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Any others given up on the hobby?

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Reply 60 of 155, by liqmat

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I think some of you are really going to regret getting rid of your vintage hardware and software in the years to come. Why? Been there. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with downsizing and simplifying life for the right reasons. I had quite a bit of new old stock Amiga hardware in my 30s and sold it off because I was tired of it, busy with life, blah, blah and blah. Your 30s are almost always turbulent and being busy usually peaks in your 30s and early 40s. Then comes the hormonal changes like going through puberty all freakin over again. Some call it mid life crisis others call it manopause (play on menopause for you slow ones) and then you get a second wave of nostalgia or you realize that hobby was actually awesome. You go and look up the prices of what you ditched and now you're priced out of the market because there is less of it and collectors have eaten up most of it and aint lettin go. If you have to sell it because of financial and/or health difficulties, that's one thing, but if you are going through some emotional low point of not knowing what your interests are throw it in a closet, attic, basement, etc. and just let it sit (please remove the batteries har har) and your gear will wait patiently for your love again at a later date. I really wish I had not sold that $300 new old stock complete in box Amiga 2000 HD system that was found in some lost warehouse. I wish I had not sold that mint condition Amiga 500 with a suitcase full of software that I bought at a garage sale for $50. I wish I had not thrown out that plastic tub of complete in box Atari ST games. Yeah, I just emulate now, thanks to some amazing emulators, but nuttin like the real thing baby. So take a deep breath, hold on to the guard rail and enjoy the ride on this ball of confusion.

@King_Corduroy - Keep your chin up man as I thought your collection was unique and inspiring, but I get what you're going through. I still am going to send you a copy of that Packard Bell pack-in version of Blade Runner on DVD when and if I find another one. I also referred someone to you on VCF who was looking for a PB restore disc. Don't know if you made images of those or not. Cheers!

Reply 61 of 155, by Duouk2000

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I think it depends. I've sold a ton of stuff over the years and I don't miss any of it. I've sold my Amiga, Amstrad CPC, SNES, Saturn, DC and so on over the past 20 years and I'm glad I did. If I'd kept them they'd just be sitting here collecting dust and taking up space. Much better to let other people enjoy them imo.

Now my NES, PSX or 3DFX cards however, they aren't going anywhere. Doesn't matter if they're used everyday or collect dust for years. I definitely would want to rebuy them again in the future if I sold them.

Reply 62 of 155, by liqmat

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I guess that's my point and that's why I said "some of you". I went through a time in my life where I just dumped everything and man that was a mistake. Sometimes we make irrational decisions when times are more turbulent. I've learned over the years to take a step back and really analyze what the hell is going on with me when I want to make large changes.

Reply 64 of 155, by appiah4

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SquallStrife wrote:
It's been working out well so far. […]
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appiah4 wrote:

How has that (the bolded part) been working for you? What system specs did you settle for, if you don't mind sharing?

It's been working out well so far.

For DOS I have a Pentium 133 with an SB Pro2, nothing spectacular, and for Win9x I have a P3 1.4GHz with a GeForce FX and SLI Voodoo2's.

I've kept my Tandy 1000 and Sega TeraDrive as curiosities, but only the 2 above machines are actively being used.

Nice. Not very surprisingly your DOS PC is basically the same build as my 1995 i586 PC, and your Win98 build is basically the same as my 2001 S370 PC (albeit I have not yet moved my SLI setup to it from my 1998 i686 PC, as I have yet to find a Voodoo 3 PCI..). Great minds think alike, I suppose. 😎

liqmat wrote:

I guess that's my point and that's why I said "some of you". I went through a time in my life where I just dumped everything and man that was a mistake. Sometimes we make irrational decisions when times are more turbulent. I've learned over the years to take a step back and really analyze what the hell is going on with me when I want to make large changes.

They are not irrational so much as they are taken under different circumstances, sometimes unrelatably so.

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Reply 66 of 155, by King_Corduroy

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liqmat wrote:

I think some of you are really going to regret getting rid of your vintage hardware and software in the years to come. Why? Been there. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with downsizing and simplifying life for the right reasons. I had quite a bit of new old stock Amiga hardware in my 30s and sold it off because I was tired of it, busy with life, blah, blah and blah. Your 30s are almost always turbulent and being busy usually peaks in your 30s and early 40s. Then comes the hormonal changes like going through puberty all freakin over again. Some call it mid life crisis others call it manopause (play on menopause for you slow ones) and then you get a second wave of nostalgia or you realize that hobby was actually awesome. You go and look up the prices of what you ditched and now you're priced out of the market because there is less of it and collectors have eaten up most of it and aint lettin go. If you have to sell it because of financial and/or health difficulties, that's one thing, but if you are going through some emotional low point of not knowing what your interests are throw it in a closet, attic, basement, etc. and just let it sit (please remove the batteries har har) and your gear will wait patiently for your love again at a later date. I really wish I had not sold that $300 new old stock complete in box Amiga 2000 HD system that was found in some lost warehouse. I wish I had not sold that mint condition Amiga 500 with a suitcase full of software that I bought at a garage sale for $50. I wish I had not thrown out that plastic tub of complete in box Atari ST games. Yeah, I just emulate now, thanks to some amazing emulators, but nuttin like the real thing baby. So take a deep breath, hold on to the guard rail and enjoy the ride on this ball of confusion.

@King_Corduroy - Keep your chin up man as I thought your collection was unique and inspiring, but I get what you're going through. I still am going to send you a copy of that Packard Bell pack-in version of Blade Runner on DVD when and if I find another one. I also referred someone to you on VCF who was looking for a PB restore disc. Don't know if you made images of those or not. Cheers!

No sadly I didn't, there is a group on facebook where I get most of my PB stuff. I wouldn't worry about sending me that disc anymore I've gotten rid of almost everything like I said. I've only got the two corner computers and a tower left along with some keyboards, mice, mousepads, mics and 2 monitors with speakers and AC adapters. I basically gave them all away in a dumb move but I only mildy regret it, it's nice having that room back honestly. 🤣 The only part of the transaction I regret is that it went to an ebay seller not an enthusiast and all my computers started popping up on ebay. I'm pretty annoyed someone got rich off my hard work and generosity. It's a good change though, like I said this lets me do some other things and enjoy different hobbies and I wasn't using those computers anyhow.

The main reason I decided everything needed to go was some things regarding my house, my house is got some issues that make me nervous and having all that weight up on the second floor and attic seemed like a REALLY bad idea. Plus like I said when I eventually move out of here I imagine it'd be a smaller house so less place to store that massive hoard. So in the end it had to go one way or the other and since I got most of it for free or next to nothing before prices went nuts it really wasn't any skin off my nose if I gave it to someone else to enjoy. Like I said before though, ended up being some hipster ebay seller sadly.

Check me out at Transcendental Airwaves on Youtube! Fast-food sucks!

Reply 67 of 155, by ratfink

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I've been through this once or twice, though the last time seems to have stuck. I never went as hard at it as some in here, but I did end up with way too much gear a few times. The better stuff I sold, only to see prices go throough the room later. Some stuff I just had to chuck, like recently I got rid of a lovely 21 inch crt. But I'm now 58, I don't see myself having yet another return to "collecting". These days it's actually quite easy to turn down or avoid opportunities to buy stuff, though I still browse eBay/amibay from time to time.

Beyond a certain point I didn't really enjoy the tendency to "collect" rather than use, which is why I ended up jettisoning gear. I also didn't enjoy the tendency to focus on perfection, which led me to buy stuff I didn't really need, or the associated focus on detail. Neither was really what I wanted to do in the first place. But subsequently I did the same sort of thing with photography (just got that under control...).

But I think there are these interests where hardware is important and some of us have to own and play with quite a lot of gear before we know what we really actually want (experience beats reading reviews or listening to opinions) and sometimes you get caught up in collecting and some sort of perfection-chasing or covering every eventuality that can get overwhelming.

Reply 68 of 155, by SirNickity

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I bought a Sony Vega 27" CRT brand new when I met my SO. Then we graduated to a projector, until LCDs got big enough and looked nice enough to make it a wash. I had that stupid huge CRT hanging around taking up a chunk of a spare room for years, until just a few years ago when I finally begged someone on Craigslist to come take it off my hands. I was more than happy to have lighter, easier-to-accommodate display technology and say "good riddance" to tubes.

Now I've got a full complement of old game consoles, and I really wish I hadn't given it away. Ugh... Had to spend $600 to get a 20" PVM shipped here.

Reply 69 of 155, by Almoststew1990

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I have now lost interest after a couple of years. I used to be quite into it, especially when I was learning a lot. My very first build log was a lot of frustration fun frustration fun enjoyable first experience. I loved reading the original Anandtech reviews of the Nvidia TNT, but now I've read most of them. I used to be mystified by Voodoos when I rediscovered them after 15 years of forgetting they existed (and not caring about them specifically when I previously knew of them as a 10 year old) but then I came across a Voodoo 3 PCI and it's... just a graphics card. Nothing special, I wouldn't specifically swap it for a TNT2 or MX2, as I don't have that nostalgia factor. The really interesting stuff is now very expensive.

So I've sold quite a lot of my stuff and my working kit is just S775+GTX650 / Slot 1 300MHz to 712MHz + MX440 128bit / 386sx + AWE32 (my only real OPL3 card) + VGA card TBC to cover all the basics for any interesting game I happen to come across. However I still seem to have a whole load of random crap cards in boxes and enough RAM sticks to make a scarecrow from. I rarely buy old parts anymore. About the only thing I'm still slightly interested in is slightly unusual bits of kit - ITX VIA SoC motherboards with a PCI slot is my current slither of interest.

I can't decide if I'm interested in the hardware or the games. Being in it for both is surprisingly incompatible. I will get into a "hardware" mood and build an interesting PC, and it'll be taken a part a couple of days later because it is too slow or it's got a few little issues that I can't solve in an hour or so. I'll throw together a "it just works" Core 2 Duo with PCI-E PC to play old games from about 1999 to 2010 that can comfortably max XP games quietly and cooly, but I'll get bored with it's normalness and want to build an older PC 😁 This is actually quite frustrating to keep tearing them down.

Edit - Heh, I re-read my original thread on the Overclockers forum (it's linked in the Vogons post in this post), that was a fun couple of weeks! Capacitors can go bad? I need to set jumpers?

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AMD DX2-80 | 16MB RAM | STB LIghtspeed 128 | AWE32 CT3910
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Reply 70 of 155, by King_Corduroy

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Seems like these days, every time I go to sell something it's resellers who buy the stuff. I'm beginning to wonder if the hobby is at peak saturation with ebay sellers / value hoarders. These days it feels like there are more "investors" than actually hobbyists. Seems like I got out at the right time. I say this cause I just sold my Commodore gear and of course the person was a reseller. I got way less than it was worth but I'm happy to not have it taking up space anymore.

Check me out at Transcendental Airwaves on Youtube! Fast-food sucks!

Reply 71 of 155, by SquallStrife

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Reply 72 of 155, by cyclone3d

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SquallStrife wrote:
sc2k-YOU CANT CUT BACK ON VINTAGE HARDWARE YOU WILL REGRET THIS.png

HAHAHAHA. I have to cut back... not that I will be cutting back on most stuff that I don't have multiples of though.

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Reply 74 of 155, by Miphee

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King_Corduroy wrote:

Seems like these days, every time I go to sell something it's resellers who buy the stuff. I'm beginning to wonder if the hobby is at peak saturation with ebay sellers / value hoarders. These days it feels like there are more "investors" than actually hobbyists. Seems like I got out at the right time. I say this cause I just sold my Commodore gear and of course the person was a reseller. I got way less than it was worth but I'm happy to not have it taking up space anymore.

Resellers eventually sell it to hobbyists who are willing to pay the price. As soon as something turns "retro" and collectible resellers jump on it. It is the buyers who set the price. If they want to pay big money then the resellers will gladly comply.
And there are those like me who have the bidding problem. I often buy things because I love the thrill of the "fight". Sometimes I just impulse-buy because I fall in love with an item and I want to own it. The game is to get the item for a low price. I just got a 26 piece retro card pack for $11 and the thrill was awesome. Did I really want those cards? Honestly not really, maybe 5 of them are mildly interesting. It was the fight.
But "real hobbyists" also have to understand that if they are not willing to pay the price they won't have a collection to play with. Simple as that. I made the same mistake before. Like most hobbies this one is also expensive if you go deep enough.

Reply 75 of 155, by King_Corduroy

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But "real hobbyists" also have to understand that if they are not willing to pay the price they won't have a collection to play with. Simple as that. I made the same mistake before. Like most hobbies this one is also expensive if you go deep enough.

Nonsense, if you have patience you can eventually find things for almost nothing depending on what your looking for. The hobby existed before the sellers showed up to slap a price on it, most of us pull things from the trash when we can after all. It's the impatient people with more money than brains who have made this hobby into a market.

Check me out at Transcendental Airwaves on Youtube! Fast-food sucks!

Reply 76 of 155, by Miphee

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King_Corduroy wrote:

most of us pull things from the trash when we can after all

That's a huge generalization. There are people who find treasures in trash but it entirely depends on their location and possibilities.
Few guys have the opportunity or patience to wait for something useful to turn up. Many places don't even allow outsiders anywhere near the recycling or collection plants because of EP regulations. So are these guys all brainless because they want to buy the things needed for their hobby in their lifetime and not maybe 10 years later when a good opportunity turns up?

Reply 78 of 155, by cyclone3d

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oeuvre wrote:

I know plenty here go dumpster diving sometimes but I've never done it.

I used to dumpster dive around 20-25 years ago. Where I live now it is probably quite pointless but I do have a couple places I wouldn't mind scoping out at some point that might throw out stuff I could use.

Back then there were a few places that sold used books, video games, records, CD's etc.

Pulling multiple working console systems such as an NES, SNES, Sega Dreamcast, etc as well as game cartridges out of the dumpster was quite fun.

I also got my IBM model M keyboard out of a dumpster around 25 years ago.

And I got my first 486 board out of a dumpster. It had dried coffee all over it. I took it home and sprayed it down with rubbing alcohol until it ran clean, let it dry for a day or so and then tried it and it worked. This was back when we only had a 386SX-25 system. I used that board to upgrade that system. A few years later I traded that system for my first car as well as a parts car.

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Reply 79 of 155, by Miphee

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I have done it too but that's not the point. You CAN find good things if you are lucky but I doubt many of us actually built their collection from dumpster finds alone. I just don't know why it would ever be considered stupid to buy something you want. If I want a Voodoo 2 card should I just go dumpster diving until I find one? That would be awesome but it's just not reality.
On the other hand I found complete P4 systems in dumpsters before because they are so common and worthless nowadays just like 386s were 20 years ago.
Try finding P4 systems in dumpsters 20 years from now.