bjt wrote:

The only downside for me is that it's very unsociable, bar the online thing. I would love an annual Vogons LAN party/meetup.

I'm in complete agreement here. An annual gathering/convention/meetup would be wonderful, but I wouldn't want to play games at it. I would rather socialize, display some of my systems, and look at other peoples' systems. More like an antique car show rather than a LAN party. Also, with old tech instead of cars. Since this is a very niche hobby that has enthusiasts spread out across the world, it could also be a great opportunity for some international travel. I would really love to visit France, Spain, the UK, Netherlands, Russia, and Australia. Do we even have any French or Spanish members here?

I went to a few LAN parties in the early 2000s and just felt so out of my element. I was into flight sims but all my friends wanted to play Starcraft. Since I really had no idea how to play Starcraft, I would sit there, drink beer and eat snacks, and be a virtual punching bag for the experienced strategy gamers. Tasty, but not very fun.

Here on VOGONS and other vintage forums, our individual tastes are too diverse. It would be too difficult to agree on what networked games should be played. If I'm going to sit around and drink beer and eat snacks, I'd rather have a nice conversation to go along with it.

KT7AGuy wrote:

I'm in complete agreement here. An annual gathering/convention/meetup would be wonderful, but I wouldn't want to play games at […]
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bjt wrote:

The only downside for me is that it's very unsociable, bar the online thing. I would love an annual Vogons LAN party/meetup.

I'm in complete agreement here. An annual gathering/convention/meetup would be wonderful, but I wouldn't want to play games at it. I would rather socialize, display some of my systems, and look at other peoples' systems. More like an antique car show rather than a LAN party. Also, with old tech instead of cars. Since this is a very niche hobby that has enthusiasts spread out across the world, it could also be a great opportunity for some international travel. I would really love to visit France, Spain, the UK, Netherlands, Russia, and Australia. Do we even have any French or Spanish members here?

I went to a few LAN parties in the early 2000s and just felt so out of my element. I was into flight sims but all my friends wanted to play Starcraft. Since I really had no idea how to play Starcraft, I would sit there, drink beer and eat snacks, and be a virtual punching bag for the experienced strategy gamers. Tasty, but not very fun.

Here on VOGONS and other vintage forums, our individual tastes are too diverse. It would be too difficult to agree on what networked games should be played. If I'm going to sit around and drink beer and eat snacks, I'd rather have a nice conversation to go along with it.

Same here in michigan, but i cant find a single person here thats computers, I game here in there, but love building and configuring computer more then anything as well as talking about them and the history.

Im currently in the stages of getting my own house and having a my spare bedroom as my display room of computers and parts.

KT7AGuy wrote:

An annual gathering/convention/meetup would be wonderful, but I wouldn't want to play games at it.

Fine with me, I'd be happy with anything. How about it Stiletto? VogFest '17 aimed at DOSBox users and hardware freaks alike? Some money to be made possibly. I'd even consider flying to the US for that with my Thinkpad 370C as hand luggage. Would have to tell the missus it was a work trip lest she think I lost my mind.

KT7AGuy wrote:

I would rather socialize, display some of my systems, and look at other peoples' systems. More like an antique car show rather than a LAN party. Also, with old tech instead of cars.

"Look, here's a box full of circuit boards that does numbers."
"Neat. Here's another box full of circuit boards that does slightly different numbers."
"I spent a lot of money on this box full of circuit boards with numbers."
"The circuit boards in this box are shiny. Look at the numbers."
"I sure wish I had brought my box of circuit boards. Then you would see numbers."

Jorpho wrote:

"Look, here's a box full of circuit boards that does numbers." "Neat. Here's another box full of circuit boards that does sligh […]
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KT7AGuy wrote:

I would rather socialize, display some of my systems, and look at other peoples' systems. More like an antique car show rather than a LAN party. Also, with old tech instead of cars.

"Look, here's a box full of circuit boards that does numbers."
"Neat. Here's another box full of circuit boards that does slightly different numbers."
"I spent a lot of money on this box full of circuit boards with numbers."
"The circuit boards in this box are shiny. Look at the numbers."

So, what you're saying is that it would be much like any other convention, except with old tech?

I'm OK with that.

KT7AGuy wrote:

So, what you're saying is that it would be much like any other convention, except with old tech?

I can't say I've ever been to a convention like that before.

Jorpho wrote:

KT7AGuy wrote:

So, what you're saying is that it would be much like any other convention, except with old tech?

I can't say I've ever been to a convention like that before.

I seriously don't understand your negativity regarding this idea. However, you ruined a nice vibe I was enjoying so I'll respond with an equally snarky reply:

Jorpho wrote:

"Look, here's a box full of circuit boards that does numbers."

Look, here's a car with wheels, that moves, and drives, and stuff.

Jorpho wrote:

"Neat. Here's another box full of circuit boards that does slightly different numbers."

Neat. Here's another car with slightly different wheels.

Jorpho wrote:

"I spent a lot of money on this box full of circuit boards with numbers."

I spent alot of money restoring this car with wheels that drives.

Jorpho wrote:

"The circuit boards in this box are shiny. Look at the numbers."

The paint on this car is shiny, and so is the chrome. Look at the interior.

Jorpho wrote:

"I sure wish I had brought my box of circuit boards. Then you would see numbers."

I sure wish I had a vintage car. Then I could drive it and enjoy myself.

Seriously Jorpho, do you not understand that this is a hobby, and a rather niche one at that? Do you not understand that a gathering/convention is an opportunity for people with shared interests to meet and enjoy those shared interests together? Just a few posts back I made the deliberate point of explaining how I could never understand Precious Moments collectors or Furries, but I still respect that they're enjoying themselves and harming nobody. If you don't like old tech, why are you haunting a vintage tech forum?

Vintage/antique computing enthusiasts are so spread out geographically that it is very difficult to engage socially. That is why the idea of a gathering/convention was mentioned. If you cannot understand why some folks might want to meet/mingle/socialize, I dunno what to tell ya.

Well, have you been to a vintage car convention? I imagine at least some of the appeal is actually the opportunity to take vintage cars on the road (which is, after all, what a car is supposed to do), and then actually looking at the different cars and seeing their parts in motion and the sounds they make. Different cars, I suppose, will have different parts that will move and sound in different ways.

But old PCs? In the end, one circuit board looks just like another circuit board, and Unreal Tournament and Doom and Quake running on a Pentium-whatever is going to look and play pretty much exactly the same on an Athlon-whatever.

KT7AGuy wrote:

Do you not understand that a gathering/convention is an opportunity for people with shared interests to meet and enjoy those shared interests together?

That's a different matter displaying your systems and looking at other peoples' systems, isn't it? You can just as easily convene in any bar or basement. You're generally not going to see Furries doing something like that.

I've been to lots of antique car shows. I like cars. I understand the different makes & models and what makes some more special than others.

My girlfriend, however, does not understand the different makes & models and what makes some more special than others. To her, a '65 Mustang is pretty much the same as a '57 Chevy and they all do the same thing as a Toyota Corolla.

So, (and I mean no disrespect), I think you might have the same attitude towards a possible vintage hardware gathering as my girlfriend does to an antique car show. It's not a bad thing. I feel the same way about her long-distance marathon running conventions. To me, the thousands of shoes on display all do the same thing and I'm unable to discern the differences, nor do I care.

Just like any old car can get on the road and drive, so can pretty much any old PC run Quake. It's when you look under the hood that you find the magic. If you look under the hood and can't see the magic, maybe it's just not something for you.

KT7AGuy wrote:

Just like any old car can get on the road and drive, so can pretty much any old PC run Quake. It's when you look under the hood that you find the magic. If you look under the hood and can't see the magic, maybe it's just not something for you.

Or any PC whatsoever, for that matter. But that's not the point, the point is seeing the machines running exactly the way they ran back in the day, whether it's cars or computers.

Let's get back on topic, though - could someone fork the "Vogons meetup" topic to a new thread? 😀

Part of the appeal of retro computers to me is also the amazing things that programmers were able to do with the extremely limited hardware.

Case in point: Carmack's smooth scrolling code, which worked on the erstwhile super-lame EGA card and marked the beginning of the boom in PC games. I stand in awe of stuff like that, especially since I can't get the VGA game I'm programming on a Pentium/75 to scroll very fast at all, even though I attempted to implement a sort of adaptive tile refresh 🤣

Also the newer stuff that's being programmed for even older machines, such as 8088MPH and the composite CGA Keen, which Carmack himself said couldn't be done.

Man, like I said, maybe it's just not something for you. And the same arguments you just made about computer components can still be applied to cars. For example, if you ignore the stamped numbers on an engine, there isn't really too much distinguishing them either.

Let's expand this comparison to a Harley Davidson biker rally. It's the same comparison again. How many damn cruisers can you possibly see before they all start to look the same? That "magic" I spoke of before is in the details, and enthusiasts can see it. If it's not something that interests you, then you probably won't enjoy it.

Personally, I occasionally check the "Dumpster Find" and "Bought these (retro) hardware today" threads just to look at the photos of hardware that people have found. Much like classic cars, I would never spend money on 99% of that stuff nor do I have any desire to own it. I still enjoy looking at it though.

Just because I wouldn't want to spend my time gaming at any potential meetup doesn't preclude others from doing it. Maybe you could find some enjoyment meeting and chatting with other like-minded souls.

So, ya know, I think there could be lots of fun stuff to do at a VOGONS-Fest. I would love to display my old MMX system and check out other folks hardware, but maybe that's not for everybody. Surely there are other things you can find to enjoy at such a meeting. Food? Drinks? Gaming? Chatting? Sightseeing?

I've always been curious about the Artemis spaceship bridge simulator game. A gathering might be a nice place to try that out and have some fun.

A convention would be cool, however a LAN party would not. Personally I suck at games, and from what I can understand, most of us here are more into building and repairing than actually using those builds to play games ("wow hehe see, doom runs! lets put that voodoo in there... ohh glquake runs too!" [puts P1 in storage] "now let's see what we can do with this 440bx") 😵

A LAN party focused meeting would be great. Classics like C&C, RA, AOE, DN3D, Doom and so on should appeal to a lot of people. 🤣

Socializing in itself is not something I would find value in. Plenty of that at work / with regular social life.

FYI: in DE and US classic computing conventions already exist. They tend to focus on esoterical platforms though: pre DOS and/or ancient DOS (IBM 51** / Tandy 1000) era. I take no interest in those.

I was a member of the computer club in my home town in NL for about a decade. Meetings every Friday evening. Lots of gaming on DOS and exchanging software.

Later on I organized LAN parties with up to 25 participants. Later on these became smaller 8 people focused LAN parties: RA, RA2, C&CG and AOE2/3.

Maybe it's for the best that this is such an antisocial hobby. 😢

Trying to split these posts off but because people jumped on the car show metaphor to explain the hobby, it's semantically difficult. Still under re-construction 😁

I've been pondering going to the midwest vintage computing convention. It might be interesting to see some truly vintage hardware.

I think at a VOGONS event I would look for a display of all early PC 3D cards in action, and an extensive demo of all DOS audio options. These are maybe the most interesting aspects for me of the eras people like to mess with here. Need A/V stimuli instead of boxes of circuit boards. 🤣

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LAN parties were a lot of fun when most people were on dial-ups. Then everyone got broadband and it just became pointless expense.

PeterLI wrote:

Given the extreme distances of members this will likely never materialize. US / AU / EU / CA / CN / MY / ZA / BR / UY / ID / RU.

Umm.. now you have to mention UK separately... 😁

Yeah, I would love to have a meetup in Siberia! 😀 But honestly, virtual meetup is the only way I see it happening.