 15 moves to get from the starting point to the door of the mansion. You could put them all in one command line.
 
In 1984 my wife was pregnant with our first child and was on bedrest. With nothing else to do I played Zork I, II and III, Planetfall and a bunch of the other Infocom Games for hours every day on my Commodore 64. Some where I've got a Zork I emulator for my computer. I can still remember the first 15 moves to get from the starting point to the door of the mansion. You could put them all in one command line.

You are standing in an open field west of a house with a locked door. There is a mailbox here.
 
In 1984 my wife was pregnant with our first child and was on bedrest. With nothing else to do I played Zork I, II and III, Planetfall and a bunch of the other Infocom Games for hours every day on my Commodore 64. Some where I've got a Zork I emulator for my computer. I can still remember the first 15 moves to get from the starting point to the door of the mansion. You could put them all in one command line.

I mostly played Zork at the library before we had our first computer. The librarian would come by eventually and ask that I free up the system for someone else.
 
I'll bet age plays into it; those in their 50's would be looking for one gen of systems; those in their 40's are looking for something slightly newer.

There's a huge interest in 8 and 16-bit computers right now. There are even new games being released. You'd be surprised what a working Amiga 1000 goes for.

Nope... I've priced them.

First 'real' computer was a C64, although I had a Timex Sinclair 1000 before that. Almost impossible to use but still pretty cool for it's day and price.
 
Back
Top Bottom