I got into "Retro PC's" 20 years ago out of necessity. Probably already mentioned that.....but I was literally penniless and living at my mom's when I started with this, and wanted an internet connected computer in 2001. And the whole thing was an up-hill fight the whole way any time I asked anyone for information or help because it was met with "buy a new PC" "con your parents into buying you a computer" "486....BWAHAHAHAHAHA" "you can't do that on a 486" and most irritating "Why!?!? Man, you need a girlfriend!" (that last one is kind of funny....I'm married now and the wife likes this stuff albeit not as much as me, and in a more aesthetic manner as she's into photography).

Why a Necessity? I was in a band where everyone had internet at home and that's how they communicated - not by phone, by e-mail/AIM. I also was looking at going to community college, and in a way, this hobby kind of saved my life. Up until I turned 18 I was planning to be riding around in most likely some old derelict vehicle up and down the east coast playing rock shows with nothing to fall back on. Then I got that first 386 SX that got me into hardware modding/tinkering next thing I know I'm here, almost 20 years later, making a living in I.T. and STILL messing around with 8088-Pentium machines on the side for fun and even on rare occasions profit. I had to teach myself. The two people I knew that had knowledge were either out of date or out of the picture, the people who were in it were "You need an AMD Athlon with 2GB of DDR RAM and WIndows XP"....that's also why I mostly just come here to talk tech out of interest in the whole thing, rather than coming here with Q's every few weeks. I've gotten way too used to researching, trial and error, and bumbling my way to success by failing repeatedly.

Law212 wrote on 2020-11-12, 20:56:

Bruninho wrote on 2020-11-11, 13:05:

Well, iomega zip disks were quicker and easier to use back then (I was probably 16yrs old at that time) and I didn’t knew sh** nothing about how to burn a CD. Plus I never had a CD-RW until after 2000.

But zip disks weren’t so popular between my friends so it was quite difficult to share files between my school friends...

"files" AKA 16 colour Porn BMP files from billboards.

actually, these files were mostly just games, patches, savegames, and so on.

porn? I can't remember =)

1. I find the moon logic in some Lucasarts adventures such as Sam & Max Hit the Road to be just as frustrating as the dead ends in some Sierra adventures.
2. There was never a better period for computer RPGs than the eight year period from 1985 to 1993.

newtmonkey wrote on 2020-11-14, 11:00:

1. I find the moon logic in some Lucasarts adventures such as Sam & Max Hit the Road to be just as frustrating as the dead ends in some Sierra adventures.

I remember reading somewhere that the solutions to many adventure games from that era were borderline illogical so that they could sell more strategy guides.

A 90s take on what we today call "pay to win" if you will.

That definitely wouldn't surprise me if that were the case!

Think I said this already, but while I don't have anything against FPS games, I still believe Doom ruined computer gaming. Once they made Doom they ceased trying to make anything else other than FPSes.

newtmonkey wrote on 2020-11-14, 11:00:

1. I find the moon logic in some Lucasarts adventures such as Sam & Max Hit the Road to be just as frustrating as the dead ends in some Sierra adventures.
2. There was never a better period for computer RPGs than the eight year period from 1985 to 1993.

Even though I love me some of the RPGs from that period I would have to say between 1997 and 2002 was better.

Off the top of my head:

Fallout 1 & 2
Baldur's Gate 1 & 2
Icewind Dale 1&2
Torment
System Shock 2
Deus Ex
Might & Magic 6 & 7
Wizardry 8
Arcanum
Morrowind
Arx Fatalis
Icewind Dale II

Pretty mental really..

appiah4 wrote on 2020-11-15, 10:12:

Even though I love me some of the RPGs from that period I would have to say between 1997 and 2002 was better. […]
Show full quote

newtmonkey wrote on 2020-11-14, 11:00:

1. I find the moon logic in some Lucasarts adventures such as Sam & Max Hit the Road to be just as frustrating as the dead ends in some Sierra adventures.
2. There was never a better period for computer RPGs than the eight year period from 1985 to 1993.

Even though I love me some of the RPGs from that period I would have to say between 1997 and 2002 was better.

Off the top of my head:

Fallout 1 & 2
Baldur's Gate 1 & 2
Icewind Dale 1&2
Torment
System Shock 2
Deus Ex
Might & Magic 6 & 7
Wizardry 8
Arcanum
Morrowind
Arx Fatalis
Icewind Dale II

Pretty mental really..

Yeah but you got none rpgs set in Krynn during that period, or since.

My confession:

I've tried earthbound a couple of times, but it has never really grabbed me enough to force me to complete it!

Moogle! wrote on 2020-11-14, 22:10:

Think I said this already, but while I don't have anythin again FPS games, I still believe Doom ruined computer gaming. Once they made Doom they ceased trying to make anything else other than FPSes.

That's a pretty funny thing to say, especially considering how untrue it is, and how many amazing non-FPS games have been released for the PC after DOOM.

Which games/genres do you think were abandoned since DOOM?

dr_st wrote on 2020-11-15, 11:16:

Which games/genres do you think were abandoned since DOOM?

Probably ones which are now only developed by indie studios...
DOOM kinda proved (once again?) you can make serious money from (PC) video games so it didn't take much long for other companies to follow.
Also DOOM was technologically advanced and demanding so many people bought new PC hardware just to play it -- pretty much same situation as today.

appiah4 wrote on 2020-11-15, 10:12:

Even though I love me some of the RPGs from that period I would have to say between 1997 and 2002 was better. […]
Show full quote

Even though I love me some of the RPGs from that period I would have to say between 1997 and 2002 was better.

Off the top of my head:

Fallout 1 & 2
Baldur's Gate 1 & 2
Icewind Dale 1&2
Torment
System Shock 2
Deus Ex
Might & Magic 6 & 7
Wizardry 8
Arcanum
Morrowind
Arx Fatalis
Icewind Dale II

Pretty mental really..

1997-2002 was also a great period for RPGs. I do like the Infinity Engine games (and love Fallout 1), but I prefer turn-based games personally.

Bruninho wrote on 2020-11-12, 21:24:

Law212 wrote on 2020-11-12, 20:56:

Bruninho wrote on 2020-11-11, 13:05:

Well, iomega zip disks were quicker and easier to use back then (I was probably 16yrs old at that time) and I didn’t knew sh** nothing about how to burn a CD. Plus I never had a CD-RW until after 2000.

But zip disks weren’t so popular between my friends so it was quite difficult to share files between my school friends...

"files" AKA 16 colour Porn BMP files from billboards.

actually, these files were mostly just games, patches, savegames, and so on.

porn? I can't remember =)

I found a couple iomega zip drives at thrift stores a while back. trying to get them to work with any of my machines, as one came with a zip disk, which was labeled in pencil "amatuer" Im so curious whats on it.......

I did not sell my disks so whatever is in that disk isn’t mine. L.O.L 🤣

I was born in 86 and I am a PC guy, and even though I have never seen an Amiga with my own eyes, I confess I still consider the A1000 to be the first modern computer as we think of them today.

I dunno if I'd really consider most of these gripes/moans "confessions".

So I'll go.

I confess that when I moved from a house to a small apartment, I took no less than SIX functioning PowerMac G5's to the garbage dump's e-waste section.

I tried selling them, I tried giving them away, and gave up out of both frustration and time constraints.

I'm sorry, I know somebody out there could have loved and cared for them, but our paths just did not cross when they needed to.

My retro hobby started when I was blind drunk one night 10 years ago, and took home an old computer out of the garage of an office building. Not long after I joined VOGONS 😀

I tossed away a perfectly fine (but rather worn out) Titanium PowerBook (PBG4/667 MHz Onyx) a few years ago. It probably deserved a better fate.

More like a retro sin but fine. I guess I can get it off my chest.

Dear Vogons Preacher, I hearby confess to the cardinal sin of leaving my parts scattered across tables, on the floor of my workroom (not carpet for the record), on my chair, wherever, instead of putting them away in Anti Static bags while I work.

Okay...I have dropped a few sticks of ram and a sound card on a carpet too.

*Gasp*

Yeah, I treat my parts like shit I guess, iv been trying to get into the habit of storing them in anti static bags when I don't plan on using them for long periods.

For the record, I do treat my modern computer components much better, I treat them like they're a fuggin rare diamond and freakout often, if a screw does so much as touch the bare motherboard outside it's screw holes.

But my retro workspace is my workspace. It's messy, I'm usually a very dis organized person . My retro computers are allways on the test bench, getting parts swapped, tested, fixed, you name it. Sometimes I....don't really think about ESD I guess.

Im 22 and, idk, I guess feels kinda weird to be this ...cluttered in a hobby like this but, I'm trying to get a bit more organized.

Feel free to cringe, now.

a few confessions:

- I don't miss CRTs either
- Lots of old games that people get nostalgic over are not really that engaging (but some are really great!)
- I didn't really believe the games you never tire of thread, "don't tire easily of provided I get a few weeks/months of not playing it" is probably more realistic
- DOSBOX is often better and more enjoyable to use than 'real hardware'
- sometimes discussions in retro forums are no different from tech enthusiasts discussions in 1995 tech forum, it's difficult to express in words but it seems there's no growth and no reflection in some retro enthusiasts - it's just the same stuff as was discussed in 19xx every year ad infinitum
- I realise I am probably not participating in the 'preserving' of history at all, not that I mind

actually all our various confessions can make for interesting future topics, that's often what is interesting about retro stuff more than a rehash of some minor technical point already covered many times the remnants of old tech forums from back in the day