Keep in mind that this is a forum for getting old games working on new systems and it doesn't make much sense to have a dedicated forum for systems with not many users.

The following could likely be done but Marvin would cover the hardware piece.

The Guide
Add a single forum: "General", or "Other"

Eddie
Combine all three forums into: General Emulation

Well I like Eddie just how he is, for what that's worth.

Are there old-Mac hardware forums any more? I thought 6400zone and Jag went long ago for example.

The question of dedicated sub forum's for specific hardware (Amiga, Apple, C64, Atari and so on) have been suggested many times.

Why not use Magrathea

Vogons stopped being a "only dosbox" forum many years ago, and became a lounge for retro electronics lovers... I believe that more than 80% of the people here are not users looking for tips to emulate games, but consumers of old computers, with piles of old hardware in the garage... The forum has the potential to be the number 1 portal for lovers of the "old hardware" topic, which could even be profitable.

Rikintosh wrote on 2022-06-20, 17:23:

Vogons stopped being a "only dosbox" forum many years ago, and became a lounge for retro electronics lovers...

I think the irony is that this attracts both experts/enthusiasts from the physical hardware scene and the emulation scene.
If done right, there's a potential of each group to benefit from the other's experience.
A bit like Yin and Yang, which both complete each other and hold each other in balance.
Writers of emulators can ask the "hardware hoarders" to do some experiments or ask them how the real thing behaves under certain situations.
Likewise, the authors of DOSBox can be informed by fans of obscure games if something goes wrong.
If those fans know how the games differ in emulation from real hardware, this can be quite helpful.

Edit: That being said, it would be sad if Vogons would abandon its original mission.
Let us all remember that we owe the founders, moderators and early members some respect
for their encouragement, their support and their kindness (kudos to them).
Vogons shouldn't become something that they will not be okay with.
Without these people, this place wouldn't last maybe.

Jo22 wrote on 2022-06-20, 17:39:

I think the irony is that this attracts both experts/enthusiasts from the physical hardware scene and the emulation scene. If do […]
Show full quote

Rikintosh wrote on 2022-06-20, 17:23:

Vogons stopped being a "only dosbox" forum many years ago, and became a lounge for retro electronics lovers...

I think the irony is that this attracts both experts/enthusiasts from the physical hardware scene and the emulation scene.
If done right, there's a potential of each group to benefit from the other's experience.
A bit like Yin and Yang, which both complete each other and hold each other in balance.
Writers of emulators can ask the "hardware hoarders" to do some experiments or ask them how the real thing behaves under certain situations.
Likewise, the authors of DOSBox can be informed by fans of obscure games if something goes wrong.
If those fans know how the games differ in emulation from real hardware, this can be quite helpful.

Edit: That being said, it would be sad if Vogons would abandon its original mission.
Let us all remember that we owe the founders, moderators and early members some respect
for their encouragement, their support and their kindness (kudos to them).
Vogons shouldn't become something that they will not be okay with.
Without these people, this place wouldn't last maybe.

Yes, I don't mean to abandon emulation topic, as I use it often too. But I mean, this is a point that concentrates a lot of people focused on old hardware, and it would be a good idea to embrace more causes. I'm a developer myself, and the only place I got relevant information about old hardware was here

I see Vogons as more dedicated to x86 and x86-64 based hardware, I believe that only compatible PCs have the level of backwards compatibility, and the almost infinite level of customization, which is so much enjoyed and talked about in this forum. I don't know much about the Apple environment but I don't think it enjoys the wide window of compatibility and customization of the PC environment.
It's just a comment, I don't feel in a position to say if there should be a section for apple or another platform.
At least there is a forum with that approach of a lot of sections for different platforms, in my case that forum is a bit confusing and chaotic.

Jo22 wrote on 2022-06-20, 17:39:

Edit: That being said, it would be sad if Vogons would abandon its original mission. Let us all remember that we owe the founder […]
Show full quote

Edit: That being said, it would be sad if Vogons would abandon its original mission.
Let us all remember that we owe the founders, moderators and early members some respect
for their encouragement, their support and their kindness (kudos to them).
Vogons shouldn't become something that they will not be okay with.
Without these people, this place wouldn't last maybe.

True... However I fully understand the sentiment and wish to have dedicated sub-forums for different platforms. Reason being that old games on new computers are the name, and a computer is more than just the X86/x64 platform with Windows installed. I fully understand the wish for sub-forums, yet personally I really don't care at all. I just post in the most used threads, such as bought this hardware and what retro activity. Then I ignore comments if someone think that Vogons should be strictly x86/x64-only.

Hoping wrote:

I don't know much about the Apple environment but I don't think it enjoys the wide window of compatibility and customization of the PC environment.

Old pro macs had decent customization, but it's a horrible gaming platform.

Although I have tried, I have never been able to understand the philosophy behind Apple.
On the one hand they are capable of creating very very good quality hardware but then their target user seems to be only the user without real knowledge of hardware apart from appearance, it is as if they intended to sell electrical appliances not computers, that is how I see it.

But as a note, a short time ago I asked a question in this forum about a UPS, which is not even a computer, and I found very good help to reach a conclusion.
So, dedicated sections aside, this forum is very open to all kinds of things, I am very grateful to the members who helped me in that case.

If you asking me, It would be great if a separate area for Non-PC-Compatibles like Apple machines will be added.

I personally have no intention to use Apple machines, but I have some machines that work under CP/M, PalmOS and even Basic and it would be great to have a special area for them.

Vintage Computer Forums
https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php

Vintage Apple stuff
https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php

The more the merrier? I have some fond memories of gaming on a classroom Mac, even if the most of my life I've spent gaming on PCs. There were some really cool games back in the days of Ambrosia that were even exclusive to the Mac.

Like some others pointed out, it might make sense to make it a non-PC / other than IBM-compatibles category rather than just a Mac-category, because soon enough some Amiga-lovers and others will feel mistreated. 😉

Mac Rumors has a very good PPC session too https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/powerpc-macs.145/

I just really like Vogons, and would be happy if it became a gateway to all kinds of hardware...

I know there are less people interested in macs than anything x86, there are those who collect everything in this world, even toilets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHqAvzGyy30

But look on the other hand, if the amount of people who just want solutions to play old games on modern hardware were really big (from a profitable point of view), a port of Wine x86 would already be available, to run transition era games from 16 to 32-bit, and even late 90's 32-bit games that have minor incompatibilities.

I believe the vast majority prefer to have the experience of playing on the original hardware anyway (psychology explains this, but I don't remember what it's called, nostalgia is greater when you can see and touch). I would never object to emulation and ways to work around compatibility that have come up here on the forums, I appreciate it very much. I'm just exposing my honest opinion, and some arguments from a financial (which would be very good for the founders of the forum) and cultural point of view. It was not my intention to upset anyone, my sincere apologies if I said anything that might sound insensitive.

leonardo wrote on 2022-06-22, 17:51:

There were some really cool games back in the days of Ambrosia that were even exclusive to the Mac.

Yes, the demise of Ambrosia was a great pity - a lot of their great older stuff didn't survive the shift to OSX let alone OSX on Intel Macs - as far as I could make out, anyway. They didn't release much for PCs either. And they had disappeared before I bought a licence for Deimos Rising but I guess that's my fault for forgetting to do it for a few years...

ratfink wrote on 2022-06-22, 17:13:

Vintage Computer Forums https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php […]
Show full quote

Vintage Computer Forums
https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php

Vintage Apple stuff
https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php

Then maybe it is worth making separate area where links to other forums may be placed and organized by categories?